Because the fullbacks were the only ones providing width, this meant that Korea Republic could overload on the flanks, and when they countered, a lot of overlaps occurred. This is almost an identical average formation against Mexico, and it’s no surprise to see why they lost again. Yet while it’s always good to maintain a certain shape and stick with it, this is not the best shape to stick with, especially leaving yourself so vulnerable on counter attacks, and that’s purely down to the manager, who makes the decisions of which players to play and which tactics to use.

“The approach was football suicide. Germany went into each game believing they could impose themselves as superior players, but they were so open their obvious quality never showed.”- Jamie Carragher

The manager

Germany manager Joachim Löw

Joachim Löw is not a bad manager at all. He’s a World Cup winner and this is the first time under his tenure that Germany have failed to make the semi-finals, a seriously impressive stat. However, the issue here is not his competence but his questionable decisions and unconditional loyalty of more recently. He left both Leroy Sané and Julian Weigl, players they could’ve done with in terms of positions, failed to put on Julian Brandt at the right time when Germany needed goals, and failed to drop players when they were underperforming. How else do we explain Leroy Sane failing to replicate his Manchester City form for his country to such an extent many in Germany agreed with his exclusion? Something must have been wrong if a player of his talent was not shining.

Throughout Germany’s tumultuous World Cup campaign, there was something very un-German about the performances. Instead, of making a simple pass, it took 5 passes to achieve that same outcome, and instead of being clinical, they were extremely wasteful in front of goal. Timo Werner was playing in a system that didn’t allow him to run in between the channels, Toni Kroos didn’t have the protection behind him to allow him to roam as forward as he would’ve liked to, and Thomas Müller was extremely average on the right throughout Germany’s matches. Despite barely beating the Swedes, Germany had painted the front door while letting the back one rot. They got by via superior individual quality — a method that does not fare well over multiple games.

A nightmare in Kazan

Going into their final games against Korea Republic, Germany needed at least a point to progress to the group stage. However, once Sweden took the lead, Germany needed to match Sweden’s result, and if Germany had won, they would’ve gone through at the expense of Mexico.

Once again, something very un-German happened. For the third time straight, Löw had made changes to his backline, hoping that certain players would perform, however, it’s very difficult for a defender to perform well when they have very little defensive protection.

They left themselves wide open to the counter-attack. Again. While continuously pushing for a goal, Korea Republic found plenty of gaps when going forward, and despite their wastefulness, they only scored 2 goals. The word “only” is an understatement, as Korea Republic had plenty of chances, but just hesitated at the wrong moment. Hummels and Sule did well to stem as much as they did; they were subjected to extreme pressure due to structural issues once again.

Their best chances came from standard crosses into the box — most of which came from Kimmich — but Hummels and Goretzka missed them all, including a great save by Korean keeper Cho Hyun-woo. Something didn’t seem right once again. Even when Germany needed a goal, they went all gung-ho and lost all sense of structure, and as result, they had a disoriented shape throughout the match.

“Low threw attackers on at will. Gomez was followed by Muller, who in turn was followed by Brandt. By the 80th minute they were playing an unstructured 4–4–2 with a winger at left-back. No passing lanes forward, no presence between the lines. Just four men wide, two in the box, and Kroos stood in the middle with his arms stretched outward, quizzical.”- Bleacher Report

“Too much overconfidence. We didn’t play with the right mentality, not only today, but all three games. This was really not a German team, and maybe Joachim Löw didn’t find the right moment to fresh up the team with a younger generation of players. He held all the World Cup winners from 2014 in this team, in the defense, in the midfield, in the offence. But the style changed, and I miss the speed in our game, the creativity in our game, the power in our game. Everything that was great in the last 30–40 years in German football, this team showed everything opposite.”- Lothar Matthäus

What now?

The talent is undoubtedly there and they can win when it matters, but it seems that a new manager is needed for the Germany national team. Even though the Spanish Football Federation gave Vicente del Bosque a second chance at Euro 2016, Germany need a new manager that doesn’t have any specific loyalties with anyone and instills a mentality of “fight for your place”. The players need to know that they simply won’t be in the team because of reputation, but rather of hard work, merit, and their efforts for the team.

“I’m not upset because they don’t have the rights to go to the next round with this performance, they were not playing good.”- Lothar Matthäus

Even though Julen Lopetegui was sacked a day before the World Cup due to a conflict of interest, the mentality that he instilled in La Roja made them unbeaten under his tenure as manager and has gotten the best out of several players including Isco and Iago Aspas.