Clear message to DFB stars
Concerned EM boss Lahm criticizes national coach Nagelsmann
December 1, 2023, 9:40 a.m
Philipp Lahm is worried about his European Championship next summer. The tournament director knows: If Germany plays poorly, there will be no chance of a new summer fairy tale. National coach Julian Nagelsmann also receives clear advice.
Shortly before the draw for the European Championship groups, tournament director Philipp Lahm criticized national coach Julian Nagelsmann’s recent personnel experiments and held the national players responsible. “What actually characterizes a team? What kind of cohesion does it take to play football successfully? That’s what I want from the current team, too, from the coach, that he puts the players in the right positions where they have experience,” said the 40-year-old in “Players – The Sports Podcast” on Deutschlandfunk.
Without naming names, Lahm was obviously alluding to the tactical measure taken by Nagelsmann, who had called up Kai Havertz in the left-back position, which was unfamiliar to him, in the national soccer team’s European Championship test matches. Even though the Arsenal professional acted very offensively there and played well, the tactical structure of the DFB selection fell into disarray, especially in the 2-3 defeat against Turkey. In the following 2-0 defeat against Austria, Nagelsmann stuck to his measures without success.
Memories of the situation before the 2006 World Cup
Lahm is apparently worried about the performance of the DFB team a good six months before the opening game on June 14th in Munich and is calling for a different mentality in the team. The players need to know “what are they actually doing this for, what am I actually playing for, who am I actually playing for in the national team,” said Lahm. An example for him is the home World Cup in 2006, when the mood was also precarious after a 4-1 defeat in Italy just three months before kick-off, but the team then improved enormously during the tournament.
“We drew the conclusions from that in 2006. Everyone concentrated on what was important, on their role in the team and put themselves at the service of the team. I think that was a key to success, that everyone knew this opportunity was coming “only once in a lifetime,” Lahm recalled the summer fairy tale of 2006.
“Everything was transparent and open”
The honorary captain assured that there would be no other parallel to the home World Cup. In contrast to the previous tournament, this time there will be no scandals about possible corruption and misconduct by officials. “I can promise that. Everything was transparent and open, so I can put my hand in the fire for myself and my organization,” promised Lahm.
The European Championship groups will be drawn in Hamburg on Saturday (6 p.m./ZDF, RTL and MagentaTV). As hosts, Germany is in first place in Group A. Possible difficult opponents are Italy, the Netherlands, but also Austria and Turkey.