The German national team only draws against the Netherlands

A brief flashback to another geological era, to the Hansi Flick era. This seems to be immeasurably far back, forgotten by the Nagelsmann era, which ended the ice age in German football. On Tuesday evening, however, so-called Flick phenomena could be observed in Amsterdam, Zuidoost district. Images that recalled pitch-black days like March 28, 2023.

At that time, the national team played against Belgium in Cologne. They were already 2-0 down after just nine minutes, and that was mainly due to one of the Belgian strikers: Romelu Lukaku. The German defenders were crushed by him. He swept away the winger Thilo Kehrer like an annoying fly, and kicked away the central defender Matthias Ginter with his buttocks. Lukaku, who is 1.91 meters tall and weighs 93 kilos, didn’t let anyone get close to him.

Jonathan Tah in the style of a wrestler

On Tuesday, in the Nations League match against the Netherlands, Lukaku found his counterpart in Brian Brobbey, 1.80 m tall and weighing 80 kg. The roof of the Johan Cruyff Arena was closed due to bad weather, but Hurricane Brobbey was raging on the pitch below. Jonathan Tah couldn’t stop him, at least not by fair means.

Like a wrestler, he put Brobbey in a headlock, which earned Tah a yellow card early on. He was also unstoppable by Nico Schlotterbeck, who tried a more subtle approach, namely through positioning – but was always in the wrong position. In the second half, Waldemar Anton was allowed to try his hand. Anton only did a little better than the other two central defenders because Brobbey ran out of steam towards the end of the game.

But Brobbey had already done his work: He had prepared the 1-0 goal by Reijnders (2nd minute), as well as the goal to make it 2-2 by Dumfries (51st).

Brobbey, 22 years old, a reserve player for Ajax Amsterdam, who once failed at RB Leipzig, performed just one trick on Tuesday: he twisted around his opponents like a screw in a dowel – then freed himself in a flash, laid the ball off or smashed it at goal himself. A simple movement, but too demanding for the German defense that evening.

The lost duels against Brobbey show that the defense is by no means as solid as one was tempted to believe after the ecstatic 5-0 win against Hungary on Saturday. Defensive leader Antonio Rüdiger, who was given a break by national coach Julian Nagelsmann, is just as irreplaceable as Toni Kroos, the retired defensive strategist. One would have liked to have seen Rüdiger, hardened in a thousand games on an open field near Berlin’s Sonnenallee, and Kroos, the cool number six, against these Dutchmen. It is quite possible that they would have known a solution.

But the national coach must realise that the emotionalisation of the game that he is trying to do also has a downside. When everyone is on fire, when everyone just wants, wants, wants, the bigger picture is sometimes lost sight of.

Nagelsmann calls for more calm

Tah and Schlotterbeck seemed to be caught in fighting mode on Tuesday evening; their over-ambition made them do the wrong things against Brobbey. Nagelsmann urged more composure after the game: “Just stay behind, position yourself and try to block the ball. In general it’s good, we want aggressive players, but this is not the moment to win the ball. Just wait, then Brobbey can’t do anything.”

On the other hand, it was precisely this fighting spirit that brought the Germans back into the game after the early deficit. Jamal Musiala and Florian Wirtz, the heroes of the Hungary match, were comparatively pale against the Netherlands, but they carried a lot of balls, especially the tireless Wirtz. Kai Havertz boosted the attacking game, and Deniz Undav, who started in place of the injured Niklas Füllkrug, also played a strong game.

Pascal Groß, on the other hand, who was celebrated as a Kroos double at the weekend, was hardly involved as a director. This was only partly due to his performance. The Dutch simply outplayed the German midfield with long balls from the defence. If you’re afraid of the jungle, fly over it in a helicopter – that’s what the Elftal did. The Dutch have plenty of fine feet; Ryan Gravenberch and Denzel Dumfries in particular excelled with precise through balls.

National team: Fast and impetuous game

A tactic that the Germans soon copied. This made the game fast and, above all, impetuous; it swayed back and forth. Nagelsmann spoke of an “attractive, entertaining game”, but he didn’t really like the wild exchange of blows. Nagelsmann loves to control things. He believes in match plans and concepts, he doesn’t look for the lucky punch.

But the national coach did not want to dampen the mood that evening in Amsterdam. Again and again he praised his team’s comeback after falling behind; he even spoke of a “further step in development” that his players had taken.

If you think back to earlier geological eras, to the hurricane Romelu Lukaku that raged in Cologne, Nagelsmann was right. Back then, in March, the Germans couldn’t come back after conceding two goals. They lost 2:3, and then failure followed failure until September – until the Nagelsmann era began and with it a new era that the DFB still calls the future.