Emmanuel Thomas, DPA, Wednesday, June 14, 2023
BERLIN – Hansi Flick’s position as Germany coach is not in danger although the team has not managed a turnaround after last year’s World Cup group stage exit, national team sports director Völler has said.
Rudi Völler told FFH radio on Wednesday that Flick was “an absolute top coach who is doing everything to get the enthusiasm back in Germany in the next games.”
Völler said that criticism on the coach was “part of the business” but that one should not make too much of it.
Coming off a 3-2 defeat in March against Belgium, Germany drew 3-3 with Ukraine on Monday, only avoiding defeat with two late goals. They play two further friendlies before the summer break, on Friday in Poland and on Tuesday against Colombia.
Flick was retained by the leadership of the German Football Federation (DFB) after the World Cup debacle, and the former Germany striker and coach Völler installed as sports director in succession of Oliver Bierhoff.
Flick won his first eight games after taking the job in 2021 but has then only won four of the following 14 games.
Good results are needed to restore confidence within the team and to win the fans back in the run-up to next year’s European championships which Germany host.
Flick has been criticized lately over various issues ranging from the players he fields to tactical schemes but Völler said Flick had shown during his previous term at Bayern Munich, with the title treble in 2020, “what a great coach he is.
“He is thinking about how we can do things better every day, and we will do it,” Völler said.
Völler agreed that the result against Ukraine was “annoying” and the performance “a little too sluggish.”
“We played wonderful football especially in the first 20 minutes … but for for our ambitions it was of course not enough,” Völler said.
Völler said he still believes that the team can improve and thrill the fans again after they voiced their discontent during the Ukraine game.
“We want to do better, and we know that we have the players who can inspire people. As soon as we play really good football, and the commitment is the way we all envision it, we will also have the support we need next year” at the Euros, he said.
Former Germany captain Lothat Matthäus meanwhile singled out key midfielder Joshua Kimmich when he criticized the player’s general leadership attitude in Wednesday’s edition of the Sport Bild weekly.
“I still see Joshua Kimmich as an absolute leader. But he has to take a step back! Every now and then he overdoes it with his commands and his gestures,” Matthäus said.
“That can often get on the nerves of other players. As a coach, I would first talk to Kimmich himself, then to the whole team, about how he should behave in the future so that things get better.”
