5 Talking Points from the UEFA Nations League Matches

2. Joachim Low and Germany have a lot of issues still to figure out:

Germany's offense continued to suffer due to a slow pace of the game

While there was turmoil in the Spain camp after losing their coach and exiting in the first knockout round of the World Cup, the German team had a disastrous World Cup of their own.

The losses to Mexico and South Korea in the group stage games raised questions over the selection of some players and the omission of a key figure such as Manchester City's Leroy Sane from the Russia 2018 squad. The disappointing group stage exit, coupled with the reports of a divide in the German squad between the group of Toni Kroos, Mats Hummels, Thomas Muller and the camp of Mesut Ozil, Julian Draxler, and Ilkay Gundogan put DFB in a bad position.

The team lacked pace on the ball. The high-intensity football and the possession-based quick passing that we have come to know of Germany in the past few years were not visible. Instead, we saw slow build-ups and lack of accuracy while passing.

Some predicted a new coach to be at the helm after the World Cup debacle, but what we witnessed against France was the same veteran manager from the World Cup.

Ozil's retirement from the national team and Sami Khedira's snubbing has changed the look of the team but the performances have still not improved. This goes on to show that still there are a lot of technical anomalies to sort out amidst the growing sense of disharmony and speculation in the German side.

Low has key things to figure out in terms of team structure as Joshua Kimmich hasn't settled on a flank permanently whereas Jonas Hector also needs to be better as a wide player. This is highly important as there were some reports which suggested Kroos was not willing to pass to Marvin Plattenhardt on the left during the World Cup as he did not feel confident.

The players are there with plenty of technical quality and the youth setup is also strong as they gave proof of their youth talent by winning the Confederations Cup. However, they still have a lot to rebuild and they must do it fast or else there could be a repeat of the same poor performance in the future.