Speaking after Germany’s 1-0 win against the Netherlands in Munich, head coach Julian Nagelsmann provided his thoughts on the team’s performance.
Germany started off hot in the first half and scored within two minutes when Jamie Leweling scored on his debut, however, the goal would be ruled out for offside in the build-up. That did not stop Germany as they continued to get the better of the Netherlands and the Dutch struggled to trouble debutant Oliver Baumann.
In the 64th minute, Leweling would then score again and this time it would count. Germany would hold on and see out the win at the Allianz.
On the performance, Nagelsmann said:
“Everyone played well. The first half was the best we’ve played in the last year. Extremely dominant. The opponent had no solution to play out from the back, we won the ball a lot. In my opinion, it was a wrong decision not to give the early goal. There’s a clear rule for that, I don’t really understand it. But we did score a goal and deserved to win.”
The head coach added:
“The greed that the team embodies is a very, very big step. I am proud of my team. We have not yet had a game in the Nations League where I had the feeling: It doesn’t matter whether we win or not.”
Nagelsmann also commented on the performance of Leweling, who showcased what he can bring to the squad with his performance away from his goal:
“If everyone had been healthy, he wouldn’t have been there, that’s how open we can be. It was a close call to take him with us. He played well at VfB last year, but didn’t have the dominance that he has now. He solved many situations with pressure on his back with a lot of physicality, gave us exactly the energy we needed. He actually made an exceptionally good debut.”
It has been a year since Nagelsmann replaced Hansi Flick as head coach. Nagelsmann became Bundestrainer when morale surrounding the team was low, as were performances. On his thoughts on the past year, Nagelsmann said:
“We weren’t able to change much in the first two measures. Perhaps we had to have some negative experiences to have the basis to change something in the squad. We have found a good group. They are very good characters, which doesn’t mean that the players who aren’t there have bad characters. Even the players who weren’t at the European Championships are all good guys and lovely people. But as a coach you have to make decisions and find a team. We’ve made good steps, but we still have a lot of steps to go. It’s good to have found new personnel from the second row, which increases the competition enormously. Now everyone knows that they can’t rest. That promotes performance.”
Germany returns in November for their final two Nations League games where they will travel to Hungary as well as host Bosnia.
GGFN | Jack Meenan
