Dude, remember the first goal? What was Hummels doing coming over to Boateng's space and trying to close down Cassano? All that did was close out Boateng and get his ass turned inside out by Cassano. For the second goal, both Badstuber and Hummels got destroyed(just like for the first one). Boateng had some excellent crosses imo and defended quite well.
Look at the first goal again. Hummel was in the box. Boateng was 10 feet from him instead of being on the flank. The ball was played outside to where Boateng was supposed to be. Boateng closed space too late, Hummels closed behind Boateng, got turned and Badstuber lost his mark. Breaking that play down, had Boateng been outside to put pressure on the attacker, that guy never gets the chance to settle the ball let alone turn toward goal. Boateng had no business being in the middle as a LB on that play. The play was already to his side, so there was no transition he was caught in like they were switching fields. Boateng simply screwed the pooch and was out of position. Huh? The SECOND goal? Dude, there were three players back and Balotelli. The the two players level at midfield with Mario were Lahm and Poldi. Watch the replay!!! Lahm goes to pull the trap, Mario makes his run, Poldi just sits there and watches him and he gets behind both. Piggy was the last guy in that scenario and he did not see it either. I am all for slamming guys when it is warranted, but you need to see the replay again. You are blaming the wrong guys. Badstuber is only marginally wrong on the first goal...that is mostly Boateng who f'd that up. The second goal is all Lahm and Poldi. Re-watch it and see.
I have said it that many people just come on here with an agenda that doesnt even agree with the real gameplay. 2nd goal There was a corner Hummels, Boateng and Bads went for the header since they were our tallest guys. Italy countered and Ballotelli got ahead of Poldi and Lahm who were our emergency backs Now back to the question: How did Hummels and Badstuber get destroyed on that move?
No question Hummels could have done better on the first goal but he clearly came into that space because Boateng was out of position for the second time within the first 20 minutes. It was poor play by him, simple as that. His first two matches were excellent but his weaknesses exposed. As a fullback all he did was run up the field, wait and cross. No intention to cut into center or take on players. We desperately need to alter the way we use fullbacks. They are way too conservative.
You are right that Boateng was initially too far from the guy. But despite that, things were still relatively under control. The problem really started when Hummels was too naive when he defended Cassano. As a center back, there is no reason why you should let a guy turn to the inside. No reason. He was overzealous and thought he could get the ball so he took a risk to come for it aggressively that he shouldn't have. Now, in his defense, Hummels might have assumed that with Boateng being so close, he would get some help. I also believe that he slipped. But still, under no circumstances should the CB let someone turn inside into the box so easily. It would have been much better to contain him and push him back to the wing or force a pass. That was horrible defending.
Agreed. And under no circumstance should Should a CB let a striker move him and win a head like Badstuber allows Baloteli. We have a young defense...these mistakes will happen.
Focus from this match should not go to central defense even though two goals came from it. It's the obvious reaction and it's evident they are inexperienced. There are other problems that are far more glaring.
Yes. At least jump. The goals were avoidable, that's why I am so upset. I don't mind losing to a clearly superior team, but it hurts to lose when you could have won the game and pissed it down the drain.
After re-watching the goals again, I take back my comment and I'll replace it with "holy shit, the entire team f*cked up defensively". First goal: Boateng is actually the least culpable of all. Pirlo passes it to Chiellini (the freaking Center Back), Chiellini holds it on for a second and gives it quickly to Cassano while Boateng is applying pressure. In the beginning of the replay you see that guarding Cassano is Boateng's responsibility but he get's pulled out because of Chiellini so it's kind of weak to call him out on not being outside to guard the Center back and cut out the eventual pass. Moving on. Once Cassano recieves the ball, I believe Hummels and/or Khedira are at fault here. Khedira should have been the one that closed down Cassano and Hummels should have stayed back. And that's why I blame Hummels for rushing in without a second thought when he should have left that to Khedira and should have been covering the middle or Chiellini. From then on it's history, Hummels get's turned inside out by Cassano and Badstuber gets outmatched physically. Second goal Here I have no idea what the f*ck is going on in anybody's brain. Boateng has succesfully recovered to the fullback position, Schweini and Poldi are left out of the box to defend I guess. But then they try to set the offside trap but Lahm has still either A) not recovered or B)not seen the outside trap. So yeah, my bad it wasn't Holger and Hummel's fault for that. I didn't remember they were recovering from a corner and I thought Schweini and Poldi were actually the 2 CB's. Bayer_fan what agenda do you think I'm trying to push here?
