Well that was... damning. There's been few games played this year where the gulf in tactical quality was as vast as it was last night. With Toni Kroos in particular given the freedom of the pitch to dictate play - Scotland's system was broken from the offset.
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00:00Hello everybody, Adam Cleary here from 442, Germany 5, Scotland 1, and my expectations
00:10were low, but jesus fu-
00:15Right, okay, so guten evening, welcome to our brand new studio for the Euros, it's gonna
00:23look slightly better than this, there'll be coloured lights and whatnot, but we'll get
00:27to that across the rest of the tournament, yes, I was the man who did the video saying
00:33other teams should be scared of Scotland, and yeah.
00:37Now we're gonna have a full and admittedly rather depressing look at the whole tactical
00:41story of this game and why it all went completely, completely wrong for Scotland, but I just
00:46wanna set out my stall very early by saying it's very easy to look at that result and
00:51say oh, what a complete disaster, absolutely everything went wrong for Scotland, they were
00:56crap, but that's not actually the story of this game, or at least not entirely anyway,
01:03what we had here was a situation where you had one team trying to do one thing, and one
01:09team trying to do another, and in the case of Germany, that working absolutely perfectly
01:14and in the case of Scotland, it's not.
01:19So the whole conceit in the build-up to this game was that Scotland play in a particular
01:23way that is admittedly very defensive, and Germany were obviously gonna have a lot of
01:27the ball and be very attacking, but specifically what Scotland like to do could trouble Germany
01:33in the areas they were specifically weak.
01:35I mean, yes, okay, it does feel really stupid in hindsight to have looked at it that way,
01:40but Germany on paper played into Scotland's hands, they have a centre forward in Havertz
01:45who wants to drop deep and not really do too much running in behind, and you've got two
01:49wide players in Musiala and Vertu, even when they are in these positions, are gonna move
01:53into the middle, and Scotland are a team that congest the middle, that stop you doing
01:58things in that area, and then break on you really, really well.
02:03But the problem, and admittedly there were lots of problems for Scotland across this
02:06entire game, but the main one was that Germany just knew all that, and their game plan was
02:11specifically designed to push and pull Scotland from left to right, from front to back, in
02:16all the different ways they didn't want to be stretched, and they executed that superbly,
02:21and Scotland could not deal with it.
02:24So off the ball, Steve Clarke's plan is to have this sort of 3-4-2-1, basically become
02:28a bank of five at the back, and then four in front of them, and have the out ball in
02:32the centre forward tonight, that was Che Adams, and you can sort of imagine how that works,
02:36both the sort of wing backs, they took in really, really nicely, then you've got the
02:39two sort of central tens, they drop a little bit wider, and you get this really congested
02:44central area, and that's supposed to force you to try and play it wide.
02:48So why this theoretically should have worked against Germany, is because here's Musiala
02:51and here's Wirth, even when they get the ball in these wide areas, they want to float into
02:56these half spaces, they want to be getting on the ball in central areas, right, and that
03:00plays completely into Scotland's alleged hands.
03:03Kai Havertz was playing centre forward, but he's going to want to drop slightly deeper,
03:06which is fine, a midfielder can pick him up, Ilkay Gundogan, he's going to want to float
03:10from left to right across this sort of central area, but that's fine, again, you've got extra
03:14men, you can always pick him up and stop him getting on the ball.
03:17All of the wit, then, has to come from the full backs, which if they want to commit them
03:20both forward, then it's your funeral buddy, Andrik, he'll push up, but he's not much of
03:24a threat sort of playing those balls in between, Toni Kroos is going to want to sit, you've
03:28got Jonathan Tah, you've got Rudiger, then all of a sudden you can see here, if Scotland
03:33can turn the ball over, that's three players left who don't want to really be getting run
03:37at, who are going to be getting run at.
03:40It's a whole congested mess in their half, but it's rife with opportunities in Germany's
03:46half.
03:47I literally bought a bottle of Iron Brew because I thought I would be here telling you how
03:51Scotland did something tonight, how they got some kind of result, but instead, I'm literally
03:57drowning my sorrows in battery acid.
04:00Sorry, I didn't mean that at all, it doesn't taste like battery acid, I actually love Iron
04:05Brew, alright, I'm just really, really disappointed.
