Time away from Bayern Munich is never exciting, but Germany always occupies a special place in our hearts. After Julian Nagelsmann’s dismissal, it will be interesting to see how Bayern shape up, but for now, we turn our attention fully towards Hansi Flick and Co.
The World Cup in Qatar was not great for them but they are look to rebuild their image ahead of the Euros. Facing embarrassment as the host nation certainly would not be a good look!
Here are our observations from Germany’s 2-0 win against Peru in an international friendly.
A case for Nico Schlotterbeck
The German defense is, in form, ready to bag a few trophies. However, it has significantly improved since the World Cup. While Peru may not be the best nation to test our defense against, I have more hope in them now than I did back in November.
The reason: Nico Schlotterbeck.
Perhaps we have been a little too harsh on him. As someone who went on the Schlotterbeck bandwagon right after watching him at Union Berlin, it pains me to watch him get slander every other weekend. Tonight, Schlotterbeck was absolutely brilliant, heck, world-class even.
Even leading into the dying minutes of the game, he stayed sharp and did a brilliant job. He has made massive improvements to his game since the World Cup and it shows. Marc André Ter Stegen at goal was equally brilliant and put up an incredible performance worthy of praise.
Times like these… are not good for my blood vessels
The fact that it took Hansi Flick this long to figure that you can, in fact, play a number 9 and score goals with him baffles me. Niclas Füllkrug has shown nothing but excellence and reliability since his debut for Germany. In my opinion, it is downright insulting at this point to even name the German starting XI without the Werder Bremen attacker for he is worthy of a permanent position. To have a striker and yet play a system that acts like he doesn’t exist is… well, I ran out of ways to exhibit my anger while staying PG-13.
Who doesn’t make a striker take the penalty?! While I have nothing against Kai Havertz, it was clearly Füllkrug, after two goals, who should have taken the penalty.
We whine of not having worthy strikers but turn a blind eye and two deaf ears to the gem in our midst.
Are we never going to see the end of goalkeepers somehow turning superhuman during our games? Everyone absolutely lost their minds, as the Peruvian goalkeeper Pedro Gallese played as though he were possessed by prime Manuel Neuer. The Orlando City keeper emerged Peru’s standout performer as he made an unbelievable number of saves. While the Peruvian defense did next to nothing in terms of holding the German defense at bay, Gallese saved Peru from a great deal of embarrassment by simply saving anything and everything that he saw.
Praise yet another Borussia Dortmund player
It pains me to do this- just kidding, I can unbiasedly praise a good player, it isn’t that hard.
Marius Wolf was excellent in his debut. The deal with Wolf is that he has worked his way up to the top. While he was abysmal in his early days at Dortmund (I am a harsh critic!), he has improved massively and now is a fine and dependable full-back, worthy of the call-up. He makes an excellent right-back for the national team.
Concluding thoughts
I firmly believe that, on paper, this team is capable of being at least the dark horse in each tournament. They looked energized, well-rested and played good football. A general lack of chemistry is still visible, as it has been for ages, but now is the time if Flick and Co. wish to fix their flaws. This does not mean I would write Germany down to do well in the Euros, not yet. I do not wish to go into yet another tournament blindly believing in the team, because I need to see results on pitch first that are reflective of any form of improvement, from the coaching side and the player side.
To rival teams like France and England, however, needless to say, Germany has a long, long way to go.