Boateng the least to blame? He next to Hummel and not even in his zone why? That's the whole reason the defense was sent scrambling. He f'd up. 'Nuffield said.
You're right, most of the sensible people didn't expect much of him but a guy 101 caps should have done better than this, even if it is Podolski. The other guy is Schweinsteiger, partially because of his injury, but good lord was he poor this tournament. He was in his own head that was obvious and he couldn't get out of it. Everyone else performed up to expectation or above it as far as I'm concerned.
Can we add loew as flop of the tournament.. That plan and lineup was just wrong, he was trying to outsmart himself.. Why not just stick with what was devastating and working.. Reus Ozil muller Gomez Then schurrle and Klose to keep the pressure and momentum.. You could see how relentless we were in the 2 nd half.. Those 2 goals were not in the game plan.
In hindsight, my vote for flop of the tournament goes to Löw. He really f*cked up the tactics in the semi-final, which ended up costing us. Of the players that played more than 1 game, I think Poldi was the weakest - but that, of course, was no surprise to anyone (except Löw, possibly). I was most disappointed by Schweinsteiger - really bad tournament from him overall. I understand it was probably due to injuries and his mental state after the CL loss, but I think he could've stepped aside and let someone else start in his place if he knew he wasn't at 100%.
Has to be Löw as I've hardly ever seen a coach to get the match plan for a semi-final so wrong and so quickly turned up side down. Also his constant man crush on underperformers like Podolski gets him this nomination
Loew no doubt. I don't expect Podolski to do well but frankly his bad performances exceeded my expectations.
Well, Jogi has to take some blame for this semis for sure. My impression is, that he was kinda overchallend to sort all of this great players to a real starting 11. He didn´t know who to choose and started a weird rotation.
Not much more to add here. Low for the poor tactics in the semi-final (we've gone over it more than enough in the SF game thread, no need to repeat the details here...), followed by Poldi for the abysmal display each game. Schweini gets a dishonorable mention, but it's hard to blame a guy that wasn't 100%. Some of that blame has to fall on the coach.
Well the player probably said he was good to go so the blame goes both ways. Should have never started.
Schweinsteiger first said that he wasn't entirely fit and was still fighting his ankle injury, which hadn't fully healed up. That was 2 or 3 days before the game. He actually mentioned that he'd be fine with sitting on the bench, thus basically inviting his coach to replace him for the sake of the team. One day later, he suddenly stated to be 100% fit - which he clearly wasn't.
Right. Schweinsteiger clearly takes come of the blame. He was over-eager to play, over-eager to turn over the disappointments of the club season but it shouldn't come at the cost of the team. Poor leadership on his behalf.
Mueller and Podolski underperformed the most for me. Schweinsteiger also underperformed but I'm not so surprised with all of the injures that plagued him this year As much as I hate to say it, this is probably the end of the line for Podolski. He'll probably win some calls to the National team for the WM 2014 qualifiers but he won't start and will eventually be dropped even if he sparkles in London
He needs to be dropped from the starting 11.. Our focus should be this combo.. Gonez(if they can even find a system for him) Muller-gotze-schurrle-reus-Ozil Khadira has sealed his position for life for me, he was the biggest boss in the midfield period.. Kroos is great and can sub in for piggy or khadira depending on tactic.. The back four is ok but would like to sort out if a better LB option if possible.. Neuer is the biggest beast in the world... Loew needs to stick with what works, no more favors for anyone.