Jürgen Klopp shuts down Joshua Kimmich discussion after Germany’s win over Serbia | OneFootball

Aleksandar Pavlovic and Tom Bischof impressed in a double pivot on Thursday as Germany beat Serbia 2-0 to claim their first win under Jürgen Klopp.

Germany captain Joshua Kimmich, meanwhile, watched from the stands as part of Klopp’s planned rotation during the international break.

At the post-match press conference, Klopp was asked to what extent it made things easier for Florian Wirtz to play alongside Pavlovic and Bischof, which the Germany coach interpreted as a question about whether the team looked better without Kimmich.

“It’s such a beautiful evening. And without even mentioning it, you want to open up a topic that isn’t a topic. Flo Wirtz doesn’t need certain players to play alongside him. The way we played suited Flo Wirtz. But now to turn that into the idea that he can only play with Pavlovic … maybe that wasn’t what the question was about,” Klopp responded.

The journalist tried to clarify his question, but Klopp stuck to his interpretation.

“In the end it will become a Jo Kimmich story. You’ll manage to do that. Pavlovic, Bischof, Wirtz, it worked really well…” Klopp continued.

“Unfortunately, I can’t join in with that song. We can play a certain type of football in all sorts of different combinations, that’s the plan.

“The football has to remain consistent – the line-up can’t, mainly because players get injured. If someone is unavailable and we stand there looking foolish and say: ‘We can only play like this if this player and that player are on the pitch,’ then it makes no sense.

“So, I’m very happy with the performance, but I don’t have the feeling that it can only work in this particular combination.”