Well the normal league season may be over, but football never really stops. Several Bayern Munich players are set to feature on Monday as Germany take on Ukraine in a international friendly. Hansi Flick says he wants to experiment with a back three in this series of international games, despite leaving Borussia Dortmund’s Niklas Sule without a callup. What kind of lineup should we expect? Well, here’s a look …
Team news
Currently, there are only three things we know about the Germany XI. Robin Gosens and Ilkay Gundogan won’t join the team until the 14th, owing to their teams’ participation in the Champions League final, while Niclas Fullkrug will definitely be in the starting XI (per Hansi Flick’s most recent press conference). The formation will feature a back three, with Sky Sports predicting the following: [Update: @iMiaSanMia deleted their tweet so here’s a new one with Bild’s predicted lineup, not much changes]
As always, the wing-backs seem like the major concern with a lineup like this — David Raum and Marius Wolf aren’t exactly world class. Schlotterbeck, Rudiger, and Klostermann Ginter seem like a relatively straightforward back three, while Joshua Kimmich is set to pair up with Emre Can in in midfield.
According to Sky’s graphic, we’ll likely see Fullkrug, Jamal Musiala, and Chelsea’s Kai Havertz as the three attackers chosen in the setup, given that Serge Gnabry did not get called up due to injury issues. Meanwhile, Kevin Trapp is set to start in goal.
What do you think of the lineup? What would you change? Is Flick right in using a back three, or is this an experiment doomed to fail? We have a long summer ahead of us, so comment below!