Ahead of the international break, Julian Nagelsmann has commented on why he surprisingly decided to call up Werder Bremen striker Marvin Ducksch.
On why he decided to call up Ducksch, Nagelsmann said: “He can be very valuable, especially coming off the bench. He didn’t have an easy start to the season but has now got a very good record again and has helped to stabilize Bremen with his performances. If you score 20 goals at a top club, that’s less impressive than if you score a lot of goals or provide assists at a not-so-top club. His set pieces are very good and he’s a good finisher. He also knows Niclas Füllkrug very, very well. That’s certainly another factor that can help us. We want to have 2-3 real strikers on the way to the Euros, and we have 3,4,5 candidates for that”
From his comments, it’s clear that Ducksch will only be used as an alternative off of the bench to former teammate and strike partner Niclas Füllkrug. In 11 games this season, Ducksch has four goals and four assists as Bremen currently sit 12th in the Bundesliga. What is impressive is that the 29-year-old has spent the majority of his career in the 2.Bundesliga and two years ago was key in Bremen’s promotion chase.
An argument could be made that there are other strikers who could be called up instead of Ducksch. Hoffenheim’s Maximilian Beier offers a different profile to both Ducksch and Füllkrug and is the second-highest-scoring German in the Bundesliga behind Leroy Sané.
While the fact that Nagelsmann has provided some surprises with call-ups suggests that Eren Dinkci, Deniz Undav and even Tim Kleindienst could have deserved a call-up as their output is similar to Ducksch’s.
Germany plays two friendlies over this international break, their first is Saturday 18th November when they play Turkey in Berlin before three days later travelling to face neighbours Austria in Vienna.
GGFN | Jack Meenan
