Germany Under Löw, 1-1 Draw Against Switzerland Highlights Limited Progress

Germany continues to await their first victory in the UEFA Nations League. After a 1-1 draw on Thursday against Spain, Germany failed to beat Switzerland on Sunday. In both games, die Nationalmannschaft failed to bring a lead across the line, and Sunday’s second half might have been the worst performance since Germany’s 2-0 defeat to South Korea at the 2018 FIFA World Cup.

The two results, in fact, might very well renew calls for the DFB to make drastic changes, starting perhaps with Bundestrainer Joachim Löw. After all, the German national team has had a downward trajectory since winning the 2014 World Cup in Brazil. 

Some of this might have to do with Joachim Löw losing his right-hand man Hansi Flick, the long-serving assistant left the staff after the World Cup. Flick’s influence on the national team’s success has become perhaps most apparent this summer when he led Bayern Munich to become the first team in history to win the Champions League without a defeat. 

And Löw? Germany, despite having one of the most talented squads on the planet, failed to win the Euros in 2016 and then crashed out of the 2018 World Cup. UEFA Nations League relegation was only avoided because of a rule change—and the flawless Euro 2020 qualification painted over many tactical cracks in the current setup. 

“Having the lead twice and not winning either against Spain or Switzerland is annoying,” Löw said after the Switzerland game. “We will attack again in the October games. Not all our players are at full fitness at the moment.” There is some truth to this, but Löw has not only limited his squad, but other teams are also struggling with this problem.

After the World cup and poor results in the Nations League, Löw retired, perhaps needlessly, Thomas Müller, Jérôme Boateng, and Mats Hummels—granted Müller and Boateng, alongside the other Bayern players that won the Champions League, would not have been available for the two games anyhow. But the insistence of playing an underdog, counter-attacking style has been exposed in the same way as Niko Kovač’s insistence of having Bayern play defensive football. 

Even in the rebuild, Germany will be the favorites nine out of ten times. Against Spain on Thursday, the La Roja were invited back in the game, the late equalizer in injury time was only consequential for how Germany approached the game over the full 90 minutes. The Swiss, in the meantime, might have been riding a long undefeated streak at home—nonetheless, Germany should approach this game in dominant fashion and not by sitting deep, exposing their backline and hoping for counters. 

“Just Like the Spain game we deserved to score the second goal, which would have given us more safety,” Löw said after the game. “We let them back into the game, lost too many balls and were not decisive enough. So the result is a fair representation of the game.”

It is true that Germany had chances to score a second goal. But in the second half the Swiss were the better team, making use of the space given to them by a poorly organized Germany backline. “We were in a good position in that game and once more did not win,” goalscorer Ilkay Gündogan said about the Switzerland game. “We are lacking solutions a bit, we are a little bit tired. It’s very annoying.”

The second sentence is devastating in many ways. Even with the likes of Joshua Kimmich and Serge Gnabry missing because of Bayern Munich’s Champions League win, there was still plenty of world-class talent available on the pitch—just to put this in perspective, the combined market value of the Germany squad is $789.25 million, Switzerland’s squad is worth just $197.18 million. 

It is true, money does not score goals. But the combined market values should have most certainly also been reflected on the field, where Germany should have shown more dominance. Instead, there was little inspiration in midfield, uncontrolled runs, and no coherent tactical plan. 

“We need better solutions when we are being pressed aggressively,” captain Toni Kroos said after the game. “We need to work on this, we need players who want the ball, even when we are under pressure.” Those solutions need to be developed quickly by a coaching staff, led by Löw, who since 2018 has shown little sign of true tactical innovation. 

Manuel Veth is the editor-in-chief of the Futbolgrad Network and the Area Manager USA at Transfermarkt. He has also been published in the Guardian, Newsweek, Howler, Pro Soccer USA, and several other outlets. Follow him on Twitter: @ManuelVeth