Hamann: Wirtz's performance over the last 15 months has been unexpectedly poor for everyone

German football legend Hamann was interviewed after attending a meeting between the German Football Federation's refereeing department and television commentators. He discussed the refereeing standards for the new season and VAR intervention principles in the Bundesliga, while commenting on Klopp's first squad of 44 players for Germany, Wirtz's situation at Liverpool, the competition for Germany's goalkeeper position, and discussions surrounding Olise both on and off the pitch. This is the second part of the interview.

What do you make of this unusually large squad call-up? 44 players split into two teams. Some also think this international break is too long for players. What are your thoughts?

They've combined two international windows. In general, I think it's a good idea. In the past, players often played one or two club matches before an international break, then returned and played three more matches, only to face another international break shortly after.

So I think this squad call-up is generally good. Some things could be done differently, but they're not absolutely essential. This arrangement naturally gives the opportunity to evaluate each player.

However, whether this is good for certain players is debatable. Because once they're selected for the national team, the outside world will judge them by the standards of an international player, even if their abilities might not be sufficient for it, or might not become sufficient in the future. That's another issue, but I don't think it's something that should be a concern. Such an approach has been used before. Before the World Cup, Tuchel used the same method. I remember he called up 35 or 38 players, which allowed some of them an extra week of rest before the World Cup started. So many players only had very short holidays, while German players, unfortunately, had slightly longer ones.

There are certainly reasons for and against this arrangement, but I have no objections whatsoever. Also, it allows many players who otherwise wouldn't have the opportunity to prove themselves in training and matches.

Another question about Wirtz. You said there was a misunderstanding between Liverpool and him. Who exactly misunderstood whom? The club or the player? Or in this situation, did the player choose the wrong club for himself?

That question should be asked to the people involved. I can only judge based on what I've seen. What I've seen is a very expensive player who had a poor last season and an equally poor start to this season. When a club spends so much money to sign a player, it naturally expects him to decide matches in the final third, but he's done that far too infrequently. Last season, perhaps he did it in individual phases, but he hasn't done it at all this season.

So I don't know why this situation would suddenly change. Many people say he should be given time, but he's already had a year. Due to different styles of play, he needs two or three months to adapt, which is perfectly fine. But now he's in his second season and hasn't shown any improvement so far.

For this reason, after 14 or 15 months, it's difficult for me to imagine why things would suddenly improve. Of course, when he first arrived at Liverpool, Diogo Jota had unfortunately passed away shortly before. This meant that the environment he transferred into was also very difficult. No one could have foreseen these things beforehand.

But overall, it must be admitted that his performance over the last 15 months has been too poor. As I said, there are increasingly more voices within Liverpool calling for this issue to be addressed. If the situation continues like this, they'll have to find a solution. Bayern Munich wanted him before. If they have sufficient funds and still want him now, they can try again. Who knows.

What is the current situation with Germany's goalkeeper position? Was the choice of Ter Stegen the right decision? And what do you think of Ulbricht's prospects? Is it possible he could become the number one goalkeeper in the near future?

As long as Ulbricht can't play every week, in my opinion, he's not the number one goalkeeper. However, he could become the number one goalkeeper in the future.

First he has to prove he's capable of becoming Bayern Munich's number one goalkeeper. I wouldn't take the second step before taking the first. If he can play every week next year, he must first prove he's Bayern Munich's future number one goalkeeper. If he does that and performs well, then of course we can discuss the national team position.

Ter Stegen hasn't played for a long time, and now he's playing in the Netherlands. We'll have to wait and see. My first choice would have been Nübel, who has been performing very well in Turkey. But as I said, I think this is also a decision based on intuition and feeling. Ter Stegen could also deserve this position. However, when Neuer was injured and had the opportunity to play, he never delivered the kind of performance that made people feel "even if Neuer doesn't return, we'll be fine".

So Ter Stegen's previous performances with the national team have been inconsistent. I'm very interested to see how he performs next.

What about players who weren't called up, like Undav and Goretzka? Do you think they still have a chance, or will it be very difficult for them going forward?

They definitely still have a chance. But if you're not in a 44-player squad call-up, things certainly won't get easier from here on, because the next squad will probably only have 25 or 26 players. This means that almost 20 from the current group will be excluded. Goretzka missed the start of the new season with Aston Villa due to injury, and we'll have to see what happens next.

As for attack, our depth isn't sufficient enough to say "we don't need Undav". So I wouldn't rule out Undav's return. But I think Goretzka's situation will be more difficult.

Another question about Bayern Munich. Michael Olise has had an excellent start to the season. What do you think of his performance on the pitch? And what do you think of all the discussion he's caused off the pitch? For example, his behavior during interviews, and wearing a blue hat at Oktoberfest this time.

I'm fairly indifferent to it. However, I'm glad he's here because he's one of the best players in the world. It's no coincidence that he was nominated for the Ballon d'Or. As I said, if I were his teammate, as long as he plays fantastic football, I wouldn't care how he normally behaves, and right now he's playing very well.

From my personal perspective, or from a neutral perspective, I have absolutely no problem with it. The question now is whether the club will at some point tell him it would be even better if he could open up a bit more.

In fact, there are increasingly more voices criticizing him for being disrespectful, or for some of his actions that are completely unacceptable. If he weren't such an exceptional player, this wouldn't even be a topic of discussion. I have no opinion on that. As long as he's playing for Bayern Munich in the Bundesliga, I'm happy.

However, if Bayern Munich collectively attended Oktoberfest and he wore a light blue hat, surely that would have been absolutely unacceptable 30 years ago, wouldn't it?

Oh, it's because of the blue. I haven't seen it yet. I'm willing to believe that this young Englishman didn't do it on purpose, and I'll interpret it positively at first. I don't know if he's aware that Bayern's local rival, who has been somewhat inactive in recent years, wears blue or light blue.

Has anyone asked him if he knows this?

He doesn't talk anyway, so he wouldn't respond. So perhaps someone should tell him. However, I think he probably doesn't know. Even if he does, I think there are more serious things than that.

Traducido por IA.

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