German Youth Discussion Thread Vol. III [R]

Germany U19 defeated the Belgian U19s today in a 5-2 victory.

Here's the lineup we featured:

Gersbeck (46. Schnitzler)
Akpoguma (78. Pachonik), Syhre (60. Friedrich), Kempf, Holthaus
Stark (46. Brandenburger), Öztunali
Palacios-Martinez (60. Itter), Wagener (60. Lohkemper), Mukhtar (78. Dittgen)
Selke
​

Goals scored by Stark (7 min), Mukhtar (33.), Friedrich (67.), Öztunali (74.), Lohkemper (90.+2)

Hany Mukhtar scored a great goal for our second, with a strike from 30 yards out. Today was also the debut for FCN's Pachonik, S04's Friedrich, B04's Wagener with the U19 NT.

Hany Mukhtar's goal for Germany U19's today. Cracking strike. https://t.co/LZwrIR5fBq

— Alex Chaffer (@AlexChaffer) April 16, 2014

 

Selke was anonymous in the first half but in the 2nd half he showed why he is rated so highly.
Oeztunali also demonstrated why he is considered a top talent. He is the German Yaya Toure (well, at least at youth level).
Palacios looks all hype and no substance. Mukhar was promising, is a bit lightweight though.
Stark is so big. I hadn't noticed that before. Just wow.
Wagener had a good game today but he is no Gnabry(currently injured) or Meyer obviously. The u19s need Serge and Max to come back.
Lohkemper was very lively on the left wing when he came on and even scored a goal.

 

Interesting to follow the recent development of Maximilian Wagener, an obscure and under the radar talent. His professional debut was in Leverkusen's CL match against PSG, when he previously only featured in the UEFA Youth League and U19 team. He is well rated by his club, for being a poised and mature for someone his age, who reads the game well delivering passes and runs attentively. Also shows strong work ethic and right attitude towards improving aspects of his game.

Niklas Stark's versatility is also an asset. He's similar to others in our new generation of central defensive players. Like Andre Hoffmann, and (vice verse) Ginter & Kempf, they have the skill set to alternate between playing DM and CB.

 

Julian Brandt played in his 3rd consecutive start. Inexperience showed at certain points but he had a couple of good moves. Early in the first half, he fooled FCN's Pinola on the wing dribbling around him and break in along the baseline to send in a cross. Later on, he had another play on the wing then dashing into the centre to beat out several FCN defenders. He set up the perfect chance for Kiessling open in the middle, but couldn't finish on the shot.

Leon Goretzka had a nice assist today. He carried to ball forward with some step-over moves before sending it over to Szalai for goal. Quite impressed by his footwork and control. Leroy Sane made his debut for S04, subbing on in the second half. In the beginning he looked nervous. But towards the end, he was quite active on the ball. On one play, he drove along the baseline inside before his cross was caught by Ulreich. Then later on the wing, he had a shot on target but was blocked in front of the net. Also helped out defensively and pressed in the midfield to force a VfB turnover and counterattack opportunity.

 

U-17 squad for the U-17 EC (9.- 21. 5. 2014)


Goalies:
Patrick Bade 10.01.1997 Bayer 04 Leverkusen 4 -
Timo Königsmann 05.04.1997 Hannover 96 8 -

Defense:
Matthias Bader 17.06.1997 Karlsruher SC 4 -
Robin Tim Becker 18.01.1997 Bayer 04 Leverkusen 7 -
Lukas Boeder 18.04.1997 Bayer 04 Leverkusen 9 -
Nicolas Clasen 25.02.1997 Borussia Mönchengladbach 10 -
Benedikt Gimber 19.02.1997 TSG 1899 Hoffenheim 12 1
Patrick Kammerbauer 11.02.1997 1. FC Nürnberg 10 -

Midfield:
Oguzhan Aydogan 04.02.1997 FC Schalke 04 8 1
Damir Bektic 30.01.1997 Hertha BSC Berlin 11 -
Max Besuschkow 31.05.1997 VfB Stuttgart 10 2
Benjamin Henrichs 23.02.1997 Bayer 04 Leverkusen 14 1
Ole Käuper 09.01.1997 SV Werder Bremen 7 3
David Sauerland 28.06.1997 Borussia Dortmund 4 -

Strikers:
Arianit Ferati 07.09.1997 VfB Stuttgart 10 4
Alessandro Fiore Tapia 04.03.1997 SC Freiburg 6 2
Philipp Ochs 17.04.1997 TSG 1899 Hoffenheim 10 4
Finn Porath 23.02.1997 Hamburger SV 9 1


Auf Abruf:
Thore-Andreas Jacobsen 19.04.1997 Hamburger SV 1 -
David Kammerbauer 11.02.1997 1. FC Nürnberg 3 -
Marvin Mehlem 11.09.1997 Karlsruher SC 6 1
Michael Strein 05.04.1997 FC Bayern München 6 1
Cedric Teuchert 14.01.1997 1. FC Nürnberg 3 -
Nico Wiesner 02.03.1997 Hertha BSC Berlin - -

 

David Pütz, who was a regular starter at CB, isn't there. Damn. Must be injured.
Hannover's left back/winger Bahn is also missing. He was a useful player going forward.
Other than that, there are no surprises. Shame that Mehlem is on standby. He's a good playmaker(and who doesn't love playmakers?) but a bit lightweight. When he gets stronger physically in a year or two, he'll be more useful for DFB's youth teams.

