The first half was phenomenal, but the second threatened to undo all that good work.
Julian Nagelsmann’s work with Germany’s national team has been progressing at a steady rate. From stabilizing the team following two straight World Cup group stage exits, delivering a good performance on home soil in the 2024 Euros, and now making the Nations League semifinals, Nagelsmann’s Germany side has continued to get better and better. And the first half of Germany’s second leg against Italy was the best we have seen under the former Bayern Munich coach.
Certainly, Nagelsmann thinks so: “I think the first half was the best we’ve had [under him as coach],” he enthused (as captured by @iMiaSanMia). “We were great with the ball and aggressive defensively and scored 3 goals.”
But the second half saw Germany surrender the three goal advantage in a meek manner as Nagelsmann made a lot of controversial substitutions. He explained that it was to manage their workload: “In the second half we had to make changes because not everyone was able to play for 90 minutes. We conceded the first, then the second, then there was doubt. The biggest problem was that we played too many passes backwards, unlike the first half. I don’t want to talk too much about the second half. I think the biggest conclusion from these two games is that we know what we can do, but we still have to improve. It was great for our development.”
The positives of the first half should not be forgotten. If the team can regularly deliver such performances, Germany fans can be in for a real treat.
