Germany’s reboot following their disastrous 2018 World Cup effort remains far from complete and they look unlikely to have matters all their own way when they host Switzerland in Tuesday’s Nations League encounter.
Head coach Joachim Low has been busy overhauling his squad following their shocking group stage exit in Russia two years ago and has faced plenty of opposition to his new approach, in particular, his switch to a back three.
Defensive Problems Remain
That change of formation hasn’t produced the desired results so far with Die Mannschaft looking far from solid in defence.
Those issues nearly came back to haunt Germany on Saturday when they had to cling on to secure a 2-1 victory over Ukraine, which was surprisingly their first-ever Nations League victory.
That results leaves them second in Group A4 and still in with a chance of overhauling leaders Spain, although they will need to beat Switzerland to have a chance of qualifying for the finals.
The hosts are 10/23 favourites to come out on top in Cologne, with the Swiss 5/1 outsiders as they seek their first win in this year’s Nations League.
Swiss will Attack
Vladimir Petkovic’s men are in danger of relegation from League A having taken one point from three matches, but look set to have a go at Germany with Xherdan Shaqiri and the in-form Haris Seferovic set to start.
Switzerland’s 1-0 loss at Spain on Saturday was only the second time in their last 10 internationals in which they failed to score and they’ll like their chances of netting against their neighbours, with Germany failing to keep a clean sheet in five matches.
Both teams to score is 5/7 and landed the last time they met in September when the scoreline shouldn’t have been much higher than a 1-1 draw, the two sides having a combined 34 efforts on goal.
More Misery for Undermanned Ukraine
In the other Group A4 fixture on Tuesday, Spain are strong 10/31 favourites to pick up three more points against struggling Ukraine, despite their recent away issues.
Although La Roja are unbeaten in their last 15 matches, they have failed to win their last four on the road, all of them ending in draws.
They should have enough in hand to get the win in Kyiv on this occasion, though, with the hosts having lost several players to positive coronavirus tests, including their two first-choice goalkeepers.
Even when at full strength, Andriy Shevchenko’s men were still thrashed 4-0 by Spain in the reverse fixture and another win to nil for Luis Enrique’s side holds appeal at 21/20.
The 2010 world champions haven’t conceded a goal to Ukraine in their last four encounters and have kept clean sheets in five of their last six matches so should contain the hosts.
*All odds correct at time of writing