Euro 2020 Qualifiers: Germany vs Northern Ireland – tactical analysis

Joachim Löw’s Germany hosted Michael O’Neill’s Northern Ireland for the final match of the Euro 2020 Qualifiers in group C. Germany had already secured qualification into the tournament, but the 2014 World Cup champions were seeking the win which would see them retain first place. For Northern Ireland, a play-off place was already confirmed before the match.

Because of this, Northern Ireland were pressure-free, able to attempt tactical tweaks and aim to spoil the party for the hosts. The Northern Ireland players and fans may have also been following the guidance of O’Neill for the final time, given his recent appointment as the manager of Stoke City.

The match finished 6-1 to the hosts. This tactical analysis will investigate how Germany were able to convincingly beat Northern Ireland via an investigation into the tactics of both teams. Specifically, the analysis will include information on offensive, defensive and transitional components of play from each team, as well as other key match events.

Line-Ups

By taking a brief look at the line-ups, we can see that, on paper, Germany operated in a 4-2-3-1 formation whereas Northern Ireland used a 4-1-4-1. Of course, formations and team shape fluctuate within performances as players from both teams interact, this will be discussed in the next section.

In terms of personnel, Germany utilised their strength in depth and rotated numerous players when compared to previous qualifiers, using such depth to try and determine their best starting eleven come Euro 2020. The interesting choice by Löw was to play the in-form Serge Gnabry upfront, rather than a more recognised striker in Timo Werner. The move paid off as Gnabry backed up his recent Champions League hat-trick with a hat-trick in the 6-1 demolition of the visitors. For Northern Ireland, O’Neill picked many of the players trusted throughout the qualifying campaign, given their smaller pool of international level players, but also due to their performances which has seen the Northern Irish players once again perform above expectation to secure a playoff spot.