 

Serious lack of elite talent

They may have overachieved but in terms of number of interesting prospects, this is the worst I've seen in a while.

Heinrichs, Kauper, Ferati are decent but nothing spectacular.

 

Very harsh.
Why are you drawing conclusions and criticizing before seeing them in the Euro ? Writing off 16/17 year olds doesn't make sense. Their path to pro football is just beginning.
Henrichs and Ferati are not just ''decent'' talents IMO. This group of players look very skilful. I don't think it's a poor age group. There are a number of interesting prospects like Ochs, Zelalem, Mehlem,Porath, Sauerland,Kaueper,Strein. Martinovic has missed most of the season but he was highly rated before the injury. As for the defensive players, Boeder, Becker and Gimber seem to be highly rated in their clubs. Probably at least one of them or Pütz will become the real deal in a few years.

 

I dont know, not saying they arent good talents just not as elite as Can, Werner, Gnabry, Ducksch, Max Meyer, Goretzka, Brandt, Oztunali were when they were playing in U17. Maybe the hype came even before they made the U17

I've seen some of the U17 games and i think this is a good team in general, may overachieve with the talents we have (maybe worse opponents?) but cant see an outstanding individual

Martinovic, just like Palacios-Martinez n Avdijaj, will go through the transition form CF to LW/RW becoz of his severely lack of size. And i heard his perfromance at the wing is not as sharp as he was at CF. Its interesting that nowadays all teams want their CF to be well rounded, having the required physique, hold-up game n aerial ability is also part of that. Being undersized and move to the flanks will prevent some undersized poachers from emerging. So we arent gonna see Gerd "Der Bomber" Mueller or Ulf Kirsten in this generation when teams generally only start with 1 CF

Another aspect is also interesting, i think as a DFB fan n knowing the problems at fullback and CF, we are paying more attention to players at those positions

The midfield with Heinrichs, Kaeuper, Ferati(RW), Porath/Aydogan(LW), Besuschkow (AM) is solid....but looks like this is another DFB youth NT which is midfield heavy but not quite at other positions.

Not trying to write Philipp Ochs off but dont see ANYTHING special in him, dont rate him highly. Made a "jump" to U19 at the age of 17 but his scoring rate is pretty bad (1 in 7 games). n dont forget many strikers like Werner, Ducksch, Yesil, Selke, Fuellkrug... made such promotion and had much better scoring rate. Apparently things might change n Ochs may end up being a decent striker but he doesnt look that promising at the same age compared to many others.

It certainly doesnt mean he cnat make it at next stage, but usually a top talent (especially for striker) reflects their potential early n the "hit rate" is generally extremely low even if u make an impression this early. Again i m not saying his pro career will definitely be worse than those mentioned, but things do not look good at the moment, especially when he is undersized n not outstandingly prolific even at youth BL.

Opportunity is a key for young strikers nowadays, teams only play with one starting CF so u either convert in to RW/LW or rotten on the bench behind some veteran CFs. To be able to start at CF at pro level, u needa at least have a full package, tats the minimum requirement to fight for the lone starting CF spot. And the full package includes: size, top notch/outstanding scoring record in youth BL, top notch/outstanding scoring recrod for youth NTs, practice well in training, some hype as "wonderkid" n the starting, veteran CF is aging or in poor form. Thats the minimum requirement for a young CF to emerge and it doesnt even guarantee success. Dont see that in Philipp Ochs or Fiore Tapia

 

Leverkusen have made it official now - they will also disband their reserve team.

 

Since Fuellkrug got injured and is no longer a starter, Fuerth have won only 2 games out of 7 ( drawn the other 5) with Djurdjic back. Those Fuerth fans who criticized him so much have hopefully realized that the problems run much deeper than Niklas. I am not sure how they always stay in 2nd place. They really aren't that good (at least when I've watched them). I guess it shows how bad the other 2nd division teams are. I watched kaiserslautern vs fuerth earlier this season and FCK looked miles better and deservedly won but now they're 4 points behind fuerth in the table.

With Koeln back in the Bundesliga, it will be interesting to see how Horn, Hector, Gerhardt and the young Japanese Nagasawa do next season. Schmadtke has done a great job. He'll surely look to add 2 or 3 quality players in the summer.

