Jurgen Klopp has once again taken issue with the line of questioning from the German media after he was quizzed on his team selection. The former Liverpool manager has been a spiky presence behind the microphone since returning to management as Germany boss, setting the tone by threatening to quit in his very first press conference if his family were targeted by reporters.
The 59-year-old has continued in a similar vein ever since, frequently firing back at reporters. The mixed start to his tenure and his unusual decision to pick two 22-man squads for the current four-match Nations League break have created tension.
Mixed Start and Midfield Changes
Klopp began with a 1-1 draw against the Netherlands before his side suffered a surprise 1-0 defeat by Greece. Germany were much more impressive in their 2-0 win over Serbia on Thursday, but even that performance drew unwanted questions.
Germany fielded a midfield of Liverpool's Florian Wirtz along with Bayern Munich pair Tom Bischof and Aleksandar Pavlovic, with star player Joshua Kimmich left out. Asked about that decision ahead of Sunday's rematch with Greece, Klopp immediately bristled.
Klopp's Response
"It's such a beautiful evening, and without even mentioning it, you're trying to bring up a topic that isn't really a topic," Klopp fumed. "And in the end, it'll be a Jo Kimmich story. You'll manage that, won't you? Pavlovic, Bischof, Wirtz – it worked brilliantly."
He added: "You can see that it's extremely difficult, not because I want to downplay or exaggerate a story or anything like that, but simply because you all want to create a story. That's normal, of course."
"We played a very good game. Now imagine if we had exactly three midfielders in Germany. Exactly three. Why should only one player always play? You have to be in good form to play. Just like at every club. You don't play there if you're not in good form."
"You need different structures, you need leaders, you need players with great stamina, you need creative players, you need all sorts of things. We played a very good game – and that's what the question was aimed at. It's logical that it came up, I just thought it was a bit early. Question two or three was already heading in that direction. That's why I thought I'd say something about it."
Players Back the Combination
Both Wirtz and Bischof scored in the victory over Serbia, and Klopp is likely to stick with the same midfield for the game against Greece in Thessaloniki. Pavlovic sat alongside Klopp in Saturday's press conference and hailed the combination.
"It was incredibly fun playing alongside Tom and Flo," he said. "You can see that we all have a lot of quality on the ball. We complemented each other well defensively, too. On the ball, Flo obviously has complete freedom, and we try to get the ball to him as much as possible."
Earlier in the week, Klopp hit out at the German media for the "pathetic" leaking of his starting XI. His frustrations have been there for all to see. "I have no chance of answering the question in a way that would prevent you from making your own thing out of it anyway," he huffed. "So, I give up. Officially, right now. I'm giving up on this issue. Do what you want."
