Julian Nagelsmann addresses concerns ahead of Northern Ireland match | OneFootball

Julian Nagelsmann spoke to the media in a press conference at RheinEnergie Stadion in Köln, a day before Germany host Northern Ireland in what is now a crucial 2026 FIFA World Cup qualifying match (Sunday, 7 September - 21:45 CET).

Germany lost to Slovakia by a 0-2 result in Bratislava this past Thursday, the first time in history that Germany lost a qualifying match for a FIFA World Cup tournament away from home.

Nagelsmann was asked about the criticism from the media following the historic result, and said: “I do not read everything. I would say that I am at least smart enough to know what is being written in the media, even if I have not read everything. I am fine with it.”

He added: “When things go well, things go well. We played poorly and we did not have a good match in this case. After a case like that, yes, you have to accept the criticism, but I will not change everything. I stand for certain things and cannot change them.”

“Otherwise, I would not be the coach of the national team, but of the journalist team instead,” Nagelsmann concluded.

Partway through the interview, he was asked by a Northern Irish reporter about whether he thought his job remained intact following Thursday’s result. “I am not afraid at all!” Nagelsmann responded, adding that “fear is never good” and that “we will play better tomorrow”.

Nagelsmann spoke about the squad and what mentality they will bring going into the Northern Ireland match, or throughout this qualifying campaign. "We need players who fit the situation. We should not think of qualification, it's just about this match,” he said.

He added, “We have spoken to the leaders, those who lead our team by virtue of their position and those who can be leaders because of their nature. I feel that I have strengthened their aspirations to lead."

Regarding the changes that the team will make tomorrow, Nagelsmann hinted that a complete change is not in the works, but that there will be a series of changes made: “We have had several discussions with individual players as well as with the entire team; the team have also spoken among themselves and specified some things in turn. I will not be completely changing the team - there will be a few changes, but not all ten outfield players will be benched. We need to deliver a better performance than the one we brought on Thursday.”

Lastly, Nagelsmann was asked about the situation involving Florian Wirtz and the Liverpool FC forward being involved in an argument with his Slovak opponent following a potential foul, shortly before Slovakia scored one of their goals.

He started by saying, “Florian is an extremely important player for us; he tried a lot on Thursday and will try again tomorrow, which means he will play.”

“I did not speak to him about the moment, but if I did, I would have told him that he should have fell to the ground because it was a clear foul - the goal was not normal. As a player, you should be smarter in the situation and fall, because in that situation, there was a clear foul committed,” Nagelsmann added.

He concluded by saying, “It was unfortunate that we conceded, but we did not concede it specifically because Florian decided to argue with an opponent on the halfway line - there were many other reasons.”