The 2-0 win over Israel was not only a good start to 2022 for Germany, but also Hansi Flick’s eighth win from eight games in charge. Following the victory in Sinsheim, the national team coach spoke to us about the game, the build-up to the World Cup and Tuesday’s clash in Amsterdam against the Netherlands (20:45 CEST).
DFB.de: Mr. Flick, how pleased were you with the 2-0 win over Israel to kick off 2022?
Hansi Flick: The team tried to put the opponents under pressure. We weren’t that clinical, so we’ll have to improve on that. Overall though, I’m satisfied. Our mood would have been spoiled a bit if we had conceded right at the end. That just showed that you have to keep your concentration for the whole 90 minutes. It has to be a learning process for us and Nico Schlotterbeck, who otherwise played well.
DFB.de: You spoke with Nico Schlotterbeck, who gave away that penalty, straight after the final whistle. What did you say to him?
Flick: Nico and I spoke about that incident. He analysed that clearly like we did, so that’s a good first step. He played well, got stuck in and was involved. Hopefully it will be a good lesson for him. He can be really satisfied with his debut overall.
DFB.de: Timo Werner, who hasn’t been in the best of form recently, scored for Germany again. How pleased were you about that?
Flick: Timo hasn’t played that much over the past few months. He was ill and has had to play catch up a bit. We’re there to give him game time. You could see that he wasn’t quite at his best at the start of the game, but he still kept making runs in behind. We need to look to find him more in the middle.
DFB.de: You tried out Jamal Musiala in central midfield in the second half. How do you think he did?
Flick: I’m not somebody that likes to single out players a lot, but he had a lot of bright moments. He’s a player that’s good on the ball and he always looks confident on the pitch, which I really like. He also did well when we were without possession too. If he plays like this, he’s a real asset for any side, and that includes Bayern and the national team.
DFB.de: The bigger test will come on Tuesday against the Netherlands. How will you approach this game?
Flick: I don’t want to discuss that game yet because we’ve still got a few days. We will benefit from analysing the Israel game first.
created by mmc/dr
###more###
The 2-0 win over Israel was not only a good start to 2022 for Germany, but also Hansi Flick’s eighth win from eight games in charge. Following the victory in Sinsheim, the national team coach spoke to us about the game, the build-up to the World Cup and Tuesday’s clash in Amsterdam against the Netherlands (20:45 CEST).
DFB.de: Mr. Flick, how pleased were you with the 2-0 win over Israel to kick off 2022?
Hansi Flick: The team tried to put the opponents under pressure. We weren’t that clinical, so we’ll have to improve on that. Overall though, I’m satisfied. Our mood would have been spoiled a bit if we had conceded right at the end. That just showed that you have to keep your concentration for the whole 90 minutes. It has to be a learning process for us and Nico Schlotterbeck, who otherwise played well.
DFB.de: You spoke with Nico Schlotterbeck, who gave away that penalty, straight after the final whistle. What did you say to him?
Flick: Nico and I spoke about that incident. He analysed that clearly like we did, so that’s a good first step. He played well, got stuck in and was involved. Hopefully it will be a good lesson for him. He can be really satisfied with his debut overall.
DFB.de: Timo Werner, who hasn’t been in the best of form recently, scored for Germany again. How pleased were you about that?
Flick: Timo hasn’t played that much over the past few months. He was ill and has had to play catch up a bit. We’re there to give him game time. You could see that he wasn’t quite at his best at the start of the game, but he still kept making runs in behind. We need to look to find him more in the middle.
DFB.de: You tried out Jamal Musiala in central midfield in the second half. How do you think he did?
Flick: I’m not somebody that likes to single out players a lot, but he had a lot of bright moments. He’s a player that’s good on the ball and he always looks confident on the pitch, which I really like. He also did well when we were without possession too. If he plays like this, he’s a real asset for any side, and that includes Bayern and the national team.
DFB.de: The bigger test will come on Tuesday against the Netherlands. How will you approach this game?
Flick: I don’t want to discuss that game yet because we’ve still got a few days. We will benefit from analysing the Israel game first.
