Former Bayern Munich manager Hansi Flick has his work cut out for him as he leads Germany into three games during this session of international play.
What should fans be watching for as the German national team takes Ukraine (Monday June 12th at 12PM EDT), Poland (Friday June 16th at 2:45PM EDT), and Colombia (Tuesday June 20th at 2:45PM EDT)? Let’s take a look.
Can the attack take advantage of opportunities?
One of the biggest problems that Germany has had under both Flick and Joachim Löw has been with finishing. In Flick’s early days as boss, the team played with a newfound confidence and resiliency, which led to a good amount of offensive chances. There was a pure energy in the team…but that faded.
Now, the team has struggled to create as many opportunities and has had even more trouble finishing them. That situation must improve…and it must happen now.
Flick will be looking to see who can work within his system and who can excel in disrupting opposing defenses. The manager can no longer wait for things to get better, he has to demand work rate, efficiency, and production.
How the team functions if Flick moves to a back-three?
Flick has talked about using a back three-based formation and fans will want to see which center-backs are chosen and how they play.
Moreover, fans will want to see what Flick does at the wing-back positions as well. The idea presents Flick with an open book for experimentation, but some fans could argue that Germany should be well past the point of trying to figure things out.
Regardless, Flick’s potential move to this formation will require some adjustments and the coach needs to figure out who can play within the formation if he is planning.
On a sidenote, Flick could be eyeing a 3-4-2-1, which would allow Jamal Musiala and Florian Wirtz to play together…which is also something to keep an eye on.
A gander into how things might play out for Monday’s game against Ukraine was captured by Bild:
Hansi Flick is trying out a back 3 system in training, as revealed by his tactics table, spotted by @BILD. Kimmich is playing next to Emre Can in midfield in the ‘A team’. Wirtz played as a ‘neutral playmaker’ for both teams. Musiala was in the B team & could be rested vs Ukraine pic.twitter.com/iAdkZeCsmD
— Bayern & Germany (@iMiaSanMia) June 9, 2023
Identifying more of what’s missing than what’s working?
This might sound confusing, but Flick took some gambles with his squad selection. We can ascertain that the manager wants to see what some of these players can do — and if they can hack it at the top level of international play.
From there, Flick can scan through the list of players that he did not select for one reason or another and identify if they can be that missing link. Thomas Müller? Niklas Süle? Leroy Sané? Karim Adeyemi?
Can any of those players — or anyone else not selected — be the spark to ignite something great from this group?
Flick will be looking at his current group and identifying where some of those players, who did not get called up for this set of games, might be able to be the missing piece.
