Julian Nagelsmann doesn’t complain, he looks for solutions. The national coach doesn’t see the many injuries to his national players as a symptom of the constant high level of stress.
No break
Nevertheless, the national coach is thinking about the increasingly full schedule – and he suggests longer rest periods based on the example of North American basketball.
“In the NBA they play 80, 85 games and have a few miles of travel in between” said Julian Nagelsmann, “but they have very long breaks. We don’t have that.” He listed: “We have test matches, the Final Four of the Nations League, the Club World Cup, then the league starts again. The players don’t have any breaks, the next year the World Cup starts, they don’t have any breaks.”
Nevertheless, the national coach advocated evaluating each injury individually. “You shouldn’t lump every injury together“, he emphasized. For example, the injuries of Niclas Füllkrug (Achilles tendon irritation) or David Raum (“He fell on his ankle”) and Benjamin Henrichs (back problems) were not spontaneous stress reactions.
“You have to develop a healthy level, but there will be more games“, said Nagelsmann and demanded: “We have to talk about the structure of the breaks.”
Match Center: Bosnia-Herzegovina vs. Germany
