Euro 2022: Germany's pressing and possessing has me obsessing
What has made Germany so good at this summer's tournament?
Domestic men’s football returns to Germany next week so I’m getting back into the swing of things with a little look at why the women’s team have been so much fun at Euro 2022.
Lyon (and now Barcelona) are the conquerers of women’s club football, with even the juggernaut of the WSL yet to see Arsenal or Chelsea or Manchester City get the better of those who set the bar in the Women’s Champions League. And so many of those Lyon and Barcelona stars of the last few years have had miserable summers. Talent may be crucial but it cannot win you football matches alone.
Germany must be doing something right. And I mean domestically, too. All the very best club football, in terms of silverware, has come from Lyon and Barça in recent years but almost all the attention goes to the WSL, widely considered the most competitive league in Europe.
You could be forgiven for forgetting Germany’s place in the women’s game. Perhaps, given recent national team performances on the biggest stages, you would be right to. Until now.
Just two players — Sara Däbritz (PSG, soon to be Lyon) and unused goalkeeper Ann-Kathrin Berger (Chelsea) — in Germany’s 23-strong squad did not ply their trade in Bundesliga last season. Those who have seen significant minutes exclusively play for Wolfsburg and Bayern Munich, unsurprisingly, but the league is now strong throughout and the national team appears to be reaping the rewards.
Badly hit by COVID and injury crises, Bayern were cruelly forced out of the Champions League by PSG last season. Wolfsburg sent Chelsea and then Arsenal out of the competition before losing to Barcelona but putting up more of a fight against the champions of Spain than any English club has in recent years.
And it is the mixture of tactical, technical, and physical quality the top two in Germany boast that now has the national team performing so well in England this summer.
Jessy Parker-Humphreys went into Germany’s pressing just suffocating opponents in their Euro 2022 newsletter last week, do check it out, and it’s truly astounding how effective it has been all tournament, with Germany forcing quality teams into mistakes.
Germany have had more high turnovers than any other side - 68 - and twelve of them have been shot-ending, which is also the highest. - flyinggeese.substack.com
It isn’t just the player who gives the ball away who is in trouble. Just see how Giulia Gwinn (the Germany player furthest to the left) is ready to press Pernille Harder (bottom) if the ball is played to her.
And then, when the ball goes backwards, how Gwinn starts to move again, firstly to force the press and secondly to join the counter-attack.
Denmark were totally overwhelmed, with passes constantly forced backwards as any balls forward landed with a player facing her own goal.
The above pass, underhit, led to a turnover and Germany’s first goal of the tournament.
Spain suffered in the same way, with Germany always there, forcing the ball back.
And then marking every single easy route out.
And poor Manuela Zinsberger became all too familiar with the tactic as her play out from the back led to not one …
…but two Germany goals in the quarter-final.
The drive from Alex Popp to shut Zinsberger down so quickly, in added time, when already ahead, says a lot about this team.
So does the fact that that Klara Bühl missing an almost empty net in between the two goals in that game came from substitute midfielder Lena Lattwein smelling the chance to steal the ball not once, but twice in the opposition half.
Behind ahead doesn’t matter, Germany want to be aggressive and win the ball high up the pitch, they wont’t sit off. But that is just part of the equation with the intelligence of this Germany side. They are smart and aggressive without the ball but also thoughtful with it.
It is incredibly hard to discern whether they are playing a 4-2-3-1 or a 4-3-3, with the shape shifting constantly. Lina Magull is attack-minded from the middle of the park and Däbritz has the permission, the understanding, and the engine to fit in wherever is necessary.
Sometimes that’s alongside Lena Oberdorf. Sometimes it’s on the right touchline to support Giulia Gwinn and Svenja Huth. And sometimes it’s close to Klara Bühl, giving her a short passing option or attracting a marker as Magull moves further away from the ball, preparing to pounce if the ball drops to her.
Then there’s Gwinn, considered an enormous midfield talent not too long ago, flitting between the centre of the park and a more traditional right-back role depending on how far away Däbritz and Huth are from each other, intelligently plugging the gaps, always making sure no team-mate is left without help.
Marina Hegering, Lena Oberdorf, Alex Popp have all also been excellent but in more conventional roles.
A drilled defensive plan that leads to chances and a controlled yet fluid plan with the ball. It’s so much fun to watch.
Germany may not win the Euros. They may not beat France in their semi-final. But Martina Voss-Tecklenburg and her players have done an outstanding job this summer as so many other talented teams have failed to produce performances worth anything near the sum of their parts. This is a team well worth the hype.