25 Aug 2011:
© Reuters
[وحدهم المديرون لديهم صلاحيات معاينة هذه الصورة]
Bayern Munich's defender Philipp Lahm |
A book by Germany captain Philipp Lahm in which he sharply criticises past coaches and players has angered German football officials and national team coach Joachim Loew, who has called a meeting with the player next week.
"There are passages in the book that I do not like," said Loew in a federation statement. "Because a player publicly judges coaches who have been long successful. We will need to talk about that next week."
The meeting with the Bayern Munich defender will take place before next week's Euro 2012 qualifier against Austria, the federation said.
In his book "The Subtle Difference" Lahm does not mince his words when it comes to past Germany coaches Juergen Klinsmann and Rudi Voeller, who gave him his first call-up, as well as former Bayern Munich coaches Louis van Gaal and Felix Magath.
His comments have prompted calls for his resignation as Germany captain, although that was not on the cards at the moment according to team manager Oliver Bierhoff.
"We want vocal players who sometimes state their opinion but in this case Philipp stepped over the line. But during our evaluation of the whole book we never considered dropping him as captain," Bierhoff said.
Among the more controversial passages, the 27-year-old Lahm, who had always come across as modest and softly-spoken, wrote that Klinsmann's short spell at the helm of Bayern Munich was destined to fail.
"All the players knew after about eight weeks that it would not work under Klinsmann. The rest of the campaign was only about damage control," he wrote.
"Essentially we only did fitness training under him and there was very little tactical discussion. The players talked among themselves how they would play before a game."
He said one of Klinsmann's changing room speeches consisted of "you must score a goal."
He also blasts Van Gaal, saying the Dutchman, who led Bayern to a domestic double and the Champions League final in his first season in 2010, could not admit to making mistakes.
"He refused to acknowledge the deficits of his philosophy ...and refused to eliminate them," Lahm wrote.
Former Bayern coach Felix Magath and Voeller were also criticised along with some older players in the Euro 2008 team, including former Germany captain Michael Ballack.
One person for whom Lahm has praise is current Germany coach Loew, who even as an assistant under Klinsmann "proved to be a cunning tactician from the first training sessions."
"He has something interesting to say for each and every position," Lahm wrote.
Voeller, criticised in the book for short one-hour training sessions as Germany coach before players returned to playing electronic games in their rooms for hours, has called Lahm's comment's dreadful and unacceptable.
Magath said on Thursday the player was just out "to make money" by causing a stir ahead of the book's publication.
All copyrights are to their respective owners.
No license is given to reproduce any material from this page without prior consent 
الجمعة نوفمبر 12, 2021 6:09 am من طرف 
