1
Another (some would say unwelcome) International break is in the books. The German national team remains on course to qualify for the 2026 FIFA World Cup after getting the job done with a workmanlike 4-0 win over Luxembourg and a narrow victory over Northern Ireland in Belfast. Should one choose to focus purely on the results, there can be no complaints. Naturally, Germans can find plenty to complain about anyway.
The fact that a sizable traveling contingent accompanied the team to Belfast seemed to signify that German interest in the team ticked up a bit. Some of this had to do with the fact that the German U21s also had a Belfast match the next day and some traveling DFB supporters opted to take advantage of a chance to take in a “double-header“.
Domestic television ratings within the Bundesrepublik were down for both matches. Luxembourg drew an average of 7.35 million viewers (down from 7.47 million for Slovakia in September) while Northern Ireland (7.93 million viewers) didn’t quite hit the 8.5 million mark from the September showdown with the Nord Iron last month. Market share numbers were at least still decent.
Many Germans (this one included) preferred to follow detailed minute-by-minute reports in the German press and rely on the trademark German lengthy player reviews appearing in the papers the next day. A common trick among Germans when it comes to a match likely to prove an eyesore is to make the match more exciting by following minute-by-minute tickers to paint a better picture.
Thanks to the many talented football writers in the Bundesrepublik (still vastly superior to the obvious canned garbage pumped out by AI engines), we were able to select five “winners” from the international break. There wasn’t all that much going on with Nagelsmann’s side tactically in these two fixtures, but we’ll also supply documentation below.
Much of the discussion in the German press at this point centers around the German obsession of building a national team filled with club teammates connected on tactical axes and planes. A lot of the nation’s recent footballing failings have been attributed to the fact that the rise of teams like Stuttgart and Leverkusen mean that the old “Bayern” and “Dortmund” axes have vanished.
This conversation has been going on for quite some time. Nagelsmann – spurned on by the German editorial pages – specifically referenced his desire to build “FCB” and “BVB” player axes. As we’ll discuss a bit more below, it’s obvious enough that the Bundestrainer is trying to move in this direction. In all likelihood, he won’t be getting there any time soon.
The “Five Winners”
How did we manage this? To begin with, the “winners” appear in descending order from “strongest to weakest”. Nico Schlotterbeck and Serge Gnabry are basically obvious choices. By the time we get to David Raum, arguments against begin to creep in. Aleksandar Pavlovic is a pretty borderline case, mostly selected by virtue of the fact that he accrued a lot of minutes.
The fifth “winner” counted as such a toss up that most German press sources had to really strain to come up with someone who delivered consistently good performances across both matches. The author did his bit of straining as well, taking some of the other candidates into consideration before selecting Joshua Kimmich. It is what it is.
Nico Schlotterbeck, Borussia Dortmund
The returned BVB centre-back received a chance to start in both matches in his DFB return. The fact that the Luxembourg fixture was effectively over by half-time enabled Nagelsmann to honor the wishes of Schlotterbeck’s club trainer and get him off the pitch as soon as possible. Nico’s working day ended as the opening 45 came to a close. An early mistake led to an early Luxembourg chance, but the 25-year-old was largely solid from the 14th-minute onwards.
Even in his half-shift, Schlotterbeck was still able to accrue 68 touches and rattle off 63 passes. Whenever passing forward, the left-footer clearly aimed to make something happen. Pretty much all his stats in the second match were top notch. Schlotterbeck won over three-quarters of his duels on the ground and in the air. He also accrued 107 touches over the course of the full 90 minutes and connected with 89 percent of his 87 passes.
Schlotterbeck is credited with helping the Germans preserve their slender lead against Northern Ireland right up until the very end and his partnership with Bayern’s Jonathan Tah is said to have looked very effective. He also recorded a shot on target in the second fixture and booted plenty of powerful balls upfield. One can fairly say that Schlotterbeck helped his case immensely in ongoing contract extension talks with Dortmund.
It shall prove interesting to see if Tah and Schlotterbeck end up being the starting central defensive pair moving forward. The tandem don’t conform to the “BVB-FCB axes” talk noted above, but Schlotterbeck didn’t really get any minutes alongside BVB teammate Waldemar Anton. Much obviously depends on how the pair continue to perform together for club.
Serge Gnabry, FC Bayern München
The 30-year-old’s excellent return to form – well presaged by FCB trainer Vincent Kompany at the beginning of the season – continues. Jamal Musiala may seriously have some problems replacing both Bayern and Germany’s new No. 10. Gnabry lived up to his new billing as a veteran leader in the Luxembourg match, winning the free-kick that led to the 1-0 and drawing the penalty that enabled Germany to go up 2-0.
Gnabry then cemented his status as the man-of-the-match by scoring the 3-0 shortly after the restart. Apart from the goal and two plays on which he could have easily earned an assist credit, there were also several monster ball wins that drew him standing ovations from the Sinsheim crowd. He wasn’t as noticeable against Northern Ireland, but remained robust in winning nearly all of his duels.
