Former Bayern Munich manager and current German national team boss Julian Nagelsmann was extremely unhappy after his team’s 2-0 loss to Slovakia earlier this week. That anger has subsided and while Nagelsmann knows change must happen, it might not exactly mean that there will be wholesale changes to the lineup.
“We’ve had several discussions with individual players and with the team. The team have also spoken among themselves and clarified some things. We won’t see a completely changed team. There
will certainly be some changes in terms of personnel, but not all ten players will be rotated. We have to deliver a better performance than we did on Thursday,” Nagelsmann said during his pre-match press conference (as captured by @iMiaSanMia). “We need players who fit the situation. We shouldn’t think of qualification, it’s just about this game. We’ve spoken to the leaders, those who are leaders by virtue of their position and those who can be leaders because of their nature. I’ve strengthened their leadership aspirations.”
One player who will be available after some speculation about an arm injury is Bayern Munich attacker Serge Gnabry.
“I don’t expect that to stop him from playing, but we’ll see how he is doing in training. He had some problems yesterday but then got better,” Nagelsmann said.
Nagelsmann had many things to address with his players, but — curiously — did not catch up with Liverpool star Florian Wirtz, who got distracted by arguing and shirked his defensive responsibilities, which helped contribute to a Slovakia goal.
“Flo is an extremely important player for us. He tried a lot on Thursday and will try again tomorrow, which means he will play. I didn’t speak to him about that scene, but if I did I would’ve told him that he should fall to the ground because it was a clear foul. It wasn’t a regular goal. You should be smarter in the situation and fall, because it was a clear foul. It was unfortunate that we conceded a goal, but we didn’t concede it because Flo argued with a player on the halfway line. There were other reasons,” said Nagelsmann.
Finally, Nagelsmann talked about the subject of the team’s mentality, which sounds…unstable.
“It’s something very shaky, which is difficult. There’s no data on it; it’s subjective. A person’s ability to motivate someone else is limited. You try to develop understanding. From a coaching perspective, it’s about giving the players something that makes it easier for them to play football emotionally. But it’s also about finding the energy within yourself and igniting the energy of your teammates. It’s not about shouting at the players,” Nagelsmann said.
Bayern Munich is on break and the German national team got off to a bad start in this round of World Cup qualifiers. Let’s dive into all of that!
This is what we have on tap for this episode of the Bavarian Podcast Works — Weekend Warm-up Show:
- Thomas Müller was back at Bayern Munich this week (already!?)
- Is Germany heading down a bad road after another painful loss?
- Can Julian Nagelsmann get it back on track?
- Who is accountable? Is there accountability at all?
- Should Joshua Kimmich do the right thing and move to right-back (again)?
- Unpacking the Erik ten Hag debacle at Bayer Leverkusen. Sport Bild had a wild story on the situation.
