Jurgen Klinsmann has heard the criticism thrown his way by Philipp Lahm and the new U.S. coach says he understands the German defender’s sensibilities, even ifwhat has been said misses the point, reports Scott French.
Lahm, the current German national team captain, wrote about Klinsmann’s short stint at BayernMunich 2008-09 in his new book, “The Subtle Difference,” in which he also lashed out at former Germany coach Rudi Voeller and former Bayern coach Felix Magath. OfKlinsmann, Lahm wrote, “the experiment with Klinsmann [at Bayern] was a failure. We were only working on our fitness in training. He didn’t care much for tactical stuff. It was up to theplayers to come together before a match and discuss how we were going to play.”
Klinsmann’s response: “It’s basically a player’s perspective who never has the coaching perspective. Hedoesn’t see the big picture, what actually the work of a coach means. In many different elements. … As a player, there’s no perfect coach to you. And as a coach, there’s never a perfect, perfectplayer. And it’s just normal.
“I had wonderful coaches throughout my career, from an [Arsene] Wenger [at AS Monaco] to a [CesarLuis] Menotti [at Sampdoria] to a [Franz] Beckenbauer [with West Germany’s champs and at Bayern] to a [Berti]Vogts [with Germany’s national team] to [Ossie] Ardilles [at Tottenham and Giovanni] Trapattoni [with Bayern] –they’ve won everything. I am so thankful I had that opportunity. Was there a perfect, perfect one? For sure not. Because when you work with each other, you [work through] ups and downs. It’s justnormal.”
Klinsmann, asked if he considers himself a tactician, said, “I consider myself a constant learner in every area of the game. I think I’ve learned quite a lot over the lastyear, and what I try to do is find always the bigger picture, how every element plays a wider role in it.”
Typical player response to a lousy season, “It was the coaches fault, not ours”. I can’t imagine professionals at Bayern Munich need that much “direction” before a game. The players still have to actually play the game. Klinnsmann is on the sidelines. Can’t defend or score many goals from there….