No one can accuse Julian Nagelsmann of doing the obvious stuff.
For his third and fourth match as Germany manager, the 36-year-old repurposed Arsenal’s Kai Havertz as a left wing-back, bravely declared his (at best indifferent) performances in the defeats against Turkey (3-2) and Austria (2-0) “world-class”, then decided he wouldn’t play the 24-year-old in that position again.
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His next trick will be on a grander scale: 2014 World Cup winner Toni Kroos is back from retirement to feature in the friendlies against France and the Netherlands. Explaining his reasoning in an interview with Der Spiegel, Nagelsmann said the 34-year-old was “a connection player” who “guides young players”, “stays calm and composed” in the biggest matches, and was always ready to receive a pass.
In other words, he offers the very control and resilience that Joshua Kimmich and Leon Goretzka, the two Bayern Munich midfielders who have lined up next to Ilkay Gundogan (Barcelona) at the centre of midfield in recent years, can’t quite muster dependably at the moment.
There’s sound logic to the move in light of the Bayern duo’s struggles under Thomas Tuchel this season, even though it runs somewhat counter to Nagelsmann’s pre-new year resolution of introducing “different types of players” and “more workers” to the Nationalmannschaft midfield in 2024. Kroos, who famously glides through matches unperturbed by the scoreline and other vagaries, is hardly a bone-crunching enforcer, nor a selfless runner plugging gaps all over the pitch. Others will have to do that part.
But who?
Since Nagelsmann has named Gundogan captain, the 33-year-old will also have to start, albeit in a more advanced position. He will play closer to the No 10 spot he occupied at Manchester City. That leaves one open position. Job advert: “Willing labourer needed to shore up a 67-year-old midfield.”
It won’t be Kimmich, the deepest midfielder for Bayern and Germany in recent years. He will continue to be deployed as a right-back as he has done for his club in the past few weeks, Nagelsmann has ordained. Goretzka can play there in theory, but Nagelsmann knows from his time at Allianz Arena that the former Schalke man is more of a No 8 than a defensive specialist. A Goretzka-Gundogan combination in the middle did not work particularly well in November’s defeat in Vienna. Goretzka’s form has recently picked up in Munich, but he’s been left out of the squad and will worry about making it to the European Championship.
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In Goretzka’s place, Nagelsmann has surprisingly called up another Bayern midfielder: Aleksandar Pavlovic. The uncapped 19-year-old has broken into the champions’ first team this season and won universal praise for his performance in the 3-0 win over Lazio last week.
“It was not a question of Pavlovic or Leon,” Nagelsmann said. “Goretzka’s last few games have been more stable but we need to find the right players for the roles. A couple of players are ahead at the moment but the door is not closed. He was upset and disappointed, it was not an easy talk. But you have to make decisions otherwise you take 46 players and need two buses.”
Pavlovic could also represent Serbia — which perhaps explains Nagelsmann’s rush to include him in the games next week. Nagelsmann, however, insisted it was not a political decision to call up Pavlovic. “I won’t influence his decision, it’s a very personal decision — I will never interfere in that. If he had told me he would have preferred to play for Serbia, I wouldn’t have called him up. He was called up for his performances, not for political reasons.”
Of all the midfielders in the Germany squad, Pavlovic is the most natural “No 6”, but it will take plenty of courage to throw him in at the deep end considering his total lack of experience at international level.
Brighton’s Pascal Gross has been named as a suitable alternative for the defensive role, but mostly by people who haven’t seen the 32-year-old play much. Gross comes alive on the ball in the opposition half, but he isn’t the quickest. Adding him to the mix will offer considerably less protection to the soft core behind Kroos than Eduardo Camavinga and Aurelien Tchouameni provide at Madrid.
Stylistically, Robert Andrich would seem a better fit. The 29-year-old is a solid holding midfielder and ball-winner, but he is pretty limited in possession. Picking a Bayer Leverkusen player whose national team career spans 29 minutes as a sub in the Austria loss ahead of bigger names for the Euros carries a lot of political risk for Nagelsmann, concerns about the midfielder’s technical proficiency aside.
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Kroos’ return necessitates further changes up front. In Jamal Musiala (Bayern) and Florian Wirtz (Leverkusen), Germany have two superb No 10s that light up the league. If that spot behind the striker is occupied by the more strategically-minded Gundogan, then neither Musiala nor Wirtz can play in their most effective role. One or both will have to play wide, where the suspended Leroy Sane, the quickest forward of the squad, would expect to be.
All in all, Kroos’ reintroduction causes quite a bit of water displacement. Even though Nagelsmann said he only received positive replies from his players when he mooted the idea with a few of them last month, one can imagine the mood in the dressing room if the ploy fails. Kroos certainly has the potential to make Germany more secure and structured on the ball, but the price the team will have to pay is not far short of total reorganisation.
“(Kroos) has great experience, he’s very calm under pressure in the build-up,” Nagelsmann said. “He’s the best player in Europe when it comes to bypassing players at the moment. He is playing an extremely solid season with Real Madrid and I am very happy I could get him to come back. He will be playing a very important role for us.”
Nagelsmann recently watched a documentary about the German basketball team that won the World Cup last September and was impressed with how “every single (player) knew their role months ahead of the tournament”. If he is serious about adopting a similar regime for the national team, his new Germany have to emerge fully formed, instantly.
It’s an ambitious project considering the timeframe. Not many coaches would embark on a major refit two months before the start of the tournament. Hopefully, his big idea will prove more inspired than the abortive Havertz experiment.
(Top photo: Maja Hitij/Getty Images)
