News (engl.)

Germany head coach Julian Nagelsmann spoke to DFB.de after his side’s disappointing 2-0 loss against Slovakia, expanding on things such as the reasons for the defeat, the lack of a real mentality, and the upcoming tie with Northern Ireland on Sunday (7th September, 20:45 CEST) in Cologne.

DFB.de: Mr. Nagelsmann, what was missing in your side’s 2-0 defeat to Slovakia?

Julian Nagelsmann: There was no passion at all and we were second-best in every single challenge. It wasn’t so much a question of if they were going to take the lead, but when. I hoped that it would have woken us up. We had a decent first five minutes in the second half, but that’s just not enough. It’s not the fault of the team or individual players; we as coaches need to take responsibility, as we are the ones that gave the instructions. It’s my responsibility. Slovakia are a lower-ranked side than us, but were miles clear of us in every aspect.

DFB.de: On your decision to give Nnamdi Collins his debut at right-back: Will we see Joshua Kimmich in this position going forward?

Nagelsmann: I’ve said the whole time, that that’s always an option. We need to test our players. Nnamdi didn’t have a great time out there, but I don’t want to make a debutant our scapegoat. The responsibility rests on me. There are a lot of experienced players here. It wasn’t his positioning that was the issue; his opponent [Leo Sauer] just had a fantastic game. He was the best player on the pitch and a huge talent for Slovakian football.

DFB.de: Are the new players responsible for making up for the lack of passion, or will you be able to bring it out of the whole squad?

Nagelsmann: I am confident in my team, otherwise I wouldn’t have called them up. I also think that every player with us here can contribute to this. It comes from the players themselves, though. It doesn’t matter who we’re playing. We’re still a big name in international football, whether we deserve to be right now or not. Regardless, you still have to want to be the best you can be and get stuck into every match. Hopefully after that we can show our quality out on the pitch. I can’t keep listening to this constant talk of “quality, quality”. We need to play football with passion! Every single game! We can’t always say that we’ve given it our all. We could at the last EUROs, but now it’s becoming less and less, and I don’t see why.

DFB.de: How do you plan on turning things around before the meeting with Northern Ireland on Sunday?

Nagelsmann: Give me a bit of time. We’ll have a think about it and maybe I’ll make the right decisions. I have already mentioned a couple of solutions. I’m not going to let everything fall apart as we still have a really good chance of qualifying. It’s still been a sobering experience for me, and I hope for us all as well. We’ve got some sharp minds in our coaching staff and with Rudi Völler and Andreas Rettig. We will discuss everything together and come up with a plan for how we’re going to win on Sunday.

DFB.de: Is lifting the World Cup still an achievable goal?

Nagelsmann: Yes, our goals haven’t changed. To change them is unthinkable. Obviously it’s not been great tonight, I know that. As a group, we haven’t really shown that this is something we’re really hungry for, which I have to acknowledge. Despite that, it would be ridiculous to come out and say that we no longer want to be World Champions. I do realise though that these issues can’t just be shaken off.