Robin Koch is the Leeds centre-back picking himself – can he win back Germany place? - The Athletic 14/10/22

By Phil Hay

There was a time in Robin Koch’s life when it suited him to be anonymous, or “off the grid” as a friend of his puts it. He was a Kaiserslautern player but he could move around the city in peace, young and unrecognisable to many people who lived there.

The story went that in the tower block that housed his flat, only the postman knew who he was and Koch used his low profile to help him settle at Kaiserslautern quietly. His father, Harry, had been a name at the club and in the words of Koch’s long-time mate Simon Berg, he “didn’t want the attention of being Harry’s son”.

That was then, though, and over the next few weeks, Koch would like more eyes to fall on him, specifically those of Hansi Flick, Germany’s head coach. A World Cup is looming and Koch is in the clutch of international players who would describe themselves as being in limbo: not out of the picture but not in it either, waiting for the phone to ring.

Koch was a regular presence in the Germany camp for a while, a squad member more than anything but someone who Flick and his predecessor Joachim Low liked to have around. Low, in particular, saw Koch as a level-headed presence — the sort of player who gives a squad a good vibe irrespective of how much he is used. But then, last month, Flick left Koch out. Germany’s last batch of matches before the World Cup went ahead without him. Armel Bella-Kotchap received a first call-up instead, a late chance for Southampton’s 20-year-old prospect to put his hand up.

It was not as if Koch was so firmly established internationally that a place in Flick’s list was a formality but the timing of his omission coincided with his most settled period at Leeds United. For his club, Koch has finally looked capable of sitting tight in his preferred position. He had been able to start only 13 games in the 2020-21 season, restricted by knee surgery, but Low took him to the European Championship regardless. He started marginally more last term, 17 in total, having stepped away for an operation on his hip but Flick kept him close. It is only now, with Koch in full flow, that a role in Qatar is under threat.

Leeds signed Koch in 2020 with the intention of him becoming their right-sided centre-back, long-term and overnight. Marcelo Bielsa, their head coach, liked the mix of a right-footer and a left-footer in the middle of his defence and Leeds went for Koch after failing to bully Brighton & Hove Albion into selling Ben White.

For two years, though, the idea of what Koch might be was skewed by absences and changes of position, not least the streak of games he played as a defensive midfielder. Leeds’ form and league position were so desperate last season that Koch played through injuries as it neared a conclusion, often in front of the back four and only occupying his natural role on a handful of occasions.

Since the summer, Koch’s position as a starting centre-back has consolidated. As it stands, he is the centre-back at Elland Road who is picking himself. Jesse Marsch is without the same surety on the left side of the pair, moving between Diego Llorente, who dropped to bits away to Brentford, and Liam Cooper, who missed pre-season with a muscle strain and showed signs of rust in Sunday’s 2-1 defeat to Crystal Palace.

Thanks to our fans for the support yesterday at Selhurst Park. It's now time for us to get back to winning ways. We are working hard for that. pic.twitter.com/AlWCDfpx2e

— Robin Koch (@RobinKoch25) October 10, 2022

In Marsch’s estimation, Koch has been one of the club’s best performers to date and as a result, Flick’s last Germany squad caught people at Thorp Arch by surprise. The expectation was that Koch would be in it.

His attributes as a central defender are those of an all-rounder, not visibly outstanding in many respects but strong across the board. He can compete aerially and he is comfortable on the ball, distributing it and carrying it. He presses aggressively and he is not prone to an excess of errors or errors leading directly to shots and goals. And though Leeds have not begun discussing a contract that expires in less than two years, that conversation will come onto the agenda when the time is right. At 26, he should be moving into his peak years.

The advantage for Koch this season is that, in plain sight, he looks injury free. The knee injury that required surgery in 2020 was suffered on the first day of that term. The same happened on the opening weekend of last season, with a hip problem stopping him from playing again until mid-December.

He had Leeds’ medical team to manage his recoveries and he also works with a personal fitness coach, Jannik Kirchenkamp, who is now on the staff of German second-tier side Magdeburg. Koch and Kirchenkamp got to know each other while the former was playing for Eintracht Trier as a teenager and the latter lived in the same city. They have a gym together in Krefeld and earlier this year, they launched an online fitness app.

Koch returned to Germany during the recent international break, but not to play. Flick gave Bella-Kotchap a go, using him as a late substitute in Germany’s 3-3 draw with England at Wembley. Matthias Ginter, Niklas Sule and Nico Schlotterbeck filled the other central defender slots and though Koch and Flick had spoken earlier in the summer — the former Bayern Munich manager is understood to have expressed confidence in him at that stage — there was no one-to-one explanation for his exclusion last month. Marsch said last week that he had not spoken with Flick about it, and Koch is left to wait and see, hoping the needle turns his way.

Marsch needs a big year from Koch because, in eight games this season, there has been no more dependable defender at Leeds. What happens between now and the World Cup will have domestic and international implications for Koch, shaping the security of his club’s place in the Premier League and keeping Flick looking his way. “I was counting down the days,” Koch said after waiting for his call-up to last year’s European Championship. A year or so on, he is doing the same.