Jonathan Tah of double winner Bayer Leverkusen showed one of his worst performances in the German national football team’s jersey against the Netherlands on Tuesday evening. Even the opponent became clear after the 2:2 (2:1) draw in Amsterdam.
Bayer’s defense chief Jonathan Tah experienced a half to forget. National coach Julian Nagelsmann had to react at halftime and replace the Leverkusen center-back with Waldemar Anton.
The 28-year-old had broken down the defence before the early 0-1 goal by Tijjani Reijnders (2nd minute) and had major problems with his Dutch opponent Brian Brobbey, who once played for RB Leipzig in the Bundesliga. The agile and physically strong striker repeatedly eluded the double winner, and Tah was often only able to save himself by committing fouls. He had been shown a yellow card since the 24th minute.
Nagelsmann then intervened actively, putting a midfielder, Pascal Groß, at the defender’s side to support him. “It was about doubling up on Jona a bit from the front, because Brobbey is just incredibly good physically and difficult to defend,” said the national coach after the game: “He had already had a yellow card and could no longer actively defend. So we told the two sixes that they had to come back a bit earlier.”
Nevertheless, at the end of the first half, the DFB star, who would probably have liked to leave Bayer Leverkusen for FC Bayern in the summer, had won a measly 21 percent of his duels – a desolate figure. sport.de-Individual criticism he received the worst grade of all players.
Koeman: “Tah really had problems everywhere”
Nagelsmann was ultimately forced to take action during the break due to Tah’s warning. Referee Davide Massa from Italy had already told the national coach in the dressing room that another foul would lead to a red card. “I didn’t want to risk that,” said the 37-year-old, justifying the subsequent substitution at half-time.
Remarkable: Clear words about Jonathan Tah’s performance came from the opponent after the match. National coach Ronald Koeman initially highlighted the “outstanding” performance of Brain Brobbey at the press conference. However, with regard to his opponent, he then said: “Tah really had problems everywhere and had to commit a lot of fouls.” After six fouls, said Koeman, “he finally saw a yellow card.”
Tah, who had delivered a convincing performance at the start of the new Nations League season against Hungary (5:0), did not want to let the criticism stand afterwards. “What do you mean problems? We played a lot one-on-one all over the pitch, there were many direct duels and in those the referee often decided against you,” Bild quoted the national player as saying: “It wasn’t easy.”
Source: www.sport.de
