Klopp ‘pleasantly surprised rather than disappointed’ by Greece stalemate

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Despite being held to a 0-0 draw by Greece in the Nations League, Jurgen Klopp says he was "pleasantly surprised rather than disappointed" by Germany's performance.It has been a mixed first international window in charge for Klopp, who went winless across his first two games before beating Serbia 2-0.However, Germany then finished the break with an underwhelming goalless draw as they failed to find a way past Greece for the second time in the space of eight days.The visitors had 21 shots on Sunday worth 1.4 expected goals (xG) at Stadio Toumbas, but only hit the target with four of those, while Greece had more Opta-defined 'big' chances (two to one).But Klopp remained positive given the progress his side have made since his first match."I'm very satisfied because I know where we've come from," Klopp said. "I'm very, very, very impressed with the team."If anything, I'm pleasantly surprised rather than disappointed. I wouldn't have believed we were capable of playing a first half like that."The boys put in an incredible performance – top-notch in every respect, except for the fact that we didn't convert our chances into goals or spot a better-positioned team-mate in the final third."We got a bit unsettled around the 60-minute mark, so our movements lost some of their clarity. But we played just three days ago; it's tough to maintain that kind of pace for the full 90 minutes against a strong Greece side."Our counter-pressing worked outstandingly well 90% of the time. The problem is, during that other 10%, when it doesn't work, things can get a bit complicated."    View this post on Instagram           A post shared by DFB-Team (@dfb_team)Klopp selected 44 players across two squads for the extended international break, giving him an opportunity to look at more of his options going forward.However, he insisted that would not be the case when the squad reunite in November, as he will be looking to pick a much smaller selection."We saw many players over these two weeks," he added. "Everyone showed what they could do; everyone earned their place."Think of all the things people said about us – what we can do, what we can't do. We showed signs that we can do a few things better than people gave us credit for. The door is open to everyone. Wide open."Of course, we won't be going there with 44 players. If someone is not called up, they know it's not because they're not good enough, but because we have to stop at 23-24 players."Florian Wirtz was one of the players called up in the second squad – though he joined the team earlier due to injuries – and he was frustrated with Germany's lack of a clinical edge, given their chances."We put a lot of pressure on but didn't score the damn goal. That's annoying," Wirtz told RTL."Overall, we can be satisfied with how we played – there were a lot of good things. We mustn't forget that we've only been together for a week.“We really wanted the win; we didn't. But, of course, not everything was bad."The post Klopp ‘pleasantly surprised rather than disappointed’ by Greece stalemate appeared first on SoccerNews.