LILLE, France -- Three quick thoughts from Germany's 2-0 win over Ukraine in their Group C contest in Lille on Sunday.
1. Germany comfortable in win but fail to set a tone
Germany win to set themselves on the path to potentially adding Euro 2016 to their 2014 World Cup title, but they still haven't set quite the right pace.
This mostly comfortable victory over Ukraine -- courtesy of goals from Shkodran Mustafi and substitute Bastian Schweinsteiger -- was an odd match in that regard. There were spells when Germany threatened to return to their 2014 best, but also longer spells in which we saw the kind of problems that threaten to deny them doing that historic double of two successive international trophies.
It is perhaps the biggest question with this team, and one reminiscent of the one that faced Pep Guardiola's Bayern Munich, for whom so many of this side have played in. They can be so good when they are fully switched on, but have an odd tendency to switch off in almost every game and give their opponents a chance. They gave Ukraine more than a few chances here. Many say this is just a consequence of requiring the proper competitive focus of really significant tournament games, but it was the kind of thing that cost them in Euro 2012, when they were arguably at their peak and even better than 2014.
This match had so many examples. Germany were supreme for the first 20 minutes and really moved the ball about slickly. It led to the foul on Thomas Muller and a typically brilliant delivery from Toni Kroos that Mustafi met with such emphatic power. Once they got that, though, a complacency that has been seen right through qualifying set in, and they were the inferior side until half-time.
Of course, their superior level of players meant they could just keep the ball after that. Once Ukraine were forced into the desperation of throwing men forward late on, then, a break left Schweinsteiger to finish and make it 2-0.
That sealed a solid win, and the type of start that most teams would crave. Germany are not most teams, though. They are the world champions. If they are able to perform at even 90 percent capacity, they will probably be the European champions, too.
The issue for the past two years, however, has been that they only rarely touch that level. This team are obviously very good and one of the favourites, but there's always the lingering sense they have so much more in them.
2. Germany lack cohesion, intensity
Although a fully on-form Germany would easily win this tournament to do a double of 2014 World Cup and Euro 2016, they do have a double issue if they do not have that intensity. The lack of a top-level centre-forward remains painfully obvious, and their defence just does not look dependable. Those two problems are also inter-connected, even though they are at opposite ends of the pitch.
Mario Gotze has so many qualities, and they were often on show in this game with jinking runs and some lovely touches, but his lack of pace as a false nine means he can't properly pin back defences in the way Germany did in 2014. Here, Ukraine were able to bypass Joachim Low's front line much more easily, and that allowed them to put the German defence under more pressure.
There, as Mats Hummels sat on the bench due to his lack of match fitness, they were so often too loose. A lot of Ukrainian attacks were cleared with a rushed anxiety rather than the assurance they should have been, and it reflected how the defence looked somewhat ill-fitting. Individual players within it did OK, but there was no real cohesion to properly cut out Ukraine.
At the other end, ironically, the issue is almost too much polish. They could occasionally have done with more rough-and-ready running, rather than always trying the perfect lay-off or pass. It is perhaps the one thing they've lost in this evolution into a World Cup-winning team, other than the production of elite strikers. Germany are nowhere near as quick on the break as they were between 2010 and 2012, and even Schweinsteiger's late goal was more a consequence of Ukraine committing too many men forward to salvage a point rather than Germany's counter-attacking fully working.
The offset is that approach has given them more control, but by the end of the match they were almost too controlling. As they played out the final few minutes, it was as if they were trying to kill off a knockout match with passes, rather than just kill a game with goals. It was oddly sedate for a team who could do with more intensity.
Of course, if the team is fully firing and they get that intensity, they have far too much inherent ability for any of this to be an issue. It is the biggest issue with this team, though.
3. Ukraine more adventurous than anticipated
For a manager that has said "we are not adventurers" and that he doesn't like "open play," Ukraine manager Mykhailo Fomenko put out a team much braver than expected in this match, and it could yet mean their Euro 2016 adventure goes on longer than expected too. There was a protracted spell in this game -- especially between Mustafi's goal and half-time -- when Ukraine were the better team and giving Germany more problems than the world champions did to them.
Although most of those problems came from set pieces -- a Yevhen Khacheridi close-range header that Manuel Neuer diverted away, a Serhiy Shevchuk volley when a corner came to the edge of the box -- there was some craft to them too. The most memorable moment of the game, Jerome Boateng's goal-line clearance, came from creators Andriy Yarmolenko and Yevhen Konoplyanka finally linking up. Yarmolenko chipped in a beautiful ball, and Konoplyanka diverted it back across goal, to put Boateng in some trouble.
Ukraine might have offered more had they got these two to link up more often but you do need the ball to do that, something that will obviously happen more against Northern Ireland than against Germany, who just deprived them of it in the second half. On this evidence, they should have a little too much for Michael O'Neill's team in what could be a crunch third-place game, even if it does look like the match of this group stage that is best bet for a 0-0.
A touch more adventure might prevent that, and send Ukraine through.