Former Bayern Munich coach and current German national team boss Julian Nagelsmann held his press conference ahead of Saturday’s match vs. Bosnia and Herzegovina. The manager covered the condensed schedule, who might start, and told one player that he needs to be lazier.
“Oliver Baumann will start tomorrow [against Bosnia]. Alex Nübel will start on Tuesday [against Hungary]. Both have done very well in training,” said Nagelsmann (as captured by @iMiaSanMia). “As of today, he will be able to play. Except Schlotterbeck [suspended], everyone is available. We have to make sure that everyone stays fit. We will rotate a bit against Bosnia tomorrow.
“I expect from Tim (Kleindienst) what he did at Heidenheim and currently does at Gladbach. He has to focus on scoring goals. Sometimes he’s a bit too hard-working. We want to finish our attacks with success. He has to be a bit ‘lazier’ to get into the finishing situations inside the box.
“The games are very compressed over a short period of time. Injuries can always happen. At the end of the day, the football industry lives from a certain monetary background. If there’s a lot of marketing, we all have the salary that we currently have. I find it difficult to complain that we have too many games.”
When asked about AC Milan’s Malick Thiaw, Inter Milan’s Aurel Bisseck, and Celtic’s Nicolas Kühn all potentially getting consideration for a roster spot in the future, Nagelsmann indicated that no one is ruled out as of now — but also that there is an uphill battle to win a spot on the squad.
“We are focusing on all German players. Malick has already been in the national team before, but has been out for a long time recently. I think both him and Bisseck are great players who still need to improve a few things. Kühn is also a good player with a lot of desire. He’s a player we are watching. But calling up a new player always means leaving a player out,” Nagelsmann said.
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