Eintracht Frankfurt boss defends Nnamdi Collins, criticizes state of German national team | OneFootball

Eintracht Frankfurt defender Nnamdi Collins’ long awaited senior German national team debut didn’t go exactly as hoped. German national team head coach Julian Nagelsmann accorded the 21-year-old a fabulous opportunity by handing Collins his first call up during the September international break. As the only defender capable of playing as a right fullback, it came as no surprise to see Collins in the starting XI against Slovakia on Friday night.

Unfortunately, Collins’ first cap only last 45 minutes. Nagelsmann opted to yank the multi-faceted Germany U21 international at the break. Collins took quite the pillorying in the German press. In individual player reviews, virtually all major German footballing sources noted that Collins found himself totally overwhelmed and completely unready for the highest level.

Collins couldn’t get his positioning sorted out. The young Düsseldorf native also got completely obliterated by Slovakian counterpart David Hancko, who ended up scoring the opening goal. Nagelsmann switched left back Maximilian Mittelstädt over to the right in place of Collins for the second half of the Slovakia match. Against Northern Ireland, Nagelsmann deployed a back-three.

Questions naturally arise. Should Collins have been thrown into the deep end so early? Why did Nagelsmann call up only one rookie, who happens to be a natural centre-back, to fill his needs at the position? In general, what seems to be gong on with German football development?

Eintracht chief personnel executive Markus Krösche shared his views on such questions at a Monday press conference. Krösche was quick to defend his player. Krösche also addressed questions about whether Germany is properly developing its young footballing talent.

The seasoned German footballing administrator – capped once at Germany U21 level himself – went into great depth about his feelings on the German national team. In Krösche’s view, it’s time for Germany to literally get back to basics.

“A lot of the press coverage was ultimately unfair,” Krösche said. “It was his first game and there were a lot of other players on the pitch with much more experience and better credentials. There wasn’t much of an effort to integrate Nnamdi well. One should emphasize that point. It wasn’t easy for Nnamdi and I think he did well enough for his first cap under such circumstances.

“A young player needs a solid structure around him in order to deliver his best performance,” Krösche continued. “I think he did well regardless. I’ve spoken with him about it in the meantime. It was his first cap at senior level. If you look at his development over the last 18 months, it’s been outstanding. There’s positives he can take from the loss. He just needs to keep working on himself.”

“At the top level, we’re not well positioned all along the defensive line,” Krösche later remarked about the state of German football in general. “especially in terms of quantity. It seems we’ve forgotten how to train specialists. We don’t focus on the individual gifts of players. Defenders are not trained in one-on-one situations.

“The focus is on playful [forward] footballing elements, but not on the specific skills that are required for the positions,” Krösche continued. “Defenders are first and foremost defenders. We don’t have a proper six or a proper ten. They’re actually eights. And up front, we’re missing the No. 9. If you look at which nations have a good No. 9, they are usually the ones that are successful.”

“We need to move away from team success and tactical thinking in youth development and toward the development of specialists,” Krösche concluded. “And we have to train players in what their individual positions are responsible for.“

GGFN | Peter Weis