Four observations from Germany’s crushing victory against Bosnia and Herzegovina in the Nations League

The German men’s national team under Julian Nagelsmann just obliterated Bosnia and Herzegovina’s men under Sergej Barbarez with a record scoreline of 7-0 for the homeside. With this win, Germany comfortably sit atop their group with a team that is on fire to take on the upcoming games. Without further ado, here are four observations from this rout:

Julian Nagelsmann’s conviction

One of the most spoken things about Nagelsmann since his rise to managing elite football teams has been his age. But, never has the 37 year-old let that get in the way of self-belief in his ideas. A 73 percent possession stat, 4.03 xG, 694 passes and most importantly, 60 touches in the box. There were several occasions where Germany had upwards of 8 men in and very closely around the box. The picture is quite clear, Julian Nagelsmann parked his bus alongside Sergej Barbarez’s bus in the visitor’s third. Despite the fact that the homeside is ranked 11 while their opposition is ranked 74, these stats bring to mind Professor Horace Slughorn from Harry Potter, “These are mad times we live in. Mad!”

To build a national team while wanting to play with club-football-like chemistry is ambitious to say the least. With no budget limitations in the national scene, Nags can have his pick of German superstars and bring their individual brilliance to the national fold.

However, to unlock the full potential of individual skill requires a brilliant strategist, red hot chemistry between the players and leadership on the pitch. Nagelsmann’s pursuit of absolute control with incessant top heavy pressure that aims to grind out goals requires an abnormal level of chemistry that is hard to forge in a national team. Here, players seldom get the opportunity to play together without even considering the annoyance of injuries, making familiarity even more scarce. It will be exciting but also scary to watch his plans unfold as the tournament progresses and sets the stage for what Germany’s strategy could be, come 2026. For, behind these mad times is a mad man.

Creative core

In Jamal Musiala, Florian Wirtz and Kai Havertz Germany have found a creative core worthy of building their team around. The former two specialise in retaining possession under immense pressure and finding teammates despite being heavily boxed in by the opposition. While Havertz on the other hand is excellent in transitions and pacey attacks. This is aside from each of their splendid individual skills on the ball. That free kick from Wirtz showed how potent dead ball situations can be for Germany with players of such quality.

Efficiency needs improvement in the final third

This is a hot take! In a game where the scoreline ended at 7-0, criticism can seem like nitpicking but hear this one out. Despite a heavily creative side, there was one area where Germany struggled tonight – vertical progression in the final third and enough of it. Until the hour mark and except for when the attack had a lot of pace, the players found it hard to turn the failed tackles of the opposition into good shots or passes into the final third.

After a defender commits to a challenge and fails to win possession, the attacker gains a window of space and time to make his move. The Germans won several challenges around the box but failed to convert them into meaningful vertical progression as often as they could have. A better mix in the squad could solve this issue. A pacey attacker like Gnabry or Sane to pounce on the mistakes within seconds. An experienced forward who is exceptional at positioning can run into passing positions post dribbles or challenges could help iron out this issue.

While the scoreboard leaves little to complain about, we must remember that the talent on this team deserves to be the best at getting past low blocks and, until the second goal, they struggled to do that.

Kudos to Barbarez’s men for their commitment to their marking, bruteforce and willingness to throw ten men in the box if they had to. On several occasions, the Bosnians had multiple bodies in front of the ball despite a beautiful sequence of play by the Germans. This neutralised the chances created by the homeside. Germany had 17(!) shots from inside the box.

Against a top national team that can defend on multiple dimensions with extremely dangerous counter-attacking ability, being efficient to convert a single half chance available to goal can make all the difference.

Kimmich’s crosses

It is surprising how a player can be so good and bad at the same skill. Bayern’s corner taking ability was basically a shitshow under Kimmich’s crosses. Yet, when he is at the right-back position, he delivers world class, defence destroying crosses. He won Bayern a Champions League final with one of those. Joshua Kimmich’s ideal position, regardless of what it may be, needs to let him drift right so that he can always be a crossing option.

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