To analyse
Young man wanted to travel with: In the World Cup qualifier against Romania it becomes clear that the German national team lacks a competitive center forward. Timo Werner is currently overwhelmed with this position.
It was already approaching midnight when Hansi Flick was confronted with a question that he didn’t really like. According to the international press conference, whether the game against Romania did not show that the German team was missing a center forward. “I’ll return the question,” the national coach grumbled. “Tell me, what is that anyway: a center forward?”
A center forward, as one could say after the difficult 2-1 victory of the DFB team against Romania, is an attacker who is always ready to play in the opposing penalty area. Who sometimes has his back to the goal and still knows where the right and left angles are. Who is feared because of his headball strength. Who is guided by his instinct and is in the right place at the right moment to push the ball over the goal line.
You could also say: A center forward is the opposite of what Timo Werner currently embodies, the central attacker of the German national team.
When Werner was substituted for Thomas Müller in the 67th minute, it must have been a relief for him. Seconds earlier, he had once again missed a sharp cross. On a good day he would have pushed the ball into the goal with his knee, but this is how the ball rushed past him – as so often on this evening in Hamburg’s Volksparkstadion. Werner was to be regretted, he struggled, he fought, was constantly on the move, but often on paths that only he knew.
Hansi Flick does not want to punish, he wants to build Timo Werner
The fact that Flick watched the goings-on for so long says two things: First, Flick sees himself not only as the coach of his players, but also as their protector. An early substitution would have been like a slap in the face for Werner. But Flick doesn’t want to punish, he wants to build Werner up. The native of Stuttgart also has a hard time at Chelsea. There he ousted Romelu Lukaku, whom Chelsea got from Italian champions Inter Milan for 115 million euros at the beginning of the season.
Second, Flick held onto Werner for so long because he lacked alternatives. Position 11 in the German game is a blank space, a trained center forward has been missing since Miroslav Klose left the national team after the 2014 World Cup.
When Werner left the field against Romania, Flick sent his club colleague Kai Havertz to the center. An emergency solution, Havertz can hold this position because he is versatile like hardly any other player in Europe, but the game over the wings is actually more suited to him.
Flick inherited the vacancy in the Sturmspitze from his predecessor Joachim Löw. He was an admirer of Spanish football, which in its strongest phase managed without a center forward. Pep Guardiola dissolved the classic job profiles at FC Barcelona: A midfielder was always a preparer and executor for him; Guardiola took this constant change of roles to extremes – often to the confusion of the opponent, who could not access the game because its statics were constantly changing.
Many highly gifted tens, but not a single 911
The Spanish school has led to an imbalance in the German squad: There are many highly gifted tens (Müller, Reus, Musiala, Wirtz), but not a single 911. Löw never thought that was a problem, he did not demand or promote center strikers, often with reference to the great successes of the Spaniards. But football has evolved. Most of the big teams today are shaped by their center strikers: Paris Saint-Germain by Kylian Mbappé, Real Madrid by Karim Benzema, Chelsea by Romelu Lukaku, Manchester United by Edinson Cavani, FC Bayern by Robert Lewandowski and the comparatively smaller Dortmund by Erling Haaland .
A quick filling of the vacant position in the national team is not in sight. Karim Adeyemi (RB Salzburg) from the U21s of the DFB is pushing in, but he impresses with speed and technique and not with force and header game. Perhaps Lukas Nmecha, 22 years old and 1.85 meters tall, could later be a candidate for Flick. He is considered very talented, but first has to fight for a regular place at VfL Wolfsburg.
Hansi Flick will continue to improvise and have to support his currently hapless attacker Werner. The next game is already on this Monday; in Skopje the DFB team plays against North Macedonia. If they win, the Germans will qualify for the 2022 World Cup in Qatar ahead of schedule. Without a center forward.
I have been working in the news industry for over 6 years, first as a reporter and now as an editor. I have covered politics extensively, and my work has appeared in major newspapers and online news outlets around the world. In addition to my writing, I also contribute regularly to 24 Hours World.
