Sammer Critiques Bierhoff Amid Klopp's New Era
Matthias Sammer has launched a sharp counter-attack on Oliver Bierhoff in the debate over leadership and personalities in the German national team, arguing that the long-time DFB figure bears a clear share of responsibility for the current vacuum.
Bierhoff had recently lamented in an interview with kicker that the national side lacks experienced leaders and “outstanding personalities with great individual strengths”. For Sammer, that criticism rings hollow.
On Sky, the 1996 European champion pointed out that it was not so long ago that Bierhoff himself was championing a very different model. “It wasn't long ago that he was also saying we need flat hierarchies in Germany,” Sammer said, clearly unimpressed by the change of tune.
Sammer stressed he had always pushed for a healthy mix in a squad: “leaders, team players and individualists”. Treat everyone identically, he warned, and you pay the price later.
“If you want to treat them all the same, in the dressing room, on the pitch, then we shouldn't be complaining today or saying we are missing a few characters,” he argued.
Bierhoff, who steered the national team structure from 2004 to 2022, cannot simply step aside from that debate now, Sammer insisted. As the man in charge for almost two decades, he must be held accountable “to some extent”.
Sammer recalled his own early days inside the DFB. “I came into the association in 2006 and in 2007 I asked myself the question: something isn't right here. Just that, not right or wrong.” When colleagues pressed him for details, his answer was blunt: “We're all the same. They're all lovely and nice and that's great, but we're not at a pony farm here. This is elite sport, things get rough at times. It has to kick off in training sometimes, it has to kick off in the dressing room sometimes.”
For Sammer, the much-praised concept of flat hierarchies in top-level football has turned into a fundamental error. He called it “one of the biggest mistakes” ever made in elite sport and did not soften the verdict: “It's a catastrophe.”
“Mega Guy” Klopp Wins Over the New Blood
While the old guard argues about structures and blame, Jürgen Klopp has wasted no time winning over the new faces in his first DFB camp in Herzogenaurach.
“You feel like you'd walk through fire for him,” said Freiburg defender Philipp Treu, visibly energised by his first days under the new national coach. For Treu, Klopp “is a mega guy” – a phrase that is already starting to stick around the camp.
Klopp’s debut squad carries that same message. He has opened the door to a whole group of hopefuls: alongside Treu, Bambase Conte, Yannik Engelhardt, Max Rosenfelder, Hennes Behrens and Younes Ebnoutalib are all preparing with partner adidas for Thursday’s Nations League opener in the Netherlands (8.45pm).
Ebnoutalib summed up Klopp’s core demand in one line: “That we represent the German national team with pride,” he said before Tuesday afternoon’s training session. “That we step up, that even when things aren't going well, we give everything.”
The Eintracht Frankfurt man had a genuine choice to make. He could have opted for Morocco at international level. The deciding factor? Klopp. “When Klopp calls, you have to go. He is one of the best coaches in the world, there is definitely positive energy.”
Rosenfelder, another Freiburg player, feels that surge as well. Klopp brings “a lot of charisma”, the centre-back said. The respect is huge, but the atmosphere is not distant. “Of course you have huge respect, but in conversations he is very nice, very likeable and makes you feel involved.”
For Rosenfelder, the first few days with the DFB side are about soaking everything up. “I’m just really up for it,” he admitted, embracing the chance rather than tiptoeing through it.
Treu, his club team-mate, has his eye firmly on the open right-back spot. He does not hide his ambition. “I want to show who I am,” said the defender, who cites Philipp Lahm as his role model. The promise he offers is simple and old-school: “You can always rely on me.” If he gets his chance, he wants to “leave my heart on the pitch and always give it everything”.
High Hopes, Hard Reality: Sammer on Klopp’s Task
Even as he criticises Bierhoff, Sammer sees something very different in Klopp’s arrival. He believes the 57-year-old can reshape the national team’s identity – if given time.
“I recognise that he has an absolute plan. You can always discuss his way of organising things, but it follows a plan,” Sammer said on “Sammer & Basile – der Hagedorn-Talk” on Sky. His great hope is “that this team gives us back an identity that we urgently need”.
After the World Cup debacle, Klopp has taken over from Julian Nagelsmann with expectations already soaring. On Tuesday he leads his first full training session in Herzogenaurach. On Thursday night in Amsterdam, against the Netherlands, he steps onto the touchline for his first match as Germany head coach.
The hype is loud. Sammer’s warning cuts through it.
“He can't work miracles,” he cautioned. For Sammer, Klopp’s job is not to conjure instant glory, but to make the rebuild understandable and credible “through his personality and his experience as a coach” – and to make clear “that this may also need a bit of time”.
Klopp’s early days have been marked by obvious enthusiasm. “He seems euphoric – already – and that affects the people and the team too,” Sammer observed. The danger comes later, when the first setbacks hit.
At that point, euphoria alone won’t be enough. Then we will see whether Germany’s new “mega guy” can turn fresh energy, raw newcomers and a fractured identity into something far more solid – a team with the edge and hierarchy Sammer insists elite sport still demands.
