Former Germany defender Hans-Peter Briegel has blamed Pep Guardiola for the decline of the German national side.
The four-time World Cup winners have endured a year to forget, with group-stage elimination from the World Cup and relegation from their Nations League group.
And according to Briegel, this all stems from Guardiola’s tactical influence during his time with Bundesliga giants Bayern Munich between 2013 and 2016.
He said: “A very simple principle has escaped our mind: that in football the result is more important than the control of the game,” he told Italian publication Repubblica.
“Since Guardiola arrived at Bayern Munich, something has changed. We had the illusion that 75% of possession was needed to win. But having control of the ball is not enough to get a result, not always at least.
“Recent history, and also with the world champions France, has shown that you can also win by leaving the ball to the opponents and having less than 50% of possession.”
The Manchester City manager enjoyed great success with Bayern, winning three Bundesliga titles, two DFB-Pokals (equivalent to two FA Cups), the UEFA Super Cup and the Club World Cup.
Germany have dominated possession in all six of their competitive games in 2018. In fact, they had 74% of the ball in their now-famous 2-0 World Cup defeat to South Korea.
Joachim Low’s side are already guaranteed relegation from their Nations League group after failing to win their opening three games, although they can determine the outcome of the group when they host Holland on Monday.
A win for the visitors would see them top the group ahead of World Cup winners France and join England in the finals next June.
Source: Talk sports
