Julian Nagelsmann gets it. ‘It’ being that international football is tactically distinguished from the club game. International camps do not lend themselves to implementing complex ideas and multiple setups. Coaches must curate the style to the (best) players, not the other way around, and the closer roles and team tactics mirror what players do for their club, the better.
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“There will be difficult moments, and so it’s important the players have something they can grasp onto,” he said in his first interview as Germany head coach in September 2023. “It won’t be as complex as in club football. It’s about giving the players something to identify with.”
Jamal Musiala and Florian Wirtz are the poster boys, narrow attacking midfielders in Germany’s fluid front four at Euro 2024. Their positional freedom and Germany’s free-flowing attack have seen them win their first two games at a major tournament for the first time in 12 years — and it owes to the structured six behind the ball.
It took Nagelsmann four games to find the right balance. There was a narrow 4-4-2, a back three with Kai Havertz at wing-back, and a 4-2-3-1 with Joshua Kimmich in midfield and Niclas Fullkrug up front.
Eventually, against France in March, he settled on 4-2-3-1 but the players were configured differently: three narrow ‘No 10s’ (attacking midfielders), with Wirtz and Musiala either side of captain Ilkay Gundogan. Havertz led the line, giving Germany four ball-to-feet options up front. The only difference between the starting XI that beat France 2-0 and the team that won against Hungary by the same scoreline on Wednesday was the goalkeeper — Manuel Neuer in for Marc-Andre ter Stegen.
GO DEEPER
My game in my words. By Jamal Musiala
The back four and the midfield two, Toni Kroos and Robert Andrich, play different, fixed roles. Kroos rotates out to the left half-space, like he does for Real Madrid. It maximises his passing range, entices opponents to press from the mid-block, and compensates for a right-footed Jonathan Tah at left centre-back.
2 – The two highest game totals for line-breaking passes at #EURO2024 have both been by Toni Kroos, in his first two games:
47 – Toni Kroos v Hungary
30 – Toni Kroos v Scotland
21 – Vitinha v Czechia
20 – Luka Modric v Albania
19 – Giovanni Di Lorenzo v AlbaniaKing. pic.twitter.com/3p0Rvpnpvi
— OptaJoe (@OptaJoe) June 19, 2024
Left-back Maximilian Mittelstadt pushes upfield, leaving Andrich as the sole pivot. It puts players in familiar club roles, as is the case with Kimmich at right-back and Havertz as a lone No 9.
Here is how that looked in the France friendly in March…
And against Scotland on matchday one…
And in the win against Hungary…
Nagelsmann used friendlies to his advantage — Germany automatically qualified as hosts, so did not have any competitive games between the 2022 World Cup and Euro 2024. Seven of their eight friendlies under Nagelsmann were against teams at this summer’s European Championship or Copa America (Greece being the exception). Those matches did not carry the jeopardy of competitive qualifiers but there were tactical litmus tests against quality pressing teams (Austria and France) and mid-block opposition (Ukraine and Mexico).
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They also drew a favourable group, missing any big hitters and with three tactically similar opponents. Scotland, Hungary and Switzerland play variations of a back five (Scotland and Hungary play 5-4-1), and though Switzerland can control games more, all like to defend in a mid-block.
Germany’s shape and style cause opponents problems in defending against their No 10s. Either they have to drop their midfielders deeper, giving time and space to Kroos, or defend aggressively with centre-backs. The second option vacates space in behind for Havertz/No 10s and carries a greater risk of fouls/yellow cards. Scotland and Hungary tried to defend with a hybrid of the two, but the front four’s fluidity, and their individual quality to play on the half-turn or dribble in tight spaces, made for more problems.
“They had all the answers, really,” said Scotland captain Andy Robertson after Germany won 5-1. “They managed to mix up their play a lot. We didn’t know if they were going in behind or coming short into pockets.”
Germany showed that same variety against Hungary. Centre-back Antonio Rudiger attempted passes in behind to Havertz three times in the first 10 minutes.
Wirtz, Musiala and Gundogan, who have all scored at this tournament, interchange and vary their positioning based on the game needs. Musiala put up eight dribbles and 32 passes against Scotland, as their mid-block was looser — he had space to play on the half-turn. Hungary were tighter and more aggressive, so he pulled wider, dribbled less and combined more: 45 passes and two dribbles, with those being longer carries across the pitch starting from the wing, rather than short, incisive carries from central spaces.
“This is how you can lose to Germany, because their team is full of world-class players,” said Hungary head coach Marco Rossi. “Our tactics worked — we tried to push them to the wings, but our central defenders were often late (in pressing).”
That showed for the opener. It took a bit of a counter-press and ensuing scramble, but Germany’s three No 10s worked in tandem. They regained the ball in Hungary’s half. Wirtz, from wide on the right, wrapped a pass inside to Musiala, who threaded it through to Gundogan — his runs beyond the ball are a feature of Germany’s attack. Gundgoan’s first touch was heavy but the captain recovered to hold off Willi Orban, beat the goalkeeper to the loose ball and square it for Musiala.
2 goals in 2 games for Jamal Musiala 👏
Will he end the tournament as the top scorer? 👀#Euro2024 | #GERHUN pic.twitter.com/lvcAhvEzoT
— ITV Football (@itvfootball) June 19, 2024
Gundogan doubled their lead in the middle of the second half, sweeping home Mittelstadt’s cutback from the left. This combination — advanced full-back pulling a pass to the edge of the box for a No 10 one-touch finish — is the same as Kimmich’s assist for Wirtz against Scotland, just from the other side.
The build-up? Kroos, from the left half-space, into Musiala’s feet. This baited Hungary’s right wing-back Bendeguz Bolla, taking him further away from Mittelstadt, who Musiala found in space.
Those two strikes mean Germany have already registered their highest-scoring Euros group stage (seven goals) and are only the second team, after the Netherlands in 2008, to score this many in their first two matches.
The added positive for Nagelsmann is that those goals are from six different scorers, with Fullkrug — a target man — offering something completely different to Havertz from the bench.
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Germany’s biggest test in the knockouts will be to build up even better (making fewer errors) to defend less. Hungary exploited Germany’s counter-attack weakness better than Scotland — particularly apparent in a pre-tournament friendly against Greece. Germany does not have a particularly mobile defence, while aggressively positioned full-backs leave space for opposition wing-backs to exploit. Their short passing style in the opposition half, and dribbling No 10s, mean Germany risk turnovers in trying to play through teams. Better nations will punish them more.
Ultimately there is risk/reward and tactical flaws to any style and scheme, plus there is an onus on Germany to dominate games. Partially because they are the host nation but also to prove themselves after their 2018-2022 failures, with tournament exits twice at the group stage and once in the round of 16. The clean sheet against Hungary was Germany’s first at a major tournament since a 3-0 win over Slovakia at Euro 2016 (14 games ago).
Their record with this system and personnel is only getting better: Germany have won five and drawn one of their past six, winning by an aggregate score of 13-3 and setting national records. Nagelsmann has, very quickly, learned to coach international football.