“A little disrespectful”
Before duel in Belfast: Northern Irish criticize Nagelsmann
October 11, 2025 – 8:01 p.mReading time: 2 minutes
In Northern Ireland, Germany wants to achieve their next victory on the way to the World Cup. Meanwhile, the hosts are bothered by a statement from the national coach.
The 4-0 victory over Luxembourg on Friday significantly improved the German national team’s starting position in World Cup qualification. After three games, the DFB team is in first place with six points due to the better goal difference compared to Northern Ireland and Slovakia. The top position should be consolidated on Monday (from 8:45 p.m. in the live ticker on t-online) with another success over the British.
Before the game in Belfast, a weeks-old statement from Julian Nagelsmann is causing controversy in the Northern Irish camp. After his team’s 3-1 first-leg win in Cologne in September, the national coach told the BBC about the opponent’s style of play that it was “not particularly nice to look at”. It’s not easy to defend all of Northern Ireland’s long balls.
Nagelsmann’s statements apparently weren’t particularly well received. Northern Ireland’s former international Stephen Craigan, for example, described the national coach’s words as “a little disrespectful”.
Michael O’Neill didn’t condemn what was said quite so harshly, but the Northern Irish coach didn’t know much about Nagelsmann’s analysis either. “I wouldn’t call it respectful or disrespectful,” said the 56-year-old, who explained that he had rewatched the game from September. “Germany also played a lot of long balls.” Nagelsmann’s statements simply seemed incomprehensible to him.
Even before the duel with Slovakia, the coach had said with a view to the two October games: “I think if we keep a clean sheet at home in these two games, we can assume that we will score a goal at some point and get at least four points.” A draw against Germany would now be enough.