04:09But obviously one of the main differences between something being theoretically great
04:12on a Sibutio table and an actual game of European Championship football, is that Germany were
04:17not playing with a load of little plastic men, they were playing with intelligent footballers
04:21with brains, managed by a human being manager with a brain.
04:26So I've just removed Scotland from the table here because, let's face it, Germany did what
04:30they actually like to do in the build-up, is where you would normally see a number six
04:34or a defensive midfielder drop between the centre backs and allow them to split.
04:39Germany do do this, but they do it with a bit of a twist.
04:42Rather than Tony Kroos dropping between the centre backs and thus being easy to press
04:46by a centre forward, what they actually do is the two centre backs just move over and
04:50Kroos moves into the left back space.
04:53Now the downside to Germany for this is it can leave Andrik very, very exposed in the
04:57middle when the ball gets into him, you can press him, you can take it off, and then all
05:00of a sudden you're countering along this back three.
05:02But what it forces the opposition to do, is all of a sudden Germany's best passer is in
05:07one of the hardest parts of the pitch to press if you're sitting deep.
05:11Someone has to go all the way out there, coming way out of a central position to try and stop
05:15them having the ball.
05:16And honestly, just this one thing and this one thing alone pretty much decided the entire
05:21contest because if I show you Tony Kroos' pass map, you can see he got on the ball absolutely
05:27low.
05:28Scotland weren't able to deny him service, they weren't able to deny him time, he's pretty
05:31much free to do what he wants, but just look a little closer.
05:35He's obviously getting on the ball loads, you can see that, he's playing the ball forward
05:38loads, you can see that, but just look how many of these passes start from the left-hand
05:43space and go right the way across to the right-hand side.
05:46How many of them are really sort of long, cross-field balls?
05:51Like whether he has it deep or whether he has it slightly further forward, every time
05:54he's getting the ball on the left-hand side, he's looking to play the ball over to the
05:58right, and what that does against a deep defence is it stretches you.
06:02Now Scotland want to be compact, right, so having Verts and Musiala move into the middle
06:07they think is great because by them doing that it makes them more compact, it means
06:12they can congest the centre of the pitch, but all of a sudden if you're getting the
06:15ball to Tony Kroos on this side and everybody's sort of moving over because that's the side
06:19the play's on, and he's hitting it into the far side where the full-back's capable of
06:24going, all of a sudden you've got a problem, and you can see this on the very first goal,
06:29Musiala has moved right the way inside, it's really congested Scotland's back five into
06:34a very narrow part of the pitch, leaving the room for the full-back.
06:37Because of this compact narrowness Scotland have, nobody's really in charge of pressing
06:42those wide areas, so when Kroos receives the ball here, McTominay and Adams are looking
06:46at him, they're in the right position, but neither really wants to go all the way out
06:51to him, and I don't know if I can explain this in a slightly better way, but it's fucking
06:56In Tony Kroos, against a lot of other teams it wouldn't be that much of a problem, but
07:00he's one of the best players in the world, he hits this ball all the way to this right-hand
07:04side absolutely perfectly, and all of a sudden every single player on Scotland's defence
07:09and the midfield, they have to react to that, they have to now spread across to the opposite
07:14side while still making sure they're staying compact in the middle, and that is so, so
07:20hard to do.
07:21And when I was watching this before, like the TV coverage paused it, like right here,
07:26and was like, how can you be giving Florian Wirtz this much space, it's a criminal defensive
07:31error, but it's really not, it's just a natural thing that's going to happen when all of a
07:36sudden you're having to readjust across the entire pitch, like you can see here, Ralston's
07:41like, oh that's my man, I've got to go and get across to him, and he does react to it,
07:45it's just a little bit too late.
07:47And because they're all now scrambling across trying to readjust on the fly, and Germany
07:51are doing this so effectively, they don't give Scotland time to correct what it is they're
07:56doing, they give Wirtz that little bit of space, and he's good enough to punish them.
08:00And the thing is, if this had just happened once in the game, you'd be like, ah well,
08:03you know, Germany have just got great players, they found a way through Scotland's system
08:07eventually, but this was the 10th minute of the game, and it wasn't even the first time
08:12they'd managed to do something like this.
