Severe damper against Hungary: The Bayern crisis is spreading to the DFB-Elf

Severe setback against Hungary
The Bayern crisis spreads to the DFB-Elf

By Stephan Uersfeld, Leipzig

The FC Bayern players travel to the national team with poor form and little self-confidence. There they infect their teammates with the FCB virus. Against deep Hungarians, some series break in Leipzig and national coach Hansi Flick admits a mistake. But is there a solution?

Marco Rossi said goodbye to the applause of the journalists who had traveled with him. The national coach of Hungary had just declared that his team was 1-0 (1-0) in Leipzig. The first win against Germany since 2004 was also the first defeat ever in Leipzig for the DFB team and the first for national coach Hansi Flick in his 14th game. The last home game before the World Cup in Qatar was not to the liking of the four-time world champion. But Hansi Flick didn’t want to show too much disappointment. He spoke soberly and explained things, took a mistake, tried to protect his team. The criticism, he had to guess, would be loud enough anyway after this game.

“Every now and then you shouldn’t let your emotions show. We have to learn something and take something with us,” he said, before admitting his “absolute” disappointment. All right. Exactly two months before the first World Cup game against Japan, self-confidence was particularly bad. The team around substitute captain Thomas Müller recovered a bit in the second half, but they had nothing to counter the early goal of former Bundesliga professional Adam Szalai. There are new doubts about the national team and its nature for the tournament.

“Better now than in November,” said Flick and the players around Müller, Joshua Kimmich and Jonas Hofmann largely agreed. “The first half was just really shitty. We overslept a lot,” said Gladbacher Hofmann, who appeared as a right-back later: “That must be a lesson for us. That was largely not enough. It’s annoying, it hurts, but the defeat Don’t knock us out, we’ll continue on our way.”

Szalai meets dreamlike

But it was the self-confidence that blew things away that evening in the Leipzig stadium, which was sold out with almost 40,000 spectators. With the exception of captain Manuel Neuer, who fell ill with Corona and was therefore absent, the team that was a possible starting eleven for the World Cup didn’t take place at all against the wonderfully organized Hungarians and then in rooms that didn’t hurt any opponent.

After the game, Marco Rossi (right) spoke in awe of Hansi Flick’s respectful words before the game.

(Photo: IMAGO/Eibner)

With four Bayern players in the starting XI and youngster Jamal Musiala in the closing stages, this game seemed like an extension of the German record champions’ crisis. Many bad passes, a lot of lack of concentration and strange appearances, like that of Serge Gnabry, took every momentum out of the German game. It wasn’t until the 39th minute that Müller had their first chance, who jumped higher than Milos Kerkez, Hungary’s 18-year-old debutant, after a cross from the struggling David Raum, and headed the ball into Peter Gulacsi’s arms.

After Szalais’ wonderful back-heel after a corner kick, it was already 0-1 against Germany. In his 86th and penultimate international match, the former Bundesliga player grabbed a corner in front of the unusually flawed Müller and extended the ball wonderfully into the goal. It was Szalai, now 34 years old and on a lap of honor at FC Basel, who kept annoying Germany on the halfway line. In quick succession he provoked fouls from Müller and Kimmich, both of whom were almost symbolic of the German misery.

Werner remains pale

“The first half was really disappointing. We made a lot of mistakes. It was noticeable that the phase in the club is not the easiest for many people,” explained Müller after the game, referring to the crisis in Bayern and all the other clubs, who started the season so stumbling. The two Leipzigers Werner and Raum can also sing a song about it. Dortmund’s Niklas Süle has not yet reached his best form after moving from the record champions, as he proved on this evening.

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14 ball contacts, a back pass to Hungary goalkeeper Peter Gulasci. Timo Werner did not take place.

(Photo: IMAGO/Sven Simon)

All of this led to a festival of ball abduction, especially in the first half. While the guests, led by Leipzig’s Dominik Szoboszlai, were able to escape dangerously again and again, the team of national coach Flick played the ball sluggishly across and never found a way to get behind the last line. Gündoğan and Kimmich tried in moments. That didn’t want to succeed. It was a game that could take a new turn every second with a bad pass. There were an amazing number of them. If it was possible to prevent the bad pass, Gnabry & Co. lost the ball. Only Timo Werner didn’t. He didn’t even get the ball.

The Leipzig center forward did not take place at all. He needs more depth in the game, but the guests didn’t allow that. Werner stayed under ten touches in the first half and left the field after a half-chance after the break and a total of 14 touches in the 70th minute. Müller took over his role and also disappeared into the German storm hole, the substitute Kai Havertz managed to break up the compactness of the guests at least once by dribbling to the baseline. Not enough, of course, to settle the discussion about a central striker. The names of all German strikers are already buzzing through the night. From the Bremen filling jug to the Hertha mascot Selke, everything is included.

Flick admits mistakes – but was it one?

Flick changed the game after the break. Thilo Kehrer came for Gnabry and with him the chain of three and the end of what the national coach later took on as his mistake: the end of Jonas Hofmann as a right-back. The Gladbacher is one of the few who are currently making a name for themselves in the league and are therefore something of a beacon of hope. At the age of 30 and after just over ten international matches. Some of which he completed in the back right, even if Flick couldn’t remember.

“We wanted to try something with Jonas on the right back, with two defenders who play well. We wanted to see two attacking full-backs. We never got where we could use them, that didn’t work,” said Flick: “I opted for decided a line-up that didn’t work that way.” Hofmann had played in the position before. The admission seemed a little strange. So many construction sites before Qatar, so little time. One more game in Nations League relegated England, a few days of training, one last friendly in November and then it starts. The defeat in Leipzig proved that the German game stands and falls with the form of Bayern and that is questionable. The crisis in Bayern has also become a crisis for the national team this Friday.

The Hungarian coach Rossi, who was in a great mood, explained after the game that it’s not always only against Germany, but also against FC Bayern. Up to seven players from the record champions, he calculated, could easily be in the starting XI. And Bayern, he said, are not the worst team in the world. You always have to think about that against Germany. So the hope remains that the sprint to the World Cup at club level will not be torture for Bayern, that solutions will be found against deep opponents beyond Kimmich long-range shots, otherwise the controversial desert trip could end early before Christmas. The last preliminary round match is on December 1st against Costa Rica. Rossi does not have these worries. The Hungarians are only spectators at the World Cup.

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