Gnabry found himself somewhat unlucky not to have scored in the second fixture as his one effort on target proved a quality one. A total of 51 touches and 37 passes is actually pretty high for a ten. Even if many of his actions weren’t noteworthy, Gnabry kept himself involved to the extent that every solid leader should.
David Raum, RB Leipzig
This break could have scarcely gone better for the new RB captain. The 27-year-old picked the perfect moment to score his first goal for Germany at senior level. Just like the goal he scored for club this season, it came off a direct free-kick. The 1-0 against Luxembourg in the 12th-minute made certain that Germany set the tone early at Raum’s old TSG stomping ground. Raum picked up an assist on Woltemade’s “ugly bird winner” against Northern Ireland.
Raum received average or slightly above average grades in his two starts. He certainly benefited from the fact that direct competitor Maximilian Mittelstädt of VfB Stuttgart was not nominated this time. Furthermore,,after what happened with Nnamdi Collins in September, Nagelsmann certainly wasn’t going to give Collins’ Eintracht Frankfurt teammate Nathaniel Brown any sort of extended run-out this time.
Hence, it’s Raum by default for the time being. Note that – with respect to general passing and crossing – Raum was much more “hit-and-miss”. The man who famously practices tattooing on a fake arm has been practicing his set pieces, but still needs to budget more time for practicing other things. Two scorer points is good enough for now.
Aleksandar Pavlovic, FC Bayern München
After a shabby year during which the 21-year-old succumbed to virtually every football-related and non-football-related injury possible, Pavlovic started both fixtures and played 177 of 180 possible minutes alongside midfield club partner Leon Goretzka. Neither of the midfield sixes turned in especially stunning performances in either match, but both Goretzka and Pavlovic can be considered “double winners” of the whole “FCB-BVB axes” thing.
Pavlovic covered quite a bit of ground in the first match and racked up a team-high 161 touches. The young “string puller” also connected with most of his forward passes and crosses, through a few bad misses on forward balls and duel losses stuck in the collective memory. Pavlovic also wasn’t great in ground duels in the second game and was lucky to escape a booking on a couple of occasions.
Joshua Kimmich, FC Bayern München
We arrive at the struggle to find a “fifth winner”.
Some German press sources went with keeper Oliver Baumann after the Hoffenheim captain made some solid saves down the stretch in the Northern Ireland match. This author can’t back that choice as Baumann truly had nothing to do for the vast majority of his time on the pitch. Against Luxembourg, he had one measly save to make in the 14th-minute. After that, he was a total spectator. A scarecrow could have tended the German goal in that game.
Nick Woltemade perhaps? Bah. His famous first goal for country caromed in accidentally off his shoulder. “Big Nick” can dazzle the Newcastle fans all he wants. He (deservedly) looks tense and stressed whenever returning to his home country. Too many missed chances and long stretches of anonymity. Moving right along.
Karim Adeyemi and Florian Wirtz drew consistently poor marks across the German press. Adeyemi looked so off kilter that Nagelsmann went with emergency right back Ridle Baku as a direct replacement for him on the right attacking flank in the first match. Wirtz looked consistently uncomfortable on the left. So too did Adeyemi’s second replacement, BVB teammate Maximilian Beier.
Kimmich, it must be.
The DFB captain grabbed a brace in the Luxembourg match and kept a wonderful sense of humor about being shifted to his less-favored old right-back position. Kimmich’s performance against Northern Ireland sort of erased a lot of that as he did – almost to spite himself – kept trying to shift center and had a few defensive lapses. Perhaps he wanted to lobby for a return to central midfield.
Perhaps his muscle memory reverted.
In any event, we’ll just forget the second game.
Congrats to Jo on his first-career DFB brace in his 104th senior cap.
DFB Tactics Check
Nagelsmann rolled out the exact same 4-2-3-1 with the exact same personnel in both matches. Beyond Kimmich’s shift to the right-back position, there weren’t really any huge surprises. For whatever it’s worth over this largely forgettable international break, here’s a documentation for the sake of posterity:
Yawn.
Lineup—DFB (4-2-3-1)
All major in-game personnel shifts are covered above. Anton filled in for Schlotterbeck alongside Tah for the second 45 minutes against Luxembourg. Beier worked in Gnabry’s place late in the first match whilst directly replacing Adeyemi in the second. Ridle Baku’s performance in relief of Adeyemi piqued a little interest, but the author needs to emphasize that the very inclusion of that sentence mostly relates to the fact that he’s a Ridle Baku fan.
That should about cover it. Nagelsmann still has plenty of work to do if he wants to build a team truly comprised of “BVB-FCB axes”. It might be the case that the form of various players renders what little of it he’s been able to build moot. Robert Andrich might make for a better midfield selection than any of the three players representing Bayern.
Wirtz and Woltemade – assuming they are in form – have no club partners. Musiala’s return could swing Gnabry out to the right. If Tom Bischof can gain more minutes for club and do better for country, Nagelsmann has more options for his midfield double six pairing and can keep Kimmich behind alongside Tah. That’s likely the best-case scenario.
GGFN | Peter Weis
About Author
