The final press conference prior to Die Mannschaft’s EURO 2015 qualifier against Gibraltar in Faro on Saturday has taken place. Head coach Joachim Löw and Sami Khedira took questions together from the press. DFB.de has put together the most important snippets.
Joachim Löw on...
...the starting XI on Saturday: Roman Weidenfeller will start in goal tomorrow. We did it so that Ron-Robert Zieler has one game and Roman has one too. Perhaps there will be one or two changes, Jerome Boateng will certainly start tomorrow too. Kevin Trapp will therefore move up in case anything happens to the keepers. I’ll have to see, but there definitely won’t be lots of changes.
...Roman Weidenfeller’s successor: We don’t have to define it a year in advance but it’s clear to us that we have two or three tremendous goalkeepers, which we’ll introduce. The EUROs with the U21s will do Marc-André ter Stegen the world of good. Roman was really crucial for us at the World Cup as a squad player and also good for the younger players due to his experience. He was important in every relationship. The future belongs to the young players, like Marc-André ter Stegen, Timo Horn or Kevin Trapp.
... upcoming emphasis in preparation for the EUROs: We have to devise something new in some areas as the opponents are set up for us. We’ve become a team that aims to keep possession during the course of the year, up to 60-70% possession. The matches against Australia and USA proved that there is a means of killing our game early on, which makes it hard for us. We have to further improve upon our counterattacking game too, our game in the final third, the final ball, the finish. We’ve rarely deserved to not score chances. We’ll work on that in pre-season, when you could have 14 days together with the team and go over these kind of points.
...Ilkay Gündogan: I saw him often during the second half of the season and played a few good balls. But he’s missing the consistency he played with before his injury. I was surprised how good he is with the ball during team training and how good his positional play already is again. He was superb before his injury and was a terrific presence in midfield. Then after five or six months out, it’s still a bit early, but he’ll find a way back in the coming months.
...Sami Khedira and his move: I welcome the move. He would certainly have done well in the Bundesliga, but Juventus is good.
Sami Khedira on...
... his move to Juventus: I’m very happy that everything’s confirmed and I can prepare for the next few years. I couldn’t show my all in the final months with Real and am thankful for Juventus’ faith in me. I’m happy about the decision and the five years, which I spent at Madrid.
...not signing for Schalke 04: I gave myself a lot of time and pondered it for a really long time. The step to leave Real, wasn’t an easy one. I had good talks with Schalke 04, but the events of recent weeks, like the departure of Roberto di Matteo, made me decide otherwise.
..opponents Gibraltar and the home game against them: It wasn’t an easy game. They’re tactically astute and we found it tough for long periods, they dropped very deep and compact. We have to play quickly and be flexible in order to hopefully score lots of goals. We also know that we have the better players but have to go about it with high concentration and then put it all into practice too.
...the danger of losing concentration against a smaller side: No, I don’t think that we’ll do that. We’ll play at a high intensity. If we don’t do that, then we won’t get any chances.
...results elsewhere: We can’t influence them. We can only play for Germany still. We’ve been here for five days, work well and want to go into the summer break on a positive note.
created by mmc/ot
The final press conference prior to Die Mannschaft’s EURO 2015 qualifier against Gibraltar in Faro on Saturday has taken place. Head coach Joachim Löw and Sami Khedira took questions together from the press. DFB.de has put together the most important snippets.
Joachim Löw on...
...the starting XI on Saturday: Roman Weidenfeller will start in goal tomorrow. We did it so that Ron-Robert Zieler has one game and Roman has one too. Perhaps there will be one or two changes, Jerome Boateng will certainly start tomorrow too. Kevin Trapp will therefore move up in case anything happens to the keepers. I’ll have to see, but there definitely won’t be lots of changes.
...Roman Weidenfeller’s successor: We don’t have to define it a year in advance but it’s clear to us that we have two or three tremendous goalkeepers, which we’ll introduce. The EUROs with the U21s will do Marc-André ter Stegen the world of good. Roman was really crucial for us at the World Cup as a squad player and also good for the younger players due to his experience. He was important in every relationship. The future belongs to the young players, like Marc-André ter Stegen, Timo Horn or Kevin Trapp.
... upcoming emphasis in preparation for the EUROs: We have to devise something new in some areas as the opponents are set up for us. We’ve become a team that aims to keep possession during the course of the year, up to 60-70% possession. The matches against Australia and USA proved that there is a means of killing our game early on, which makes it hard for us. We have to further improve upon our counterattacking game too, our game in the final third, the final ball, the finish. We’ve rarely deserved to not score chances. We’ll work on that in pre-season, when you could have 14 days together with the team and go over these kind of points.
...Ilkay Gündogan: I saw him often during the second half of the season and played a few good balls. But he’s missing the consistency he played with before his injury. I was surprised how good he is with the ball during team training and how good his positional play already is again. He was superb before his injury and was a terrific presence in midfield. Then after five or six months out, it’s still a bit early, but he’ll find a way back in the coming months.
...Sami Khedira and his move: I welcome the move. He would certainly have done well in the Bundesliga, but Juventus is good.
Sami Khedira on...
... his move to Juventus: I’m very happy that everything’s confirmed and I can prepare for the next few years. I couldn’t show my all in the final months with Real and am thankful for Juventus’ faith in me. I’m happy about the decision and the five years, which I spent at Madrid.
...not signing for Schalke 04: I gave myself a lot of time and pondered it for a really long time. The step to leave Real, wasn’t an easy one. I had good talks with Schalke 04, but the events of recent weeks, like the departure of Roberto di Matteo, made me decide otherwise.
..opponents Gibraltar and the home game against them: It wasn’t an easy game. They’re tactically astute and we found it tough for long periods, they dropped very deep and compact. We have to play quickly and be flexible in order to hopefully score lots of goals. We also know that we have the better players but have to go about it with high concentration and then put it all into practice too.
...the danger of losing concentration against a smaller side: No, I don’t think that we’ll do that. We’ll play at a high intensity. If we don’t do that, then we won’t get any chances.
...results elsewhere: We can’t influence them. We can only play for Germany still. We’ve been here for five days, work well and want to go into the summer break on a positive note.
