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Raphael Honigstein: One great coach will not save either England or Russia
The Guardian Columnist and the Sports Daily chief editor discovered a way to help Russian football with a reference to such personalities as Guardiola, Klinsmann and Loew.
Raphael Honigstein is distinguished by a unique sense of taste for a football journalist. His reviews of the Bundesliga resemble little novels, and his analytical materials and video blogs always hit the right spot. Honigstein’s book on German football Der Vierte Stern (known as Das Reboot on the UK market) has been released in Russia. This kind of reading is for those who seek for the whole picture. In Russian football, one can switch coaches for a long time, complain about the lack of players and look with unbounded longing at those who succeed. In fact, everything was invented much longer before us, and it only remains to learn from someone else's experience.
Raphael Honigstein has overviewed relatively obvious things about German and English football in general and about Joachim Loew, Josep Guardiola, Jurgen Klinsmann in particular. Perhaps, this interview will be useful due to understanding the necessarity of global changes required for the Russian national team as the next host of the World Cup.
What one shall do if players are similar to each other?
— Raphael, what exactly in your book can be interesting for Russian readers?
—
First of all, the book will appeal to those who are interested in
German football. People has been watching large tournaments for last
years, they see how Germany wins, but they do not remember that awful
football we played before 2004. Yes, indeed, in Japan and Korea in 2002,
Germany reached the final, but to be fair, the team did not show
anything outstanding. Probably, by this book I wanted to provoke in some
countries a kind of common reaction. For example, a person in England,
Netherlands or Russia would recognize many of the problems that exist in
football of his country. He will be able to identify the cause and the
essence. Germans needed quite a long time to see that. In the end,
objectivity is buried in everyday noise.
We talk a lot about emotions caused by football, often neglecting the essence. Nowadays England faced that. Same problems. Not too patriotic, too rich, too vapid players. Nobody plays football on the streets, preferring video games. There are no leaders being able to take the responsibility. Germany went through all of this! We all discussed in the bars what was wrong and who was to blame, when the truth was that everything was defined by the level of our country’s players and the coaches who worked with the team.
— And now I am trying to compare it with what we have in Russia...
—
I do not consider myself as an expert in your football. However, when I
watched Russian team games in France, it appealed to me that all
players were so similar to each other. They passed the ball in a same
way, felt uncomfortable with it and did everything quite slowly. No one
came up with the idea of doing something completely different from the
partners in order to encourage them. It was a faceless team. Without
emotions, without a sense of individuality, without clear tactics.
In 2002, Germany also did not have superstars. Kahn, Ballack — that is all. Jeremis, Hamann, Schneider, Janker, Bierhoff played at comparatively same good level. But they lacked speed and technique — the elements that allow you to play attacking football. We could only use defensive tactics, because by getting involved in a sharp game with another opponent we would definitely defeat. Yes, in 2002 we reached the final. Nevertheless, what was before and after that? Rather poor European Championship 2000, we lost to Portugal. The same look in 2004, the defeat from the Czech Republic. People could blame anyone - coaches, players, society. The reason though was that there was no one to play at the entirely different level. Now it is clear that Germany having Ozil, Muller and others will not play defensive football.
— But they did not come from nowhere, did they?...
—
No. But everyone knows that. In 2000, we were disgraced at the European
Championship. And the management of German football decided that they
did not want to see such a circus: "We need brand new players and
fundamentally different coaches." And everything began to change: the
style of the game, the style of preparation, the attitude itself to the
concept of performances for the national team. In fact, the first
changes happened in 1998, when children began to play more in small
fields without unnecessary running, and the trainers had been prepared
step by step for the new techniques. As a result, now young players are
accustomed to the ball, they see it constantly! Their coach is not
someone’s relative or buddy, but a specialist with a license. Obviously,
such coaches work better and raise the best players. These ideas were
developed first by Jürgen Klinsmann, then by Joachim Loew, and only in
2010 Germany suddenly found out that it had a completely different team
playing a completely different football, the one with Ozil, Boateng,
Mueller, Khedira ...
