Flick comments on Ruhnert criticism – fans consider the criticism appropriate

At the start of this month, Oliver Ruhnert, manager of Union Berlin, criticised national team coach Hansi Flick for his personnel decisions regarding the national squad. The criticism was quite sharp, and he was particularly unhappy with the selection of players. He even accused Flick of not nominating players based on merit. He specifically referred to his Union Berlin players, who he believes were unfairly overlooked for the national team. Now, Hansi Flick has commented on the matter at the coaching congress, his statement can likely be understood as a response to Ruhnert's previous criticism. In this context, FanQ wanted to know from fans in Germany whether they consider the criticism of the national team coach to be justified.

Criticism of Flick grows

A few weeks ago, Oliver Ruhnert said what many people were thinking. The Union Berlin manager criticised the work of Hansi Flick, referring specifically to the player nominations for the national team. He even suggested that the idea of performance did not play a role. „I usually communicate with the national team management. There is a direct exchange between Urs Fischer and Hansi Flick. His coaching team says they make decisions based on performance - I say: they don't,“ claimed Ruhnert in an interview with the SZ. He is most likely referring to his two key players Robin Knoche and Rani Khedira, who have played a major role in Union's run of success.

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Now the affected national coach has spoken out on Monday. At the 65th International Coaching Congress in Bremen, Flick was furious: „I find it a great impertinence to claim that the national team does not invite players according to the performance principle“ and also noted that clubs naturally want to „position their players“. But at the same time he also asked: „What do we gain if players play who can't perform like someone else? That's why I sometimes find it outrageous how it's reported.“ This is an unusually harsh choice of words for the German national team's football coach. It can probably be assumed that these comments refer to Ruhnert's accusations. However, Ruhnert is not the only one who is dissatisfied with Flick's work as national team coach. After the disappointing results in the recent past (3:3 against Ukraine, 0:1 against Poland and 0:2 against Colombia), the tone around the national team has become rougher and Flick's support no longer seems to be unrestricted.

Against this backdrop, FanQ wanted to know from fans how they stood on this criticism. It is clear that a large proportion of those surveyed (68.7 %) agree with Ruhnert's statement and do not currently see the principle of meritocracy in the selection of the national team. In contrast, only 9.92 %of the survey participants believe that Flick has indeed nominated the best players and will continue to do so.