Reorientation in Gelsenkirchen
Hansi Flick makes a surprising turn
By Tobias Nordmann, Ruhr area
06/20/2023, 06:29 am
Hansi Flick is under more pressure than ever before in his coaching career. Despite the failures, he still enjoyed working with the German national soccer team. However, the situation does something to him and so he terminates the decisive phase of the EM preparation.
Gelsenkirchen as a place of turning point. You have to come to that first. The old industrial city has been fighting for a new vision for years, decades. Structural change is taking place more slowly than in the neighboring cities of Dortmund, Bochum and Essen. The comedian Bastian Bielendorfer had judged his homeland so harshly last year that he was officially uninvited.
Well, this city has a new, temporarily limited relevance this Tuesday evening: the German national soccer team wants to defend itself against Colombia (8.45 p.m., RTL and in the live ticker at ntv.de) rise from insignificance and make people feel again that something big is possible in the coming year.
Then comes the home European Championship. Then the German footballers want to be able to play for the title. A new summer fairy tale is coming. DFB director Rudi Völler issued this request by order. The problem: This arrangement lacks the atmospheric substructure. There is hardly any enthusiasm for the team anymore, not even in the deepest mines in the Ruhr area. In the search for a connection to the fans, the DFB entourage tries to be close, but the power impulse that gets things rolling is missing. Namely convincing achievements. The most recent four victories came against an Italian B-XI, Oman, Costa Rica and Peru, a total of 11 winless games. A bitter truth about the state of the team.
“It’s all about the result”
From September, when the new season has started and the players have full batteries again, Flick wanted to enter the decisive phase with his players. Within ten months he wanted to polish up the wrecked DFB team and turn it into a proudly sailing boat. But because the criticism of him, his plan, his tactical and personal experiments is always rampant, the national coach now decides to surprisingly adjust his schedule. “Everyone knows the signs: Of course we want to win this game,” said Flick on Monday. This time, experimentation is moving a little further down the agenda. “It’s all about the result first,” said Flick when prioritizing the order in Gelsenkirchen.
And a little bit it’s also about himself. In the event of another defeat, the discussions about him will continue to pick up steam. Until September, he would only be a passenger in the debate. Only then could he make up for lost ground with good performance and confident coaching. The bosses around Völler and President Bernd Neuendorf did everything to protect Flick from speculation. But the history of football shows that assurances rarely serve to calm people down. Before his 24th game as head coach, Flick gave a glimpse into his mind when he was asked to answer how he was dealing with the criticism, which he had probably never experienced with such intensity in his career. “That’s true, unfortunately I have to agree with you. But in the end it’s the case that you’re responsible. And the results don’t leave much room for anything else,” said Flick. But he didn’t seem worn down, more aggressive: “I’ll go my own way without compromise!”
Where are the curbs on Flick’s path?
However, recognizable curbs are still missing. An EM framework cannot be seen in the wild experimental rage that has been the leitmotif of his actions in recent months. Let alone a hierarchy. In which should İlkay Gündoğan, who was born in Gelsenkirchen, play a leading role? But what, so far both Flick and predecessor Joachim Löw have failed to use the outstanding playmaker as profitably as Josep Guardiola does at Manchester City.
Vogelwild is in the defensive position. The “Süddeutsche Zeitung” summarized the situation in view of 20 different formations in 23 games: “Something with Rüdiger”. In his overall analysis, the national coach has a different opinion: “I can see that we are developing, I like that.” A remarkable conclusion given that they have conceded 22 goals in their last 15 games, including just two to zero.
But Flick does not want to be dissuaded from his path. Always emphasizes his plan and sometimes surprises with assessments of the quality of the team. The day after the Nations League final between title winners Spain and unfortunate losers Croatia, he admitted: “We’re playing at the same level, the same level if we put everything into it.” A thesis that can still fall on his feet very badly. But so far, almost everything that criticizes him has bounced off him.
So he wants to go back to the three-man defense against the South Americans, which up to now has been one thing above all: an invitation for quick and successful attacks by the opponent. But the national coach focuses on the offensive. Against Poland, in the defeat on Friday, the exploitation of chances was once again a big topic. Flick is still missing “a bit of trust and determination in attack. Nevertheless, Niclas Füllkrug, who had scored seven goals in eight international matches so far, was not in the supposed first eleven during training.
EM euphoria not yet fully inflamed
The basic formation for the tournament should only be recorded from September for the duels with Japan and Vice World Champion France. Then, reported Flick, “everything will look very different. We will definitely see a team that should achieve the success we all want at the 2024 European Championship.” Colombia, 17th in the world rankings, only three places behind the DFB selection, is the nominally strongest opponent of the current hat-trick.
But the “Cafeteros”, unbeaten for ten games, did not qualify for the World Cup in Qatar. The South Americans, meanwhile, have twice served as opponents of the build-up in difficult times. Before the 1998 World Cup with a 3-1 win in Frankfurt, but above all during the dress rehearsal for the later summer fairy tale of 2006, a 3-0 win in Mönchengladbach. History should repeat itself. Now in Gelsenkirchen. There, where FC Schalke 04 was relegated from the Bundesliga a few weeks ago, but went into the break with the best feelings.
A victory is needed, says Flick. Robin Gosens even called a win “essential”. But what if it goes wrong again? Even then, stressed Völler, Flick would remain national coach: “Yes, of course.” In any case, President Neuendorf considers it “totally exaggerated to proclaim the fall of the West”. Sure, the euphoria for the EM has not yet fully flared up (a cute reversal of the facts), but the stadiums are “sold out”. But not yet the arena in Gelsenkirchen, on Monday 45,000 of the approximately 51,000 tickets were sold. The VIP grandstand, meanwhile, is full to bursting. Nice news too.