analysis
The national coach Nagelsmann wants to become world champion-how far Germany is removed, the prelude to the World Cup qualification shows. At the DFB, they are now doing a debate that was otherwise known from BVB.
In the minutes after the end of the international match, which ended with a premiere for the German national team that everyone could have done well there, the national coach Julian Nagelsmann gave the ARD an interview. This interview will not be forgotten so quickly. He said: “I don’t disassemble anyone on TV, I do that internally.”
Germany lost 0: 2 in Slovakia at the start of the World Cup qualification, which will also be remembered. This may have to do with the fact that a series ended: for the DFB selection, it was the first defeat in this competition in this competition. But that should remain a marginal aspect. This will not apply to the work of the national coach Nagelsmann.
In the days before the game in Slovakia, Nagelsmann, 38, who most recently called the World Cup title, sometimes tells how he had rented a hut in the Allgäu in the summer. “We must not make the mistake of wanting to be Spain 2.0”said Nagelsmann when he was asked about the knowledge of the closed conference. “We have to adapt a few things. We will have a different structure, defensive and offensive.”
Hybrid player Kimmich – he also did not take care of structure
Nagelsmann has adapted the position of his captain Joshua Kimmich, 30. The national coach Kimmich once moved from the six to the right -back position, now he would rather use it again in a central role. Against Slovakia, Kimmich acted in a system that was most likely to be a variable 4-2-3-1 label, as a kind of hybrid player, as a commuter between new, age and age, new role.
With his own possession of the ball, he dropped next to the central defenders, while the full -backs moved far. So he should design the game in a so -called three -way structure. When the opponent’s ball was possessed, Kimmich thought the midfield center to ensure stability.
The plan did not work. Kimmich spoke a lot, but it wasn’t always right. He lacked the ideas and sometimes played bad passes. Kimmich was certainly not the worst player in a weak team. The mistakes led to the gates made others. But he also did not take care of structure.
When Collins ran out with the ball, Nagelsmann shook his head
The debutant Namdi Collins, 21, benefited from Kimmich’s transfer, Nagelsmann had said about him before the game that he was running “A 36”The speed he had identified as a strength of the new was meant. He said: “He can draw attention to himself.” Collins couldn’t do that.
He also had a hybrid role: when Slovakia had the ball, he played like a right -back, the focus was on the defensive. But the duels mostly won opponents Leo Sauer. When Germany had the ball, Collins moved forward, then he played like a right wing, often at a height with Nick Woltemade, the central attacker. Only then lacked the room to play his speed.
And when he came to the ball in a promising position, Collins went out with him. The television cameras caught the national coach. He shook his head. He changed Collins at the break. “I set it up, he didn’t make a happy impression”said Nagelsmann. “I have to answer that, not him.”
The defect list of the national coach is long
For the national coach, a time of brooding should now begin. He has to decide whether he will adjust the positioning of the full-back against Northern Ireland on Sunday (September 7, 2025, from 8.45 p.m. in the live ticker and in the audio stream), and whether he will trust collins again. He hardly has alternatives – maybe Kimmich, but Nagelsmann can’t move his captain again directly.
The right -back position is a problem for Nagelsmann, who has to solve other problems: Woltemade is not Niclas Füllkrug, he would do it well if he got passes in his foot, not always on his head. Florian Wirtz played on the left, then again in the center, but rarely like Florian Wirtz. And central defenders Jonathan Tah and Antonio Rüdiger lost crucial duels and played some bad passes.
Nagelsmann: “The opponent was miles away from us”
And then there was the thing with the attitude that it should employ the national coach even more than the question of the right tactics or the choice of a suitable right -back. After the game, Nagelsmann did not want to talk about tactics or about the individual quality of his players. He was already satisfied for the moment when he had more emotionality in the next game. He said: “The opponent was superior to us from the first to the last second.” That is a fact. “
At the DFB you now carry the BVB debate
For Nagelsmann, this knowledge is a rather uncomfortable. He himself had before the game of “Resistance” spoken and of “German virtues”In them he saw the basis for his team to play attractive football. But there was nothing to see against Slovakia. Error in the operating sequence.
Nagelsmann was once convinced that the individually best eleven German footballers were able to set up, which is why the injured Kai Havertz had to play a kind of left -back. Now the national coach said that maybe he will rely less on quality in the future and rather on players, “They throw everything in”. The captain seemed to see it similarly. “That was our problem in the last games”said Kimmich. He also said the attitude that one could also say: mentality.
Now they have a debate at the DFB, which was otherwise known from BVB, where the ongoing examination of their own mentality annoyed everyone at some point. And with the national team?
In a few days, Nagelsmann will be in office as a national coach for two years. He led the team to the quarter-finals at the home European Championship last year and shaped a team that arrived in the country. But at some point you will also evaluate your work at the World Cup in the coming summer. The detour via the playoffs is not planned. Appearances like that against Slovakia are not beneficial.