 

It looks like you judge the age groups by its strikers. No top striker = poor age group. That's pretty silly.
Btw, Davie Selke wasn't called up to the Euro u17 or the Elite Round before it but now 2 years later, he's a very good prospect while Benkarit has disappeared. Ochs and Fiore Tapia may not be top prospects but someone else might emerge in the coming years like Strein maybe. Pronichev(Hertha) has a great goalscoring record but chose Russia unfortunately.
I disagree that Emre Can, Goretzka and Oeztunali were more ''elite'' than Henrichs at U17 level.
Also, I don't think they're ''overachieving''. They won the Algarve cup against strong teams like Portugal, England and Netherlands who all qualified for the Euro too. They get what they deserve. They're doing pretty well.

 

Agree with timh. Talent isn't finalized at 17. Statistics do not define everything, not at this age. Just like previous youth classes, there will be many changes as the lads develop. Whatever the future holds, I will cheer them on every step along the way.

 

Hector could be NT material pretty soon since competition at LB is not too big

 

Leverkusen have done well loaning out players in recent times. Kramer, Bellarabi, Milik, Da Costa spring to mind. They don't really need the reserves. I can understand their decision.

Let's hope so He's a very late bloomer ( soon-to-be 24). Never played for DFB's youth teams.

 

Fuerth vs 1860 just finished. 1860 won 2-1. Fuerth again disappointing. They don't deserve to finish 2nd. Paderborn should be able to finish ahead of them. Fuellkrug played for the last 30 min. Didn't really do much but Fuerth were really disorganized by then. Not his fault. He needs to join a club with good playing style (a team that can pass the ball through the middle not just cross all game long).

I like the look of 1860's 18-year old Julian Weigl. He has good technical ability, composure and a very good range of passing. He is tall (187cm according to transfermarkt). It doesn't seem like he's a dribbler though. He's a Toni Kroos/Geis type of CM. He's become a regular starter in the last 2 months. He's still raw obviously.

 

Fuellkrug may leave Werder Bremen. HSV are interested to get both him n Trinks if they manage to stay in 1BL

Anything about Fuellkrug is up in the air tho.

Werder Bremen are looking for strikers in the market tho: Giabbiadini n Zoller, so I guess they don't have much patience on Fuellkrug. Kid should look for a club which can provide regular match practice. I think HSV can provide the match practice he needs at this stage

 

Fuellkrug is Werder, through and through. Can't see him leaving for Hamburg of all places. Werder have said that they rate him. I think they might loan him out again next season but he's not for sale.
A lot of clubs are interested in Zoller. He will be playing in the BL next season IMO with or without Kaiserslautern.

 

Stuttgart U19 CB talent Timo Baumgartl (1996) has been promoted to their U23 squad in the 3.Liga. He's featured with the starting lineup in the last 3 matches, including a 1-0 win over league leaders FC Heidenheim on Saturday. A match where Baumgartl scored the decisive winner with a tap in inside the box off a set piece.

 

Werder is looking for a player, who can play CAM and CF (Hunts positions). We will probably not find a cheap player with Hunts quality, but with a similar playing style and potential to grow.

Füllkrug and the club will talk about the future. His performances at Fürth were mediocre, some good games, but not consistent. Nevertheless he likes Bremen and Bremen likes and rates him, so I can see 2 options: He extends his contract and is sent on loan for another season to prove himself or Bremen sells him with a rebuy option like at Johannes Wurtz move to Fürth.

And about the connection to HSV: That is like a rumor - Thomas Müller is about to join 1860.

 

How's the finance like for Werder Bremen?

Heard they want to bring in Giabbiadini, not gonna be cheap

 

Bremen has a corporation with Juventus Turin since this winter. So they are connected with some Juve bench players and players like Giabbiadini, where Juve holds parts of the transfer rights.

I don't expect big transfers from Werder, Eichin has to keep the salary structure low, because Werder still has to suffer under the stadium construction from the past seasons. So far Fin Bartels from St. Pauli has been signed, Alejandro Gálvez (Rayo Vallecano) is about to join and for Santiago Garcia, who is on loan this season, Werder has a buying option of 2 million € and has to use it, because he likes Bremen and we like him, too.

I would like to see some players from the reserve or youth make it, but somehow many of the promising youth players suffer quite often under injuries. Lately Yildirim and Von Haacke, something runs wrong at Werder in that area and should be cleared by the club.

 

This weekend's highlights from the U19 A-Jgd BL S/SW.

Notables: Game winning goals by Mainz's Patrick Pflücke (free kick), & Hoff's Benedikt Gimber (header).

Also, 1st goal scored since promoted to the U19 level by Stuttgart's Max Besuschkow & Freiburg's Fiore Tapia.

http://tv.dfb.de/video/23-spieltag-staffel-sued-suedwest-alle-spiele-alle-tore/8193/


Julian Brandt's fine assist from Saturday:

http://www.bundesliga.com/en/bundesliga-tv/inc/video_flv/highlights/0000292573.inc.php

 

Apparently, Zelalem was ''impressive'' against Newcastle U21. ''Most of what Arsenal did well came courtesy of Zelalem.'' He didn't play as a CM this time round, though. He was the #10.