Barely five minutes into a new season and we’re already beset by another international break. Germany take on Hungary and the Netherlands this month, and Julian Nagelsmann hopes to usher in a new era of German football, no longer reliant on the giants of the past.
Team news
This will be the first time that Germany have called up a squad without any of the players from the 2014 World Cup triumph (excluding specifically experimental teams like the Confederations Cup squad from 2017). It also means that this squad has the fewest number of Bayern Munich callups in recent memory. How will that affect things for Julian Nagelsmann?
Here’s what kicker thinks the lineup could look like:
Let’s break it down:
- With no need to accommodate İlkay Gündoğan in midfield any more, Nagelsmann can put Niklas Füllkrug up top and move Kai Havertz behind him to the attacking midfield spot, with Florian Wirtz and Jamal Musiala on either flank. This should suit all four players involved, hopefully helping Germany create and score chances.
- While Aleksandar Pavlović and Angelo Stiller were both called up, reports out of Germany indicate that Robert Andrich and Pascal Groß are ahead of the duo in the pecking order. Of course, this is just a prediction — we’ll see whether that’s true when Germany reveal their final lineup an hour before kickoff.
- No surprises in defense, with Joshua Kimmich inheriting the captain’s armband from Manuel Neuer.
Basically, we shouldn’t expect anything crazy just yet. Assuming Julian Nagelsmann sticks to the plan he cooked up during the Euros, Germany should be alright in their Nations League home game versus Hungary. Now, if he chooses to tinker, well that’s another story entirely.
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