Reconstruction of the DFB defense: “Let yourself be surprised”

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As defense chief, Antonio Rüdiger (M.) is supposed to remedy the notorious vulnerability in the DFB team

Photo:

Marc Schueler / Student / IMAGO

This week, the rooms at the DFB headquarters in Frankfurt am Main look like they are from another time. In the foyer in front of the press room there is an old tube television, a coffee table and a transistor radio; on the wall you can see a cuckoo clock and framed pictures of the German Shepherd. Actually, the only thing missing from this sponsorship campaign on the topic “Typically German” is the smell of sauerkraut and Uli Stielike’s jacket.

But not only Stielike's clothing style, but also his playing style was considered emblematic of the country for decades. Germany has always had tough defenders with the necessary toughness towards themselves and others, whether Vogts, Briegel or Kohler. The national team always achieved success when it was able to rely on a stable defense. Germany was always a defending country.

“Typically German used to always be to be successful,” said returnee Toni Kroos on Tuesday, causing laughter. One could say: It's not just on this point that the DFB consistently clears up old clichés.

22 goals conceded in eleven games in 2023

Because Germany is no longer successful - and no longer a defending country. The bankruptcies in recent years are directly linked to the weak defense. In the 2023 international match year, the German team conceded 22 goals in eleven games. The team did not keep a clean sheet in any of the last ten games.

The average at the 2022 Qatar World Cup didn't look much better: five in three games. A horrifying statistic when you consider that it's actually not exactly untalented people like Manuel Neuer or Marc-André ter Stegen who are guarding the goal.

Even after the 2-0 defeat in Austria in November - and also misfires by the otherwise so consistent defense chief Antonio Rüdiger - coach Julian Nagelsmann immediately lacked faith in the defense: "We won't be defensive monsters at the European Championships in the summer either," said he. Who knows if he would repeat that sentence now.

When it comes to defense, Nagelsmann showed a similar volatility as his predecessor Hansi Flick. A back three or a back four took turns happily, and the staff swapped places more often than in speed dating. In his last game in charge, for example, Flick ordered Joshua Kimmich back into the back four on the right, Nagelsmann brought him into the center of midfield and then sent him out again. He reactivated and deactivated Dortmund's Mats Hummels.

Hummel's victim of the new game system

However, Nagelsmann's reasoning in the case of the world champion was interesting: "We have a different order and have changed the original approach," said the national coach. “We will build differently than we did last time, i.e. we will have one less central defender.”

Nagelsmann sent video sequences of the game build-up to the defenders in the run-up to the games, as Frankfurt's Robin Koch revealed to "Sport Bild". The explanations suggested that, compared to the defeat in Austria in November, Germany would switch from a three-man chain when in possession of the ball to a four-man chain - and stay that way. To ensure calmness in defense, it is important to create certainties.

One looks like this: In the four-man defense chain, Jonathan Tah and Rüdiger, who are outstanding in Leverkusen, play centrally, with Kimmich on the right and Maximilian Mittelstädt or Benjamin Henrichs, who were effusively praised by the coach, on the left.

The slightly different structure is probably planned with Toni Kroos falling back to the defenders. He is currently a kind of quarterback at Real Madrid. Kroos' passing strength and overview should ensure an orderly build-up of the game.

Of course, defense chief Rüdiger was also asked about the topic in this regard. Answer: »Let yourself be surprised.«

Andrich as a vacuum cleaner in front of defense?

It should be an advantage for him to now have his club colleague Kroos and probably a defensive-minded six like Pascal Groß or Robert Andrich in front of the defense - or as they used to say in the era of tube televisions: a vacuum cleaner.

With this line-up in midfield, a fundamental problem of the German defense could be solved: the national team did not have consistently bad defenders, but above all a bad (remaining) defense.

Whether at the 2018, 2022 World Cup or, most recently, the terrible test match in Austria: Germany has always shown itself to be very vulnerable to counterattacks. If the DFB team lost the ball slightly, a simple pass like in Vienna to the Austrian striker Michael Gregoritsch was often enough - and the German defense was exposed.

On Saturday, Nagelsmann's team will face France in Lyon (9 p.m./TV: ZDF, live ticker at SPIEGEL.de). It remains to be seen whether Nagelsmann's new plan will work. France, the 2018 world champions, is one of the strongest counterattacking teams ever.