Ex-captain Lahm hits out at man-marking return, warns Germany
Former German footballer Philipp Lahm speaks during an interview before the Sepp Herberger Awards ceremony. Michael Matthey/dpa Former national team captain Philipp Lahm hasd voiced concern about the future of German football as he criticised a return of man-marking which he named inferior to the Spanish approach. Lahm said in a column for weekly Die Zeit and British paper The Guardian that even Bundesliga champions Bayern Munich are caught up in this "retro-tactical approach.
" "I’m surprised that so many defenders in the Bundesliga are now once again shadowing their opponents to the toilet. Bayern do it too; Vincent Kompany sometimes relies on man-marking," he said. "It can only be a short-term measure if you want to surprise the opponent and put them under pressure, as in handball just before the final whistle.
It is not, however, a strategy for the whole match. A football pitch is too big for that. " Lahm said that Italy's Atalanta won the 2024 Europa League final with this approach 3-0 against Bayer Leverkusen but that the shortcomings were exposed in this year's Champions League last 16 when Bayern crushed Atalanta 10-2 on aggregate.
Italy, which once dominated football tactics, has no team left in the quarter-finals, and the national team has failed to qualify for three World Cups in a row. "Italy has been left behind. If Germany goes down this new path the same could happen to us," Lahm warned.
He said that "the Spanish school has replaced the Italian one as the superior model" with its "ball-oriented defending, clearly defined positions and roles, organised combination football that shifts the action into the opposition’s half. " This shows in the silverware won, he said, with Spanish clubs winning 24 titles in European events this century, far ahead of England (11), Italy (five) and Germany (four). In addition, Spain has won three of the last five European championships.