Tournament hosts Germany will look to take another three points from their second game of EURO2024 when they face Hungary in Stuttgart on Wednesday.
Having got off to the perfect start with a 5-1 victory over Scotland on Friday night, Julian Nagelsmann told reporters his side are well-prepared to continue that form.
What did Julian Nagelsmann say?
Embed from Getty Images“We have a very good idea of how [Hungary] play when they are in possession or without the ball. Before the first match I already said we are not expecting to beat any opponent with many, many goals, it’s just about beating them.”
“You could see against Switzerland, the Hungarians played two different halves,” Nagelsmann suggested.
“In the first half, they didn’t get too much into the game. In the second, they made a lot of pressure, they played very physically, very robust. They have many players that have played together for a long time, have a coach who’s been with them for a longer time, so I think everybody knows their role on the pitch, what they have to do and what they don’t have to do.”
“They are quite dangerous with their transition, it doesn’t matter which striker is playing. The are very strong with their headers. They don’t have too many players in the box but they work with a lot of crosses, also they are very dangerous with freekicks – I think in the qualifiers they were the second best team in regards to scoring from freekicks so that’s why we shouldn’t make too many fouls, we should avoid too many freekicks around our box.”
“I prepared my players enough about their strikers and I hope that we put everything on the pitch tomorrow,” he added.
Nagelsmann was asked about the influence of Hungarian defender Willi Orbán and said: “He’s very good, knows how to open the game, played a very good season at Leipzig and I think he’s one of the pillars of the Hungarian team.”
“I reckon he’ll be a very good opponent tomorrow.”
He also predicted how the group standings might influence tomorrow’s encounter: “The Hungarians have a bit more pressure than us because of the result so maybe they have to play a little more on the offense because otherwise they could be eliminated from the tournament already. So I think they’ll play a little bit more offensive than they played against Switzerland, and we will play more or less the same as we played against Scotland.”
Nagelsmann also answered questions on soon-to-retire Toni Kroos: “I think [Kroos] is still one of the top three players in the world who can find players in between the lines of the opponents, in better positions and offensive positions, to create chances and goals, and I think he will do it tomorrow as well.”
“I think Hungary will have a plan to defend him a little bit more than the Scottish team, but Toni is clever enough and smart enough to find solutions.“
Embed from Getty ImagesFinally, the manager reflected on the mixture of generations in his current squad.
“I think it is always good to have a good mix in your team between experienced players and young talented players. I think it’s important that the young players are open-minded, listen to the older players with more experience, to improve. it’s not only about improving on the pitch, it’s also about improving off the pitch.”
“They have all experienced different situations, have solutions for different situations, especially when you talk about pressure, when you talk about expectations of fans, situations to deal with on the pitch and off the pitch, so I think to have a good mix is really good and the mood in our camp is really excellent, and also the connection between the old players and the young players is really good.”
“When we have a training session we often play the older team against the younger team and it’s always a good fight.“
Follow build-up and full coverage of Germany against Hungary tomorrow here on FromTheSpot.