Germany’s World Cup campaign fell apart following their shock defeat to Paraguay at the tournament but now former captain Philipp Lahm has revealed the country’s most serious deficiency – there’s simply no coherent way of playing.
Lahm insisted in his most recent column for Welt that Germany’s constant changes in tactics over recent years had stopped the team becoming consistent title winners, and questioned former Germany coach Julian Nagelsmann. “There was no plan, no consistent philosophy”, the Bayern legend declared.
“Now you simply have to go back to what once brought success: high-pressing, aggressive football.
You cannot play a positional game from a position of weakness.” Germany would benefit, in Lahm’s opinion, from building the team around an established nucleus with Joshua Kimmich playing as a defensive midfielder and Kai Havertz leading the line.
“The team need to establish themselves with the kind of footballing philosophy they already play in clubs and youth football”, said the 2014 World Cup winner. Lahm slammed modern day defending as being “lost, just lost” and lauded south American teams for their aggressive duels at home, something he implored Germany to adopt once more.
“The entire football nation needs to unite around a way of thinking – from the youth team up to the senior national squad.”