08:13Like the initial scare for Scotland, the thing that should have alerted them immediately
08:17to what they were up against, was the ball over the top.
08:20Because in this scenario, they're pulling them to the left, then stretching them to
08:23the right, but they were also capable of pulling them up the pitch, and then stretching them
08:27in behind.
08:28This time, I apologise, I haven't got the clip in front of me, I think it was Rudiger,
08:31but that might be entirely wrong, he plays one ball over the top, and again, Scotland
08:36are compact, they're all in the right shape, but they're forced to run in a direction they
08:40don't want to, and it creates a really good opportunity.
08:43But I do think probably the second goal is where it became really apparent that it wasn't
08:47just Germany were playing well, Scotland didn't actually know how to approach this
08:51system, because this time Kroos gets on the ball, and he's not miles out to the left-hand
08:56side this time, he's not in all that space, he's actually come way into the centre, and
09:00still, none of the players around him feel comfortable putting in that challenge, getting
09:05in his face, stopping and playing it forward.
09:07Again, you can see Wirtz and Musiala have both come in from the flanks, they're really
09:11really central, one's pulled Andy Robertson sort of over to here, and this time, Musiala's
09:16gone so far into the centre, Ralston's passed him off to Porteous, who's broken the line
09:21to go out and look at him.
09:22But this is where it's less about the system and more about the individuals, because, again,
09:25I can't say this enough, it's Tony f***ing Kroos, man, you can't let him have that sort
09:31of time to pick that pass, Gundogan only has like a fraction of a bit of space, it's not
09:36like a glaring hole in Scotland's midfield, but it's just enough for two players of that
09:41quality to make that pass.
09:43And as soon as he gets that ball and he spins away, you just see it all fall apart for Scotland,
09:48because the whole idea is that the defensive line and the midfield line should be compact,
09:53there shouldn't be a gap in between them, and now there is, and Gundogan is in it.
09:59And not even that, but there's all this space out to the right and to the left, so they
10:03don't know whether they should be compact or they should be closing that off.
10:06Germany have so many options here, but guess what they do?
10:11It's a pass of just almost improbable quality from Ilkay Gundogan, but it's one that is
10:15only allowed to happen in the first place, because what should be a straight, structured
10:20defensive line from Scotland has been pulled left and been pulled right and been pulled
10:24forward and pulled back, and now forms this shape, which leaves a gap.
10:30He gets in and it's total panic stations, Musiala again has a nice turn to get away
10:34from his man, give himself the shot, and somehow this much room in the box and it's just this
10:40perfect combination of individual quality from Gundogan, from Havertz, from Kroos, but
10:46also it being born out of this complete understanding of how to dismantle another team's system.
10:53And I could just keep going with examples like this, like even the third goal, whatever
10:58you think about that sending off, just look at this moment right in the build-up to it,
11:03like how would Germany manage to give Kimmich the right back that much space in the final third?
11:08Well, again, it's because they have congested the middle even more than Scotland wanted
11:12them to, and it's not enough time for John McGinn, who's sort of nominally covering
11:16that space, to get out and stop the cross.
11:19It is individual quality, because that's a great ball, but born out of this dismantling
11:24of the system.
11:25I feel like I've said that like four times now.
11:27The thing is, right, this can just happen.
11:30There have been plenty of teams in the history of football that have turned up against superior
11:35opposition, been battered from pillar to post, been systematically taken apart, but
11:39have still been able to offer something going the other way.
11:42And what the real problem for Scotland was tonight, or last night, or whenever the hell
11:46you're watching this, is that they were unable to offer anything going forward.
11:51This is, in its entirety, every single completed pass from all of Scotland's midfielders and
11:59attackers.
12:00And the thing that will jump out at you is, oh, there's virtually nothing in Germany's
12:03half, but it's not even that.
12:05There is one, it's probably here somewhere, I can't really see it.
12:08There is one successful forward pass in Germany's half in 90 minutes.
12:15One.
12:16And while I am, fair enough, probably going to take a little bit of a kick in for the
12:19Scotland preview video, where we said they could be a genuine threat and they could do
12:22all this stuff.
