Lahm: "Löw must change his management style"

German World Champion Philip Lahm about German coach

On Sunday, Philipp Lahm, captain of the German team that won the Football World Cup four years ago in Brazil, will symbolically return the Cup before the final between France and Croatia and Philipp has to say something about the German national team, its leadership and more. For us Germans the World Cup in Russia has been a sad tournament but I expected an early exit before the start - not that early though.

"For us and for Germany it's melancholy and an invitation (maybe a must!) to win the trophy back," said Lahm, who had previously criticised coach Joachim Löw. He adds: "I'm convinced that Jogi Löw has to change his collegial leadership style towards a more authoritarian approach if he wants to become successful again". He indicated that he was not happy with the outdated team dealings of Löw especially in view of a new generation of players.

Lahm is convinced that Jogi (Löw) has to stop giving certain players too much freedom and that he should implement clear expectations towards individual top players on their responsibility for the success of the entire team. However Philipp is still confident that both Löw and the Team Manager Oliver Bierhoff can realise the new beginning and successful turnaround if they shift focus and mindset of all team member towards the collective team idea. It is obvious that young players focus on their own personal success and a global career sometime ignoring their team duties. This is normal human behaviour and can be dealt with a competent approach by the head coach. Therefore Löw must establish a culture of firmer, clearer decisions."

This post has been inspired by an article on Germany's most important Sports publication called Kicker - check the original German article here: http://www.kicker.de/news/fussball/nationalelf/727445/artikel_lahm_loew-muss-seinen-fuehrungsstil-aendern.html