Euro 2016: Do Germany have a creativity problem?

Thursday's goalless draw with Poland confirmed concerns about Joachim Loew's side and they could be exposed again against Northern Ireland

Mario Gotze comes off having made little impact against Poland (Getty)

Does this Germany team have a creativity problem? That was the question hanging over their tight 0-0 draw with Poland on Thursday night, the question that will follow them to their game against Northern Ireland on Tuesday, a game that now has more riding on it than anyone expected.

Germany are tied with Poland on four points and just one ahead on goal difference. That means that Joachim Loew’s side may need to beat Michael O’Neill’s by a distance at the Parc des Princes. That might have sounded like a formality before the tournament begun, but it does not now, two rounds in.

Their first game was a routine 2-0 defeat of Ukraine, the same result Northern Ireland managed against that opposition. But then on Thursday Germany ran into a disciplined Polish team, aligned in two tight banks of four. The problem was not just that they did not score, but that Lukasz Fabianski only had two real saves to make. Loew tried Plan A, which was Mario Gotze, and then Plan B, Mario Gomez, and neither Mario could make much of a difference.

The German players were strikingly honest afterwards about what had gone wrong and why. “It is simple, we did not deserve to win,” admitted Mats Hummels, “because we did not create enough chances to score.”

“I am a little bit disappointed because we didn’t have the ideas to get through this defence,” Andre Schurrle said. “We didn’t have that speed and that fantasy to score a goal. That is what we have to do better in the next game.”

Andre Schurrle and his German team-mates during their 0-0 draw with Poland (Getty)

All teams have off-days, but this felt like the type of performance that – no ideas, no speed, no fantasy – that could have been foreseen. Because this Germany team, for all of their accomplishments, do have an intensity issue, a cutting edge issue, as if they cannot quite reach the top level they need against resolute opponents.

Not all of this is Loew’s fault, and he has certainly been hit by forces beyond German control. The great modern European striker drought has hit Germany as well as anyone, bringing to a halt a long line of development, from Gerd Muller all the way through to Miroslav Klose, leaving them just with the two Marios and, somehow, Lukas Podolski up front.

Then there is the cost of success. The best performances by this Germany team were back at the 2010 World Cup, when England and Argentina left too much complacent space for them to break into, and each conceded four goals as punishment. But that is not how it is any more, and Germany know they have to play a different game. Poland dug in for most of Thursday night and Northern Ireland will certainly do the same on Tuesday.

“We had this even before the World Cup and afterwards, it has been especially so,” Schurrle explained. “When we played the so-called “small teams”, that is the game of the year for them, or the game of their career, to play against the world champions. So they give everything they have and that is how it’s going to be against Northern Ireland. We are used to that. We have to take it as it is and try to make the best out of it.”

Northern Ireland are known for their tight defence

The German players watched the first half of Northern Ireland’s defeat of Ukraine and they know that O’Neill’s team will not fold easily against them. This is a team based on organisation and efficiency, happy to give up the ball, and that means that they will not come out to create space for Germany to break into. They have no incentive to do that.

“They defend with their hearts, with everything they have and try to have some counter-attacks or set pieces, it is very honest how they play” said Schurrle, who knows that his team-mates must start trying to force the issue more. “I’m going to look forward to it, but we have to do it better. We have to get some spaces in front of the goal and try to shoot more, and have some difficult things for their defence.”

Hummels was pleased to have such a competitive game as this as Germany’s second, hoping that it can spark them into improvement for the rest of the competition. “It is always better to play teams like this, than to play bad teams you score four or five goals against easily, because you don’t improve,” he said. “If you have games like this, we can analyse it and we can see what has gone wrong, what we can do better in the next games to come.”

On Tuesday Loew may turn to Schurrle or Gomez from the start rather than Gotze, bringing more pace or presence to the team. Gotze is not offering much of either. But there is an acceptance in the group that they need to play better than this, starting on Tuesday.

“Northern Irleand played with much passion and they run, they fight, every player, for the whole game,” Hummels said. “That is what I expect from them. We expect to have the ball for a very long in the game. And then we have to be much better at the offensive end.”