Robin Koch's international break had been going swimmingly until the visit to Seville to face Spain in the UEFA Nations League. Germany had beaten Czech Republic and Ukraine prior to Tuesday night's humbling with Koch starring in central defence and defensive midfield across the two games.
Koch returned to a back four in this latest contest and found himself hopelessly trying to bail out his teammates from a sinking ship, almost from the first minute. Germany coach Joachim Low has overseen a World Cup win with the national side, but the general consensus is that his time is almost up as head coach.
Germany's inability to contain a rampant, youthful Spain side was the clearest example of that yet. Low's setup afforded little protection to his back four, made up of Philipp Max, Matthias Ginter, Niklas Sule and Koch himself. In return, Spain's attacking players camped in Germany's half, anchored by Manchester City's Rodri, and their fluid attacking quintet ran riot.
Leeds man Koch was far from blameless; he failed to track runners, was found out of position far too frequently and looked all at sea for sections of the game where Spain applied particularly heavy pressure. However, this can be attributed to the fact he had not played with this back four before, or in this setup with the national team. With differing personnel come differing tendencies and understandably, the former Freiburg man struggled.
Equally, it could be a by-product of fatigue setting in, once again Koch played 90 minutes. He had featured for the full game against Czech Republic and versus Ukraine too, as well as playing a pivotal role for Leeds already this season, suggesting an element of burnout could have played a part. Leeds fans will hope this is not the case, with Liam Cooper still to play his final match of the international break , and Diego Llorente yet to reach full fitness.
It is important to remember though, that Germany have been relatively impotent by their standards long before Koch was introduced to the senior team fold.
Since the defeat to South Korea at the 2018 FIFA World Cup which left many speechless, a general malaise has set in as the golden generation of 2014 gradually met their eventual decline.
Low has held on for a prolonged period, and his time was bound to come too, it just so happens that international novice Robin Koch appears to be caught in the crossfire of a national side which needs a reboot.
