Okay, I will go to bed now, but I need to leave this here so my mind can actually get to rest and I can elaborate on this tomorrow.
In "Das Reboot", Honigstein uses looooooads of quotes from the players themselves, Per Mertesacker - whom he helped writing his own biography - gets a good chunk of quotes himself, talking about strategies and tactics of WC 2014. Arne Friedrich gets a whole chapter dedicated to retell the events of WC 2010 - and it's bloody delightful.
Before I drown in nostalgia here, I wanted to point out two things I've found remarkable, because they are aspects we've discussed all throughout today.
Arne mentions that, in his opinion, it was good that the 2010 mainly consisted of "younger" players, as they were able to "relate to each other" better, whereas the older players had the function of role models (also in regards of integration). He does mention that they may have been too harmonious, that they may have lacked a "tough guy" (like Michael Ballack), but he still acknowledged the great evolution that had taken place since 2006. Plus, he praises the fact that the team in 2014 took standards (or dead-ball situations as it is called here) were taken more seriously, that players (like Mertesacker and Lahm and even Müller) could give their input in strategies.
Per mentions Flick in this regard as well, it actually reads like he was the strategist behind most of their tactical changes and that is reeeeally vital here. What I found interesting is how Per, who praises the togetherness in Campo Bahia, the dynamics of a school class to no end ("everyone had a relationship with everyone"), also said the following: Instead of focussing on their weaknesses (like playing four pure centre backs as a back four) they only focussed on their advantages in that. This is actually an interesting psychological strategy, as positive affirmation may create a more positive attitude (and thus more positive body reactions) as well.
H o w e v e r, and this is how all of this may fall apart: This works if you have circumstances like in Campo Bahia. Where the team is actually a team, has been together for 8 weeks, where the lads know each other inside and out, where everything falls into place, where there is trust and harmony.
If you apply this strategy to a team that is not used to each other, not used to being played out of position, it is doomed to fail. It's luck based and to some extent arrogant.
And if you have a Joachim Löw who keeps claiming that he doesn't take any criticism from anybody - you see that they are still applying this mindset. And it's not working.
