Germany's Kimmich, Müller take responsibility as Flick fired

Autograph appeasement was the tactic at public training the day after an embarrassing 4-1 defeat by Japan in Wolfsburg. For 20 minutes, coach Hansi Flick was joined by players and Germany director Rudi Völler in making the rounds with those fans who hadn't quite given up the ghost yet.

Völler had called the performance a "humiliation" — adding that he was "in a state of shock."

The Germany coach's staff had cut relaxed and cheerful figures, perhaps already accepting their impending doom.

A few short hours later, Völler had fired Flick just nine months before a home European Championship, leaving Germany looking for their second head coach in as many years.

'A lot of insecurity, not much confidence'

The players, on the other hand, had taken responsibility.

"You notice there is a lot of insecurity, not much confidence," admitted Joshua Kimmich. "We talk about the quality of this team a lot but when you don't show it on the pitch so often over such a long period, you have to question whether we have that quality. Because if we had it, we wouldn't have this run of results. Us players have to face up to it ourselves."

When asked what he made of the decision to field him at his old position of right-back after Flick had said the time for experiments is over, Kimmich hesitated before showing some confusion.

"So-so. Hansi had previously settled on playing me as a number six. I played one game there at the World Cup so you can expect the coach might do it again."

In typically frank manner, forward Thomas Müller joined Kimmich with his bleak analysis. They were the only two players to address the assembled media after the match.

"We keep seeing the same story. You see we're engaged, that we want it, but at the same time we keep giving our opponents gifts. The first moments of the match often see us conceding goals," he said.

"We concede very easily and don't score easily ourselves. Our opponents often play more straightforward football than us. They are more disciplined than us as a team, in terms of working as a unit.”

'Us players have to look at ourselves'

Flick was tasked with returning Germany to the top when he took over from his old friend Jogi Löw after a disappointing last 16 finish at the Euros in 2021. Since then, Germany have slid further away from the world's elite, as Müller recognized.

"For the demands we set ourselves, currently it's not good enough. Japan are top 10, top 15 in the world and we don't belong in that group right now."

Interestingly, Müller couldn't recall Japan's recent results, which gives a clue to some lack of preparation. The squad's togetherness would, however, not be called into question by the Bayern Munich forward.

"We get on well together, we have a great team spirit. It's not that we don't want it, it's that overall the German national team performance doesn't currently show the quality we expect."

When asked whether Flick was making the right calls, Kimmich gave a diplomatic response.

"At the end of the day, we have to trust that the coach is making the right decisions, that he knows what's best for the team. We try to implement what the coach wants with the formation he selects," he said, before adding. "Us players have to look at ourselves, we can't be pointing the finger at our coach."

Müller lauds crowd as supporters step up

The only other positivity came from the fans. Germany often suffer from lackluster crowds, also owing to a complicated relationship with patriotism which sees some supporters reluctant to embrace a more raucous approach.

Not so at the Volkswagen Arena, as Wolfsburg greeted the team loudly and fired them on throughout the match until the inevitable boos rang out at full time.

"I have to compliment the fans, the support was really there," admitted Müller. "You felt in the whole stadium that the fans wanted us to win, we wanted to win. They fired us on after we conceded."

Kimmich agreed, saying: "I've had more successful periods playing for Germany where the fans gave us less support from the stands. But in the recent games you notice they are hungry and want to create some euphoria. We need to do that ourselves, though."

It wasn't enough to inspire an altogether uninspiring bunch of players, who face an uphill task when Euro 2024 kicks off in June. With Flick gone, all eyes will now turn to the identity of his successor.

Edited by: Michael Da Silva