In my book, there is a chapter where the mechanism "more and more" is described in details. If we want more talented players and coaches for our country, then we should invest more in their development. The more talented football players are about to appeal, the more qualified coaches are needed to raise them, and vice versa. This is a snowball effect.¬
— It is important to do something with this effect, not only talk about it and then forget…— And this is just a very German feature. In Germany, people will never say: "We have achieved the desired result, let’s praise ourselves." We always have a debate: "We should have done it in a different way, other things could be better, let's change it" ... Following this approach it's difficult to get off the trail, therefore everything works.
—
We discussed similar things with the head of the Hennes Weisweiler
Coaching Academy Frank Vormuth, who told me three months after Germany's
victory at the World Cup in Brazil that there were no left-back or
right-back defenders, no ...
— …strikers, right? I know all of
this. Of course, everyone wants to be a midfielder. Imagine a guy who,
up to sixteen, used to be a leader in the center of the pitch and manage
partners, at eighteen has been told: "Go left!" For example, Bayern
player David Alaba still believes that he should be a midfielder. In his
case the question is this: either you become one of the best left-back
defenders in the world, or one of forty-fifty good central midfielders.
Still, Alaba wants to be a midfielder! But this is a general football
problem, not German.
Guardiola helped at all levels
— What about Kimmich? Seems like the last thing he didn’t do on the pitch was being a goalkeeper?
—
Some time ago, I was sure that Kimmich would become a good right
defender. During the qualification for the Euro Loew preferred to see
Emre Can for this position, it did not work. Now it is time for Kimmich.
He is also sure that he is a midfielder. He was very dissatisfied that
he was put to the right. If Philip Lam was still able to play there — no
problem. But...
— Do you think Josep Guardiola helped Joachim
Loew to come up with the idea of Kimmich playing at any position? He
used to play a stopper with Guardiola...
— Guardiola helped very
strongly on many levels. Of course, it depends on who you talk to in
Germany about him. Someone believes that Pep is terrific and that Bayern
played fantastic football under his management. Perhaps the last season
showed that we had lost the best Bundesliga coach ever. Is Guardiola
perfect? No way, he is not. He makes mistakes as well.
— What mistakes?
—
I would say that he is not perfect in managing people. Guardiola used
to have a special emotional attitude towards Barcelona, and it worked.
Perhaps, in Bayern he had a lack of emotional contact with the players.
Bayern is a very emotional club, including top management. People there
wanted Pep to feel as a family member, but he never did. This provoked
many problems. Guardiola is an example of an effective top manager, who
allows the company to be successful at the technical level. But,
probably, if an effective manager loved his staff, the result would be
even higher ... At the social level, Guardiola is not the best coach.
Although, there are no ideal ones. Everyone has his weaknesses, his
oddities...
— Joachim Loew. Which oddities does he have?
—
I guess he is the most normal of all coaches (laughing). There is clear
borderline between Loew as a coach and Loew as a simple man. Even after
so many years of his work with the German team, we know very little
about his humankind side. We know what kind of football he likes, which
players he prefers, but he never talks about himself. The players love
him very much. Loew is very easy to communicate. He has business
manners, which are very comfortable to work with though. He knows how to
find the right tone, without going mad at the edge of a field, as Conte
or Mourinho do. He is softer, and that is why work with the national
team is an ideal for him. Let us say, if he worked with Bayern, and
everyone around would say: "Tomorrow you must beat Hoffenheim!", — I'm
afraid it would be hard for Loew. He is a strategist who thinks a lot
and who needs to spend a lot of time with a cup of espresso. Indeed,
work with the German national team is a dream one for him. But Joachim
Loew is also a dream coach for the country and a new generation of
players who are learning to manage their careers and are able to analyze
their actions on the field and outside of it.
