Guardiola's tactics are to blame for Germany's decline, says Briegel
Ex-Germany international Hans-Peter Briegel says Pep Guardiola's tactics are to blame for Die Mannschaft's recent slump.
The German national team's struggles started with Pep Guardiola's arrival at Bayern München, says former German international Hans-Peter Briegel.
Guardiola enjoyed great success in Germany with a possession-based philosophy while coaching Bayern from 2013 to 2016. 'Die Mannschaft' found inspiration in Guardiola's playing style and thus became too focused on being in possession, claims Briegel.
"We no longer follow a simple principle - that the result in football is more important than to control the game. Since Guardiola came to Bayern, something has changed," he told La Repubblica.
"We have had the impression that we need 75 percent of the possession to win, but only having control of the ball is not enough to get a good result."
"The recent history and also the World Champion France have shown that you can also win if you give the opponent the ball and even have below 50 percent of the possession," Briegel said.
After the underwhelming group-stage exit at the World Cup in Russia, a terrible 2018 for Germany reached a new low last week as 'Die Mannschaft' were relegated from League A of the UEFA Nations League.