The German national team just had a disappointing match, exposing many weaknesses, even though coach Nagelsmann fielded a very strong squad. They were behind to Switzerland and had to struggle until the extra minutes to equalize.

It is known that the German team has already won a ticket to continue at EURO 2024 after only the first 2 matches in the group stage. But the way coach Julian Nagelsmann and his team approached and played against the Swiss team early this morning, June 24, still made their fans feel uneasy. The “tank” revealed too many problems through this match that no longer had much meaning.

Swiss national team tore through goalkeeper Neuer’s net

Firstly, it was the effectiveness of the attack. This was a match in which Germany completely dominated the game and launched 18 shots towards the Swiss goal. However, only 3 times the ball hit the goal. And the home team had to wait until the extra minutes to get the equalizer 1-1 thanks to the goal of substitute player Niclas Fullkrug.

A typical example of the ineffectiveness of the “tank” in finishing is the case of striker Kai Havertz. This 25-year-old star has turned on the “wooden leg” mode like when he played for Chelsea. He tried to shoot at the Swiss goal 6 times, but only hit the target once and could not put his name on the list of scorers.

Home team striker Havertz (right) played very unlucky.

However, the biggest flaw for Germany after the 1-1 draw with Switzerland was their defense. This was a match where the home team played defense like a chicken with its hair caught in its teeth. In particular, the central defenders Antonio Rudiger and Jonathan Tah were extremely disappointing, as they continuously made mistakes, making the home team’s goal always fragile.

In this match, Switzerland chose to play defensive counter-attacks. They did not have many chances to besiege goalkeeper Manuel Neuer’s goal. But every time the Swiss team attacked, the German defense system was shaken. According to statistics, Switzerland only had 4 shots on goal in this match. But goalkeeper Neuer had to show his talent twice and had to pick the ball out of the net once.

The German defense is often threatened by Swiss strikers.

In addition, Switzerland also had a missed shot, the ball went just wide of the post in the first half and a situation where the ball entered goalkeeper Neuer’s net but was called offside by the referee near the end of the second half. This sounded the alarm bell for the “tank”. If the home team continues to play defensively like this, they may have to pay a very high price in the knockout round.

It felt like both centre-back Antonio Rudiger and right-back Joshua Kimmich were not in good physical shape for this match. Meanwhile, Tah often lost concentration. That led to the situation where the “tank” was very passive in counter-attacks. It was from a quick attack transition in the first half that Dan Ndoye rushed down, then tapped the ball close to the goal to open the score for the Swiss team.

Center-back Tah (far right) will be suspended for Germany’s match in the round of 16.

Obviously, coach Nagelsmann has a lot of work to do to avoid the situation of blunt attack and poor defense like in the recent match against Switzerland. Striker Niclas Fullkrug probably needs to start more. According to statistics, the Dortmund striker has scored 13 goals in 19 matches for the “tank”, meaning an average of 1 “shooting” every 58 minutes – a very impressive scoring efficiency. Tah’s suspension in the next match is also an opportunity for coach Nagelsmann to have more experiments with the German national team’s central defenders.

With a 1-1 draw against Switzerland, Germany finished the group stage at the top of Group A. This puts coach Nagelsmann and his team in a very “hard” bracket. In the round of 16, they will have to face England or Denmark. If they continue, they could face Portugal, the Netherlands or France in the quarter-finals… The road ahead for the “tank” is clearly very thorny. Therefore, if there is no quick adjustment to cure the disease of “dull attack, poor defense” like in the 1-1 draw with Switzerland, the home team will find it difficult to go far.