Miroslav Klose has now been the head coach of SCR Altach for more than eight months – for the former world-class striker, who has never been the head coach of a professional club before, his current position in the country is still associated with a learning process.
After 20 rounds played, Altach is only second to last in the Admiral Bundesliga. It was clear to Klose from the start that the Altachers would not pull out any trees, but as he explains on the “Sky” program “Talk und Tore”, he had imagined his first coaching position to be a little easier.
“If I’m honest, yes,” says Klose, but he doesn’t shy away from the challenge: “I’ll take it as it comes. I’ve always been like that as a person. This situation also brings with it something where you can learn an awful lot .”
The 2014 World Champion immediately has an example ready: “I’m confronted with things that I didn’t expect. It’s all new to me. As a coach, I have to work with the groundskeeper to ensure that the pitch is tidy. At the beginning there were set-up difficulties that you find the pitch in a decent condition, which is common practice for me.”
“Had to make one or two compromises”
In terms of sport, things have been less smooth for the people of Altach recently. In the 3-0 defeat against Austria Klagenfurt on Sunday, Klose spoke of the worst first half since he was coach in Altach. He has not yet been able to completely put his stamp on the team, but that is not possible at all.
“I had to make one or the other compromise,” says Klose, referring to his somewhat adapted game philosophy. His players prefer the five-man chain, but according to Klose they don’t use it offensively enough. “It’s important to draw the right conclusions and implement a system that will get us through the qualification.”
Klose: “Never was a player who had to be motivated by the coach”
Klose also sees a lot of catching up to do when it comes to the mentality and willingness to run of his players. Here, too, the German first had to learn to tackle things himself.
“It’s hard for me to understand the way I ticked as a player. I’ve never dealt with it because I’ve never been a player who needed to be motivated by the coach. As a coach I’m on the other side. I have to Finding ways to motivate the boys,” said Klose, who demands more from his players:
“A lot of attention has come from my name. That’s also a certain protection for the players. But at some point they have to get out of their snail shells.”
Doubts about the decision for Altach? “Zero!”
Even if it may be difficult from a sporting point of view at the moment, doubts as to whether a move to the Admiral Bundesliga might not have been a mistake have never crept into Klose in recent months.
“Zero. Not really,” said the former striker. “It’s fun too. There are so many fantastic people in this club, where it’s so much fun to work with them every day. There is so much humanity at this club – that’s our great strength. We don’t throw money around us, but rely on the players who fit in here.”
