“I don’t want to hear anymore”
In live TV: Nagelsmann talks to Rage after bankruptcy
05.09.2025 – 00:14 a.m.Reading time: 3 min.
Germany collects the first loss of away from its World Cup qualifying history. After the game, the national coach arises in the ARD’s questions – and becomes clear. He is particularly bothered by one word.
0: 2 in Slovakia, the first away defeat in the World Cup qualification in the history of the German national team-the game on Thursday evening in Bratislava was a completely bitter blow for the DFB team and national coach Julian Nagelsmann.
And the 38-year-old spoke in view of the bleak performance of his eleven plain text in live TV. “The first five or six minutes in the second half were a bit brighter, the rest was very dark,” said Nagelsmann in an interview with Esther Sedlaczek and Bastian Schweinsteiger in the ARD. However, he did not want to comment on public criticism of his players. “I don’t disassemble anyone here now, I do that internally.”
Nevertheless, Nagelsmann was talking more and more in Rage: What bothered him on 0: 2? “If you start with emotionality, the opponent was miles from the first to the last minute. That is a fact.” Even more: “Terrifyingly comes that such an opponent suddenly brings more quality to the square with his emotionality.”
Nagelsmann recalled the recent and less successful past of the German team: “If you take our history of the past ten years, it is not the case that we arrive here and brim with confidence and say: We are now playing everything away with 80 percent. This is not because we simply don’t get this emotionality.” This was already shown in the appearances at the 2022 World Cup in Qatar and the EM 2024.
Nagelsmann warned: “If we can’t get this emotionality, we can close the book.” Then the trainer became even clearer: Nagelsmann worked particularly well on one term: the question of the “quality” of the team. “Quality does not matter,” replied Nagelsmann vigorously, “why are there games in the DFB Cup, where a third division team blow Wiesbaden against Bayern Munich suddenly makes 2-2? Not because of the quality of players, but because of emotionality. Only because of emotionality.”
Again and again it was the “emotionality” to which Nagelsmann came back. “I don’t want to hear quality anymore. It is enough for me to have the emotion. That is the decisive factor. The emotion.” Then he formulated a rigorous thoughts: “Today we supposedly selected the best players in Germany. There are perhaps two or three at home besides the injured people who can also belong, but: Maybe we actually have to rely on less quality and instead on players who just throw everything in.” Nagelsmann is certain: “This would have led to a better result today than if the best players play. This is official.”