“You mustn’t lose it, though”: Jürgen Klopp frustrated after botched home debut as Germany coach – but one phase gives him hope
The mood of Germany coach Jürgen Klopp was predictably poor after the 1-0 home defeat in the Nations League match against Greece, but he still saw cause for hope.
He said he had passed on "a lot" to his players in the dressing room after the final whistle, Klopp told ARD, and said of his bitter home debut on Sunday evening in Augsburg: "It is part of the process. The line-up, the many changes, that is all 100 per cent on me. It was clear that we would not completely tear apart a deep-lying Greece side. I could have lived with not winning the game heavily today, or even not winning it at all. But you must not lose it. But we did anyway."
After the 1-1 in the Netherlands on Thursday, Klopp made five changes to his starting XI. Among them, Alexander Nübel, Yann Aurel Bisseck and debutant Bambase Conte came in for Marc-Andre ter Stegen, Nico Schlotterbeck and Nadiem Amiri.
"We have been together for a week, we are facing a defensive opponent, we are a newly assembled team, then we need patterns," Klopp said, defending his team while also criticising how rarely they carried out his intended approach consistently on the pitch.
For Klopp, the first 15 minutes of the second half stood out as a bright spot and his "positive highlight". "Then we knew what the opponent were doing, we had prepared the team for it and the patterns were there," Klopp said. "But after that we did not do it any more. I do not yet know why."
Germany team: what gives Jürgen Klopp hope despite the false start?
Even after a failed start of a draw and a defeat from his first two matches on the touchline for the German national team, Klopp is still looking ahead with confidence: "I would rather have a bad start than a bad ending. Everything will come together because that always happens when you do the right things. And we are doing the right things."
Goalkeeper Nübel, meanwhile, said the players in front of him had created only "one or two chances". "We did not get a shot away inside the penalty area at all today. We have a lot of possession in zones where we do not need it. The Greeks then counter two or three times and have two chances. The deflected shot then goes in. We do not shoot at goal enough and then it becomes difficult when the opponent sit so deep," said the Besiktas keeper, who was making his fourth international appearance.
"It was not a good performance from us either," captain Joshua Kimmich said in a sobering assessment. They had "struggled against the deep block. Overall it was too static, not creative enough," said the Bayern Munich midfielder, who in the 74th minute had to watch as Dimitrios Kourbelis scored the much-celebrated winner for Greece. "We had too little movement, we came up with too little. For me, a 0-0 would have been fair, that we lose it is then very unfortunate," Kimmich said.
Kimmich is no longer part of the second squad nominated by Klopp, which will play the two further Nations League matches in this international window. On Thursday, Germany can make amends against Serbia in Munich, and next Sunday the return match in Greece is on the schedule. The 2004 European champions lead the table in Group 2 of Nations League A with six points from their first two matches, while the DFB team are third with one point.
