Score, concede, then score, score again. Some things never change — and this hallmark of Hansi Flick’s Bayern Munich sides seem to have carried over to the Germany men’s national team, who were fortunate to find their way to a 3-3 draw against Ukraine on Monday.
Back three, back four, any way you slice it, Germany’s teams have found creative new ways to concede. It’s proving to be a tricky habit to break.
“Their goals were really frustrating for us because they came from simple mistakes,” said starting goalkeeper Kevin Trapp (Eintracht Frankfurt) after the match, as captured by DFB.de. “We put in a good performance overall, but our mistakes are just punishing us.”
The leakiness at the back hasn’t helped with the mentality of attacking players, an issue cited at length since EURO 2021. But at least on this occasion, Germany eventually won their way back into the match.
“We were completely thrown off course by their extremely soft goals,” said substitute winger Jonas Hofmann (Gladbach), who replaced Borussia Dortmund wing-back Marius Wolf around the hour mark. “We wanted to win, but 3-3 is a good result when you consider everything.”
Interested in more analysis of the game? Then why not check out our postgame podcast? We talk about the back three and Hansi’s selection headache at fullback, issues with experience, and the lack of chance creation. Listen to it below or on Spotify.
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