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Flick: “The time for experimenting is over”

The 1-0 defeat to Hungary in Leipzig on Friday night means that topping their Nations League group is now out of reach for the Germany national team – not only that, but the performance was well short of the team’s own expectations just a couple of months ahead of the World Cup in Qatar. We heard from head coach Hansi Flick about his analysis of the match.

DFB.de: Hansi Flick, this was your first defeat as Germany head coach. What is your assessment after the game?

Hansi Flick: It’s a frustrating defeat. We had very different expectations going into the game. The first half was our worst 45 minutes in the last 14 games; we lacked courage, dynamism and intensity, and made a lot of mistakes. The second half was an improvement, but we didn’t create enough goalscoring opportunities.

DFB.de: What does this defeat mean looking ahead to the World Cup?

Flick: Perhaps it comes along at the right time. The first half was certainly an eye-opener. We need to draw conclusions from it and do better next time. The defeat won’t throw us off track. It’s better to have these frustrations now than at the World Cup. The team has been given a wake-up call and that will do us some good.

DFB.de: What emotions do you feel after the game?

Flick: I’m incredibly disappointed, because no one likes to lose in football. Sometimes you have to keep your emotions in check though; it’s about learning lessons and taking something away from this game.

DFB.de: Your players were very self-critical of the performance, but why was the team so off the pace just two months ahead of the World Cup? They should be making their case for a place in the team, after all.

Flick: That’s a good question. Games like these never come at a good time. I don’t want to look for any excuses. We tried something – I opted for a setup that didn’t come to fruition. We can do much better than the way we went about the game. The time for experimenting is over.

DFB.de: What was the thinking behind putting Jonas Hofmann at right-back again?

Flick: We wanted to try something with Jonas in that position alongside two defenders who are good at building up the play. We wanted to have two attacking full-backs. You could see that it wasn’t well-oiled though, and that is on me. We didn’t get into those positions where we could take advantage of them – it just didn’t work.

DFB.de: Monday’s game in England is now a dead rubber. What does that mean for the approach?

Flick: It doesn’t change anything. I expect every single player to push themselves. Only then will we get the conviction and the quality that we need on the pitch. It should spur everyone on to give everything they have on Monday and to use the six weeks after that to be as well prepared as possible. We need to ensure that we are better over the 90 minutes against England.

DFB.de: It was another game without a clean sheet. Is there a recurring issue that you’ve already picked up on?

Flick: It wasn’t the kind of goal that you score every day. I didn’t expect us to create so few chances at the other end though, because we have so much quality in attack. We need to reinforce our approach to the players.

DFB.de: Has that game boosted the chances for the players that weren’t involved?

Flick: Those players all have a chance. We’re keeping a close eye on everyone and looking at the development that every individual player makes.

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The 1-0 defeat to Hungary in Leipzig on Friday night means that topping their Nations League group is now out of reach for the Germany national team – not only that, but the performance was well short of the team’s own expectations just a couple of months ahead of the World Cup in Qatar. We heard from head coach Hansi Flick about his analysis of the match.

DFB.de: Hansi Flick, this was your first defeat as Germany head coach. What is your assessment after the game?

Hansi Flick: It’s a frustrating defeat. We had very different expectations going into the game. The first half was our worst 45 minutes in the last 14 games; we lacked courage, dynamism and intensity, and made a lot of mistakes. The second half was an improvement, but we didn’t create enough goalscoring opportunities.

DFB.de: What does this defeat mean looking ahead to the World Cup?

Flick: Perhaps it comes along at the right time. The first half was certainly an eye-opener. We need to draw conclusions from it and do better next time. The defeat won’t throw us off track. It’s better to have these frustrations now than at the World Cup. The team has been given a wake-up call and that will do us some good.

DFB.de: What emotions do you feel after the game?

Flick: I’m incredibly disappointed, because no one likes to lose in football. Sometimes you have to keep your emotions in check though; it’s about learning lessons and taking something away from this game.

DFB.de: Your players were very self-critical of the performance, but why was the team so off the pace just two months ahead of the World Cup? They should be making their case for a place in the team, after all.

Flick: That’s a good question. Games like these never come at a good time. I don’t want to look for any excuses. We tried something – I opted for a setup that didn’t come to fruition. We can do much better than the way we went about the game. The time for experimenting is over.

DFB.de: What was the thinking behind putting Jonas Hofmann at right-back again?

Flick: We wanted to try something with Jonas in that position alongside two defenders who are good at building up the play. We wanted to have two attacking full-backs. You could see that it wasn’t well-oiled though, and that is on me. We didn’t get into those positions where we could take advantage of them – it just didn’t work.

DFB.de: Monday’s game in England is now a dead rubber. What does that mean for the approach?

Flick: It doesn’t change anything. I expect every single player to push themselves. Only then will we get the conviction and the quality that we need on the pitch. It should spur everyone on to give everything they have on Monday and to use the six weeks after that to be as well prepared as possible. We need to ensure that we are better over the 90 minutes against England.

DFB.de: It was another game without a clean sheet. Is there a recurring issue that you’ve already picked up on?

Flick: It wasn’t the kind of goal that you score every day. I didn’t expect us to create so few chances at the other end though, because we have so much quality in attack. We need to reinforce our approach to the players.

DFB.de: Has that game boosted the chances for the players that weren’t involved?

Flick: Those players all have a chance. We’re keeping a close eye on everyone and looking at the development that every individual player makes.

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