That's a slightly weird formation with Musiala on the wing and Sane in the midfield. Not Musiala at the 10 and Sane at the wing?

super weird to have an LM but no RM

Ah, maybe I see what's going on? Is it supposed to be a 3322: Musiala Fullkrug Sane Hoffman Goretzka Kimmich Gundugan Rudiger Hummels Sule The [Athletic says](https://theathletic.com/4936619/2023/10/06/nagelsmann-germany-squad-usmnt-mexico/) they're supposed to play a 4222, so maybe it's a modified version of that with Kimmich as the RB who pushes into the midfield in possession (a la GGG's original system with Tyler Adams). Even then though surely you switch Musiala and Sane?

Or a 3331 with Musiala behind the striker?

Hoffman is supposedly the RM

The funny thing is Hofmann is listed as RM

Probably Musiala plays more of a false 9

There is no way Germany actually line up like this

Equally as likely that we line up with these players in this formation

If this was their starting 11 it would almost certainly be 352 with Musiala as a second striker

While this is a lot of talent, I'm not sure this formation and positioning really brings out the best in Germany.

Kimmich at RB I think. Then it makes sense in a 433 or 4222.

Yup. That’s their best players sure but a lot of skill set overlap

I don't think this is the formation players will actually line up in. Doesn't make sense to have Sane playing behind Musiala. Something's wrong here.

Nagelsmann is a fraud. He’s the SBF of football.

Seeing things like this really brings me back to reality with our squad lol

Pulisic could well start over Hofmann, and easily makes the squad. Balogun could well get their backup striker spot. Maybe a healthy Tyler Adams could sneak in over Andrich? No one else comes close to making their squad, right? Imagine having Florian Wirtz on the bench.

Balogun at this point could be their starter. It's a very weak point for Germany right now.

But they have the 007 goat havertz!!

they would just put sane up there, bring in any one of Muller, havertz, wirtz, etc...

Sane cannot play striker at all. Muller was most prolific playing off of a primary striker in Klose. Havertz and Wirtz are also both very similar to Muller in that regard. Havertz does happen to be very strong in holding up the ball but still needs a finisher. This "etc" you mention does not exist. Watch germanys recent games all the way back to the WC. They look absolutely shit until they bring on a true striker. Nagglesman knows this and knows most of the German players very well. He most likely will not put anyone mentioned, other than specific times havertz, up front. So yes I think Balogun walks into the striker role for germany.

Now that you say that, they are comparing this dude to Klose so his start makes sense.

havent gotten to watch the gamew but damn that's a crazy line up for 2-4-1. The list of guys who didn't make it is arguably more ridiculous.

But that hasn't been working. There was real discussion of them calling players from relegation zone teams or even the 2 Bundesliga.

new coach. i mean balo is more similar to a sane than this high pressing mofo. Is gnabry injured or is he there?

Weak for Germany, for sure. But even still Fullkrug scored 16 goals for Dortmund last year and scored 2 in the World Cup, 7 in 9 apps for Germany.

Bremen last year not dortmund. I'm not trying to slight fullkrug at all but he benefits greatly from how germany set up. Realistically any true striker would slot in nicely there. It's the reason germany has looked mostly toothless since klose retired. Outside of fullkrug, they don't really have a #9 that's decent.

Jedi Robinson makes their squad in my opinion

i would like your plug's number please

😂. It’s purely due to their lack of wing back options. I probably still have raum over him but it’s pretty close and I think he would get into a Germany squad at least once

It’s interesting because I think Luka Netz would play over Jedi for USMNT as he’s a bigger talent anyway

Down the line I agree with you, but I feel like if the DFB thought he was ready then he would already be in this squad considering how many defensive options they have gone through in recent times

I guess my thinking if - If the USMNT had a Luca Netz they would prioritize playing him just because of potential even if Jedi is more consistent/better at the moment. But not married to this opinion - I largely agree with you

Definitely would enjoy having Netz in our team 😂

Interesting, yeah it's possible, their LB options aren't that great.

Theres guys on their bench that would start over pulisic for us plus gnabry is injured...i mean look at the list of guys who didn't make this squad. how are they 2-4-1 this year. no pain no gain.

Man you should seen how much scarier it was 15-20 years ago. We had a fraction of the talent we do now. We have ways to go but we’ve come so far Kasey Keller Jimmy Conrad Cory Gibbs Gregg Berhalter Steve Cherundolo Bobby Convey Pablo Mastroeni Kerry Zavagnin Brian Ching Eddie Johnson Josh Wolff Edit fuck responded to the wrong comment. But also the above is a reality check on how far we’ve come

What is that random ass list of players lol

Our starting lineup vs them in 2006

Oh, in a friendly. That makes more sense.

Those players could still hang with anyone though. It’s not like the talent on our roster is 3x what it was then.

Was specifically responding to the scary part . There is a massive difference when most of your staring 11 is playing in Europe, especially on top teams, compared to the MLS , esp back then. Not going to try to quantify exactly how much better we are now, but hopefully you get my point. Edit As far as those players “hanging with anyone” How many of them would’ve seen minutes in top leagues ? Besides Stevie, Kasey, Cory, maybe Bobby?

