Philipp Lahm urges Germany to rediscover football identity after World Cup exit

Writing for The Athletic following Germany's elimination, Lahm argued that the team's biggest problem was the absence of a clear, long-term identity.

He also criticised coach Julian Nagelsmann, saying he failed to provide the composure expected of an international manager and never appeared certain about how to guide the squad.

Lahm added that Nagelsmann's preferred possession-based approach did not suit the players at his disposal, claiming Germany lacked a consistent tactical blueprint throughout the tournament. Instead, he believes the country's traditional strengths lie in high-tempo football.

"Across the whole tournament, there was no stable, structured team performance from Germany. No sense of a path we were actually trying to take towards success. For a country with our footballing history, that is not enough," Lahm wrote in The Athletic.

"We keep treating the symptoms. We change the system, the line-up, the players' positions, far too often.

"We are in a permanent debate about how Germany actually wants to play. And yet Germany was always at its strongest when it took the individual quality it had, married it to a robust, assertive mentality, put its best players on the pitch and forged them into a real unit."

He added: "And no - this did not come down to the referee. The disallowed goal was a harsh decision, and to my mind a wrong one, but you cannot let the night hang on that. You have to settle the game long before it comes down to a single moment."

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