Quotes of All Topics . Occasions . Authors
One can not win titles with result-orientated football anymore and this has been clear to me since 2008.
I want to establish an error culture in friendlies. We can make mistakes, learn from them and correct them.
I don't think we should compare club teams with international teams because they are different cups of tea.
I am coach of the Germany national team and there are not many jobs in the world which are better than this.
If you have a good product, like football, you should also think about limiting it to keep the quality high.
I tell my team: if we win the ball, I want to see the ball in the goal in eight seconds. That's my philosophy.
When we play with three at the back, we need active players, who tie up the opposition and play passes forward.
You cannot let him out of your sight, literally. You've always got to ask: 'what's Ronaldo doing, where is Ronaldo?'
If a player has good technique and a good basic speed, but is slow in the head, this may reduce his value to the team.
Mesut Ozil, a Mario Gotze, a Mats Hummels, a Holger Badstuber, and so on - they are very mature even in their younger years.
Every manager would like to see a match decided in 90 minutes. Because I don't think there's any way you can prepare for penalty kicks.
You always want to see the best players in action at a World Cup, and the players always want to measure themselves up to the very best.
The World Cup is the toughest challenge there is. You have seven matches where you have to bring your best and cannot let up at any turn.
World Cups and European Championships should feature the best teams. When you keep increasing the number of teams, you dilute the quality.
Sometimes it's natural to do the safe pass, the no-frills thing, to pass it back to the goalkeeper. But I want them to do the daring thing.
Our sports are totally different, if Lance Armstrong himself were to come and train with us he'd be completely exhausted after half and hour.
The cognitive development of the players is enormously important, as well as social competence and character values such as discipline and teamwork.
To sing the national anthem is wonderful, but it's far from the sign of a strong team and it is absolutely no indication of a lack of desire to fight.
I said to Gotze: 'OK, show the world you are better than Messi and can decide the World Cup.' I told him that. I always had a good feeling about Gotze.
If players from our national team are playing in the Bundesliga, it for me shows that it is at least as strong and attractive as the Premier League or La Liga.
Cristiano Ronaldo is sensational, a very good professional, an incredible goalscoring machine for many years, but Messi is the most complete player I have seen.
To whistle your own player at one time or another, even before kick-off, I don't think is fair. It doesn't help the player carry on, so it doesn't help the team.
If you look at the players, they need more of a break. Some players only get as little as three weeks after a major tournament and it's straight back to the grind.
In 2014, we won the World Cup without a big superstar. We won with a team performance where everyone brought something to the team and gave everything for the team.
I know lots of Korean players, Heung-Min Son from Tottenham Hotspur of course, there are also lots in the Bundesliga. They have a great mentality and are very quick.
A coach needs to be a psychologist, because during a tournament you're looking after a team of players which is being watched closely and put under a lot of pressure.
It's important to have players like Schweinsteiger and Khedira, the connectors, the symmetry-makers in the game. They can take the tempo out of the game or pick it up.
If you become world champions, there is nothing to top that. It's the result of many years of work, good decisions inside the association, good training and good players.
Even before the World Cup in 2010 I had said that there were no world champions who aim to stifle the opposition's play and somehow hope to win. These teams do not go far.
You have to be careful that you do not overdo things with too many games, because the quality must not suffer. Fans would then also turn away and the interest would subside.
I have to tip my hat to those who have worked closely with me from the start. All these people have backed me up when it was more difficult, urging me on, so thanks to them.
I think the core job of a coach is to select the right players for a tournament. You need players who are mentally and physically fit, who are able to deal with difficult moments.
For me, it is utterly incomprehensible how people share their private life, from truly confidential and intimate things, indiscriminately with thousands or even millions of people.
I am very grateful for the belief that the DFB has shown in me and I feel, generally, that despite the justified criticism towards me, I feel a lot of support and encouragement too.
Roy Hodgson is a fantastic coach. I first knew him when I was playing in Switzerland and he was national team coach. It was under him that Switzerland revolutionised their player formation system.
If you are successful, then it is only human that you are sometimes a bit saturated. You might also lose that hunger which means that others who are more ambitious will knock you off your pedestal.
Thomas Muller deserves enormous respect. He's hardly ever injured and has always been with the national team, where other players might have said they are tired, need a break or were injured. He has busted his butt for the national team.
It's important that you prepare the players for what happens at a tournament, like a World Cup, for example. You can get a better idea of a situation. They can get to know the conditions, the atmosphere in the country, the stadiums and the journeys involved.
You shouldn't be scared of putting together a team made up of experts who are better than the coach in some aspects... So for me personally, it was important to have people in my environment who discuss things with me, who give me their opinions, but who are loyal to me and who are reliable.
The role of a coach is varied. We have many tasks. To be a visionary that always looks a little bit towards the future: How should the team develop? How should it play at a tournament? Of course you also have to be the contact person for the players, where social competence also plays a role.
From my point of view, it is not the coach who becomes world champion, it is a team. Not just the players who played, but the whole squad, and also the team behind the team. Because if you want to achieve success, the whole team has to work perfectly, like a machine, and all the pieces of the puzzle need to fit together into one picture.