Müller wants Germany to stop playing pretty and start playing hard. The former Bayern Munich forward used his appearance on The Late Run podcast, hosted by former NFL wide receiver Chad Johnson, to argue that Klopp is the right coach to drag the national team back to a mentality it has lost.
“I think he has a clear idea of which parts of the game he wants to focus on. He’s maybe a good mix between a modern coach and an old-school coach,” Müller told the podcast.
The 37-year-old was blunt about where Germany currently sits. He described a side that plays beautifully but without the ruthlessness opponents used to dread, and said the national team is struggling to produce a new generation fans are excited to watch. His fix is less tactical than behavioral: simple habits the whole team can lean on, and a refusal to let games slip by on aesthetics.
Klopp’s first November test
Klopp was appointed Germany head coach on 24 July 2026 after Julian Nagelsmann’s departure, and his third international break brings the first real jeopardy. Germany sit third in Nations League A Group 2, behind the Netherlands and Greece. A trip to Belgrade to face a winless Serbia on 13 November is followed by hosting the Dutch in Berlin three days later.
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The German coach cut his squad hard, reducing a 44-player autumn group to 24 names for the double-header. Borussia Dortmund winger Karim Adeyemi and Newcastle United forward Nick Woltemade were both left out. In their place came a first senior call-up for 17-year-old Borussia Mönchengladbach forward Wael Mohya and a return for 33-year-old Werder Bremen striker Niclas Füllkrug, back in the fold after more than a year away.
Klopp did not single out any dropped player, framing the cuts as a function of competition.
“The more quality you have available, the harder, in a positive sense, the decisions you have to take become,” he said when the squad was announced.
A thinning attack
The forward line Müller wants to see sharpened is thinner than it would be at full strength. Bayern Munich pair Jamal Musiala and Serge Gnabry are both unavailable through injury, forcing Klopp to lean on younger options and Füllkrug’s return.
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Müller himself is not part of that calculation. He is not in Klopp’s current squad, and his on-air aside about hoping to be on the coach’s list was framed by the German coverage as self-deprecation, not a comeback bid.
“We need behaviors, simple behaviors that we can rely on. And then we have to play more uncomfortably for our opponents again,” Müller told The Late Run.
Germany kick off against Serbia in Belgrade on Friday, 13 November.
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