Goretzka “extremely disappointed”
Merciless Flick serves up favorite players in cold water
8/31/2023 1:51 p.m
Before the World Cup revenge against Japan, national coach Hansi Flick cleans up after the recent more than meager performance in the DFB squad. Ice cold, he serves many players. Among them is Leon Goretzka, who can hardly believe it. The star in Germany should now be the team. Good luck.
Hansi Flick served his merciless decisions over a good cup of coffee. With his back to the wall, the national coach cleaned up the German national soccer team on Thursday: Regular players like Leon Goretzka or Timo Werner who have been established for years are no longer allowed to help save the home European Championship in nine months – and thus probably Flick’s job .
In addition to Goretzka and Werner, Flick’s ban ray hit for the World Cup revenge against Japan (September 9/Wolfsburg /8.45 p.m. on RTL and in the ntv.de live ticker) and the classic against France (September 12 in Dortmund/9 p.m. on ARD and in the ntv.de live ticker) also David Raum, Matthias Ginter, Thilo Kehrer or Marius Wolf. You can all read the unambiguous statements of the national coach without a doubt why they were deleted.
“We asked ourselves: Who gives this team energy?” Flick said urgently in a media booth from a meeting room on the Frankfurt DFB campus. “We’ll take a close look at that! The team is the star, not the individual.” He “pardoned” the recently penalized central defender Niklas Süle with his September squad. The surprising new face in the 24-man squad is longtime Premier League pro Pascal Groß from Brighton and Hove Albion, whom Flick praised as a “very intelligent player”.
Goretzka was “brutally looking forward to it”
But there was a need for explanation, especially with Leon Goretzka, who was suddenly sorted out after 53 international matches and 14 goals. The Bayern Munich midfielder had obviously worked well over the summer, his first two league games having been strong. On the other hand, he has been disappointing in the national team for a long time. “I spoke to Leon on Wednesday. He knows about my thoughts,” said Flick and assured that, like the others, the eviction was “not final”. He had also always held on to Werner with an iron fist.
“I am extremely disappointed with the surprising decision not to be there in September. The last few weeks have felt really good again and I was really looking forward to making my contribution to the national team as well, to getting back as a team get on the road to success,” wrote Goretzka on Instagram.
But this squad clearly outlines Flick’s EM idea – so the national coach became grumpy when asked further. “How big is a core like that?” he asked back bitingly. “I can’t let 20 players play all the time, but eight, ten, eleven at best,” he said in a raised voice. In any case, Goretzka and Werner (57 games/24 goals) do not belong to this “core”. If Flick pulls this through to the European Championship, it will be a small turning point.
Success can no longer be missed
“Everyone has to put their ego aside now and put themselves at the service of the team,” demanded the national coach. A welded unit, not a tired collection of single players – Flick points the way in the direction of the old virtues demanded by many. The cut could strengthen him internally, so Flick can avoid the impression that he is heading rigidly for the next tournament disappointment. “We have a lot to make up for. The squad is interesting and good,” he said.
These include Pascal Groß, a creative midfielder with set-piece strengths who has made 195 Premier League appearances at Brighton since 2017. 27 goals and 35 assists speak for themselves – testing big was overdue. “We’re very happy, we’re getting to see a good guy,” said Flick. But the point in time is surprising: hadn’t he declared that the time for experiments was definitely over?
Apparently the national coach wants to set stimulus points. “Besides quality and performance, behavior and attitude are also important to us,” he emphasized. “We want to promote and demand these points again and again, then we can have lasting success.” Its Time.