It’s time again for a “footballer rips coach in a book” item, and this one will be of particular interest to fans of the US Men’s National Team. According to German defender Philipp Lahm, your new head coach is a glorified aerobics instructor.
Lahm’s new book, entitled ‘Der feine Unterschied – Wie man heute Spitzenfussballer wird (Which is “The fine line – How to become a top professional” in English but is way more powerful in the German I don’t understand), lays out Klinsmann’s abilities as a manager in the bluntest of possible language.
“The experiment with Klinsmann was a failure. We were only working on our fitness in training. He didn’t care much for tactical stuff,” he wrote. “It was up to the players to come together before a match and discuss how we were going to play.
”All the players knew after about eight weeks that it was not going to work out with Klinsmann. The remainder of that campaign was nothing but limiting the damage.”
Lahm is referring to Klinsmann’s disastrous stint with Bayern Munich, which ended with the new USMNT coach unceremoniously dumped in April of 2009.
Things that might fill US fans with dread if they’re buying what Lahm is selling:
- American players being forced to decide how to play on their own after five years under Bunker Bob Bradley.
- Klinsmann only being concerned with fitness when that is probably the only real strength of the USMNT at the moment.
- Klinsmann not caring about the technical stuff and there being no American Jogi Loew to turn to.
Of course, it’s practically a requisite that players tear down coaches in their biographies, so maybe this is just Phillip blowing off some steam after the terrible period Bayern went through in ’08-’09. Klinsmann makes an easy target, and everyone knows he’s very into the fitness side of the game.
Yeah, that’s definitely it. Repeat after me: Klinsmann is a good coach. Klinsmann is a good coach. Klinsmann is a good coach…
Source: Soccernet
