Provocation timed to perfection: did he spark Germany into life?

Provocation timed to perfection: did he spark Germany into life? Jürgen Klopp’s first matches in charge of the Germany team have sparked mixed feelings across football-loving Germany. The almost unanimous verdict: the debut against the Netherlands was still quite okay, the defeat to Greece was immediately branded a complete disaster again, and most recently the win over Serbia was a must-win with some promising signs and, for the first time, also the classic Klopp signature. Some understand the experiment with the split XXL squad for what it was and is — a measure designed from the outset as a radical search for the root causes. Others, despite their huge expectations, saw little to get excited about and believe the Germany team has now definitively arrived in footballing mediocrity. The defeat against the Greeks in particular was a harsh blow to the euphoria. But above all, the creativity-starved display by Klopp’s number one team provided important insights. Or as Klopp put it to 'RTL': “As long as you draw the right conclusions from it, in the end it’s information just like a win is.” A helping hand from the opponents’ star Quite apart from the fact that the national coach and his staff are more than capable of drawing those conclusions themselves, they also got plenty of help from the opposition that very same evening. Greece’s attacking artist Christos Tzolis put his finger right on Germany’s sore spots in an interview with 'ARD' and spoke bluntly about their weaknesses: “We knew they would make mistakes, and we had to be efficient enough to score,” the attacker revealed. Greece also escaped Germany’s feared counter-pressing with rugged simplicity: “They are very aggressive in trying to win the ball close to our penalty area. So we tried to play a lot of long balls.” Tzolis ultimately delivered his harshest verdict on Germany’s build-up play in the final third: “Germany had a lot of possession, but actually they didn’t create much. That’s my feeling,” he said bluntly. In doing so, the former Fortuna Düsseldorf forward, consciously or unconsciously, struck a blow at the Germany team’s pride at exactly the right moment and handed them some instructive homework for today’s return match. Some of that was already worked on and put into practice by the “second Germany squad” in the 2-0 home win over Serbia. For context, though, one thing is important: Serbia looked clearly less threatening and more vulnerable than the Netherlands and Greece. Klopp as a shield against snap judgments Tzolis’s honest words exposed exactly the kind of wounds that are unavoidable in a period of transition. In this situation, Jürgen Klopp stood in front of his team like a shield. Speaking to 'RTL', the national coach pushed back against the exaggerated expectations and pointed to the sporting reality. “Cohesion is impossible in such a short space of time,” Klopp also stressed to 'BR', referring to the selection of 44 players across four matches. He summed up the display against the compactly defending Greeks in his usual vivid way: “Deep-lying opponents are the biggest challenge in football for any team. I don’t give a damn what people think about me. But no coach in the world can hammer a style of play into a team’s hard drive in four or five days that allows them to just play straight through deep-sitting Greeks with the footballing talent they also have.” And yet that will be the major challenge in the hugely important return match against Greece, the unbeaten leaders of Nations League Group 2. When will there be heavy-metal football? This very return match on Sunday in Thessaloniki also has its own special, almost ironic dynamic. Christos Tzolis himself, after his provocation, will not even be on the pitch on Sunday evening. The attacking star is out injured. With his public takedown, he may even have helped the Germany team find its rhythm at exactly the right time. That would mean his teammates will have to pay the price. “Our attacking moves with counter-pressing are possible against any opponent,” Klopp stressed after his first win with the Germany team. His team can allow itself “all the cheek, freedom and risk if we win the ball back together.” That is another aspect that did not work at all in the first match against a compact Greece side strong in transition, but it is essential to Klopp’s heavy-metal football. So tonight Germany, in a new lineup, gets another chance to make amends. There should be no shortage of extra motivation. After all, the next opponent provided it themselves.  This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇩🇪 here.