12:23One thing we were at pains, and again, by we, I mean me, we were at pains to say in
12:28that video was that this Scotland system depends on its important players, specifically McGinn
12:33and McTominay, being at it, doing things right, really dominating their individual
12:38battles.
12:39And tonight, they both didn't do that, and as a result, nothing worked.
12:43And if you want to know why that was, right, I'm just going to show you Scott McTominay's
12:48heat map.
12:49Like, the guy was one of the top scorers in qualifying, playing this system because of
12:52the chances it afforded to him.
12:54Look at how much of his night was spent on this right-hand side, just trying desperately
13:01to cover the runs from the German left-back.
13:04He got absolutely no time, no opportunity, no anything where he wanted to have it.
13:11I'm going to stop soon because I'm going to bum myself out, but just imagine you are any
13:14other football team in the world and your primary goal threat spends his night here.
13:21Like, realistically, what's ever going to happen in that situation?
13:25But all right, Adam, this is a bit of a downer.
13:27Surely you've got some positives for us.
13:30Like, we don't sit and watch these to be depressed.
13:32We sit and watch these to, like, enjoy football and stuff, and yes, for Scotland, I have two
13:38major positives about this game, all right?
13:40Number one is that it's over and Germany can't hurt them anymore, and two, neither Switzerland
13:47nor Hungary have the players capable of doing this as effectively as Germany did it.
13:55Like, that was terrible.
13:56That was really, really bad.
13:58It was horrible and it was awful, but it isn't going to happen again, probably.
14:03Oh, and also, long-time viewers of the channel will know that whenever I mention XG as a
14:08concept, I always front-load it by saying, I know not a lot of people care about XG,
14:12and some people think it's really stupid and a trivial stat, and it doesn't tell you the
14:14whole story.
14:15Scotland's tonight, their XG in this game was 0.00, and I just think that in a game
14:26where you still scored one goal, that might be the best bit of storytelling that XG has
14:34ever, ever done.
14:35But yeah, all that, and I, me personally, just me talking, I am HO, I would have played
14:42Billy Gilmour.
14:43Like, just the scant few times Scotland were able to get their foot on the ball and pass
14:47it forward, he would maybe have made sure it didn't come back quite as quickly as it
14:53did.
14:54I think it's very easy to stand here in a studio at 20 past 12 at night and say that,
14:59isn't it?
15:00Especially so when it's true.
15:01Anyway, though, not the start I was hoping for at the Euros, but, well, it's the start
15:06we got.
15:07So thank you very much for joining us on this video.
15:08As you can see, we are in this absolutely stupendous, you can't see the whole thing,
15:13there's just loads of stuff going on, this brilliant new studio we have for the European
15:17Championship.
15:18We're going to be here for so long, I'm honestly really, really excited about the whole thing.
15:22So please do consider subscribing, the button's still here, to 442 on YouTube.
15:25We're going to be covering every Scotland game, every England game, and all the other
15:29games that we think you would enjoy hearing about.
15:32I've already had a load of tweets and stuff from German fans saying, are you going to
15:36give us our props and tell us all about this team?
15:39Yeah, I probably will now, so if you're that way inclined, you can subscribe and you'll
15:43get that as well.
15:44You can get me on all the social medias, at Adam Cleary, C-L-E-R-Y, the 442 socials.
15:48We've rebranded the thing, but I think it's still in that corner of the video, so check
15:52them out if you can.
15:53A new magazine is in the shops, I haven't got it to hand because they're still building
15:56some of it.
15:57It's actually going to look, honestly, it's actually going to look slightly cooler than
16:00this.
16:01We're going to have nice, cool lights coming in that'll just make it all really good.
16:05But it just wasn't quite ready tonight, much like Scotland.
16:09But anyway, yes, if you are a Scotland fan, or even if you're not, please let us know
16:13in the comments what you made of that game.
16:14Do you still think you've got enough to get out of the group?
16:17Because I do, but that's obviously a really bruising way to start a tournament and does
16:21not bode well.
16:22But all thoughts, all feelings, all emotions, they are welcome down below.
16:26And until next time, which, as you may be aware, is the England game, I have been Adam
16:32Cleary, this has been 442, and we'll see you then.
16:36But should I pretend I've got stairs?
16:38Is that too soon to do that?
16:41Goodbye!
16:42Ah, my knees, my knees.