“We can do it.” Said Julian Nagelsmann. This reminded: “We can do it”, the sentence of Angela Merkel. But whether you really do it all, Julian Nagelsmann and his team?
All that would be the winning of the title at the World Cup next year for the German national team. In order to achieve this goal, the national coach and his players have to create more than before. Much more. First of all, the World Cup qualification. This step is more difficult than hoped for. After the 0: 2 in Slovakia, the first victory in the second qualification game achieved 3-1 over Northern Ireland in Cologne on Sunday. Since the Slovaks won their game in Luxembourg in parallel, the Germans are initially only in the chasing role. In the worst case, there are two play-off games that need to be won in March 2026.
Which players Nagelsmann would like to tackle the next steps is not yet clearly defined nine months before the mammutt tournament started. This is also due to the lack of regular players. If Jamal Musiala, Kai Havertz, Nico Schlotterbeck or goalkeeper Marc-André Ter Stegen are healthy again, they are intended for an important role. But there is no guarantee, neither that you will soon return fit nor that you or other supports will be on the way. In contrast to the beginning of the European Championship year 2024, when Nagelsmann tightened the role of regular players and challengers, he now mainly follows two other principles in his personnel selection, which have a much more volatile character.
Replacement or change
These principles are not new, but they particularly emerge these days. Nagelsmann’s first principle says: If something, as in Slovakia, goes thoroughly, he tends to change staff. And run wrong, the evening of Bratislava, but also that of Cologne, can always do something. Sometimes more, sometimes less. After the similarly bad 0: 2 in Austria at the end of 2023, Nagelsmann did not want to give any chance of rehabilitation and, in 2024, preferred to be radical on alternatives. One that it met after the Viennese debacle was in the stadium on Sunday, but in civilian: Mats Hummels, who has now ended his career, was honored publicly for the time in the national team that ended in Austria.
So far that you have already made your last international match in Bratislava, it does not have to come for the five players who did not take Nagelsmann back to the starting eleven. Nevertheless: Only Leon Goretzka and Jonathan Tah were at least substituted after their degradation. Angelo Stiller, Maximilian Mittelstädt and debutant Namdi Collins did not get minute of play in Cologne. They did not use their chance and – for the time being – were not given any more. Nagelsmann said he had to choose to deal with: reparation or change. He has more than ten players in the squad. He also trusts the others. So dear: change.
Nagelsmann’s second personnel principle is universal, it does not only apply in creative crises. The national coach adapts his team to the opponent to a certain extent. There are also historical examples of this, for example from the EM quarter-finals against Spain a year ago. Surprisingly, Nagelsmann relied on two players who should run away or quickly run away from the Spaniards. But neither at Emre Can nor Leroy Sané was particularly good in the game that led to the end; They were replaced after the first half.
Nagelsmann’s urge to change
The bad experience did not lead to departure from alignment to the opponent. “I note that the basic idea of bringing two players who have extreme pace, was the right one,” said Nagelsmann months afterwards in the FAZ interview. That is the Krux as a trainer: “That you have an idea that can go up great – or not.” The national coach made it clear that bad performance is particularly pondering him – with the urge to change. “It is always due to the performance of the players beforehand how many new ideas you bring in. If we had always been super satisfied with all the services, we would probably have changed nothing – regardless of speed. Then the idea might not have arisen.” The recent weak games since June obviously led to ideas.
At the core of the team, the Nagelsmann personnel principle can be observed with all risks and side effects. Captain Joshua Kimmich had only returned to the center for the game in Slovakia from the position of right -back. He was allowed to stay. Pascal, however, was replaced by Pascal, because the national coach found the Dortmund to be more suitable for the playing style of the Northern Irish than the Stuttgart.
“A super complex topic”
“In my way of thinking, you cannot have the same staff on the pitch against every opponent,” said Nagelsmann and made a comparison from motorsport: “Formula 1 does not always drive with the same tire because it simply makes no sense to drive with slicks (profile -free tires for dry routes/editorial team) when it rains.” The situation is similar in his profession: “It makes no sense to have two 1.60 meters tall six if you only go to second balls. And it makes no sense to have a clearer if you have 90 percent possession.”
Nagelsmann accepts that his reddening could have a lack of well-rehearsed in the World Cup season. “This is a super complex topic where you need flexibility, but also stability.” You move on this line. “There is not this sacred way.” Nagelsmann sounded more confident in Bratislava in Cologne on Sunday in Cologne. He does not see the core of his team as the core of a problem, even if he uses his personal principles. “We have some pairs of six that fit well. Pascal (large) did it very well in the air today, Leon (Goretzka) after the substitution.”
And then, after a little break, Nagelsmann said this one sentence: “We can do it.” What else would be prove.
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