Germany beat England 1-0 last night at Signal Iduna Park in a match in which England looked the more impressive side throughout
Gareth Southgate deployed a new 3-4-3 formation for this match with debutant Michael Keane starting alongside Gary Cahill and Chris Smalling in defence. The formation seemed to work early on as England created several chances but failed to find a way past Marc-Andre Ter Stegen.
Southgate’s system was ambitious and that is exactly how England played against the World Cup champions, but their profligacy in front of goal was punished later on by Lukas Podolski, who scored a trademark goal with an absolute hammer of a shot that Joe Hart had no chance of saving.
It was the perfect moment for Lukas Podolski – who was signing off from the German international team last night in his 130th appearance – and speaking after the game, Gareth Southgate branded the goal a “fairytale goal” while also praising his side’s performance.
” I’m very pleased with the performance, lots of excellent individual performances. Most pleasing of all is the new tactical system we tried, the players carried it out very well and it suited the players we had,” he said, according to Sky Sports.
” We’ve also got some intelligent footballers in there, and it’s pleasing for me, because I think we needed that ability, and we showed it tonight. Throughout the team there were some good performances. We’ve lost to a fairy-tale goal.”
The formation seemed to work as did Gareth Southgate’s team selection. There were even debuts for James Ward-Prowse and Nathan Redmond, who came on as late substitutes but will surely be firmly in Southgate’s mind for the fitxures to come.
Germany boss Joachim Low meanwhile felt that the match was a good test for his side as the manager had named a younger side to face England. Low also felt that the match was good for the Germans as England tested them throughout the night.
” Well, in the first half, the boys were very, very nervous,” Low said, according to Sky Sports. ” We picked younger players. It was noticeable that England were playing more intensely, much more vigorously in the tackle especially.”
” It took us a while to get used to this and slowly but surely I think our players got used to rhythm. I think it was a very good game in the end. It was good to play against opponents that really gave us a run for our money.”
Despite the Germans fielding a slightly inexperienced side and looking second best all night, it will be a night to remember for Lukas Podolski who ended his career with the German national team in perfect fashion.
Germany beat England 1-0 last night at Signal Iduna Park in a match in which England looked the more impressive side throughout
Gareth Southgate deployed a new 3-4-3 formation for this match with debutant Michael Keane starting alongside Gary Cahill and Chris Smalling in defence. The formation seemed to work early on as England created several chances but failed to find a way past Marc-Andre Ter Stegen.
Southgate’s system was ambitious and that is exactly how England played against the World Cup champions, but their profligacy in front of goal was punished later on by Lukas Podolski, who scored a trademark goal with an absolute hammer of a shot that Joe Hart had no chance of saving.
It was the perfect moment for Lukas Podolski – who was signing off from the German international team last night in his 130th appearance – and speaking after the game, Gareth Southgate branded the goal a “fairytale goal” while also praising his side’s performance.
” I’m very pleased with the performance, lots of excellent individual performances. Most pleasing of all is the new tactical system we tried, the players carried it out very well and it suited the players we had,” he said, according to Sky Sports.
” We’ve also got some intelligent footballers in there, and it’s pleasing for me, because I think we needed that ability, and we showed it tonight. Throughout the team there were some good performances. We’ve lost to a fairy-tale goal.”
The formation seemed to work as did Gareth Southgate’s team selection. There were even debuts for James Ward-Prowse and Nathan Redmond, who came on as late substitutes but will surely be firmly in Southgate’s mind for the fitxures to come.
Germany boss Joachim Low meanwhile felt that the match was a good test for his side as the manager had named a younger side to face England. Low also felt that the match was good for the Germans as England tested them throughout the night.
” Well, in the first half, the boys were very, very nervous,” Low said, according to Sky Sports. ” We picked younger players. It was noticeable that England were playing more intensely, much more vigorously in the tackle especially.”
” It took us a while to get used to this and slowly but surely I think our players got used to rhythm. I think it was a very good game in the end. It was good to play against opponents that really gave us a run for our money.”
Despite the Germans fielding a slightly inexperienced side and looking second best all night, it will be a night to remember for Lukas Podolski who ended his career with the German national team in perfect fashion.