Germany strolled to a commendable 2-0 win against France on Saturday night in what was their best performance for some time, but Julian Nagelsmann has identified where the national team can improve.
Toni Kroos returned to the Germany squad for the first time since his international retirement in July 2021 and played a key role in Florian Wirtz opening the scoring after seven seconds. Kai Havertz, who’s is in excellent form for Arsenal, then doubled Germany’s lead just after the break. But despite a huge improvement following their defeats against Turkey and Austria, there’s still areas in which the national team can work on.
Speaking at a press conference on Monday afternoon, Nagelsmann said: “We didn’t get in front of the goal enough in the first 20 minutes. Things were better before the break. We want to solve things in a playful way and get into the flow better when we’re pressed man-to-man. Things were significantly better in the second half. A willingness to counter-press like I saw at the end against France is something I would like to see tomorrow too.”
Nagelsmann is expected to name the same team that beat France when they host the Netherlands on Tuesday night.
GGFN | Daniel Pinder
