Germany – Hungary: Plan And Execution? (2-0)

Julian Nagelsmann’s flexible forwards came to the forefront once again, but will this be one of the games that unveil problems later on in the tournament? The Germans’ buildup plan was the attraction, but their transitioning in defense left them holes that a toothless Hungary failed to execute.

Tactical analysis and match report by Joel Parker.

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In the previous tournament, Germany limped over into second place of Group F having failed to impose themselves against Hungary in the final match. Now the teams met again, with the Germans seemingly out of their predicament.

Much of this has to come down to Julian Nagelsmann, whose system is built around protecting Toni Kroos on his final lap and four versatile attackers all working to their strengths in central spaces. The Germans brutally swatted down Scotland in the opener, now was the time to sustain that momentum.

Hungary came into the Euros with a more positive outlook than the last, only for Switzerland to splash cold water on their faces. Creative rotations from the left side of the Swiss left Hungary overloaded down that channel and with spaces too big to plug. Now chances of a smooth run to the knockouts were in major jeopardy, could Marco Rossi find the answers?

Nagelsmann’s faith in the system can be reflected in his line-up. No changes from the game against Scotland. Rossi made two changes from the defeat to Switzerland, Ádám Lang and Attila Szalai dropped to the bench, Attila Fiola dropped to the right of the back three, so Bendegúz Bolla and Márton Dárdai came into the team.


Trial and error in the German buildup

Hungary answered some questions quickly regarding their defensive arrangement. In a 5-2-2-1 formation, which sometimes resembled a 5-2-3/5-4-1 shape, Hungary’s defensive line met their opponent with a lot of aggression, with wide center-backs that stepped out and midfielders dropping towards a potential receiver. They had a few opportunities themselves, but the ball was controlled by the Germans and there was no shock as to how this was made: fullbacks holding width and Toni Kroos pulling the strings from the defensive line.

A lot of attention was put on the interiors, Jamal Musiala and Florian Wirtz, but with little pressure being applied by the Hungarian front line and center-backs on different levels, it made the direct ball to Kai Havertz’s lateral run to the right quite a favorable option. Antonio Rüdiger curled a ball over the top and Willi Orbán struggled to deal with the bouncing ball; Havertz was able to get a powerful hit close to goal, which was saved by Péter Gulácsi.


10th minute: Buildup to Havertz chance. A high defensive line with no front-line pressure will always leave you at risk from balls over the top.


Ádám Nagy and András Schäfer preferred to cover the zone behind the attackers, rather than be pulled out by Wirtz or Musiala in the halfspace. This encouraged the two to take up slightly wider positions and with the ball-sided center-back stepping forward, or the team dropping off further, some hurdles were just too congested for the two attackers to clear despite their fluidity and with the likes of Kroos pumping the ball between the lines.

However, this is a team with plenty of tools. Dropping one of the attackers towards Robert Andrich encouraged the Hungarian front five towards that zone in circulation and freed up his partner on the outside to receive on the half-turn and drive towards the box. Combined with excellent off-ball movements from İlkay Gündoğan, crashing the box with Havertz pushing the last line back and both Orban and Dárdai struggled to handle the movement on the left of the defense.


18th minute: Buildup led to Germany playing into the box. Wirtz’s position next to Andrich encouraged the Hungarian midfield to maintain a close distance and more space was available for Musiala to receive on the half-turn and drive towards the box. Havertz ran towards the semi-circle, whilst Gündoğan crossed over to run between the two Hungarian center-backs. Musiala passed to Havertz, but Havertz’s pass to Gündoğan was slightly overhit.


After twenty minutes, Germany took the lead in a slightly scrappy fashion. After Orbán hooked away the ball from Havertz’s knockdown, Jonathan Tah put the ball straight back into the attack to his Bayer Leverkusen teammate, Wirtz. Orbán followed Havertz way too deep, which gave Gündoğan acres to run into around Fiola, fixated on the ball. Gündoğan struggled to control Musiala’s dink and Orban had initially recovered the ball but stumbled from the duel with the German captain. Wriggling away from the goalkeeper, he teed up Musiala, whose shot still took a deflection but the Germans were ahead.


Hungary’s dangerous crosses

Against a controlling German game plan, Hungary was able to circulate safely amongst the backline for brief periods, before they found themselves cornered. Fiola pushed further wide on the right as Orbán and Dárdai positioned themselves around Gulácsi. As Bolla pushed forward from right wing-back, Dominik Szoboszlai was given the freedom to take up a variety of positions to try and combine.

