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The horrendous year for Germany continues as they were relegated from group A1 of the UEFA Nations League. Netherlands defeated France 2-0 in the encounter which caused Germany's relegation and also, ended 15 game unbeaten streak of the World Champions.
Joachim Loew's winless Germany are at the bottom of the table and they will face Netherlands in their next encounter at Gelsenkirchen on Monday. Currently, Germany are with a goal difference of -4 and ranked 11th in League A of the Nations League behind Poland.
The year 2018 was indeed the worst for Germans in recent times, considering they performed way below the expectations failed miserably at World Cup Finals and in the Nations League.
Although Joachim Loew is still motivating his players after their disappointing relegation, he accepts that results are painful. "For us, the result is obviously painful, but we must accept it", Loew said on Friday.
There is no doubt that Germany will need to improve massively if they hope for any success against Netherlands or in the upcoming EURO Qualifiers. Let us evaluate the three problems Germany must solve as quickly as possible.
#1. Flexibility of the squad :
The versatility, resilience and dynamism of Germans were always a plus point on the pitch. But this had not been the case this year as they failed to go beyond even the group stages in the World Cup.
Joachim Loew was under massive criticism for not selecting Leroy Sane and as evident, it indeed had a massive impact on the result. They were left toothless in their displays as the squad under performed.
Barring a determined Joshua Kimmich, the players failed to adapt to their circumstances and tactics which resulted in massive failures throughout the year. Even the senior players failed to perform according to their roles due to the lack of dynamism
The lack of Germany's flexibility on the pitch was also due to a lack of Plan B. It is a must for any team to have a backup plan but indeed, Germany had no answers when things went south, which has been the case throughout the year.
#2. Failure to cope with the absence of key players :
Although 2018 is a massive failure from Germany's point of view, a year ago everything was different. They won their first confederations cup without most of the first team players and also, secured European u21 championship title.
Since then, it has all went downhill for the Germans. Their performance in the World Cup was one of their worst in recent history.
With a plethora of talented youngsters, their failure this year is extremely shocking to the football world. Joachim Loew's somewhat arrogant choices regarding team selection played a part as he repeatedly fielded players who lacked form.
There is no doubt that the retirement of key senior figures like Bastian Schweinsteiger and Philipp lahm had a huge impact on the squad. Both these players were absolutely pivotal to Germany's success in the last decade.
And it is clear that the current squad members have proved insufficient to fill the empty shoes left by their legends.
#3: Lack of venom upfront :
Since the retirement of Miroslav Klose, Germany has failed to find a goalscorer or a poacher good enough to do the job. Miroslav Klose is the record scorer in the World Cups and Germany has struggled to find goals in his absence.
Timo Werner was highly touted as a successor but he is still young and not mature enough to take up the responsibility as evident in his recent performances. His extraordinary pace is key in pushing defenders back but he is yet to be as efficient in front of the goal as his predecessors.
Players like Mario Gomez and Podolski are not getting any younger and Germany are in desperate need of a forward. There is a distinct lack of fluidity in their attacks and they were often rendered toothless in big matches due to their inefficiency.
