Revenge becomes a tragedy! The German team, which is useless, is only Flick's hard mouth
With the German national team beaten at home by a non-traditional football powerhouse, two consecutive World Cups in the group stage, and the German Under-21s and Women's national team out of the group this summer favourites, German football is now truly at an all-time low.
The day after the German men's basketball team eliminated the United States and reached the World Cup final, the German men's football team continued to set the floor, losing 4-1 to Japan in Wolfsburg. The defeat in the World Cup group stage more than 9 months ago, Germany also suppressed Japan for 70 minutes, leading almost half the ball, which can be attributed to the loss of bad chance conversion into goalscoring ability; Now, old hatred adds new hatred, and the German team, which has the advantage of home not only played 11 minutes and fell behind (Sane equalized in the 19th minute and fell behind again), but also had zero offensive threat throughout the second half, and finally conceded only 4 goals thanks to Kiyo Ueda who wasted 3 solo chances.
Perhaps the Japanese team has become stronger, and it is more obvious that the German team has been completely lost. Mateus said: "This German team lacks imagination, no closeness, is not happy in the game, has no enthusiasm, no confidence. "So, what's left of this German team? Probably only Flick's mouth was hard. Faced with boos from the Volkswagen Arena and shouts of "Flick get out", the worst German manager since Ribbeck at the turn of the century still refused to resign: "All I can say is: I think we [the coaching staff] are doing a good job and I am the right coach. ”
Before this "revenge battle" with Japan, Flick made a series of dazzling foreshadowing: first announced a large squad without Goretzka, Timo Werner, Krell and Raum and only 2 full-backs; He then copied Manchester City in an internal training match against the German Under-20s, with Kimmich playing the role of Stones, that is, playing right-back when defending and moving to the number 6 position when attacking; Then he abruptly announced Gundogan and Kimmich as the new captains and vice captains, and stressed that future tactics would revolve around the "Triple Crown Captain" and "German Footballer of the Year" Gundogan. Despite Flick's unnecessary pre-match press conference and reluctance to dwell on tactical details such as Kimmich's position, Gundogan slipped the line that "every team can learn from Manchester City." I think Manchester City is the benchmark in recent years. ”
Unsurprisingly, Flick copied the starting list for the team's training matches against Japan. Even before kick-off, Kimmich couldn't wait to leave the far right of the four-man defence and came to the right of single back Emre Jan early. After the opening, Kimmich was indeed busy walking between the No. 6 and the right-back. But while spectators were still watching with interest the new formation of the German team, the seemingly passive Japanese team scored on the first shot. From Juler's direct pass to the broken midfield, to Nico Schlotebeck's unsuccessful single defense of Sugawara on the left flank, and was accelerated by the opponent to cross the bottom, to Rudiger's half-beat slower foot in front of the front post, and also Ito's original untargeted shot into his own goal, the three central defenders "perfectly" completed the Japanese goal.
Despite the shock, the German team did not seem to be affected much, continuing to practice the new style of play step by step, and soon the new captain Gundogan received the ball on the left rib and made a wonderful cross into the middle, and then assisted by Wiltz Sane to equalise. This goal really makes people see the hope that this set of "Manchester City play" with Gundogan as the core can play a role. However, just three minutes later, it was Schlotebeck's left defense that broke through, Sugawara Yusei crossed again, and Junya Ito didn't kick on target, and this time it was Kiyo Ueda's left-footed block that refracted into the net.
Not only was the defense poor during these two goals, Schlotebeck didn't even know what to do throughout the first half, whether it was without the ball or with the ball, he made a lot of mistakes, and the timing was always wrong. Before half-time, his cross from near the halfway line was deflected by Rudiger, and Ueda made a steal to form a single knife, all the way to the edge of the box and fired a low right-footed shot, only to be saved with his right foot in Ter Stegen. Gnabry in front of Schlotebeck also wandered completely, paralyzing the entire left flank of the German team.
On the other hand, Kimmich was not eaten raw by the breakaway Kaoru Sanbu in his new position, as many feared before the game, and was only beaten once by the Brighton winger in the first half, and prevailed the rest of the time in the confrontation. The problem was that Kimmich moved to the centre when attacking, always overlapping with Emre Jan, who stood still next to him, who never asked for the ball in the No. 6 position and whose teammates rarely handed him the ball. So this arrangement modeled after Manchester City resulted in one person in the middle becoming a decoration and one less person on the right. If Sane had not been in full form and repeatedly succeeded in breaking through with his individual ability, the German team would have been "wasted" on both wings.
In the defensive state, when Kimmich returns to the right of the defensive line, it is not Gundogan who takes back to act as a second-place back, but often Wiltz, who should have stayed behind the center for a long time, to come back to help. This so-called Manchester City style of play between 4141 and 3241 is completely eastern, with chaos at both ends of the offensive and defensive ends, and Volkswagen Arena began to boo after Ueda's single slash.
Flick immediately abandoned this overly complicated and useless arrangement after the break, Kimmich no longer adducted, but Gundogan did not increase the retreat to take the ball, but Emre Jan became the initiator of the backfield organization, and as a result, the Dortmund captain made three low-level errors in a row, setting the tone for this disastrous second half. Germany were able to make three kills and score one goal in the first half through Sane and Wiltz, but after switching sides, except for Kimmich's left-hand corner kick to put Juller high at the front post, they never threatened the away goal.
