Germany safe and secure in defence

PARIS: When Joachim Loew landed in France with his German team for Euro 2016, he came with an unsettled defensive setup, leaving fans pensive. Mats Hummels was still

PARIS: When Joachim Loew landed in France with his German team for Euro 2016, he came with an unsettled defensive setup, leaving fans pensive. Mats Hummels was still out with a calf injury (he went on to miss the first match), his expected replacement Antonio Rudiger tore cruciate ligaments in the first training session on French soil while Jerome Boateng had looked shaky in the buildup.

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The alarm bells ringing were especially loud after a surprise 3-1 home loss to Slovakia during a friendly.

But four matches into the tournament, Germany are yet to concede a goal and their turnaround was apparent best in their 3-0 destruction of Slovakia, a sweet revenge for Loew’s side.

NEUER EYEING RECORD

Their defensive solidity is apparent in the fact that Manuel Neuer is gunning for their all-time best record for consecutive clean sheets. Just once before have Germany managed to go their first four games without conceding in a major championship, at the 1978 World Cup.

Crucially, Loew has proved shrewd in his decision-making. For the Group C opener against Ukraine, he opted for Shkodran Mustafi in central defence and the Valencia defender headed in the first goal. He subsequently replaced Mustafi with Hummels against Poland, and though many felt he was being reintroduced too soon, the ex-Dortmund man has been solid ever since.

The Hummels-Boateng axis in the middle has elicited plenty of praise, and also augurs well for Bayern following Hummels’s summer switch. “They have done very well defensively and also when we’ve been in possession,” said Loew ahead of their quarterfinal match. “They’ve basically won every challenge when the ball has come forward.”

PLENTY OF POSSESSION

Yet it is not solely the back four that deserve mention. Germany have been following the Spanish approach to the art of defending: the idea that the opposition cannot score if they don’t have the ball. Jealously guarding i t and har r ying teams whenever they lose it, Die Mannschaft now boast the tournament’s highest average possession figure (64%).

Much of that work falls on the midfielders and forwards, and Loew has repeatedly highlighted their efforts, especially when his side has failed to sparkle in attack.