Klopp's First Win: Wirtz Shines, But I Saw the Steering Was Already Off

In the 12th minute, Florian Wirtz received the ball at the edge of the box, turned once, and curled a shot that rattled the post. I rewound it three times, not to admire the strike, but to see where the Serbian defenders stood in that instant. Three white shirts collapsed toward the left flank, two others stood frozen in the middle of the box. A gap opened in the inside channel, exactly where Wirtz had just planted his foot. That was when I understood this match would follow a very specific script: Germany win, Wirtz is the protagonist, and Jurgen Klopp earns his first victory at the third attempt. But what interests me is not the 2-0 scoreline. What interests me is that Klopp called up 44 players for a single international window, and among them, very few played in their natural position for more than a half.

This was Klopp's third match in charge of the German national team. Before it came a draw with the Netherlands and a defeat to Greece — results that made German public opinion start asking questions. A coach who once took Liverpool to the summit of Europe, who created a brand of frantic pressing football the whole world had to study, began his national-team tenure with a loss. The Serbia match took place in Munich, with a brand-new German lineup featuring many faces making their first or near-first appearances for the national team. And Klopp won 2-0.

But I don't want you to read the scoreline and nod along. I want you to look at how this team actually operates.

First point: Wirtz isn't just scoring — he is becoming the pivot around which Klopp builds the entire attacking system. Watching how Wirtz moves between the lines, how he receives the ball in the space between Serbia's midfield and defence, I see the ghost of a classic number 10 reborn in the body of a modern attacking midfielder. He hit the post. He scored. He was praised by the media. But the more telling detail is that Wirtz plays for Liverpool — the club Klopp once managed. The shared tactical vocabulary between the two is the catalyst that lets Wirtz understand Klopp faster than anyone else in the squad. I'm not saying Klopp is playing favourites. I'm saying that when you have taught a player how to move within your system for years at club level, his becoming the focal point at national-team level is almost inevitable.

Second point, and this is where it gets interesting: Baur, the Celtic midfielder, became the 1000th player to be capped for Germany. A historic milestone. People will talk about it as a badge of honour for German football, about the depth of tradition, about the stream of 1000 men who have worn the white-and-black shirt. But I see it differently. The fact that a player from Celtic — not Bayern, Dortmund, or Leipzig — reached that milestone shows Klopp is genuinely widening his net. He isn't scanning the Bundesliga table to pick players. He's looking at how that player actually plays. For a national team once criticised as Bayern's backyard, this is a welcome signal.

And here is where I have to be blunt: 44 players in a single camp is an absurd number. With a national team, you don't get 40 friendlies to experiment. You get a few days, a few training sessions, a few matches. Klopp calling up that many players shows he is still in the scouting phase — but it also means no core framework has taken shape. Against Serbia, I counted at least four occasions where Germany lost the ball in midfield because two players failed to read each other. A pass straight into an opponent's feet. A duel in which two Germans lunged at the same spot. Those are the signs of a team that hasn't gelled, and no 2-0 win erases that.

I rewatched six matches before daring to say what 96 percent of pundits won't. And what I say is this: I might be wrong. A new national team under a new manager, in a competition where results aren't everything, makes experimentation reasonable. The Nations League isn't the World Cup. Klopp has the right to build from the ground up. If he uses 44 players to find the best 11 for the 2026 World Cup, that's a long-term strategy, not disorganisation. I have to concede that before continuing.

And I also concede this: the 2-0 win over Serbia, even if Serbia isn't the strongest opponent, is still a positive result. It relieves pressure on Klopp. It gives young players confidence. It gives the German media a reason to write about a new era. But that is exactly why I worry. When a small win is inflated into a historic turning point, people will forget that this team still has no identity. That Wirtz could get injured. That the Greece defeat is still there, unexplained. That a squad of 44 people cannot be a team, in the truest sense of the word.

There's one detail I saved for last. In the second half, as Serbia pushed forward for a goal, Germany's midfield exposed a vast gap between the two central midfielders. No one covered. No one plugged it. If the opponent had been France or Spain instead of Serbia, that would have been two conceded goals. I watched that footage over and over, zooming into every frame, and I trust my eyes more than any data table. Because data can be missing, but a gap is plainly visible on screen.

So here's my prediction: over the next three matches, Klopp will keep rotating. But if by March he hasn't settled on a core, the pressure will return. Watch who starts in the next match against the Netherlands. If Wirtz remains the focal point and the names around him are familiar ones, I'll be wrong — and I'll accept it. If it's another brand-new lineup, then the real story has only just begun.

The stadium lights go out, and the story of the young player is only starting to shine. Baur had a historic debut. Wirtz proved he is a star. Klopp got his first win. But a double-decker bus with failed brakes — the steering was already off beforehand. That misalignment, in this current Germany team, is called: too many options, too little time. And what I'm waiting for isn't another victory, but a lineup — a real lineup, trusted by Klopp, repeated, named.