A lot of tough wrestling, not much fun football – and the first defeat! Whip-in Jürgen Klopp and his wildly mixed “ball thieves” are still a long way from the raging power style of the new national coach. On his home debut against Greece, Klopp saw encouraging progress in coordination and defensive behavior for a long time, but then his defense was caught cold in the 0-1 (0-0) draw in Augsburg.
DFB captain Joshua Kimmich deflected a shot from Dimitrios Kourbelis (74') into Alexander Nübel's own goal. That was bad luck, Germany also had several good opportunities to avoid their first ever defeat against Greece in front of 28,945 spectators. But overall the forward play was very slow for the four-time world champions.
After a “super-intensive week” and before the big bed change, the national coach definitely wanted to see more candidates under pressure from Nations League games in his XXL casting. He therefore switched to five positions, which significantly inhibited the flow of combinations: Klopp made some changes, partly out of force and partly voluntarily, after the very promising start in the Netherlands (1:1). The successful coach follows his path with remarkable consistency - without hesitation he placed Hoffenheim's Bambasé Conté in the attacking midfield, the fourth debutant in his second game.
Conté has so far played eleven Bundesliga games lasting a total of 295 minutes; Klopp, who again relied on a 4-3-3, highlighted the 23-year-old's “ball-stealing mentality” in the ARD interview. In any case, excessive shyness is obviously not the problem: after less than two minutes, Conté fired the first German shot on goal.
Too little danger for the Greek goal
And Klopp? He absentmindedly soaked up the atmosphere and hummed along to “Major Tom,” then let his ball chasers loose on the “golden generation” of the Greeks. And that in a line-up that would have been unthinkable just weeks ago: Nübel in goal, right-back Josha Vagnoman for Philipp Treu as well as Yann Aurel Bisseck in central defense and Younes Ebnoutalib in attack were also new. Plus: four regular World Cup players. Hennes Behrens was also allowed to make his debut later.
Offensively, Greece only hinted at why they are considered a team of the future. Klopp coached very actively, he first grabbed Vagnoman, who had to stand up to Arsenal star Christos Tzolis, and then Kimmich in order to successfully sharpen things up.
At the front there was a lot of possession, especially on the wings, but Karim Adeyemi (27th/32nd) was noticeable with several good opportunities. Ebnoutalib was hardly played in a useful way, the delivery routes were tight. After all: the German team was stable, alert and willing, they were attentive on second balls. The fans honored this – standing room was open again at a German home game for the first time in 25 years.
After the break, the compulsory task was to be followed by the freestyle: Klopp sent his team onto the pitch with renewed vigor. The good Conté, after winning the ball strongly (49'), and Nathaniel Brown (51'), whose pass Ebnoutalib missed, approached the goal. Kimmich (53') almost sank a free kick. The missing liveliness was suddenly there, Greece kicked along more or less listlessly.
Klopp seized his chance, Florian Wirtz and Jonathan Burkardt were supposed to break the barrier of the well-organized guests. But after Kimmich lost the ball, Fotis Ioannidis suddenly found himself alone in front of Nübel, he pushed the ball past the left (67th). A little later Kourbelis scored.
The bed change now follows in the German camp, and nine more newcomers are hoping for their DFB debut in the two further Nations League games against Serbia (October 1st) in Munich and against Greece (October 4th) in Thessaloniki. The nominally weaker “Kader 2” with Nick Woltemade and Said El Mala sat in the stands in Augsburg and cheered on their colleagues. Vain.
