To say that Germany’s friendly draw with Ukraine was a disappointment would be an understatement. The unforgiving German press reacted to the 3-3 draw with headlines including the words embarrassing, uninspired, incoherent, alarming, amateurish, and deficient. With the European Championships on the horizon on home soil next summer, should Bundestrainer Hansi Flick be worried about the prospect of a second tournament failure?
Hansi Flick’s progression to German national team trainer in the footsteps of Joachim Löw seemed the highly logical step after his amazing (but short) tenure as coach of Bayern Munich. He led the Rekordmeister to two Bundesliga titles, the DFB Pokal, the Champions League as well as the FIFA Club World Cup. However, success and glory have been harder to achieve as national team coach and with just twelve months to go until the Euros come to Germany, his position is coming under increasing scrutiny and he’s in danger of spoiling his legacy of success.
He went unbeaten in his first ten games in charge of the Nationalelf, but the World Cup in Qatar saw Germany eliminated in the group stage for the second successive time with Flick coming in for some criticism for his team selection and substitutions. Results in the Nations League were unsatisfactory as Germany finished behind Hungary after losing at home to the Magyars.
A post-World Cup win over Peru was followed by defeat to Belgium and then the draw with Ukraine, which very nearly was a 3-1 loss. Results that don’t exactly inspire confidence and enthusiasm. With no competitive fixtures until next summer’s finals, Flick has to mould the German side into a tournament-winning side in far from ideal circumstances. There is no real call for him to be replaced (yet) and the lack of suitable replacements is also a barrier to any coaching change.
The abject performance against Ukraine can be put down to timing with the players fatigued after a long, hard season. However further poor displays in the forthcoming friendlies with Poland and Colombia will have the critics out in force and the pressure on Hansi Flick will no doubt increase. His experiment with a back three against Ukraine failed and he needs to quickly establish his best formation and best XI. The players are there, but as yet the system and tactics are not.
In Hansi we trust? Well yes up to a certain point, but another tournament failure will not be tolerated and the legacy he built up as assistant to Jogi Löw and as Bayern coach are in danger of being tarnished by a sub-par reign as Bundestrainer.
