Germany super-sub Deniz Undav is posing the best kind of selection dilemma for head coach Julian Nagelsmann. The VfB Stuttgart forward’s incredible production off the bench is raising questions about why he isn’t in the starting XI to begin with…questions that already predated the tournament.
But how will Nagelsmann fit Undav in? Let’s take a look.
A central menace
When Undav has taken the pitch, it has been in two roles: playing off of Kai Havertz as a second German striker, or operating as the lone center-forward.
Against Curaçao, his first assist showcased this partnership. Havertz made his dummy run crossing in front of Undav, who stayed put to receive from Florian Wirtz and flick it on to third man runner Nathaniel Brown:
The Havertz-Undav duo was on display again for his first goal against Ivory Coast, whose backline in the second half was stretched by the presence of a second striker in a way that it had not been tested in the first. The staggered runs at goal resulted in each splitting a pair of defenders: Havertz first, angling to the near post and catching the keeper’s attention as well before Undav ghosted in behind to latch on for a point-blank volley on the cross from Nadiem Amiri:
Of course there is also Undav’s magnificent assist to Havertz in the first game, another central flick-on that sent the fleet-footed Arsenal man in behind and clear on goal.
But Undav has done equally well on his own, with his outrageous turn-and-shoot winner against Ivory Coast the best example. Havertz was off, with Amiri, now the closest thing to a No. 10, having dropped all the way off to leave the second line of defense ball-watching:
It was the kind of lethal instinct so often lacking from Germany in such positions, and his teammates know it.
“I knew the ball would go in the moment I crossed it to Deniz,” Amiri said after the Ivory Coast match about the equalizer (via Transfermarkt). “He is incredible. A killer in front of goal…he is phenomenal.”
The Leroy Sané question
Mirroring Undav’s success is the plight of Germany’s most under-fire player: Leroy Sané. The former Bayern Munich man probably would not be starting had Lennart Karl stayed healthy. After his move to Galatasaray last summer, he was initially dropped from the Germany roster in September, with Nagelsmann publicly challenging him by declaring: “I’m expecting certain numbers from him.”
Those numbers never came, but Sané is back nonetheless. His seven goals and five assists in the Süper Lig are a tick down from his production last season for Bayern — despite nearly 40% more minutes — and it almost feels like Nagelsmann has been backed into a corner he did not want or expect.
But it’s not only a matter of getting the most in-form players on the pitch. Sané doesn’t occupy the same role as Undav, as his match stories amply demonstrate:
In Nagelsmann’s system, Germany achieves central and left-sided overloads with the ball moving quickly from one player to the next in these areas, while Sané is often left galloping free down the right flank, ready to receive and take on defenders one-on-one.
Sané also works extremely hard tracking back — as Nagelsmann reminds us again and again — which is extra important on the flank occupied by Joshua Kimmich. On the Germany roster, Sané’s real alternative is Jamie Leweling, another player who can fully man the right wing and enable the rest of the lineup to tick.
That’s a separate discussion…for another time.
Who else?
Germany’s other three attackers all have distinct and important roles, too.
Havertz is consistently under-appreciated by the fanbase but highly rated by his coaches. The Arsenal forward didn’t have his best outing against Ivory Coast but is no stranger to big goals himself, and his smart movement across the front line is also key for Germany. Thomas Müller himself — a man every Bayern fan knows knows ball — said that Kai should “play every minute if he can.”
What about Florian Wirtz? Doubters have come for the Liverpool ace this season but the former Leverkusen star is as comfortable as he ever was in a Germany jersey. Everything is running through Wirtz in attack:
Wirtz isn’t roaming the flanks like a wing-back, a Sané of the left. Instead, he’s well-placed as the attacking field general, pulling the strings for Germany’s front line while also in a good position himself to come in and shoot on his favored right.
Which leaves Jamal Musiala.
If there ever was a criticism for the young German superstar, even prior to his injury, it was the extent to which he relied on his dribbling. There is for sure a place for fantastic take-ons still, for dancing through five challenges in the box and squeezing off a shot on goal. But that’s arguably better suited for the left wing, and that’s maybe just not how this Germany team is running.
The give-and-go. The flick on to a runner in behind. The switch, and then the pull-back. All this, more than the one-man talisman, is how Germany has cut through stubborn defenses in this tournament. It is a reliance on good instincts and quick combinations, which Undav brings to the table in spades — and he’s in the form of his life.
Thomas Müller and Jürgen Klopp made waves when they called for Undav’s inclusion in the Germany XI ahead of the tournament — that was ahead of Musiala. Two games in, it looks like they had a case to make.
Without Undav this is a Germany team that — when they can’t break forward in transition — likes to work the ball this way and that, rotating players around and hoping to find some clever combination or a lay-off for an on-rushing shooter from the second line.
With Undav they’ve got a real fox in the box, an actual set of fangs to go with all that probing possession.
Ultimately, it’s just not quite as simple as “get your best four players on the field” — it is a genuine conundrum that Julian Nagelsmann is facing. His lineup and his attacking four has arguably served Germany well in the two games so far, both victories amid the Germans’ best World Cup start in ages.
And — who knows? Germany is on a 11-game win streak, dating back to last September. If Undav plays only 30 minutes every game the rest of the way but keeps scoring and assisting like this, can we really say Nagelsmann did not have it exactly right?
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