Germany in Euro 08 - Match 1 Analysis

Germany has been officially started the Euro 08 campaign last night. As predicted the German had the solid win against Poland. Lukas Podolski had scored twice helped Germany won 2-0 and led the group by goal difference. Here is some analysis of mine:Defence: The defence was not too bad. Jens Lehmann (picture) had a pumpy start and then he was getting better throughout the match. He made some crucial saves and catches that led the German kept in the clean sheet until the end of the match. The back four was in the normal shape, but Christoph Metzelder needed some match practice as he was back from injury not for long ago. Per Mertesacker had a great game, he led the defence line efficiently and the German had a fairly comfortable win with the solid defence. Marks: 72/100

Midfield: The midfield was the key of the match. Lukas Podolski (picture) had made a huge impact since he was moved to the left wing. This position gave Podolski more freedom and space to run and shot. So he had the great game. The Polish defense seemed hard to defend Podolski as his position made lots of spaces. It was quite unfair to judge Bastian Schweinsteiger if only accord to the statistics. He worked hard since he was substituted and his hard working created the second goal directly. Even though the statistics did not show it, his performance was improving. Marks: 85/100

Forward: Both Mario Gomez (picture) and Miroslav Klose did not have great game. Klose hadn't gain back his confident yet. Frankly, he should have scored in the second goal but he mis-controlled it and the ball ricochet to Podolski and he made the wonderful volley. Mario Gomez had a bit too urge to show himself and it affected his performance directly. He didn't make shots and headers that impact the Polish defence. However, the forwards could efficiently connect with the midfield and made the attack had ore variety. Marks: 70/100

Overall: Overall speaking, Germany had the right tactic in this match. Slow to medium tempo led them to keep the quality possession of the ball. I think Germany will make use of this tactic in the entired tournament. The defence needs more match practice and Lehmann needs to start up his match quickly. The attack needs to clam down a bit, especially Gomez. Overall the marks will be 78/100.