A little more than two years have passed since Hansi Flick took command of Germany, but it’s possible that he just has two matches left in his tenure.
The 58-year-old coach, who took over for the long-tenured Joachim Low in August 2021, got off to a strong start, winning his first eight matches in a row, but since then, he’s only won four of his next 16 matches.
During this international break, they have games against Japan and France.
Although it only consists of two friendly matches, Flick is under a lot of pressure to do well and not screw this up. “The last games [losses by Poland and Colombia] were so bad that this has become an unofficial final for his era,” a German football journalist named Raphael Honigstein said on the Euro League podcast broadcast on BBC Radio 5 Live in the United Kingdom.
“Two bad performances and two bad results, and the Germany FA will be forced to get rid of him because the pressure from the public would be intolerable.”
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A performance of this poor quality is shocking coming from a manager who oversaw Bayern Munich from November 2019 to June 2021 and won 70 of the 86 games in which he participated.
Between the years 2006 and 2014, Flick held the position of assistant manager for Low with Germany.
After being eliminated in the group stage of the World Cup, Germany went on to win only one of their subsequent five friendlies, and as tournament hosts, they were exempt from having to compete in the qualifying rounds for Euro 2024.
They have only been victorious against Oman, Costa Rica, and Peru in the last year’s worth of competition.
Honigstein continued by saying, “They let him get off after the World Cup, thinking that it was just a freak result.” However, the rehabilitation that was intended to take place has not, and the situation has become much more dire.
So, what are the challenges that lie ahead for the team that won the World Cup in 2014?
“He has been disoriented and has been trying out various strategic approaches. According to Honigstein, “people don’t understand the personnel changes, and he really has his back against the wall.”
It is not his responsibility that Germany is not generating center forwards, nor is it his fault that they have a serious issue at full-back. However, you could say the same thing for the [previous] 20 years, and the role of a coach is supposed to be to minimize situations like this.
“The parts of Germany that have been successful have been inventive and have discovered answers. It would be far too convenient to absolve him of responsibility for that.
“Things have gotten worse as a result of the experiments with the back three.” Because the situation was so awful, it was impossible not to place the blame on Flick.
“In the end, it is the manager who is responsible for the team’s performance, and there is no reason why the players on this Germany team should be performing so poorly.”
“They have players who have won the Champions League and who are currently on the best clubs in Europe. Why shouldn’t they have some performances in the Germany team that are at least somewhat competent?
But could there be a straightforward answer to this predicament?
“It is high time that Flick found just a steady hand when it comes to making his decisions. To paraphrase what Honigstein said, “Pick 11 decent players and choose a formation that works.”
Who could take Flick’s place if he were to leave? What about the man who took his place at Bayern Munich at the conclusion of the 2020-21 season?
“Julian Nagelsmann is being strongly touted as the man to come in – perhaps in the short term to save this Germany team, who seem quite rudderless,” said Honigstein. “Julian Nagelsmann is being touted as the man to come in to save this Germany team, who seem quite rudderless.”
Since Bayern fired him in March, highly regarded Nagelsmann, who is now 36 years old, has been unemployed.
