Jürgen Klopp's bumpy start as national coach

The spirit of optimism has been noticeable in the past few weeks. Jürgen Klopp's start as national coach fueled hope, at the microphone, in the surroundings, on the training pitch. The message is that the trend should be reversed together.

Now, after more than 180 minutes on the pitch, he is the first national coach since Helmut Schön in 1964 to not win either of his first two games. The 1-1 draw in the Netherlands was followed by a 0-1 (0-0) draw against Greece on their home debut in Augsburg, who had never before won against a German team.

"I wasn't expecting it, but it didn't surprise me either that they were muddling such a dirty thing into it," said Klopp in the ARD interview after the final whistle, looking at the goal: "I'm really sorry about the euphoria now..." he continued before he paused: "Everything's fine, and no problem for me. Football needs training. Football needs processes."

And that couldn't even exist at the moment. Too much had been changed by him, as he himself emphasized: "It's part of the process, absolutely. The line-up, the composition, the many changes are 100 percent my responsibility. It was also clear that we weren't completely dismantling a deep Greek opponent here. Not winning the game - I could have easily lived with that. You can't lose it," he said and at least briefly turned to the game analysis: "We didn't react well to long balls. The goal is unfortunate, but Felix (Nmecha) is of course welcome to win the duel.”

Otherwise, Klopp asked for time and patience. With calendar sayings: "I'd rather have a bad start than a bad end. Everything will work out. That's always the case when you do the right things." And repeating the problem: “We have to have processes.” A good example is the first 15 minutes of the second half: "We now knew what the opponent was doing and prepared the team for it. The processes were there, and then we didn't do it anymore. I don't know why we didn't do it anymore."

Schweinsteiger's realistic view

He will critically work through this internally with his coaching team and the players, but externally he has already gone into defensive mode as a prophylactic. He expects criticism, especially because of his XXL squad with 44 players nominated for his first four international matches: "From my point of view, there was no alternative to doing it that way. And I stand by it 100 percent. Everything was great during the week. Except for large parts of this game. But I can imagine that it's starting out there now: 'How can you?' But that's all fine. Everyone can have an opinion."

Bastian Schweinsteiger had previously expressed his view of things: "We are no longer a top team. We have reached mediocrity. We no longer have those players who make the difference. We just don't have them," stated the world champion and supported the national coach: "That's why Jürgen Klopp has to first look at everyone who could be considered in order to be able to play Jürgen Klopp football at some point. If Kimmich isn't there, it will be difficult. He's the only one I can play creative passes at the back.”

Schweinsteiger warns that you have to give the new person in charge and his team patience and time: "Jürgen Klopp is in the discovery phase. This is only the second international match. It all takes time. He's not the magician. You can't expect them to leave the pitch 4-0 against Greece."