Euro 2024 continues with the main event: the play-off matches. The German national team proved with its performance in the group stage that it is truly one of the tournament’s favourites. The hosts must overcome Denmark in the round of 16. But they may be hampered by the inexperience of their own coach. Julian Nagelsmann, 36, who became the youngest coach in the history of the European Championship, made decisions before the playoffs that were detrimental to the team.
The German team clinched a place in the playoffs one round before the end of the group stage after victories over Scotland (5-1) and Hungary (2-0). After this, in the third round match against Switzerland, a 100% rotation of the squad was expected (1-1). In addition, the match was played in Frankfurt on the worst quality pitch at Euro 2024, where the risk of injuries increased. However, Nagelsmann started with the same 11 players as in previous matches. And so he calmly announced it the day before the game.
“There are no plans to change the line-up,” Nagelsmann said. “I don’t take into account the risk of yellow cards because I believe in the squad. For example, I take out Robert Andrich and put Pascal Gros in his place so that Andrich is ready for the round of 16. This would be the most disrespectful thing you could do to Pascal. I included these players in the application because I trust everyone, even if they have different roles. The players will have to give their all until they are disqualified. Then another player will take their place and do just as well.”
Some commentators praised Nagelsmann for this decision. They say that this is a great motivation of the innovative coach towards the team. But in fact, refusing to rotate when the tournament situation allowed it raises questions for the German national team coach.
First of all, the players are not naive enough to believe what was said at the press conference. And everyone in the squad perfectly understands that there is a clear division between the main and the reserve players. In training and matches, everyone sees who is stronger and who is weaker in the team.
Julian Nagelsmann
Photo: Alexander Hassenstein/Getty Images
In addition, the German national team leaders may now be unhappy with the coach, as the Germans were left without a strong defensive midfielder for the match against Denmark. One of the three players on the cards has yet to receive a warning: Jonathan Ta. Another centre-back, Antonio Rudiger, has suffered a hamstring strain and risks missing the round of 16. Or he will come on the field due to injury, which certainly won’t make him any more reliable. The day before it was reported that the final decision on the Real Madrid player would not be made until the day of the match with the Danes.
In the worst case scenario, the German centre-back pairing should be Nico Schlotterbeck and Waldemar Anton. Antón only has two games with the national team, and excluding friendlies, not a single one. Furthermore, the Stuttgart captain played the last match of this season’s tournament more than a month ago, on May 18, on matchday 34 of the Bundesliga. Therefore, Nagelsmann’s decision left Anton without training, which certainly would not have hurt, given that sooner or later he would be useful for the German team in the playoffs. In fact, like every other reservist who sat on the bench for the three rounds at Nagelsmann’s behest.
In the match against Switzerland, Anton was able to play a little with Schlotterbeck, with whom he has not yet played together in the German national team. But now we have to play the Euro 2024 playoffs from scratch. The coach gave Schlotterbeck at least half an hour on the third matchday, otherwise the Borussia Dortmund defender would have appeared on the field for the first time in a tournament match since the Champions League final against Real Madrid, which It took place exactly four weeks ago.
After the match against Switzerland, Nagelsmann was no longer so calm when talking about the disqualification. Julián admitted that Ta’s unjustified absence with a yellow card bothers him.
Perhaps Nagelsmann’s true motives were different, he kept them silent and presented everything differently to earn the respect of the team. For example, Julián laid the foundation because he was afraid of losing to Switzerland and giving them first place. Or he simply didn’t want the break between two matches (the second round and the round of 16) to be too long for the starters: 10 days or more. But here we can only guess and draw conclusions based on what Nagelsmann said.
What did your more experienced colleagues from the point of view of working with national teams, Luis de la Fuente from Spain and Roberto Martínez from the Portuguese team, do in a similar situation? This is exactly what the coaches of the team that ranks first in the group usually do. Both changed almost the entire base in the 3rd round. For Martínez, probably only Ronaldo will always play from the first minutes, no matter what condition Cristiano is in. The reserves trained before the playoffs, where some of them will definitely help, and the main ones will have a rest (after all, the leaders also have a very busy season).
Which team do fans believe in before the playoffs?
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At 36 years old, Nagelsmann has already been through a lot as a club coach. However, so far he has only made 11 appearances with the national team and Euro 2024 is his first major tournament. Perhaps in the future Julian will act at least like Roberto Mancini in the gold medal for the Italian national team at Euro 2020: after two victories at the beginning of the third round, only Donnarumma and a couple of outfield players were again in the starting eleven.
