How Jogi Low got it wrong and how I think it'll be fixed

I. How was Germany set up?

Back 4 with Plattenhardt on the left, Hummels and Boateng in the middle, and Kimmich on the right.

Midfield 2 with Kroos and Khedira

4 attacking players with Werner at the top, Muller and Draxler as inverted wingers, and Ozil at 10.

II. What did it look like on the attack?

Plattenhardt played pretty reserved. He got forward in to the attack sometimes, but spent a lot of his time tracking back on one of the two high wingers Mexico kept.

Kimmich spent most of the game as a winger. This wasn't just him improvising. Thomas Muller is not a typical winger. He doesn't create width or much depth, he likes to drift inside and play as a support striker. Kimmich's job was to provide that width. We'll discuss how Mexico used that to its advantage a little later.

Boateng played a lot of the game as a defensive midfielder. He's a great passer so he wasn't out of his element here. Hummels is not the quickest player anymore so he struggled with the responsibility more than Boa did IMO.

Kroos played higher than we've seen him play in a while. He picked up the ball pretty deep but he drove forward on nearly every possession. He's a great player, makes perfect decisions most of the time, BUT...

Khedira was doing God knows what. I think he was supposed to play as a 6 but he thought he was an 8. He used to be known for being an athletic specimen who could make a 40 yard run into the box and then work back and provide cover. There were a couple of problems here - a.) Kroos was also pushing into the attack. b.) Khedira has old legs and can't recover quickly anymore.

As I previously mentioned, Muller likes to drift inside. The problem is that Draxler was doing the same, and Ozil was often dropping deeper to get touches on the ball. This created a logjam in the center of the field and took away what makes Werner so good, his movement into space and speed to get behind defenders. There was absolutely no room.

(Leroy Sane would have been a really good sub in this game to spread Mexico's defense a bit. You may remember how many chances Brandt helped create when he got on the field)


III. How did Mexico counter?

By literally countering

As I mentioned before, Muller doesn't give you width on the right, Draxler doesn't give you width on the left usually. Khedira was always out of position. This forced Hummels or Boateng to step into midfield, leaving 1 center back and usually Plattenhardt alone.

Mexico kept two wingers high with Chicharito occupying the lone center back. Lozano and Layun were constantly given tons of space. Mexico played several beautiful counter attacks in the first half. For all of Chicharito's shortcomings, his movement has always been great. If he was better with the ball, he could've gotten a couple in the first half.

by the 35th minute, Mexico was gassed so the balls became longer and the support thinned from the rest of the team.

IV. Mexico was actually bad in the 2nd half

Jogi took off Khedira was a negative all match and added Reus. He gambled that Mexico was tired and they would bunker down. They did. The problem was that Germany's movement in front of the goal never got better, they stayed occupying the same zones and rendered Werner useless.

Mexico was dead tired and halfway cleared several balls right back to German attackers and played a sloppy half in general, gifting multiple chances to the Germans.

Germany, for all their faults, had several chances to equalize, but couldn't ever get their heads out of their asses.

V. So how does Germany fix it?


Khedira needs to take the laces out of his cleats and put his feet up.

Looking at the squad, Plattenhardt played because Hector was sick. Hector is a better player, I expect he'll be well by next match.

Hummels can't play the game Germany played against Mexico. If Jogi is going to gamble on having no holding midfielder, Sule or Rudiger needs to play.

The squad is deep so there are plenty of options. Here are a couple that I like. I'd be willing to discuss more options/why I chose those players, if you'd like

1)





2)






3)





This is another inverted winger option, but in this instance you have double cover in the midfield for Kroos with Goretzka and Rudy which allows for Kimmich and Hector to play very attacking. In this scenario, you have at least one center mid back to break up the counter, alleviating the pressure from Hummels and Boateng.

I could also see Draxler on the left for Özil, but I think Özil plays because of experience.