The German national team is in complete disarray; there’s no other way to put it. The blame has been pointed at either coach Hansi Flick (formerly of Bayern Munich), the players, or even the DFB. Former Bayern and Germany player Bastian Schweinsteiger has a different suspect in mind: ex-FC Barcelona and current Manchester City coach Pep Guardiola.
“The strengths, through the last seven, eight years, we forgot about that. We were more focused on playing the ball nicely to each other and that’s one of the reasons”, Basti explained (via TalkSport)
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The former Manchester United and Chicago Fire midfielder said that the way Pep’s teams normally play (possession-based football and tiki taka) fooled everyone in Germany into thinking that’s the way to go. “I think there has been a lot of change. You know when Pep Guardiola joined Bayern Munich when he came to the country, everyone believed we had to play this kind of football, like short passes and everything”, Der Fußballgott recalled. “We were kind of losing our values you know. I think most of the other countries were looking at Germany as a fighter and we can run until the end and everything.”
