Julian Nagelsmann's imagination runs wild
For a good half hour, Julian Nagelsmann is the DFB team's miracle worker against Turkey. But then the tide turned. His experiment Kai Havertz, of all people, was at the center of the first defeat.
Julian Nagelsmann had carved himself a left-back. One with offensive drive. One with goalscoring qualities. After just five minutes, Kai Havertz turned away jubilantly, his hands to his ears. He had casually finished off a dream combination via Benjamin Henrichs and Leroy Sané while standing in the penalty area. National coach Nagelsmann had promised great fantasy with Havertz and the fans of the German national team started to dream.
"Away win, away win", they shouted, as the Olympic Stadium was firmly in Turkish hands. The German fans' wish was not fulfilled, instead there was a real away win in the end - and that also had to do with Havertz. Later, in the second half, he was once again to stand in that very spot in the penalty area and do the things that defenders do.
The 24-year-old attacking midfielder was pushed to the back by the new national team coach as a complete surprise. It was clear after the fifth minute that Julian Nagelsmann could do no wrong.
For 36 minutes, he was the miracle healer for the DFB squad that had been so battered in recent years. Then the flashlights went on in the Olympic Stadium. Thousands of fireflies lit up around the final stadium of the 2024 European Championship. They soon turned Nagelsmann into an ordinary coach. Nevertheless, he said after the 3-2 defeat to Turkey: "Kai Havertz played an outstanding game. The only surprising personnel today was our best man." It was more an attempt by Nagelsmann to justify his experiment. But on closer inspection, it was a failure.
"Not that complex"?
The national team's style of play, Nagelsmann had said when he took office, would "not be as complex as in club soccer". Rather, it would be designed to "give the players stability". No complex instructions, but roaring success. That was his promise.
It looked like this against Turkey: In the 4-2-2-2 system, Havertz played left-back, repeatedly pushing up, while in front of the back four, Joshua Kimmich and İlkay Gündoğan, who are not exactly known as clearers, were supposed to push the play for attacking midfielders Florian Wirtz and Julian Brandt. Kimmich also played for Leroy Sané, whom he was always looking for. And Niclas Füllkrug was right up front in the center, running at whatever needed to be run at, while Sané worked everything. He was at the back and in front and in the 38th minute not enough at the back. Right-back Benjamin Henrichs had moved up, and a long ball outpaced Sané and fell to the real left-back Ferdi Kadioglu.
He had moved up, only to put the ball dryly into the near corner. Kevin Trapp tried everything, but his fingers could not deflect the shot decisively. The fireflies of the 36th minute turned into a celebration. Lone pyro flares lit up and the stadium was subjected to a volume test. A second one followed only a short time later. A long pass from ex-Schalker Kaan Ayhan sailed across the field from the right, Henrichs moved in and 18-year-old Kenan Yildiz popped up behind him.
Born in Regensburg, he moved from Bayern Munich to Juventus in Italy in the summer of 2022 and has now been called up for Turkey for the first time after just five games. "I've played for Turkey since the U17s and I'm very proud of that. Germany never approached me, never contacted me. That's why there was no option, the question didn't arise," he said recently. In the second minute of stoppage time, he was free in the penalty area and scored a world-class goal. He smashed the ball into the far corner with full force. It flicked between the crossbar and the post and then flew into the goal.
The stadium celebrated into half-time and soon after the break, a few fans of the Turkish team were fighting in one of the blocks. That broke up and Germany were back. Wirtz hinted at what he would one day mean to the national team. He picked up the ball on the halfway line, walked with it towards the penalty area and found Füllkrug. He scored. His tenth goal in his twelfth international match. But one that could do nothing to change his fifth defeat in DFB kit.
Too much fantasy?
Because central defender Abdülkerim Bardakci had appeared in the German penalty area in the 68th minute, brought a ball in and Havertz held out his arm. The game continued for some time, but when the ball went out of play, the VAR intervened and referee Bartosz Frankowski walked to the touchline to the cheers of the crowd. Perhaps Nagelsmann's head was buzzing with the chant that usually echoes through stadiums across the country at this point. Perhaps he was secretly singing "You're ruining our sport". No matter: Veysel Sari stepped up to take the penalty, Trapp flew into the right corner and again his fingers were too weak.
In the 71st minute, the score was 2:3 and despite furious attacks and numerous counter-attacks by Turkey, nothing was to change. Henrichs saved once in the greatest of emergencies with a sliding tackle near the halfway line from the onrushing Sari (74') and the DFB team missed the equalizer several times. Brandt failed to score with a weak shot (73') and Gnabry missed a pass from Sané (86').
"A few didn't reach the emotional level, didn't push the boundaries," said Nagelsmann and captain Gündoğan also noted the DFB team's lack of aggression. "They scored goals after we made mistakes. We were simply too passive. That can't be the case," he said: "Maybe it was just too good a start to the game. In the end, we were always one step ahead, especially in the first half. It feels like we lost the game in the first half."
In the third game under Nagelsmann, the national team suffered a sobering defeat against a Turkish team that had started with a B-Elf after qualifying for the European Championship. The Havertz experiment could do nothing to change that, even if the new national coach had brought a little imagination back into the daily routine. Perhaps it was too much of it. The Turkish fans couldn't have cared less. They waved their flags, set off fireworks and hugged each other. Away win at the home game in Berlin.
After the experiment with Kai Havertz at left-back, Julian Nagelsmann looked to Leroy Sané for offensive drive. Sané's goal against Turkey, assisted by Havertz and Benjamin Henrichs, showed the potential of this new setup.
Despite the loss, Nagelsmann commended Havertz's performance, stating that he was the team's best player during the match. This recognition of Havertz's talents could be a sign of more surprising changes to come from the DFB national team coach.
Source: www.ntv.de
