The glitch in the system: How Germany's academy revolution left one position behind

Perhaps you can have too much of a good thing. Or at least too much of the same thing. The programme of overhauling Germany’s academy system that began in 2001 – as detailed in Raphael Honigstein’s book Das Reboot – has been rightly praised and was a major factor in them winning the World Cup two years ago, but as they’ve struggled to maintain that level over the past two years, some of the deficiencies of the model are perhaps being seen.

The World Cup success in 2014 was rooted in the creative midfield talents of Mesut Ozil, Thomas Muller, Mario Gotze and Toni Kroos, but approaching the Euros it seems legitimate to wonder whether the German model is anywhere near as effective at producing players in other positions, most notably at centre-forward.

Germany have two basic striking options for the Euros. They can play a false nine – probably Gotze, although Muller could be moved forwards – or they can play Mario Gomez. As he laboured through two injury-afflicted seasons at Fiorentina, that would have seemed an absurd move and, while it still seems retrograde the 30-year-old had a fine campaign in Turkey scoring 26 goals as he helped Besiktas to the league title. It says much about the lack of other options that the only other forwards in the squad are the 20-year-old Schalke 04 winger Leroy Sane and – conceivably – Lukas Podolski, although if the former Arsenal man gets a game its more likely to be on the left.

Gomez seems delighted to be there. "I expect the team to do well at the Euros and hopefully win the title, but I have no personal expectations," he told Bild. "The coach knows that he can trust me. He will decide when and how he needs me.

“If he just needs me for one minute in the whole tournament then I will give my everything in this minute. If I don't play, I will try my best in training to help drive and push the others to perform well. It is important that we do everything as a team to become European champions. I wanted to be part of this team at any cost but I will not say the coach needs to select me.”

If selected, he will probably thrive. He’s always been a player who misses his share of chances but the vital thing is that he keeps getting in position, offering the sort of focal point Germany apparently need. At the World Cup, it wasn’t until Miroslav Klose, then 35, was recalled for the semi-final against France that Germany began to look like potential winners. They’d been shaky in the group stage, scraping a 2-2 draw against Ghana, and had struggled to see off Algeria after extra-time in the last 16.

For Jogi Low, Germany’s coach, the World Cup was the culmination of an issue that has nagged away at German football since the World Cup in 2010. Back then, Germany were a counter-attacking side who were superb so long as they could sit back and pick off opponents on the break. If they scored early, as they did against Australia, England and Argentina, they went on to rattle in four. If they didn’t, they found it much harder, as defeats to Serbia and Spain and a scrappy 1-0 win over Ghana demonstrated.

After that tournament, Low sought to make Germany more proactive, but he struggled to do so without losing defensive solidity. That undermined Germany in the knockout phase at Euro 2012 and it was threatening to undo them in Brazil before Low, on a run along the beach, decided to go back to basics and recall Klose. The result was two 1-0 wins and the match that added the sheen, the 7-1 demolition of Brazil as Germany ruthlessly exploited hysterical opponents. But impressive as that was, it still wasn’t Germany combining both defensive solidity and an approach that proactively took on opponents.

In a sense it doesn’t matter. The level of international football is not especially high and Germany could easily win Euro 2016 with that issue still unresolved. But the two years since the World Cup win offer cause for concern. Germany have lost to Poland and Ireland in qualifiers and to England and Slovakia (and France, although given that was the night of the Paris attacks it can’t really be regarded as a game in any meaningful sense).

The lack of full-backs has meant experimentation with a back three, although that option seems now to have been disregarded. Jonas Hector of Cologne has emerged as the surprise candidate to play at left-back; nobody played more minutes for Germany in 2015. Perhaps significantly, he never played for an academy and was still playing – as a creative midfielder – in the fifth division for the village side Auersmacher when he was 20. It was only after joining Cologne that he moved to left-back. Hector, perhaps, is the sort of player the Bayern CEO Karl-Heiz Rummenigge had in mind when he spoke of too many academy players being “over-coached”, being used to having perfect conditions and being unable to adapt as a result.

Injuries have also weakened Germany. Mats Hummels will probably miss the whole of the group stage, while Marco Reus and Ilkay Gundogan miss out entirely. That in turn potentially leaves Germany short at the back of midfield. Bastan Schweinsteiger struggled for fitness all season at Manchester United while Sami Khedira, although he managed 20 games for Juventus this season, is not somebody whose health can be relied upon. Toni Kroos, who is likely to operate alongside Khedira, is a very fine passer of the ball, but is not necessarily the most defensive of holding midfielders.

This is a Germany with many potential weaknesses. But then there’s also a sense that they’ve been coasting since the World Cup, that once proper competition kicks in, they’ll rediscover their tenacity and the glitches that have characterised the past two years will melt away.