Muzi Guanhudou | After ten months, Morihoichi and the Japanese team once again punished German football in confusion

Ten months ago at the World Cup in Qatar, Japan beat Germany 2-1 to lay a solid foundation for qualifying in the group of death.

Even after that match, many people still believed that Japan's victory was a fluke, and Germany still had a chance to control their own destiny, but after the remaining two rounds, Japan became the first group in successive victories over Germany and Spain, and Germany returned home after a meaningless victory.

Ten months later, Germany chose to challenge Japan again at home, this time using the solid skills of the players and the versatile tactics of the coach to make German football "humiliated" at home with a 4-1 game.

This time, no one said anything about getting away with it.

"The four-man defence had positive results in the first half..."

After the game, starting central defender Itakura Takashi spoke in an interview about the change in the Japanese team's thinking in this game. In the first half, they did play as a back four:

Left midfielder Mikami is positioned in front of left-back Yoki Ito, and when defending the outside, it is also Ito Yoki who expands his defensive zone:

In the case of a relatively small number of defenders, a single point naturally needs to cover a larger area, but in exchange for the number of people on the offensive end, there are enough people.

But on this basis, Morihoichi also made targeted arrangements.

Ito's height reaches 186cm, even from a European perspective, he is definitely a big full-back, so his side of the offensive responsibility is not heavy, the main thing is to defend behind the battlement, so from this point of view, you can also think that the Japanese team in the first half is already a three-back idea, just a fake three-back with no assistance from one full-back.

The left side is not inserted, and the side of the three is a feint, which is ultimately used to attract defense, create space and one-on-one opportunities on the right, so the first two goals of the Japanese team are transferred by the left half, and then scored through a cross from the right:

Among them, the performance of Miso and Junya Ito needless to say, they are also the more outstanding players of the Japanese team in this game, but in addition to these two, there is one point that cannot be ignored.

That is center Kiyo Ueda.

Compared with the World Cup, Ueda has made significant progress and can carry the front top of Rudiger and Juler, which provides a fulcrum for the Japanese team's attack, which also pins down the German team's defense, and creates space for Mito, who are on the wing, and Junya Ito:

The pivot role, transfer accuracy and tactical design were important reasons for the excellent performance of the Japanese team in the opening period.

Although Itakura feels that the team is playing well, "I think we can continue like this", there are still problems with this system, which has to do with the goals of the German team.

During Germany's goal, right-back Kimmich entered the middle, creating an additional numerical advantage in the midfield:

Thus pushing Sane to the position of the weak side outside line, Mitomi became a defender who wandered outside the system.

So in the process of scoring goals:

Sane is indeed not the target he should be targeting, but Kimmich entered the midfield, and he could not follow the defense, so Mikaku stuck to the rules in this goal, including Morihoichi may not have thought about it before the game, which led to the Japanese team conceding the goal.

It is likely that it was also based on the defensive problems that appeared in this goal, so in the second half, the Japanese team changed their formation to the orthodox three-back system, "In the second half we changed to a five-man defense and it was closer. ”

When off the ball, Mitomi will land directly on Yoki Ito's side, allowing the Japanese team to stand directly as a back five:

In this way, the defensive width does not need to be worried.

However, the price of this choice is that the ball is sidelined, Germany has the upper hand in the game, thus creating some scoring chances, while Japan need to counterattack their opponents.

At this time, Morihoichi showed his skills in the World Cup, through continuous, multi-person substitutions, always maintaining the vitality of the front court, thereby creating some breathing time for the players in the back.

It is a pity that Asano Takuma's single knife did not score:

Strictly speaking, Germany's performance in this game was not without merit, Sane's goal equalized at one point, and other attacks also hit Japan's defensive problems:

But the old problem of not taking chances still plagues Frick's team.

The obvious mistake is to let Kai Havertz play as a central striker, which has been proven in succession at Chelsea, Arsenal and last year's World Cup, but Frick is still insistent, so the players are behind the pot, and the team naturally suffers.

As for the underperforming position, the centre-back line is a place. Rudiger and Juller can't hold Ueda Kiyo, and the Japanese team's attacks can always be strung together:

And if it weren't for Ter Stegen, Germany would have fallen 3-1 down in the first half:

Of course, in the end, Japan was able to score the third and fourth goals, and the German team's central defender also made an indelible contribution:

After the match, Itakura felt that Japan insisted on playing back four and could also beat Germany.

This is still doubtful, and an attack like Sane's goal round is clearly a problem for Japan in terms of system, which is not a problem that Itakura said can be solved quickly by moving horizontally.

The German team is poor, but the quality of the players is still there.

Therefore, Senbao came back half of the game to change to a three-back idea, including replacing the regular central defender in the adjustment stage, which is the correct way to manage risks, and the price is, of course, that the situation falls into the downside, but with this foundation, the 2-1 lead can be retained at the end.

So in a way, the score is a little deceptive.

Japan did well, just as they did at the World Cup, but the balance of strength between the two teams may not have fundamentally reversed, at least not at the level of Japan's 4-1 victory over Germany.

In the case of such a loss, Germany are still the biggest driver of this score, and their weak performance at both ends of the offensive and defensive ends is related to the players, but also to Frick's formation.

The manager position may need to be changed, but more importantly, there is a change in thinking, they need a coach like Morihoichi who knows how many pounds he has, or what his strengths and weaknesses are.