Gerland: He was very dangerous in front of goal, even if he didn’t score in that one game which we lost 2-0. Nevertheless, we always kept an eye on each other after that and ran into each other from time to time, for example when he was working with Bayern's junior team (From 2011 to 2013 Di Salvo was assistant coach of the Bayern U17s). He’s a great guy.
DFB.de: Have you followed the U21s over the last few years?
Gerland: I saw the games at the European Championships – they played very well, under Stefan Kuntz and before him Horst Hrubesch. There have always been players that I’ve trained before in the squads. I’m very happy that the U21s have been so successful recently, of course.
DFB.de: What’s your impression of the squad been from the first few training sessions?
Gerland: The lads are looking good. We’ve not got through too many sessions yet, so I can’t say all that much. Up to this point, I’ve been working in a lot of detail with the strikers – we’ve been training their shooting from inside the box. I’ve been very satisfied with them as they’ve done well.
DFB.de: You’ve been active as a manager for decades and have had a lot of experience in junior teams. How will you be able to bring that experience in here?
Gerland: The lads were already very good technically as I took them over. I have earned a bit too much praise though; other coaches were also involved in the development of the young players. Whether it was through Kurt Niedermeier, Stephan Beckenbauer, Hermann Hummels or Heiko Vogel, they all looked after and developed the players. I was one of many and worked with them at the transition to them becoming professionals.
DFB.de: What’s important about this transition stage?
Hermann Gerland is the new addition to the Germany U21s’ coaching staff, joining as an assistant to new head coach Antonio Di Salvo. The 67-year-old has already had a long and successful career, winning nine Bundesliga titles and two Champions Leagues with FC Bayern München. In an interview with DFB.de, he talks to us about his first days with the U21s, critical factors when it comes to developing young players, and the upcoming match against Israel in Paderborn on Thursday (18:15 CEST).
DFB.de: How did you come about getting the role of Germany U21s assistant coach?
Hermann Gerland: A few days after it was announced that Stefan Kuntz would be leaving the DFB, Hansi Flick called me up and asked if I would be interested in working alongside Toni Di Salvo as an assistant coach, and I told him that I would do it.
DFB.de: How was your first conversation with Antonio Di Salvo?
Gerland: Very good. I have known him for a long time – he used to be one of my players. I told him what I can bring to the table and that I don’t mind working behind the scenes. The fact that I’ve helped every coach who has worked at Bayern München so far – and would do the same for him – means he can rely on me.
DFB.de: You’ve already mentioned that he played under you at Bayern München II back in 2001.
Gerland: He only played in one game, at Trier, which we were unlucky to lose. Then, he moved to Hansa Rostock.
DFB.de: Do you still have any memories of him? What kind of player was he?
Gerland: He was very dangerous in front of goal, even if he didn’t score in that one game which we lost 2-0. Nevertheless, we always kept an eye on each other after that and ran into each other from time to time, for example when he was working with Bayern's junior team (From 2011 to 2013 Di Salvo was assistant coach of the Bayern U17s). He’s a great guy.
DFB.de: Have you followed the U21s over the last few years?
Gerland: I saw the games at the European Championships – they played very well, under Stefan Kuntz and before him Horst Hrubesch. There have always been players that I’ve trained before in the squads. I’m very happy that the U21s have been so successful recently, of course.
DFB.de: What’s your impression of the squad been from the first few training sessions?
Gerland: The lads are looking good. We’ve not got through too many sessions yet, so I can’t say all that much. Up to this point, I’ve been working in a lot of detail with the strikers – we’ve been training their shooting from inside the box. I’ve been very satisfied with them as they’ve done well.
DFB.de: You’ve been active as a manager for decades and have had a lot of experience in junior teams. How will you be able to bring that experience in here?
Gerland: The lads were already very good technically as I took them over. I have earned a bit too much praise though; other coaches were also involved in the development of the young players. Whether it was through Kurt Niedermeier, Stephan Beckenbauer, Hermann Hummels or Heiko Vogel, they all looked after and developed the players. I was one of many and worked with them at the transition to them becoming professionals.
DFB.de: What’s important about this transition stage?
Gerland: At FC Bayern I trained a few players who made their big breakthroughs later on. There were very few players who I knew would break through like that from the youth setup – for example Philipp Lahm, David Alaba or Jamal Musiala currently. There are many factors which contribute to it, one of them being their fitness and health of course.
DFB.de: What are some other decisive factors?
Gerland: Young players need to play week in week out – you only develop your game in proper matches. That’s the most important you need to meet if you want to improve. If that doesn’t come to pass, a lot of big clubs have a reserve team which you need to play in to practice and gain self-confidence. Football is a lot like other sports, or even in daily life, in this respect: Practice makes perfect.
DFB.de: How much do today’s modern training methods help?
Gerland: A lot has happened in the last few years in terms of the control of fatigue in training. I never used to control the load of my sessions, rather choosing to set hard work on Monday through to Thursday before a lighter session on Friday and the game on Saturday. That worked pretty well – there are many ways to get from A to B of course – but it has helped us a lot more to be able to measure how far and how fast players are running. From that we can show players their data and explain what they did well and where they need to improve. It’s an excellent tool that helps us – I wish we could’ve had it sooner! That said, one thing is still clear: I can still see who’s running more or less with my own two eyes. Lastly, it’s not only about the running – you need to do other things to win games.
DFB.de: Your U21s will face Israel on Thursday. They currently sit second in the table, level on points with Germany. What kind of game are you expecting?
Gerland: I think it’s comparable to a team going up against FC Bayern – we need to be aware of the fact that any opponents will be fired up going into a game against us, as Germany is a successful footballing country. The same kind of thing happens with teams playing against Bayern. Israel will put everything into this game to try and beat us. We need to be prepared for that and we’re working on that now.
