News (engl.)

Julian Nagelsmann on…

…communicating with the players after the Slovakia game:We held individual discussions, in addition to meeting as a team. Naturally, we analysed our upcoming opponents and came up with a match plan. We aren't making wholesale changes to the team or to the formation. What's important is that we put in a better performance tomorrow than we did against Slovakia.

…playing with passion: Terms such as 'emotion' or 'passion' are difficult to describe. When meeting with the players, we try our best to put ourselves in their shoes. We ask ourselves, what motivates them? What can we do to ensure that they are able to play football with a clear head? It's about working closely together. Communication out on the pitch is important; we have to encourage each other.

…the leaders within the team: Of course we have players who take up leading roles within the team. I also met with them and let them know that they are allowed to actively live out these roles, even if things didn't go to plan on Thursday.

…his starting line-up against Northern Irelan:  We have to find the right players for the match against Northern Ireland. Some were the right choice against Slovakia, but it could be the case that there are other players that prove a better fit for Sunday. It's not a criticism – this is simply dependent on who our opponents are.

…criticism directed towards him as a coacha: It goes without saying that I'm willing to listen to criticism. Even if I don't read everything, I'm still aware of what's being said. We played poorly and have to accept that. However, I won't be changing my entire style of play.

…training ahead of the game against Northern Ireland: I want to see what the mood is like amongst the lads and how they perform during training and in our 7v7. Some players will definitely feature, while there are still some doubts surrounding some of the others. I won't reveal anything beforehand, however. There's often a difference between what you plan to do and what you're then able to execute out on the pitch.

…Florian Wirtz: He's an extremely important player. He worked hard on Thursday and will do the same tomorrow. I didn't discuss what happened before the goal with him, because he wasn't at fault for the goal – it resulted from other factors.

…the team's tactical weaknesses against Slovakia: Overall, we just weren't aggressive enough. I think we managed to get the ball into the final third twice in the first half, and no more than three times in the second half. If you manage to outnumber your opponents in that area of the pitch on multiple occasions, then the odds of you scoring also increase. Instead, at times it looked like we were working on keeping possession without intending to score.

…Nick Woltemade and Florian Wirtz moving to English clubs: What matters to me, is that the players see plenty of game time. From the Bundesliga's perspective, it's not ideal to have young talents leave to go abroad early into their career. But, it's important for players to gather experience and develop their confidence. Florian Wirtz is already an important player for us. Nick is still new, but he will also take up an important role.

…Serge Gnabry: He's got a bruised elbow. I don't think that will impede him at all, and he should be able to play. We'll keep an eye on it during training – it had already improved a lot yesterday.  

Oliver Baumann on…

…key lessons from the Slovakia game: It's about putting the focus back on the basics: playing with passion and winning the second balls. First come the basics, and then you can add the more technical elements – that's how it should be.

…discussions within the team: It's obvious that we weren't able to avoid the topic. You could feel in the dressing room that everyone was thinking about how the game went. However, from today, our focus has to be on what's ahead and on our performance against Northern Ireland. We've spoken a lot as a team. At first, everyone was frustrated, angry and disappointed. We've worked our way through those emotions over the past days.

…the spirit within the team: We spend a lot of time together, such as at lunch. It's not the case that everyone leaves straight after they're finished eating, but rather we stick around and talk about things, including the game against Slovakia.

…his role as a goalkeeper: It's about helping the team – that's my job and my aim. I want to be there for those key moments and give good instructions. Even if a game isn't going our way, I still want to be there, which is exactly what I'll do tomorrow again.