There is a fragment in my book about how the role of the personality of each player has grown, as players are more involved into the progress of the team. When one of them tells how he watches the video for hours where Cristiano Ronaldo performs free kicks. These guys go beyond the limits of the concept of "football player" — such a generation...
— I will
never forget the speech of Holger Badstuber at a common press
conference, where it seemed to me that I was being lectured at the
university. Are all the players of the Germany national team like that?
—
No, not all. But the manager of Mainz youth teams Volker Kersting once
told me how 15-year-olds are already have being taught to express their
opinion about their game, about the performance of partners, to analyze
the actions of the whole team. If you are not able to do this, then you
will not show the best game, even if you have great physical potential.
Football becomes more intellectual, even scientific. In these terms, the
main achievement of the German football revolution is the education of
bright children, who then remain in football. This became possible
thanks to the educational schools functioning at the academies. Kersting
told me that some years ago only 15 percent of the students from the
academies had passed the A-level (a specialized program for universities
applicants. — www.sportsdaily.ru), now their amount consists 85 per
cent! Parents of children from the middle class do not have to be
confused anymore — I have such a talented boy, how will he get education
if he continues to play football. The question of choice - football or
study – has been removed from the agenda.
"Play with your heart, why do you need a coach?"
—
You live in England, communicate with local football people, fans,
colleagues. Why such an obvious experience of Germany cannot be adopted
there? And exactly the same question I can ask about Russia...
—
That is a very difficult question. There are many factors that prevent
this experience from being adopted. For example, the class of the
Premier League. The absence of second teams. Number of coaches. There is
one English high-level specialist for ten German ones. There is also a
difference in the culture of football perception. A young player in
England is easier to be told: "Boy, you have talent, go and play with
your heart! Why do you need a coach?" Children in England until recently
played on a large field, imagine what was required of them? Hit the
ball as hard as possible and run as fast as possible! The rest have to
work hard just to reach the ball.
There are many structural problems at the highest level as well. Including those related to players contracts. At the same time, I note that England has already made enough conclusions in the preparation of more technical players, and a several steps have been taken in this direction. What happened to the team in France is not a consequence of the fact that England has poor players. Problems concerns management. At the disposal of the coach only fifteen players are on a regular basis, instead of forty-five from which he could form a team. This is a problem of the Premier League, where players and coaches from abroad constantly come. And club owners are also foreigners who are not interested in global changes of local football.
Now, after the defeat from Iceland, everyone is disappointed, and again the emotions overcome the general plan and the willingness to work for changes at all levels. In fact, Germany was very fortunate that in one year two fateful events coincided: the failure of the national team in 2000 and the right to host the World Cup in 2006. It was the fear of disgrace that forced everything being changed from the very roots. England, I think, needs such a push in order to go for it.
— Antonio Conte prepared for the European Championship a
very efficient Italy team with a single star who was a goalkeeper. Now
there is a new task for him being a Chelsea coach and his talent might
be also exposed to this kind of emotions. How Jurgen Klopp's career will
unfold in Liverpool is also unclear...
— It is clear with Klopp.
Note how coaches depend on the emotional demands of the Premier League.
Indeed, coaches there are under a great pressure, still they get a lot
of time there, because fans and media want to see a certain set of
characters and demand to leave it as it is for another year, and for
two, and three, because they believe so much in this characters. Arsene
Wenger could not work with a club the way he does with Arsenal in any
other country.
In Germany, it is different with coaches. Also in Spain and Italy. On the contrary, in England there is time for them! Despite the fact, that so many clubs every year remain at the same level and there is such a serious competition for being at the very top. At the same time, we are talking about the highest level of football, but the rules are dictated by the general excitement around it.
—
Jurgen Klinsmann is considered as one of the candidates to lead the
England football team. Can he change anything in English football?
—
In the beginning of 2000’s Klinsmann was the right person for Germany.
