60 minutes nightmare in Wolfsburg
Nico Schlotterbeck is the symbol of Flick’s failure
September 10, 2023, 11:21 a.m
A nightmare on the left: Nico Schlotterbeck is hopelessly overwhelmed in an unfamiliar position during the DFB debacle against Japan. He was involved in the first two goals conceded and was abandoned by his teammates. The experiment fails miserably.
After the hour-long nightmare on the left, the substitution for Nico Schlotterbeck was a relief. The hopelessly overwhelmed Dortmund player was mercifully allowed to leave the pitch in Wolfsburg – after an evening that could hardly have been worse. Schlotterbeck was THE face of the 1:4 (1:2) embarrassment against Japan – as was the case in the bitter World Cup opening defeat against the Blue Samurai in November.
The central defender was completely out of place on the left side of the defense, was involved in two goals conceded and almost gave Japan a third – all of which Hansi Flick had brought upon him. “I won’t denounce any player. These are the things we discuss internally,” said the national coach.
But his idea of playing with a central defender on the left, analogous to the 2014 World Cup system (at the time the extremely solid Benedikt Höwedes), went terribly wrong. If Schlotterbeck was high, he was overrun as soon as the ball passed – as was the case with the Japanese winning goal by Takuma Asano in Qatar. If he went deeper into the duel, he was outplayed by the guests, who were strong at dribbling.
Schlotterbeck stumbles from misfortune to misfortune
“He is not supported, but he is always too far away from the opponent,” said RTL expert Lothar Matthäus at halftime. Many observers were surprised that Schlotterbeck had to continue playing for almost 20 minutes afterwards. It did not get better. No wonder: he had held the position a few times in the U21 or Freiburg youth teams, but only for a few minutes in the senior team.
Flick’s new approach of deploying Joshua Kimmich as a right-back and integrating him into the structure when he has the ball will probably be flanked on the left by Robin Gosens in the future. The Union Berlin professional doesn’t have his strengths in defense, but can at least provide offensive impetus. When he replaced Schlotterbeck, he made a mistake “directly,” as Flick complained, and was involved in the 1:3 and 1:4.
Schlotterbeck’s disastrous performance fit the picture of a messed up DFB career so far. The 23-year-old, Niklas Süle’s central defense partner at BVB, caused three (!) penalties in his first five international matches. On his seventh appearance he lost the running duel with Asano against Japan (1:2).
He was also extremely error-prone in June against Ukraine (3:3) and was out for the following two games. In his distress, Flick now resorted to “Schlotti” in the problem position at the back left. But the terrible hour in Wolfsburg will not help anyone with a view to the home European Championship next year.