“Hopefully he gets a warm welcome when he comes to Belfast.”
When Julian Nagelsmann finished his post-match interview following Germany’s 3-1 win over Northern Ireland, former defender Stephen Craigan was a little taken aback.
For 68 minutes, Northern Ireland had matched the European heavyweights in the World Cup qualifier and were level as Isaac Price’s excellent finish from a corner cancelled out Serge Gnabry’s early opener.
Germany, who were on a run of three straight defeats, eventually won the game through substitute Nadiem Amiri and a superb Florian Wirtz free-kick, but it was hardly a vintage showing from the four-time World Cup winners.
So, what did Nagelsmann say that irked Craigan and the BBC Sport punditry team in Cologne?
“It’s not easy to defend a lot of long balls and not easy to defend a lot of second balls, so I’m happy with the result,” Nagelsmann told BBC Sport NI.
“It’s not that easy when every set piece and ball that’s free on the pitch they play a long ball and attack with 10 players with the second ball.
“There are always a lot of players in our own red zone. It’s not brilliant to watch, this way of soccer, but it’s effective and it’s not that easy to defend it.
“I think we had 10 or 12 set-pieces to defend, and we only conceded one goal. It’s really a strength of the Northern Ireland team. It’s not that easy – we have better players but it’s not that easy to defend this way of playing soccer.”
Germany captain Joshua Kimmich had also described Northern Ireland’s approach as “a special style of playing”.
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