He has a wonderful football career, life experience; he visited
different countries and learned a lot from living in the USA including
knowledge in the field of sports, which in Germany at that time no one
owned. He was the hero of his time, just like Arsene Wenger. I do not
think that now everything would have been the same way. Without such an
assistant, as Joachim Loew, Klinsmann would have achieved not that much
as a coach. Being one of the leaders of the English Football
Association, I would ask him at a meeting: "Who will be your assistant,
Jurgen?" If he responds: "Berti Vogts", the answer is: "Thank you, we'll
call you back." If he suggests bringing Thomas Tuchel, you could
seriously think about it. In fact, not only Klinsmann made that first
German national team: many people worked for that success, including the
German Football Union. I do not think that England needs Klinsmann now.
He will not change anything. The country needs the right environment
around the team, around football.
Russia and China — not a problem for football
— Russia and England are completely different countries. But don’t you think that they are almost soulmates in terms of football?
—
I know that at certain time in Russia many foreigners were involved,
which was bad for its own players. That makes some sense, but I do not
believe that, let's say, English players will start to grow only because
they will be kept less on the bench and given a chance in the main
squads. No. The problem is that the academies in England and,
apparently, your country work at an insufficiently high level. The same
goes for the coaches. Each country that wants to represent its football
at a high level must have know-how. In addition to players and coaches,
representatives of the federation, people working around football - they
all need to write their own chapter in this scientific work. One great
coach is not the solution of the question.
Take the region around Stuttgart where a whole chain of coaches operates interacting constantly with each other and exchanging experience. Ralf Rangnick (now the sports director of RB Leipzig, last season brought the club to the Bundesliga as a coach, — www.sportsdaily.ru) has grown up in this region. Now he is educating a new generation of coaches there. Thomas Tuchel was working with him as VfB Stuttgart youth team coach of the youth team. There must be a kind of football ecosystem. But Germany, which conceived this sixteen years ago, began to reap the rewards only now.
— Aren’t many of the young coaches too "raw" for this work?
—
Are you talking about Julian Nagelsmann? Yes, he is only 29, but when
he came to meet with Guardiola in Munich, he was praised at Bayern by
both of Pep and sports director Matthias Sammer. They wanted to offer
him a job at the second team, but they already knew that Nagelsmann
would head TSG Hoffenheim.
— I am not even talking about
Nagelsmann. There was a number of coaches who were scrolled in the
Bundesliga, as if in a washing machine, and quickly thrown out of it. As
Joe Zinnbauer in the HSV, Alexander Zorninger in the VfB Stuttgart.
With him, in fact, the Swabians began their fall ...
— Zorninger
is good as an expert, but his human qualities, unfortunately, are not of
the highest level. He is not able to communicate at all. A coach should
be not only educated, but also be a decent person. He must be able to
create an aura. It is better to ask yourself if you can be a motivator. A
leader. A teacher. Of course, two or three Jurgen Klopps won’t appear
each two or three years. But with the right education system, clubs will
always have a choice among professional coaches with all the necessary
contemporary knowledge. Someone will break through, someone will not.
But the know-how is not going anywhere. Previously, when appointing a
coach, the question was: does a club need a motivator or an educator?
Now determine the typology of the coach is much more difficult. How can
you explain the fact that the German clubs in the rating of UEFA
coefficients are now higher than the English ones? I will answer - their
coaches work better.
— Can China be called a problem of modern football?
—
Earlier, the same thing could be said about Russia. In fact, no, not a
problem. In Central Europe, most of good players wants to play football
and achieve high results in it. Therefore, even if money can affect
their decision, this contains a very small percentage of football life. I
would say that China and Turkey have a kind of artificial leagues. I do
not think that they have enough real power to affect significantly the
top clubs in Europe.
— How will England's exit from the European Union affect, in your opinion, European football?
—
The economic recession in England will certainly affect the euro and
will have a definite, including political, effect in France and other
nearby countries. All this is very depressing. Directly in the English
Premier League for five or six years Brexit will not affect, but if the
pound begins to weaken, it will gradually lose its main advantage —
financial attractiveness.
Translation: Yulia Kartashova
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