Nagelsmann knows what the DFB team doesn't need
One year ago, it seemed impossible, now it's a reality: The German football national team is in the knockout stage of the Home European Championship. Many factors have contributed to this, especially Bundestrainer Julian Nagelsmann.
For a long time, we hadn't seen that before: A Bundestrainer, completely detached from the sideline into the air. The late 1:1 against Switzerland on Sunday evening didn't just wake up the stadium in Frankfurt am Main, but, it seems, also Julian Nagelsmann. The television images show him storming at the sidelines after Niclas Füllkrug's goal at his own substitution bench. Shortly thereafter, he gave an interview to ARD, his voice was still hoarse.
Six days have passed since these unusual images. In the evening, the German football national team plays against Denmark in Dortmund the Round of 16 of the Home European Championship (21.00 hours/ZDF, MagentaTV and of course in the ntv.de-Liveticker). The DFB team could enter the first semifinal since eight years, since the EM 2016 halbfinale. From now on, a new mode begins - every second can be decisive. But above all, it's a special game for one: Bundestrainer Julian Nagelsmann.
For the 36-year-old, it's the twelfth international game since the previous fall. Since taking office in the previous fall, he has made a remarkable transformation. The job of the Bundestrainer is different than that of a club trainer. Nagelsmann had to learn that. Not only is the work with the players different, but also the attention. Whether it's just sartorially: At his debut in the USA, he caused a stir with a lumberjack shirt, as he often did at FC Bayern. Today, he is far removed from that, he wears rather dark blue and inconspicuous.
No more experiments
It's no surprise that another thing is much more important: the sports aspect. The DFB team had not made things easy for those who believed in it in recent years. Twice it failed in the World Cup group stages, the national team year 2023 ended with more losses than wins. The games were rarely appealing, the DFB team was never consistent. Nagelsmann began his tenure as Bundestrainer shakily, but then dared a restart at the turn of the year.
It was the last attempt to save the Home EM. And it succeeded: Nagelsmann gave the unsettled DFB team a calculable environment. He now acts accordingly: Experiments and surprises are the last thing this team needs. The role system he introduced reflects that. Along with the return of midfield strategist Toni Kroos, he also got rid of the burdens of his predecessors Hansi Flick and Joachim Löw.
A clear hierarchy and, more importantly, the performance principle returned: The DFB players have guidelines to orient themselves by. The formations change less, sometimes the substitutions are even clear before the kick-off. When young Aleksandar Pavlović fell ill before the tournament start and had to withdraw, he nominated Emre Can instead. It was the most pragmatic solution, to choose the defender who had recently stood on the field in the Champions League final.
It turns out that Nagelsmann is the one responsible for pragmatism, which holds a certain irony. For he was once a different type of coach. Someone who sometimes overwhelmed his players with tactical instructions. Someone who installed giant screens at his training grounds at Hoffenheim and FC Bayern to directly show his pros.
During his tenure with the national team, the old Nagelsmann was not completely absent. Initially, it seemed as if the daily work with the players was missing from him. The extension of his contract was always a possibility that he would return to club work after the home European Championship. But after the March-Landes games: Then he made his confession up to the World Cup 2026.
Much Imagination
Sometimes the old version of the coach still comes through. Then the new Julian Nagelsmann is asked, and the old Julian Nagelsmann answers. Before the second EM group game against Hungary, it was about what the coach of the national team actually expects from his full-backs. The game took place in Stuttgart, the new home of Maximilian Mittelstadt, the German left-back.
Nagelsmann brought him out, spoke about statistical expectations from his club years (six to seven goals per season). Then he explained how tactical systems of opposing teams have changed. (Caution, it's getting really detailed: Most teams try to pressure their opponents out wide, so the way to the goal is as long as possible. The middle is then full of players, making full-backs important.)
In the end, Nagelsmann still addressed another point. The fewest say in a club and say: But I really want to be a full-back. It takes imagination, Nagelsmann said, to put a player on that position. And that was it: That very imagination marked him as a coach as well. Finally, at his third DFB appearance against Turkey, he put Kai Havertz on the left-back position. Even though that worked out okay, it went terribly wrong.
A "wonderful speech"
From these experiments, he has (so far) distanced himself. Recently, most of his moves were safe. The only questionable ones were in the Switzerland game: Why did Füllkrug come on so late? Why was there suddenly the double six of Ilkay Gündogan and Kroos on the field? Why was Maximilian Beier even brought on? The game showed that the new strength, the predictability, can be a risk: Switzerland was well prepared for the DFB team. At some point, surprises are needed, then the question arises: How many experiments can this DFB team handle? In the first group games, it was still too fragile for that.
Otherwise, Nagelsmann gives the impression that he knows what expectations lie on this (new) DFB team. A home European Championship! Something like that only comes in a player generation with luck at most once. And even if they are the oldest team in the tournament, many of them have not played a knockout game yet. In addition, there is the pressure that comes from outside: It has to be the great summer fairy tale, a noisy football festival, the best possible outcome of which is winning the continent. In the accounting, it needs a DFB team that climbs the tournament tree as far as possible.
Somehow Nagelsmann managed to handle it. DFB-Sports director Rudi Völler sat in the large press hall at the EURO quarter in the week, in front of the journalists and journalistesses. He spoke about how the national coach achieved this. Völler quoted from a "wonderful speech", which Nagelsmann had given before the start of the tournament. The national coach conveyed that it was a privilege to feel this pressure. So far it has worked. In the stadium, hardly any feeling arose that the team was nervous in any way.
However, the national coach was different in this regard. And even here he changed. The evening before the opening match against Scotland, Nagelsmann gave his first press conference at a major tournament. In the belly of the Munich stadium, it was rustling, the keyboards were clicking, the journalistesses and journalists were whispering. Nagelsmann felt it: the nervousness in himself and all around him. He spoke about it and admonished all those sitting in this room to please be a bit calmer. It was as if he was also talking to himself. And look at that: Afterwards, everything ran more smoothly. The question and answer session became more relaxed, his words seemed less forced.
Now, only two weeks later, it is already much more routine. After all, one knows roughly what to expect from the German team. Nagelsmann answers the questions more securely, is less nervous - and says so himself. "I am still very relaxed because the coaching team and the team have worked well," he said the evening before the quarterfinals in response to a question about nervousness. "We are extremely well prepared for everything." Once again, it was rustling in the background, the press room was at least as full as in Munich. But he said nothing about it.
The German soccer national team, led by Bundestrainer Julian Nagelsmann, will face Denmark in the Round of 16 of the European Football Championship 2024. This is a significant game for Nagelsmann, as it's his twelfth international game since taking over as Bundestrainer. Nagelsmann has made a remarkable transformation in his role, learning the differences between being a national team coach and a club trainer. Despite his previous love for experiments and tactical instructions, Nagelsmann has now adopted a more pragmatic approach, focusing on the sports aspect and providing clear guidelines for the DFB players.
