A strict new regime from day one
Jurgen Klopp has wasted no time. Just two weeks after taking charge of Germany, the German has already laid down the law for the squad gathered during the international break. Dinner is set for 7pm. Anyone turning up late will face punishment.
Mobile phones are banned during massage sessions and warm-ups. Outside hairdressers, the sort who usually breeze in before matches, no longer get access to the squad. Family visits, meanwhile, have been cut to the bare minimum.
Nothing is being left to chance. The former Liverpool boss wants a team that is focused, locked in and free from distractions, with three weeks to go before the qualifiers resume.
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A squad put under the microscope
Klopp has named an expanded group for this camp, treating it like a trial run. The aim is to look at as many options as possible before deciding on the backbone of his future starting XI. No player is being ruled out on principle.
“We have not created Team A or Team B. We want to win all four matches. I opened the door wide and said: anyone who wants to be involved has a chance,” the coach said, according to the German press.
The message stands in sharp contrast to the image of Nagelsmann, who has at times been criticised for how he handles egos. Klopp, by contrast, is banking on competition within the squad to lift a side that crashed out of the World Cup early, beaten by Paraguay.
A red line drawn from the start
The Stuttgart native has also drawn a personal line in the sand. He has warned that he would walk away if the press were to go after his private life or his family. It is his way of setting the tone with the media before he has even taken charge of a competitive match.
That new-found discipline will be tested for real. Germany have several matches lined up straight after this camp, with the clear ambition of winning every one of them. Klopp is staking plenty on his methods, 15 years after making his mark at Dortmund and then at Liverpool.
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