Chief critic Dietmar Hamann counts Julian Nagelsmann among his ranks
The criticism of national coach Julian Nagelsmann continues after the DFB defeats against Turkey and Austria. Chief critic Dietmar Hamann is publicly counting him out. However, a quieter expert points to a completely different problem in German soccer in the German football magazine "Kicker".
The soccer nation's chief critic was briefly silent. It was probably just to take a deep breath. Two days after the debacle in Vienna, Dietmar Hamann finally got going. The former international cited national coach Julian Nagelsmann. After the 2-0 defeat to Austria, the tenth consecutive international match in which they conceded at least one goal, he had said with disillusionment: "We won't become defensive monsters in the summer either." And then suggested minimizing the time spent defending in order to be successful after all.
It was a statement that met with little approval among the experts, who were already on edge due to the eternal DFB crisis. World champion Jürgen Kohler had already launched a broadside against Nagelsmann in "Kicker", recommending that he should perhaps simply "practice" defending.
On Sky, Hamann then went one better and counted the national coach out and, after an all-round attack, made a statement about the German defense. "Even worse was the coach's reaction after the game that we won't be defensive monsters next year either," he said: "If I look at the line-up on Tuesday, then there's little reason to be surprised that we had no defensive stability or control over the game."
Boulevard calls for Ralf Rangnick
Hamann was harsh on the line-up of seven attacking players. He was referring to Niclas Füllkrug, Serge Gnabry, Leroy Sané and Julian Brandt as well as Kai Havertz, Leon Goretzka and İlkay Gündoğan, who on paper are more defensively-minded. Far too many attacking players for a stability pact. "Then you have to put together a team that covers all facets," Hamann grumbled, avoiding the question of whether Nagelsmann was the right coach for the home European Championships. "We'll see," said the Sky pundit, who had recently been attacked by Bayern coach Thomas Tuchel and Cologne coach Steffen Baumgart for his approach.
However, a look at "Bild", which continues to set the pace in the public debate, shows that Hamann is not alone in his opinion. In addition to the insight of chief columnist Alfred Draxler that Austria coach Ralf Rangnick would in fact have been the better national team coach, there was also a rather thin, but brightly headlined text on the displeasure in the national team's dressing room.
Nagelsmann cannot correct last impression until March
"Accusations from the team: this is what the stars really think about Nagelsmann," was written above the text, which revolved around the question of whether the national team coach was perhaps overtaxing the national team players. The team wanted less ideas and more pragmatism. The team didn't understand the decision to play Havertz at left-back at first, but thought it was a good idea to stick with it. Overall, the national coach wanted too much and that was the basic problem.
So there was little substance to the big words in the headline, but they very probably set the tone for the next few months until the games in late March, at least on the part of the tabloids. Until then, Nagelsmann can no longer correct the last, fatal impression of what was already a completely botched international year.
Does the German team simply lack quality in the end?
"The players don't feel comfortable with what they're supposed to be playing," said Matthias Dersch, the editor of "Kicker", who is not suspected of being overly critical, referring to the November games, making it clear that the wind has become rougher for the national coach even outside of the tabloids: "The team didn't get to grips with what they were supposed to be playing. Of course, that's also down to Nagelsmann."
Dersch then said something that is currently being neglected in the discussion. "There are already a few issues that the national team coach is partly responsible for and yet he is now making up for a lot of things that went wrong before," said Dersch. It was a reference to the developments in German soccer that have been emerging for years, which former FC Schalke 04 coach Huub Stevens had also pointed out recently.
Perhaps the national team and German soccer really do lack balanced quality? Perhaps this is why Hansi Flick has already despaired of a team that only has players of the highest international class in a few positions.
In response to the criticism, some suggested that Ralf Rangnick might have been a better fit as the national soccer team coach, as mentioned in the "Bild" publication. Additionally, Matthias Dersch, the editor of "Kicker", pointed out that the national team coach, Julian Nagelsmann, is partly responsible for some issues within the team, and these problems have been developing for some time.
Source: www.ntv.de
