GLOBAL FOOTBALL INTELLIGENCE
Arsene Wenger learned the hard way
that even the most admired and respected
manager can stay in a job too long. In
fact, the more admiration and respect
they earn, the more likely they are to stay
when they should depart with honour.
For Wenger and his suffering final years
at Arsenal, now read Joachim Low fighting
against the tide as national coach of Germany.
Low’s 13th year in charge is proving
more than just unlucky; it appears to be
a monumental mistake when he could have
left for an invigorating new challenge as the
main man at Real Madrid.
Few in history can match an international
record that has seen Low win the World Cup
in 2014, lose in the Final of Euro 2008 and
reach three other semi-finals.
Germany’s disaster at the last World
Cup signalled the need for change, but Low
preferred a shot at redemption – and respect
for his past accomplishments gave him that.
That, however, is now swiftly ebbing away.
Finishing bottom of their Nations League
group and subsequent relegation was a
nightmare. That was then followed by a 4-
defeat at home to eternal rivals Holland in a
Euro 2020 qualifier.
As a result, where there was once respect
there is now widespread mockery.
Low’s penchant for drinking espresso
coffee used to be regarded as a sign
of sophistication. But Der Tagesspiegel
newspaper in Berlin now jokes, in the
aftermath of Costa Rica’s coach quitting
because he was bored, that Low needs
the endless espressos just to stay awake.
Kicker magazine conducts regular polls
that solicit the opinions of Bundesliga players.
Earlier this year, 60 per cent said that Low
should have stepped down after the World
Cup. Even his old friend Jurgen Klinsmann,who Low worked for as his assistant at the
2006 World Cup, criticised him for not
showing enough respect when he summarily
and surprisingly ended the international
careers of World Cup winners Mats Hummels
and Thomas Muller.
That particular decision seems all the
more self-defeating as Low has been
experimenting with a new back-three
defensive system – a tactic for which
Hummels would seem perfectly suited.
A few days after the Dutch defeat,
Germany limped to a fortunate 2-0 victory
against Northern Ireland in their next qualifier,
but that did nothing to quell the crescendo
of doubt and dismay. Nor did the coach’s
reaction to all the dissent.
“It’s completely normal to have a bad year,”
said Low. “It’s like in life – sometimes you
have to start from the bottom again.
“If you think you can be among the top
three teams in the world for 10 or 20 years
you are mistaken.”
That may be true, but football fans
rarely appreciate home truths – and certainly
not German supporters who have enjoyed
almost untrammelled excellence for so
many decades.
Nobody would have resented
a very fine coach accepting an
offer from Real Madrid and it
was a mistake that Low did not
do so. Now, perhaps, he has
missed his moment, and
further problems with Germany
will only diminish his appeal to
the giant clubs of Europe.
Another question being
openly debated across
Germany is who will take over
when he does depart, whether
or not of his own accord?
One name which continually
crops up is that of Wenger,
who has been without a job
for almost 18 months since
leaving Arsenal.
The veteran Frenchman has
said that he hopes to manage
again and that he would like to
take a team to the next World
Cup finals, in 2022. Wenger
is fluent in German, is fluent
in modern attacking football
and would arrive with that
integral ingredient for a
man in charge: respect.Low’s time has been and gone
Jim
HOLDEN
AT THE HEART OF THE GAME
“It’s completely normal
to have a bad year...if you
think you can be among
the top three teams in
the world for 10 or 20
years you are mistaken”
Joachim Low
Euro defeat...Joachim Low looks on in despair as Germany lose 4-2 at home to Holland in the Euro 2020 qualifying campaign