Expect business as usual for the matches against Italy in terms of players.
Former Bayern Munich boss Julian Nagelsmann has been a revelation so far with the German national team. Despite an exit against Spain at EURO 2024, there is new life in the squad and a real excitement around the team’s future prospects. Now Germany have a chance to host the UEFA Nations League Final 4 if they can advance past rivals Italy in the March fixtures.
Despite changing form in the national team’s players, Nagelsmann does not plan on changing the squad up too much for the Italy matches. A reduced camp length means that preparation will be concise and very intentional. New players might struggle to adapt to the play style that other players are more familiar with.
“This is the shortest camp we have, so we can’t change much. We can only practice the plan against Italy in two sessions, about 20 minutes each. It’s not so easy at national team level. You have to try to reflect most of the players’ characters in the way you play, and of course it should also fit in with how they play at club level,” Nagelsmann told Frankfurter Allgemeine (as captured by @iMiaSanMia). “We can’t just call up players from Real Madrid who sit deep and play on the counter. The teams our players come from often play high pressing or active football. And generally, that’s my philosophy too, and I have to try to feel comfortable with what I’m conveying. For me, football is always emotional. That’s also the point that has brought the national team back to the forefront with the fans.”
When it comes to his tactics and how they relate to the team, Nagelsmann would like to see the squad become more adaptable.
“We do need to become a bit more variable. But if I have the choice between a highly intensive style of play and a very tactical one, I always prefer the more intensive one. It’s best if you manage to translate the emotion into three or four tactical variations; in the end, that’s what makes a top team,” Nagelsmann said.
Despite the current success of the national team, there are players such as Jonathan Burkardt, Tom Bischof, Noah Atubolu who simply cannot be ignored. On the other hand, there are players such as Robert Andrich who have seen reduced playtime at the club level and substandard fitness levels.
Julian Nagelsmann will announce his squad on Thursday, March 13th, just 7 days before the first match against Italy. Don’t be surprised to see some in-form players introduced to the squad to replace injured players such as Florian Wirtz, Kai Havertz, and Niclas Fullkrüg. Apart from that though, Nagelsmann plans to keep things par for the course.
