"Für den Fitnesszustand ist erstens jeder Spieler selber und zweitens die Vereine zuständig"
Rangnick continued: "In my experience, at a tournament like this, you tend to do too much rather than too little in training. For fitness, firstly, each player themselves is responsible, and secondly, their clubs are."
Where has the pressing gone?
A point of criticism, also voiced by the players themselves, is the fact that the intensive, aggressive style of play that has characterized this team in recent years has rarely been seen at the World Cup so far.
Phillipp Mwene, who is injured for the Spain match, said: "I don't think we've shown our true colors yet. Exactly why that is, is hard to say. We need to remember what brought us here, what we have already achieved with our style of play."
Rangnick isn't too concerned: "I think we have shown and managed that in phases in the three games. Otherwise, we wouldn't have finished second and wouldn't have scored six goals."
And besides: "It's not realistic to reduce this team solely to its pressing game. How else would we have scored six goals? When I think of the three goals against Algeria: they were brilliantly worked out, following very clear patterns that we have tried to instill in the team over the past few years. Against Jordan, it was basically the same."
The burden has fallen away, nothing happens at the push of a button
Nevertheless, Rangnick finds the question "justified."
So, he also has an interesting attempt at an explanation ready: "What kind of flow is the team in regarding this? We had a similar game to the one against Algeria already against Bosnia, where everything was at stake. We knew that a draw would be enough for us, but not for the opponent. The game was comparable in terms of pressure. We all know what pressure fell off us once we achieved it."
"Dann ist es nicht so auf Knopfdruck möglich, dass die Mannschaft so zusammenfindet und von Anfang an wieder wie aus dem Schulbuch den gleichen Fußball spielt"
"A burden was lifted from the players, they initially focused on their club duties. That's normal. Then it's not possible at the push of a button for the team to come together and play textbook football from the start again," the coach continued.
Individual situations of the players
Furthermore: "Added to this is the fact that players come from different situations. There are several examples. We have some players who have been out and are not back in the mode required for this."
Specifically, the 68-year-old refers to David Alaba, Sasa Kalajdzic, and Florian Grillitsch, who have missed several games this season (due to injury).
It's about results
Ultimately, the national team coach is primarily concerned with results. And those are right at this World Cup.
"If someone had told me beforehand that we would advance with four points as group runners-up, I wouldn't have cared how it came about. I would have signed for that immediately," he says.
"Need performance improvement"
Ultimately, Rangnick does, however, show some understanding: "That we now need a performance improvement, that we have to take another step forward, I completely agree. That's what it will come down to."
David Alaba concurs: "It's clear to us that we have to step it up a notch."
