Robert Huth on Klopp's Impact: Germany's Football Future
Robert Huth has never been one for polite euphemisms. Ask him what Julian Klopp needs to do to justify the lucrative deal on the table with the German FA, and the former Germany defender cuts straight through the noise.
“Be less sh*t! The bar isn't very high, I think, at the moment,” he told GOAL, speaking via SportsbookReview.com.
That, in a single line, is the mood music around the national team. The optimism is back, but it has been born from frustration and underachievement. Germany have stumbled through tournaments since lifting the World Cup in 2014; now, with a home Euros in 2028 to come, they believe they finally have the man they wanted a decade ago.
Klopp effect before a ball is kicked
Germany have not yet played a game under Klopp, yet Huth insists the impact is already visible.
“What that appointment has done already in Germany, without Germany having played a game yet, is kind of brought that togetherness straight away – which kind of happened on the day he was appointed,” he said. “Everyone was going, ‘yes, yes, now we've got that guy who we wanted 10 years ago’.”
The résumé is familiar: Liverpool, Dortmund, trophies, chaos, charisma. But Huth is more interested in the intangibles – the personality, the mindset, the ability to drag a nation along with him.
He's already seen enough from Klopp’s first public appearance to feel the old competitive itch.
“I don't know if you saw his first press conference, I was like, ‘oh, where are my boots, I want to put my boots back on and start playing again!’ Not that I would be selected, but do you know what I mean? Like, I was watching the press conference again.”
That reaction, he argues, is exactly what current players will be feeling.
“I can only imagine being an active player and listening to a press conference because there was no BS. There were no clever words. It was like, ‘listen, if you want to play for Germany, you're going to have to run a bit harder, you're going to have to fight harder, this is going to mean a bit more when you put the badge on’.”
No excuses, no scapegoats
Klopp could easily have used the moment to distance himself from the failures of recent years. He didn’t. Huth noticed.
“It could have been very easy to throw the previous managers under the bus, ‘that was rubbish’, which I don't think he did,” Huth said. “He just went, ‘well, we need that bit more when comparing Germany to other nations that got further in the Euros and in the World Cup’.”
The message is simple: standards have dropped, effort must rise. No drama, no theatrics, just a demand for more.
“So, so far, he talks a good game,” Huth added. “The feedback's been good from the Bundesliga clubs. He's gone to plenty of games in pre-season and in the club games. So it looks great on paper.”
Klopp has already been visible in stadiums across the country, taking notes, shaking hands, showing his face. Symbolic, yes, but in a country that has felt disconnected from its national side, symbolism matters.
Heavy metal ambitions, realistic targets
Expectation, though, remains tempered. Huth does not suddenly see Germany as favourites for every trophy just because Klopp is in the dugout.
“I fully imagine Germany is going to be a lot better in the upcoming tournaments than they have been in the past,” he said. “Not to say that they're going to win it. I think even themselves said, ‘listen, we're going to try and win it, of course, that's the aim, but there's France, there's England, there's Brazil, there's Argentina, there's some proper other football nations out there, but we're going to get out there and certainly leave everything on a pitch’.”
That last line matters to him. Leaving everything on the pitch. Because, in his view, that has not been the case for far too long.
“That hasn’t been the case in Germany’s situation over the last few years. So I'm excited. Come on, Germany!”
The frustration runs deep. So does the hope.
“We've been sh*t since 2014 so a semi-final would be all right,” Huth admitted. But his imagination runs further than just a respectable exit. He wants something that looks and feels like Klopp at his best.
“If Germany can replicate any kind of Liverpool's and Dortmund's intensity, pace, energy, spirit, I'm getting excited! I know it's difficult to replicate it in the national team, but if they can do it, if you can do it, that would be heavy metal football!”
That is the challenge now. Not just to win again, but to sound and look like Germany at full volume.
