A football coach doesn't have to be a friend to his players, but he has to be a helper. He helps them by talking to them before the game, by preparing them for various game situations, by showing them a second and third solution to a problem in addition to the first. But if he and his team attract a lot of attention, if he is the Bayern or even national coach, he has to help his players before a game, especially when he talks about them instead of talking to them. And then not just her helper, but her lawyer.
On Saturday afternoon in Herzogenaurach, football coach Jürgen Klopp showed in three cases in the press conference before his second game with the German national team against Greece (Sunday, 8:45 p.m. in the F.A.Z. live ticker for the Nations League and on ARD) how well he can do that.
Case one: Marc-André ter Stegen. When the question and answer session had not yet started on Saturday, the national team spokeswoman, who was sitting next to Klopp, said that he would only say one thing about the line-up. The national coach then said that on Sunday against Greece it would not be Marc-André ter Stegen, as he was on Thursday against the Netherlands, but Alexander Nübel in goal. But that wasn't it yet.
"I," said Klopp, "I heard that, to be honest, I was a bit surprised that Marc was viewed critically. That is very unusual in a game in which the opposing coach says that the goalkeeper [...] saved our asses." Only Klopp didn't say who the opposing coach was: Xavi, who played in the same team as Ter Stegen for a long time in Barcelona and called him his friend before praising him. That's why this Xavi didn't mention that ter Stegen had very bad actions in addition to the very good ones.
Even Klopp couldn't be that biased, which is why he said: "And yes, twice in his own possession he didn't play the ball that he wanted and should have played, but that happens." He was “zero-point-zero critical” of his number one, was “very happy” and then formulated the following conclusion regarding the goalkeeper swap: “Alex is still allowed to play accordingly, not because of it.”
Case two: Karim Adeyemi. When the Germans were leading 1-0 on Thursday, the striker shot a ball over the (empty) goal that a national player was supposed to shoot into the goal. On Saturday, Klopp was asked about what the reporter said was his "very funny reaction" to Adeyemi's miss. Then Klopp said: “I was just about to ask: Which miss?” And laughed.
“A wonderful guy,” said Klopp when he then became serious, was Karim Adeyemi, someone who had so far made “an outstanding impression” in Barcelona, where he has been playing since this season. The miss? “Dealing with it – that’s the big challenge in football’s life,” said Klopp. He wanted to “work with Adeyemi to keep him in the game” because Klopp believed that he was still influenced by it afterwards, probably also because the national team was important to him and because he had not been at the World Cup.
With a view to what's to come, Klopp said: "Karim offers a lot that I would really like to incorporate." He did not say that there are reasons why several coaches have failed to incorporate the great speed that Adeyemi has into the game. He just said: "Can he play better? Of course, but he could also have played much worse. So accordingly: for a first game under me, completely fine, let's move on."
Case three, by far the most difficult: Florian Wirtz. The Liverpool FC playmaker has not yet fulfilled what many had promised because of the transfer fee (at least 125 million euros) since his move in the summer of 2025. And now that Wirtz has joined the national team a little earlier than planned due to Jamal Musiala's injury, national coach Klopp, who was Liverpool coach for a long time, should say how he sees his situation. But Klopp said: “That doesn’t make any sense now.”
He explained why, from his point of view, it didn't make sense: "That would go far too far, create headlines that we don't want to create now. No matter what I say, positive or negative, it will be a huge hit in England in this case and Flo will return to England." But Klopp didn't want to say nothing either. And continued with a trick.
"If you want to look at the overall context - and you can certainly say something about that because it has nothing to do with the immediate situation - Flo came to Liverpool at the most inopportune moment of all." That was the trick: by saying he was saying something about the overall situation, Klopp was saying he wasn't saying anything about the immediate situation.
Why was it the worst of all moments in the overall context? Because Diogo Jota had died in a car accident shortly before. Now the team is “in the process of finding itself again” after the next coaching change, but an offensive player “always needs a functioning team”. It went on like this for a while until Klopp said: "Basically - I've already said far too much about it, but hopefully I've remained general enough - it was just a very unfavorable situation." And even though he had just said himself that he had already said far too much, Klopp continued with one last trick.
At the end of his answer he said about Florian Wirtz: “Everyone who loves football can still see what an extraordinary player he is.” And in a press conference full of little tricks, that was his biggest one: he was accusing everyone who no longer believed that Wirtz would be the exceptional player that was expected at Liverpool FC with something bad.
He did not say that they do not understand football, which would not have been credible given the many former England internationals who criticize Wirtz in their role as an opinion maker in the media. He said something that affects these former players much more: that they don't love football.
