There are now also databases where you can search for suitable trainers. For example, an experienced football teacher who leads with a firm hand, makes his team behave in a disciplined manner and shows quick results. If this database didn’t spit out Felix Magath, among others, it would be poorly programmed.
The German Football Association (DFB) is looking for a successor for Hansi Flick and has settled on Julian Nagelsmann after Jürgen Klopp’s rejection. “Good conversations,” confirmed President Bernd Neuendorf with the former coach of TSG Hoffenheim, RB Leipzig and FC Bayern Munich. Despite this impressive CV, Nagelsmann is only 36 years old. That’s not an age for a national coach, but it boils down to Nagelsmann. According to information from Sportschau, the decisive committees should approve the contract by Friday (September 22nd, 2023) at the latest, which is supposedly only valid until the end of the 2024 European Championship.
The question arises as to whether it was the DFB’s wish, Nagelsmann’s wish, or was the short term even tenor?
Little time to come up with ideas
A database that searches for trainers who show a very quick positive effect would probably not have spit out the name Julian Nagelsmann. It takes time to get his idea of flexible, aggressive, risk-taking football into the minds and legs of the national players.
Around nine months until the first game at the European Championships on June 14, 2024 in Munich may be enough for a club coach. But Nagelsmann will get the national players together much less often. Julian Nagelsmann, as is likely to be the consensus among all football fans, has a lot of expertise, perhaps a touch too much like a professor who is supposed to give a 30-minute lecture on his area of expertise and gets lost in the introduction.
Pragmatism is probably required. Nagelsmann will have to simplify his training, which is said to have been too complicated at times.
Comments from perfect solution to wrong choice
Is Nagelsmann consensus among all stakeholders, as they say these days? Certainly not. The comments in the media, which were made in abundance even before the official announcement, range from the perfect solution to the wrong choice.
The fans are likely to be divided, significantly more than they would have been with Klopp or with Rudi Völler, who was begged by the tabloids to continue after his interlude in the win against France.
Nagelsmann can be sure of the support of the tabloids; the relevant texts from the past few days are sufficient.
The most important stakeholders are the players. They will soon have a national coach who rides a longboard and wears bright colors. Do you think that’s cooler than someone who uses (or has to use) a film about greylag geese as a motivational tool at a World Cup?
A coach who offends
Julian Nagelsmann is offensive, he is certainly not a people catcher like Jürgen Klopp. Nagelsmann entered into an open conflict with Manuel Neuer, who is still willing to return to the national team’s goal. There are different views about the relationship with Thomas Müller. They range from at least stressed to completely intact. It is possible that questions about their resignation from the national team will be resolved with the appointment of a new national coach.
Joshua Kimmich and Leon Goretzka are considered loyal to Nagelsmann. Goretzka, who was recently not nominated by Hansi Flick, should benefit, just like Timo Werner.