cgf
FireBednarsSuccessor
Exactly. You can only look as good as your opponent lets you. Germany looked awful against France because France are a really good team.
Ukraine are pretty decent themselves judging by their roster, them winning their qualifying group as well as their performance against NED.
Both AUT and UKR would have likely advanced with a draw today, yet Austria took matters in their own hands, scored early and dominated from start to finish.
If it wasn't for Arnautovic failing to hit anything all game, this would have been a 3:0 or 4:0 game and no one would have complained.
I guess we just look for different things
Our build-up play successfully pushed back their press & our attacking pressure was so fluid that the only reason we didn't score was how exceptional those french defenders were. Varane in particular, cut out almost a half dozen balls in the first half-hour of the match that would've seen a german or two breaking in behind the french back line with time & space on the ball. But Pavard saved a goal too when he stopped Gosens from going on a 3 game goal streak, and the whole was excellent in their deep block...
Sure, we didn't score & our anticipated defensive frailty was highlighted...but as a germany fan, I felt a lot better about this team after I re-watched that match for a 2nd time than I did heading into it, and was perfectly happy with the performance on the whole.