But breaking out from their u-shape in circulation proved difficult. Neither of the center-midfielders could link with each other as Hungary could only keep the ball down the channels. The exception was left wing-back Milos Kerkez, whose dribbles on the outside got the ball up the field and Germany where generous in conceding fouls in good positions.

As a result, the danger from Hungary came from more transitional moments. With German fullbacks so high within their buildup, if the ball was lost up the chain then Joshua Kimmich or Maximilian Mittelstädt would become part of the German counterpress. A third-man run from Hungary was able to create a two-versus-one and move into the space behind for the transition to take place. In these moments, the German last line would find itself distorted and Hungary had decent attempts in the first period through these kinds of moments.


28th minute: Buildup to Szoboszlai chance. Germany counterpressed down the right side, but Andrich nor Kimmich were directly pressing Kerkez and Schäfer. As the lane is open between Schäfer and Sallai, Rüdiger was defending the touchline without a player shielding or dropping into the defensive line to stretch them out. Kerkez underlapped and took the ball into the opposition half.


In the first quarter, Bolla intercepted a loose pass and Szoboszlai put the ball behind a retreating Kroos for Bolla to take the ball further. The ball trickled from the byline to the edge of the box, but there was enough room for Roland Sallai to run back from inside the area to get to the ball. His low shot was blocked by Rüdiger, but the space left by Nagelsmann’s team was not desirable.

A similar buildup transpired down the opposite side, and with Kimmich committed so high, Rüdiger was now the defender in the wide right channel and Kerkez’s inside run was met with a chipped ball from Sallai. In the middle of the box, Barnabás Varga dragged Tah away from Szoboszlai but Tah just about recovered to block the powerful shot. Unfortunately, these moments came few and far between for the Hungarians to exploit regularly, and after a competitive half-hour, momentum started to sway more in the direction of the hosts.


More combinations to incorporate  

Flexibility is the key in the German buildup and different combinations are always required to keep an opponent guessing. As a result, the fullbacks took up some more interesting positions to not only encourage more interchanges but also make the pitch as narrow as possible.

Positional adjustments were more occurent on the right side, with Rüdiger taking up a wider position, which encouraged Wirtz and Kimmich to adapt. This not only saw more curved runs from Kimmich around Kerkez, but encouraged more direct off-ball runs from Wirtz in response. Kimmich could then take up a position inside of the buildup structure and the change of German positions pulled the Hungarian defensive line apart once more.


54th minute: More aggressive positioning from the German fullbacks. Kimmich rotated inside, which disrupted Hungary’s man-marking, whilst Mittelstädt no longer stretched the field and stuck at the back post, but moved inward which condensed the field for the counterpress and put him in an optimal position for the second ball. As Kerkez stepped up, a huge space opened around Dárdai for Gündoğan to move into.


Nagelsmann switched up the profiles of the attack: out came Wirtz and Havertz, in came Leroy Sané and Niclas Füllkrug, but before Germany could try more combinations, Hungary nearly painted a very different picture with half an hour of the game remaining. From a long ball forward, Sallai brought the ball down by the touchline with both Kimmich and Rüdiger in his proximity. Tah altered his position, dropping more towards the center where Varga was located, but he did not stop the ball from reaching its intended target. Varga’s header aimed for the top corner, but sailed just wide, a big let-off for the Germans.

Hungary started to build a bit of momentum from this point, another cross had to be handled by Mittelstädt and another long ball down to Sallai nearly started another move, but as soon as they got going, Germany killed the game in a similar fashion as they did against Scotland. Kroos fired the ball into Musiala and Mittelstädt was free on the outside to knock the ball back into the danger zone. Three Hungarians dropped and left free was Gündoğan, whose shot nestled into the bottom corner.

Emre Can and Chris Führich were added to the mix, now the Stuttgart crowd could enjoy a familiar left side, but Führich was more than capable of keeping the attacking momentum on that side of the field. In fact, it was those two combining, with Führich sitting in the left halfspace, that kept the German attack going until the end.


Takeaways

On paper, a routine win from one of the favorites to ensure qualification, and with a game to go. But dig a little further and Hungary had plenty of chances to equalize throughout. On the defensive transition, Germany hasn’t found the formula to plug in the gaps in front of the center-backs and that will be a concern when up against better nations in the knockouts.

Despite that, Germany has one of the best tactical arrangements in the tournament, one that showcases the technical qualities of the midfield, in particular. Hungary go into the final game desperately needing a win against Scotland.



We decided to make all of our EURO 2024 articles free to read. If you want to support our work, consider taking a subscription.

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Joel Parker (24) is an Everton fan. Whenever he’s not watching his beloved Everton, Joel spends his time analyzing all sorts of football. Chief editor and Founder of Toffee Analysis. [ View all posts ]

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