Going Deutsch: Goodnight Vienna

It’s safe to say the November international break hasn’t exactly gone to plan for the German national team. Following a poor defeat at the Olympiastadion against Turkey at the weekend, Tuesday saw a chance to turn form around quickly with a trip to the Austrian capital of Vienna, taking on the 25^th-ranked side in the world. There were a lot of people that we German football fans would recognise in the Austrian ranks: 10 of the starting 11 do or have played in the Bundesliga, the same is true for 6 of the players on the bench, and German manager Ralf Rangnick led the side. It’s hard to say if this knowledge of the Germans helped Austria, but they were the better side throughout the majority of the game. Germany did make a promising start, but even with them controlling the ball through the opening 20 minutes, it was still Austria who had the better of the chances, chances which were often gifted to the Austrians by horrific mistakes from the German defence. Eventually, the hosts would take a chance, going 1-0 up in the 29^th minute when Dortmund midfielder Marcel Sabitzer found the bottom corner.  Whilst Germany mustered up their first shot of the game three minutes later, they were still error-prone through the rest of the half and went into the break lucky to be just 1-0 down.

Speaking after the Turkey game, Julian Nagelsmann had said that his team lacked emotion, and maybe that was his message at the half-time break of this game as well. It was an instruction that Bayern’s Leroy Sané clearly misunderstood. Four minutes into the second half, Sané fouled Mainz’s Philipp Mwene. The challenge wasn’t great but didn’t deserve the reaction it got from the left-back, as he got up in the face of his German counterpart. However, that definitely didn’t deserve the reaction it got from Sané as the red mist descended on him, pushing Mwene in the face and neck. The red mist unsurprisingly led to a red card, the first of his career, as he said Goodnight Vienna quicker than he would have anticipated. Speaking after the game he said, “The game is on me, I take it entirely on myself. I have to control myself better. I let the team down.” Probably a bit harsh as Germany weren’t exactly looking like world-beaters before the red card, but now they were down to ten, the game was essentially over.  

The German’s new formation after that, with Florian Wirtz, Robert Andrich, Benjamin Henrichs, and Joshua Kimmich coming on definitely gave Ralf Rangnick some challenges, but nowhere near enough. In the 73^rd minute, Austria finally got a deserved second, Freiburg’s Michael Gregoritsch playing through Christoph Baumgartner as he chipped Kevin Trapp. Even the best player in the world Marvin Ducksch coming on for his second cap couldn’t do much.

Speaking after the game, captain İlkay Gündoğan said, “It can’t be any worse right now. Maybe that’s the only positive aspect.” It’s a weird way to be optimistic but let’s face it, it’s also not true. After the prior international break gave reasons for optimism, this break has all but destroyed that. The overarching issue is that the national team does not look like a team at all. Perhaps that is why we see players who are normally strong for their clubs making such basic mistakes. That was definitely true on Tuesday, Antonio Rüdiger, Mats Hummels, and Jonathan Tah all made really basic errors that we wouldn’t expect from them. The midfield, especially Gündogan and Brandt might as well have not been on the pitch, and whilst Niclas Füllkrug might have been the bright spot for Germany this year, he can’t exactly do much if he doesn’t have the ball.

Julian Nagelsmann has suggested that the problem is not in the talent of the team, but the amount of work that they put in, “two percent less talent and two percent more work” is how he put it after the game. That shows where the preparations for the upcoming Euros are, still relatively no clue as to how the team should be structured to avoid performances like this. It closes a dreadful 2023 for Die Nationalmannschaft: 11 games, 3 wins, 2 draws, 6 defeats. The draw for the Euros takes place in Hamburg on 2^nd December, showing that the clock is ticking for Nagelsmann to get things right.