Following Germany's 0-1 defeat to Greece in the UEFA Nations League, former German international Bastian Schweinsteiger stated on ARD that the current German national team no longer ranks among the world's elite teams, and believes the squad lacks players capable of changing games through individual skill.

Schweinsteiger said: "We are no longer a top team; we have dropped to the level of a mid-table side."

"We no longer have players who can change games," he continued, pointing to Greece's Konstantinos Karetsas, Christos Tzolis, and Evangelos Pavlidis as examples: "In my view, they are game-changers. And we simply don't have players like that."

When asked about this, German captain Joshua Kimmich partially agreed with Schweinsteiger's assessment.

Kimmich said: "Yes, that's fair to say. A hallmark of a top team is being able to beat weaker opponents and elite teams alike. We didn't beat the Netherlands, and today we lost. So right now, we're not a top team. We also exited the World Cup very early."

"However, whether we're a top team right now isn't what matters; what matters is developing back into one."

German defender Jonathan Tah offered a different perspective: "I let outsiders assess or define us. For us, what matters is starting a new chapter, gaining experience as a team, and learning from it. One loss won't change that."

"I'm confident we'll succeed again. It doesn't matter to us if outsiders call us a mid-table team."

Regarding coach Klopp's current approach of calling up and evaluating many new players, Schweinsteiger expressed his approval. He believes the current focus is "building a team capable of playing football in Klopp's style in the future."

Schweinsteiger said: "Hopefully we'll see that in November, but for now it's all continuous experimentation."

When asked about which current German squad players have the potential to become pillars of the team, Schweinsteiger specifically highlighted Kimmich: "I think we have a common problem: when the team needs to build play from the back, Kimmich is the only one capable of making creative passes. If he's not there, everything becomes difficult."

Later, Schweinsteiger also spoke about Karim Adeyemi: "His start since joining Borussia Dortmund has been remarkable. Dortmund uses him according to his strengths; he mainly plays on the left wing there. I also prefer him in this position; I'd like to see him play on the left more frequently."

Despite Klopp suffering a defeat in his second match as Germany coach, Schweinsteiger still believes he deserves adequate time.

"Klopp is still finding his way; this is only his second match in charge of the national team. These things take time. He's not a magician; you can't expect the team to immediately beat Greece 4-0 here with complete control. This requires hard work."

"But Klopp is the right man for the job. However, the players also need to ask themselves: Is this all we can do?"

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