Germany manager Joachim Löw has launched a passionate defence of his tactics at Euro 2020 following criticism from Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp. The Germans have played with a three-man defence and wing-backs throughout the European Championships with mixed success as they progressed from the ground-of-death with France, Portugal and Hungary to set up a round-of-16 clash with England. Klopp admitted last week he was not a fan of Germany’s set-up at the tournament and believes their personnel are better suited to playing three in midfield.
Joachim Low said: “Every coach has a different philosophy and different ideas. The system actually played on the pitch is not the decisive factor. Each coach, this is Jurgen Klopp, this is me, this is the England coach as well, they think about what is best for his own team and what is most important in the positioning in defensive work and attacking. The coach does what he sees, notices, observes with his team because the coach is next to the team and he decides the team can play differently as the English national team or as Chelsea. Every coach knows what the best is for his team and no coach would force his players to play in a system that they maybe don’t like to or maybe the coach is not convinced of. It doesn’t matter what a different coach says. Everybody has his opinion and can of course tell it but a match is decided by other factors. Not because of the system. I think this needs to be said clearly. There are other factors and other things that decide about winning and losing a match and not playing with a back three or a back four.”
