Jürgen Klopp talked about how he is building his vision with the Germany team.
The DFB have underperformed expectations set by the country at the start of the century, exiting the World Cup before the Round of 16 in each of the last three editions. Neither Hansi Flick nor Julian Nagelsmann nailed the transition from club to country, so Klopp has a tall order on his hands.
‘I’m really enjoying working with the lads’
Klopp’s spells at Mainz, Borussia Dortmund and Liverpool leave him with a wealth of experience to draw upon. This challenge is a unique one in his long career, but he is relishing the opportunity.
“We had a really good session yesterday with the players who didn’t play or only got limited minutes. Today’s session was really important as well because we were able to focus on a different opponent, look at what we’re going to come up against and keep working on our own game.
“The idea now is to build on what we did well and take it further. That’s what we’re working towards.
Prioritising defensive organisation
“We’re always working on every aspect of our game, but when you don’t have much time, you have to prioritise. The better our defensive organisation is, the more freedom it gives us to take risks going forward.
“We’re taking it step by step and trying to prepare ourselves for whatever a game might throw at us. When you’re starting something new, you have to keep working on things until they begin to click.
“The Netherlands had patterns of play that are much more established than ours can possibly be at this stage, especially given how many changes I’ve made to the squad.
“But I’m really enjoying working with the lads. We’re having a lot of meetings, working on a lot of things and trying things out. Ultimately, though, it’s what happens in the games that matters. We’ve done our analysis of Greece, but we’ll find out tomorrow exactly how they’re going to approach it.
“I think I’d coached 1,081 games before this one, so this was number 1,082. It wasn’t new to me. We did everything the way we felt was right. I’ve done it plenty of times; I’d just had a bit of a break.”