Coach quotes: Germany

Anouschka Bernhard, Germany coach:

I started in 2011, just before WWC 2011 and I have to say it's getting harder every year because I recognise I am getting older, but the girls are still 16 – the gap is getting bigger and bigger. But I really like this age group, they are growing in between children and adults and often have their own opinion, but far away from being a star. I like to guide them through a different period in their life. It's a transition time in their lives; they are at a crossroads, deciding which direction they can go – be it football for fun, or as a career – this is an interesting period.

All other teams are getting better, which means we are putting more effort into our work.

Seven important players are missing, six of whom definitely would have been in, and one maybe. We've had lots of knee injuries: ACLs. Meanwhile, Sjoeke Nüsken and Lena Oberdorf [key players from team last year, still U17] are now with the under-19s.

We've changed our statutes so that girls under 18 can play with boys – Sjoeke is playing in a high level boys' team and feels very well there.

We try to have ten really good players on the pitch and then we find a position for them – sometimes they play a position for us they've not played before, in club, regional select XIs, but for us they can play wherever. From my beginning, we play differently – it depends on the players I have and sometimes on the teams we face. We have become more open in the last few years. When you play with one forward and that age group we have two good forwards, then one cannot play.

We have five at back as we have only got one really good central defender, so I thought what do we do? I added two others and the girls are comfortable with this system. We've never it done before and only started in November, but for these girls here, it's the perfect solution.

The physical side is getting better and better, there are no weak teams and the key to this is good coaches – like Marleen [Wissink]: from last year to this year, she has learned a lot. Last year they played 4-3-3 vs. Spain and Spain came through them from all sides. Now we played them and they played 4-2-3-1. I think all coaches look at who they are playing against and try to develop a plan and the girls are capable of making changes and this is a huge development, especially from last year to this year. This is why I don't want to go away from this age group – because they can still learn a lot.

Some develop slowly. We select girls in the first half of the season then after January we don't want to make too many changes to our squad for qualifying and elite round.  If we see an outstanding player, though, there is no doubt we will bring her in, but we see that some develop well then but it is too late – had she developed before, she would have been in, no doubt.