Big DFB midfield puzzle
Does national coach Nagelsmann dare to launch the Kimmich revolution?
October 12, 2023, 11:16 a.m
If Julian Nagelsmann wants to be successful, he has to solve the midfield puzzle in the DFB team. His predecessor already failed at this. Who plays with whom? If Kimmich remains the constant, does a destroyer have to be pushed alongside Gündoğan? Questions that need to be answered by the new summer fairy tale.
Julian Nagelsmann sees the possible motto for his new beginning with the German national team every day on the way to the training ground in Foxborough. The word “Revolution” is emblazoned in meter-high white letters above the functional building of the New England MLS club of the same name based here. So tabula rasa and everything at zero? Nagelsmann will, at least when it comes to midfield, reverse Hansi Flick’s last measures. But instead of revolution, he took up restoration.
If the first impressions are not misleading, the new national coach is planning to work with former partners Captain İlkay Gündoğan and Joshua Kimmich in the control center. The duo of Kimmich and Leon Goretzka, whom Nagelsmann had almost blindly trusted during his time at FC Bayern, would have had its day. The question of who should pull the strings in the German game is of great importance. If Nagelsmann wants to be successful and make the promised “Summer Fairy Tale 2.0” come true at the home European Championships in 2024, he has to solve the tricky midfield puzzle that his predecessor Flick failed to solve.
Flick was constantly changing
In his 25 international matches, Flick tried nine different midfield formations in the starting eleven. Most often, seven times, he trusted his former Munich standard model with Kimmich and Goretzka. But Kimmich and Gündoğan were also allowed to start together six times, Goretzka and Gündoğan four times, twice even all three.
Flick wasn’t really happy with any of these variants, so he tried out others. Kimmich also started twice with Emre Can, who was not taken into account by Nagelsmann, and Flick Gündoğan combined once with Jamal Musiala, Florian Neuhaus and Julian Weigl. In his last international match against Japan (1:4) he suddenly threw everything overboard – revolution! Gündoğan, who had just been given the armband, started with Can for the first time, Kimmich had to go into the back four on the right, Goretzka stayed at home.
Does Nagelsmann “sacrifice” the constant Kimmich?
Nagelsmann brought the Munich player back, but he is expected to make his debut on Saturday (9 p.m. CEST/RTL and in the live ticker on ntv.de) put on the bench against the USA in Hartford. When putting together his headquarters, he takes into account training impressions as well as those from conversations with his stars. “Where do I get advice? The players are the most important thing,” he said. His mission to the midfield is clear: “Create stress on the opponent so that it hurts him to play against us.” But are Gündoğan and Kimmich really the ideal choice for this?
Nagelsmann thinks highly of both. His first call in the new office was to Gündoğan. “I am convinced of İlkay as a person and player,” he said. During his time at Bayern, Kimmich was considered an extended arm on the pitch; the six-man publicly mourned the coach’s expulsion (“Little love, little heart”).
However: Like Thomas Tuchel in the ongoing debate in Munich about the “holding six”, Nagelsmann also wanted a “pressing machine” back then. Kimmich, it was said, is not one – but his role in modern football is more important than ever. Even the fine technician Gündoğan is not a “destroyer” as Nagelsmann sees him in newcomer Robert Andrich. But if he were to put the Leverkusen player or his second backup Pascal Groß next to Gündoğan, it would upset the hierarchy because he would have to “sacrifice” Kimmich. Nagelsmann won’t want that – because it would really be a revolution.