When the Japanese team switched to anti-counterattack mode, the familiar scene of the German team hypnotic passing and being countered by the opponent one by one returned in full force, Japanese goalkeeper Keisuke Ojo forced himself to do nothing, and ter Stegen was busy. It wasn't until the 64th minute that Flick finally replaced the disastrous Schlotebeck and Emre Jen, replacing Gosens and newcomer Pascal Gross. Ironically, it was Gosens, who was eager to perform, who kicked back a very low-level return pass that helped Japan score their third goal. Gosens then failed to defend against Kubo Kenei, who scored two "assists" and Bundesliga Dusseldorf midfielder Bi Tanaka sealed the 4-1 victory with a header in stoppage time.
Gosens certainly has to blame, but everyone knows that the new signing to Union Berlin is not suitable for left-back in the back four. And Gosens also obviously pressed significantly after he appeared, playing the role of half a left winger, and a large space behind him must be exposed, who should fill the position? Gross dared to hold the ball and press on the No.6 position, but the effect was not obvious, and Flick did not assign the new Brighton midfielder the work of the set-piece.
In fact, wouldn't it make sense to put Kimmich back in the No. 6 position and send a pure right-back Henriquez? Even if Gross is to play, he can replace Wiltz, who disappeared completely in the second half, and play the No. 8 position that is more suitable for him. As a result, Flick later replaced Wiltz with Brant, replaced Havertz who had no presence in the center forward position with Thomas Müller, and finally replaced Gnabry with the youngster Shad.
In fact, after Gosens and Shard came on successively, the left side of the German team obviously came alive, and the result was unfortunate, resulting in a side effect of being careless, and finally caused a tragedy that should have appeared earlier. So both Schlotebeck and Gosens, including Gnabry, were given the worst six points by Kicker magazine after the game, while Kai Havertz, Emre Jan, Juller, Rudiger, Gundogan and Gross also had only five points, which was really miserable.
Gosens was unfortunate enough to be a sinner, but if he had kicked Flick away, he might have become an alternative hero in the history of German football.
After a thrilling draw with Ukraine during the June international break, followed by consecutive defeats to Poland and Colombia, Flick's days in Germany seem to be counting down. Not only did some fans in the stands finally bravely hold up the piece of paper "Flick get out", but even the German Football Association began to waver. Sport1 revealed that the FA's top brass began looking for a potential successor to Flick after that. And now, after losing again to Japan, even Flick's old friend Mateus said: "I know what has been happening within the DFB in the last few months, there is no longer a lot of people there who support Flick. [Germany team manager] Worrall supports it, but I doubt that he can keep Flick now. ”
In the final scene of the recently released German World Cup documentary "All or Nothing", the interviewer asked Flick if at some point he thought that he might not continue to work. Flick seemed lost in thought, then inserted the image of him and Worrall hugging, and finally he gave a negative answer. This happened in late March this year. After a defeat to Colombia in mid-June, Worrall continued to block bullets for Flick, considering him "the most pathetic one" and throwing the pot at the players, "There are players today that we won't see again in September." ”
Will German team manager Worrall and DFB first vice-president Watzke, who witnessed the tragedy in the stands, continue to support Flick?
When Goretzka, Timo Werner, Krell and Raum and other back-of-the-pot players collectively lost the squad, the German team played even more miserably, and Worrall finally could not continue to blindly support Flick, "All of us better sleep first." I just talked to Hansey (Flick). He was devastated. We'll talk again tomorrow about why this happens. It's a shame! ”
The last time Germany lost so badly at home was in a World Cup qualifier against England at Munich's Olympic Stadium on 1 September 2001. After a dreamy start to the scoring with just six minutes into the game, England scored an incredible five goals in a row, with Michael Owen (below) scoring a hat-trick. I don't know if Worrall will feel like yesterday after witnessing the team being blasted by Japan in the stands now, because he coached the German team 22 years ago, and he should be the one who can best understand Flick's taste.
That 1-5 was once seen as an all-time low in German football since it became world champion. But then there was the "defeat of the century" in November 2020 when the UEFA Nations League lost 6-0 away to Spain, and now it is being played at home by a non-football traditional power, plus two consecutive World Cup collapses in the group stage, and the German U21 team and the women's national team are out of the group as favourites this summer, German football is now really falling to an all-time low, and it is still falling, and the low is not low.
Yes, driving out Flick will definitely not make German football bottom out and return to the top, but now hurry up to change the manager, there is still a chance to keep the lower limit, and if he continues to let him do nothing, then the German team may be completely spurned by its own fans, and the local European Championship in 9 months will not only turn into a competitive disaster, but even cause the country to become an international joke.
Loew suffered a fatal psychological blow from a 6-0 game and submitted his resignation two and a half years ago. Now, Flick's results and situation are already much worse than when Löw started, his win rate of less than 50% is the lowest since the "worst manager in team history" Ricbeck, and the 3-game losing streak is the first in 38 years, is it really necessary for the French team to play hard in Dortmund, and the unworthy Flick is willing to leave? The gang of high-level football association officials who were unwilling and did not dare to bear it were willing to drive him away?
Huang Sijun