Sports director Rudi Völler denies that some national players have the necessary quality. The names remain his secret, but the wobbly candidates are obvious.
It is a devastating verdict that DFB sporting director Rudi Völler made after the 2-0 defeat against Colombia. He initially overestimated the quality of the team, and he denied some players the potential for the European Championship task. “In these two weeks you could see that one or the other had reached their limits a little with all their efforts.” He didn’t say exactly who he meant. “You will see that in the next nomination.”
Now the sports director is not responsible for the nomination, but the national coach. But it can be assumed that Flick will draw similar conclusions from the last three friendlies. There are a number of players who disappointed against Ukraine (3:3), Poland (0:1) and Colombia – and are now indirectly pilloried by Völler’s statements.
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DFB problem position full-back
Especially in the full-back position, none of the tested players could convince. In the five-man chain system, which Flick played in all three games, the full-backs should set many offensive accents and start in depth again and again. This rarely succeeded, neither Marius Wolf (Borussia Dortmund) nor Jonas Hofmann (Borussia Mönchengladbach) nor the Leipzigers David Raum and Benjamin Henrichs. Their weak performances played a large part in the fact that the five-chain experiment failed.
Only Robin Gosens made breakthroughs on the left against Colombia, the professional from Champions League finalist Inter Milan should get more chances. However, Gosens also revealed technical deficiencies when accepting the ball and he is more of a candidate for the offensive. If Flick, as announced, relies on a back four in the future, other players are likely to get a chance. An alternative on the left is the defensively stronger Christian Günter (SC Freiburg), on the right Lukas Klostermann (RB Leipzig), who left injured, could be used.
Just a ray of hope in central defence
Central defenders Nico Schlotterbeck (Borussia Dortmund), Thilo Kehrer (West Ham United) and Matthias Ginter (SC Freiburg) also acted shakily in the most recent friendlies. Flick gave up her services against Colombia and instead put midfielder Emre Can in the back three.
In addition to the seeded Antonio Rüdiger (Real Madrid), only Malick Thiaw from AC Milan scored plus points. The 21-year-old ex-Schalke played with commitment and at times spectacularly, if not flawlessly. Dortmund’s Niklas Süle is waiting.
Brandt and Wirtz go down with them
Julian Brandt and Florian Wirtz fell behind in the well-known midfield, although they hardly had a chance to show their skills. They only played once each from the start and went under in the inappropriate five-man chain system and alongside weak established national players.
Leroy Sané, Leon Goretzka and Joshua Kimmich played well below their potential, apparently marked by the Bayern crisis of the past few weeks. After all, the dedicated Jamal Musiala showed the beginnings of his extra class, the recently injured Serge Gnabry should soon be a starting eleven candidate again.
Hardly any alternatives in the storm
Shining in this constellation is a Herculean task for Brandt and Wirtz. The same applies to strikers Kai Havertz and Niclas Füllkrug – who at least scored against Ukraine. Both should continue to be part of the squad due to a lack of alternatives, Leipzig’s Timo Werner is the only competitor in the striker apart from standby national player Thomas Müller. Dortmund’s Youssoufa Moukoko should have had a very strong season, his team-mate Karim Adeyemi is a candidate for left wing.
Gündogan also asks about quality
That leaves Ilkay Gündogan, captain of Champions League winners Manchester City and a great hope in midfield after a world-class season. After the hardships in the final, he was only used against Colombia, hardly found any connections and summed up in the Sportschau interview: “You can see a certain uncertainty within the team.” And: “If you don’t manage to call the potential onto the pitch over a longer period of time, at some point you have to talk about whether we also have the quality to play at the highest level.”
So after the test game series, the realization remains that everything is not working. Now Hansi Flick and Rudi Völler just have to find out which players and which system can do it better.