Doesn’t matter what league they played in, but if you watch the games from that era, it was the case.

I watched all of those games and saw a lot of our players perform weekly as a metrostars season ticket holder. And sure, some league one or even 2 could “hang” with some epl teams. I believe a-lot of our best games back then were us over performing and teams underestimating us. Back then I was expecting us to lose 4-0 to Germany where as now, personally, it would be a disappointment. Don’t get me wrong we had some good performances back then, even dominated possession once iirc .. but I’d expect us to lose 9 Times out of 10 in those days But again this post was more about how much more intimidating it was when our players were almost entirely MLS based and we had very few highly technical players, especially at young ages.

I get it, I’m just saying that those guys in the early 2000s would give our guys today all they could handle. Pablo mastroeni bossed the midfield for us in 2002, for example. He could have easily had a job in a top European league.

I actually just started watching the 2002 game (found it on YouTube) I def underestimated us a bit but also forgot how much weaker Germany was back then before they started evolving. They were basically just a better version of our team, nothing super dynamic. But man I forgot how good Reyna and O’Brien were. You’re right, Pablo was a boss in that game also.

Then you realize it's the weakest German team in decades and it's still absolutely stacked

It's only weak because there's a lack of cohesion, not because of lack of talent.

It's weak on the talent side too. Look at the squads they were putting out in 2010/2014 in comparison.

This German team is extremely talented at the individual level. I would take their midfield 3 over maybe any other national team in the world. Sane, Musiala could walk into just about any team in the world. They have a top 5 centerback in Rudiger and a top 5 goalkeeper However, teams aren't always a sum of their parts (especially national teams). They just don't fit/play well together, and this comes from someone who watches a lot of the German national team. The pieces are there. They just haven't looked right in a long time, maybe Nagelsmann can change that

I would take England and France midfield over this German one but it’s close. If you look at the names it’s criminal how they have been performing.

England midfield is their weakest link. Our midfield dominated theirs in the World Cup.

>Bellingham , Rice and Maddison Weakest Link ?

thiaw doesnt even get minutes,,,

cause they've been playing kinda bad, but its still a really good team on paper which is how were judging it

Nah a lot of people are delusional here lol. The US is a pretty average national team. Edit: I think it was pretty obvious that I meant it in the context of the best 32 teams that qualify for the WC.

Technically, by definition, they're very far above average, but yes, they aren't at the talent level of the best teams

People think we should be making semi-finals like it’s that easy

People also think it'll be easy as long as we have someone other than Berhalter at the helm. Lmao.

I think people like to ignore the fact that other national teams outside of the US are also getting better.

Yeah pretty much lol.

Maybe because ggg is a shit coach and it is his fault the USA doesn’t have as many high quality players as those soccer powerhouses and former wc winners.

Yes we are

I dunno if you can call a top 20 team "average," but we're probably talking semantics at this point.

Average at a World Cup level with 32 teams. Way above average when you consider teams that won’t qualify.

That's a fair statement, though I'm not sure what the other person's context was.

No lie, saying USMNT dominated England when the game ended 0-0. 😂

I’ll take Weah>Hoffman and Balogun>Fullkrug to be honest

I would definitely not take Weah over Hoffman. Hoffman is excellent, and he is in great form this season. The guy has been criminally overlooked by previous German managers.

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Sule I might agree with you but Hummels is one of the smartest CBs in the world, no chance you take ream over him

As an American born in Germany, I am very excited for this game!

woah, didn't know Fabian Johnson used Reddit

You found me ;)

I bet we still win by one goal.

Yeah, no. I bet Germany plays a 4-2-3-1. Sane is a attacking right winger who has a left for. And Gundigan as a RM doesn’t make sense because at Man City he was a CM/CDM like 97% of the time.

Can’t believe my dawg Thiaw isn’t starting he’s better than every defender in that lineup. It’s a shame they’re not starting Havertz

thiaw is absolutely not in better form than hummels, hummels is aging like fine wine wnd his form backs that up

he didnt play in the last window. Honestly, its just a matter of time, but man, I thought he was like 2-3 years from a top 5 team, but it looks like they already spotted him.

Man this is actually a fucking scary ass lineup.

Yeah but good vibes Gregg got the boys giggling in press conferences and shit, we will be fiiiiiine.

We're still gonna win. We played England's supposed greatest generation in decades and we schooled them pretty well at the World Cup. We easily looked the better side.

That's because England has a literal potato for a manager. And we did not "easily look the better side."

England is still England. Individual players doesnt mean a better team. Also Southgate isn’t a very good coach. The last euro final was proof.

I admire your confidence, but you wildly overrate the US based on one game almost a year ago.

I figured they'd go with a 4-4-2 honestly

Bunch of ass clowns

They ain't shit.

Surprised Thiaw isn’t starting over Sule. Rudiger has the pace to keep up with our wingers but Sule can be suspect when on an island