Made every player look poor: World Cup winner blasts Nagelsmann | OneFootball

The German national team’s World Cup exit is still being heavily discussed even almost two weeks later. Julian Nagelsmann in particular has had to take a lot of criticism, including from Pierre Littbarski. 

The 1990 world champion spoke plainly on Sport1’s “WM-Doppelpass” and sharply criticized the former national coach: “I didn’t have the feeling that our coach made our key players stronger. Take Kimmich, for example — he was constantly being shifted back and forth. It’s about how I make each individual player stronger. Nagelsmann made every player weaker.”

He had not made any clear statements, Littbarski complained. The national team is “not a testing ground, it’s something where you can’t experiment.”

Littbarski was also blunt when it came to Nagelsmann’s way of working. “Nagelsmann didn’t watch the Asian Cup, not the Club World Cup, the Africa Cup, South America — nothing. I can’t become world champion with a work-life balance. The coach has to set the example, and Klopp will set the example!”

Littbarski also took aim at the players: “Since 2014, it has all gone downhill. We also need individualists, but they also have to know exactly how to make the team better and not just kiss the badge. Some players will be in for a surprise who currently aren’t expecting it.” He therefore called for characters who can also play dirty, so that other teams will have more respect for the DFB side again. 

Players like Angelo Stiller and Pascal Groß would not move the DFB team forward. David Raum, too, is limited. “For a few guys, the time is up; some of them simply don’t belong there,” Littbarski concluded.

This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇩🇪 here.

📸 Michael Reaves - 2026 Getty Images