Jürgen Klopp commented on his first game as the Germany head coach against the Netherlands.
The Nations League campaign kicked off with new leaders in the dugout for both nations, and Klopp was off to the better start as the DFB took the lead through a 32nd minute strike from Felix Nmecha.
Karim Adeyemi was well placed to double the advantage after service from Nathaniel Brown, but he missed the target altogether, and the hosts started to grow into the contest following the restart.
Klopp: ‘We can play better’
Mexx Meerdink should have levelled from point blank range after getting on the end of a Denzel Dumfries delivery, and he also had a goal disallowed from a set-piece. In the end, the Oranje earned their equaliser in second half stoppage time through Cody Gakpo, denying Klopp the ideal debut.
Klopp: ‘It mostly felt good’
“You saw two good football teams in the same situation. Both sides wanted to prove that they aren’t as bad as they’re being made out to be, and you could see that in the game. We played well in the first ten minutes of the game. Then, we had ten minutes where we experienced problems because we couldn’t deal with things.
“If the system isn’t in place – and by that I don’t even mean tactically, but in general – if things aren’t fully worked out yet, then there comes a point in time where you have to fight hard to win tackles.
“I was very happy with several individual performances and was generally very happy with the performance. We can play better football and play more football. We shot ourselves in the foot on occasion when it came to second balls. It was a tiring game for both sides.
“It mostly felt good, but I managed over 1000 games in my career - so it was nothing new. I was very pleased with the passion, the intensity, but we can definitely play better.”
