To Clinsman, the 'worst head coach', Korean public opinion is a noise I don't want to hear...Advice to Southgate "56 million people are all directors"

Jul 04, 2024

Korea's worst head coach, Jurgen Klinsmann, should trust his gut to England coach Gareth Southgate. There are 56 million directors at home who have different ideas,' he said, advising against being swayed by public opinion. This is a statement that shows why head coach Klinsmann ignored public opinion in Korea. Sports Chosun DB

Jurgen Klinsmann advised England coach Gareth Southgate to believe in his intuition as a coach.

Klinsmann is serving as The Sun's columnist at this Euro 2024. Klinsmann is mainly talking about England. Last time Southgate was booed by fans for his poor performance and results, and even when he was bombarded with water bottles, Klinsmann gave Southgate advice.

This time, he gave tactical advice, saying it was for Southgate. "The time has come for England to try something different in the Euros. Southgate will be keen to start the Euro quarter-final against Switzerland with a 4-4-2 formation with Ivan Toney and Harry Kane on the front line"He began recommending a 4-4-2 formation to Southgate.

England have been using a 4-2-3-1 formation since this tournament. With Harry Kane on the front line, Phil Foden, Jude Bellingham and Bukayo Saka on the second line. Looking at the performance of the 2023-2024 season, the four England strikers are the best in the world, but England's reality is terrible. I don't feel like anyone is doing their bit.

Without Bellingham's theatrical equalizer in the round of 16, Klinsmann would not have advised for England. Kane's long-term linked play is not coming out, and Foden and Saka's talents feel like they are not shining in Southgate's strange tactics.

Perhaps that's why Klinsmann demanded a simple tactic from Southgate. "I think the change to a 4-4-2 formation would be effective. If Southgate is feeling the same way, he should. In the tournament, you have to trust your gut as a coach and don't hesitate to make unpopular decisions.

Klinsmann recommended a 4-4-2 formation to Southgate because of his last-minute performance against Slovakia. When things didn't go well, Southgate put in Ivan Toney two minutes before the end of the game. England, who have improved their ability to compete in the air ball, scored an equalizer and a come-from-behind goal from a corner kick.

In particular, Tony's sense of helping Kane score stood out by properly turning Echeverrie Eze's shot to the center during the reverse goal. Klinsmann was hooked on Tony's performance. He said "4-4-2 formation might be an arrogant choice, but I liked how it looked when I came on against Tony Slovakia" and began to explain why.

"If Kane has a true No. 9 striker partner who puts a lot of physical effort into him, Kane has great freedom. It could still be a fantastic system. Two hard-working front-line strikers like Kane and Tony can pose a real threat to the opposition. Tony can bring a threat in the air ball, too"I recommended Kane and Tony's two-top.

Another piece of advice from Klinsmann to Southgate was to trust his gut. "The quarterfinals are a time that separates success from failure," he said. If you win, you will be in the last four and everyone respects the coach. Defeat is not allowed in large countries such as Britain, Germany, France and Spain. He first insisted that he should at least reach the semi-finals.

Like many people, I was surprised that Southgate did not change players early against Slovakia. But as a manager, you have more knowledge of the squad than anyone else. "If you stick to the starting list and you're 1,000% sure they're going to turn it around, that's fine." He valued the confidence he has as a coach.

He also said "Now every game is a final. You'll regret it if you don't have a gut feeling of wanting to put in Tony or Cole Palmer or any other player or act decisively. People underestimate how difficult it is to break down a team that only plays defense. This is especially true if there are many goalscorers like England. You have to have the courage to make that decision, even if it can hurt one or two famous players."

At the same time, what Klinsmann added was interesting. "There are 56 million directors at home who want to make a different decision" was the word. The advice was not to be swept away by public opinion and to believe in his decision.

However, in the eyes of Korean soccer fans, Klinsmann is not much different from the 56 million coaches he calls. Klinsmann's tactics at the 2023 Asian Football Confederation (AFC) Asian Cup with South Korea, the best player of all time, were really incompetent. It was not the semifinals of the Asian Cup achieved by Klinsmann, but the semifinals made by key players such as Son Heung-min, Lee Kang-in, Hwang In-beom and Kim Min-jae.

As I can feel from this advice, it can be seen that Klinsmann didn't even care about public opinion. Korean soccer fans continued to criticize Klinsmann on the K-League site and outside activities, including the issue of residing in Korea. There were even boos at the Seoul World Cup Stadium toward coach Klinsmann.

However, Klinsmann didn't care at all about such criticism and boos, and only did what he wanted to do. The result was the Asian Cup semifinal disaster. Coach Klinsmann, who barely reached the semifinals, acted very proudly and was brazen enough to mention the dispute between Son Heung-min and Lee Kang-in as the reason he only went to the semifinals. With South Korea, the best player ever, a coach who has regressed for a year is giving advice to a coach who reached the Euro final and the World Cup semifinals.

Finally, Klinsmann added: "England face the best Swiss team of all time on Saturday. Switzerland will be a very tough opponent. Over the past few years, they have evolved in a particular way. I think England should try something different by surprising Switzerland. It's a bit old fashioned but could be a good 4-4-2 formation," he added.

rlaeotlr2024@sportschosun.com