What are fans for if not to call the referee a f@ggot, make fun of the rivals and doubt every decision the coach makes ???
The problem is not CL or other competitions - the difference is home and away. Did you know that Gomez only scored one of his twelve goals in the CL last year on foreign ground... And that his away goals in the Bundesliga of last year were 3 goals at Kaiserslautern (the first two penalties), 2 goals in Stuttgart (somehow his second home ground - in the cup his only away goals have been in Stuttgart and a penalty against Braunschweig), a goal in Augsburg and a penalty against Hertha. In the 26 away matches of last year he only scored 11 times - 4 of it penalties - in 7 matches... Sometimes it is better to look into it more closely than just to see absolute figures. That is 17 away matches in which he was useless... - he is not the type you need when it is getting tough but then when everything in the team runs smooth and he than can catalyze that in masses of goals. At home it does not matter so much who plays - it is the away matches that are very critical. And we lost last years Bundesliga not at home but away where we had only 17 points after 10 away matches - compared to 28 now. (after 11 away matches it was 18 last years - if we win tonight it will be 31...) Müller has 9 goals away this year and Mandzukic 7. With Müller it does not matter if we play home or away - he has had the most away assists and goals even in his last bad year and has made 55 % of his goals and 57 % of his assists away from home. And Mandzukic did about 50 per cent of his goals away already at Wolfsburg last year - and does the same this year...
We have all been Donauwelle'd!!!! Nice post. It is clear to me there are two things developing with Jupp: a) rest is something he can appoint once the Bundesliga is completely decided, and with the opportunity to go 18 points clear and one week closer to the end of the season, he is going for the jugular. Good for him! b) he is and has been designing a "home" CL team and an "away" CL team. Mueller for instance is better on the road than Robben (in my book). Mandzukic provides the defensive work flow necessary in Jupp's away fixture system, and Mario is king at home. blah, blah, blah. c) as a last point, the unpredictability of this "home" and "away" lineup is something that could pose some tactically preparatory problems for the opposition. I get it.
I do not think he has a line-up for the CL. But he does the experiments at home and not away. Like giving Robben and Gomez match time against Schalke. He e.g. never let out Müller at away matches apart from the cup match against Augsburg and he only changed him out twice - defensively. At home in the Bundesliga he has 643 minutes of 990 minutes - away he has 888 of 900. Müller / Robben is not a question right now. Not if you hear Heynckes press talks. He has his A-team right now and he always emphasized lately that he has made the mistake to bring Ballack for the sake of his name at Leverkusen when he actually had the feeling to count on Bender... I do not think he will build his fate on Robben - but he needs him in good shape for the rotation for all three positions and the matches in which Ribery is missing. Müller is the one for the tough matches and tough situations. I would not be surprised if Kroos would be on the bench today - or at least be subbed early. Ribery might get a break next week in the Bremen match to try out a formation for the cup game in which he is booked. Kroos and Müller are needed in the next three matches and as Robben had to get match practice for the cup match and Müller had played 89 minutes against France he got the break last week in a home match. Heynckes formations right now make sense. ----------- You know what Donauwelle is, or? I hope you are not hungry anymore...
Damn, now I get Donawelle'd!!! LOL. Great post, and accurate. I am sure I am overstating it, and your analysis makes perfect sense. Experimentation with lineup should be on home ground, in friendly supportive environment. Road games are where you see Jupp's true colors.
It is a Donauwelle - a wave from the Donau. A kind of cake - not a desert. And I cannot say it it is German or Austrian. The bottom is white and choclate dough baked with cherries. Then you put a cream out of cooked vanille pudding and butter on it - and on the top a chocolate topping. If you want to have a recipe I can translate you one. Yes. It tastes very well. I was hungry when I searched for my name for this forum...
Gomez has scored on 2 occasions last year, but I guess not including a CL qualifier needs your point to have a stronger ground , but his offensive game on away matches hasn't been as strong as the previous seasons. But Donauwelle, I wonder why you forgot to mention that he's scored in 3 out of the 4 CL away matches the season before that that season? And that his overall record when he finally became a starter at Bayern is that he's scored in 5 away CL matches out of 10? Gomez has 8 goals in 10 away Champions League matches with Bayern the previous two years, but maybe you can also find a funny reason like he scored more goals on poor teams which every single offensive player does (like Messi) to discredit that as well! However if you wish to really have an account for everything, we can conclude the year with Van Gaal where he started vs Fiorentina and Juventus away, 1/2 with one goal scored. And the two years with Stuttgart where he scored on 2/2 matches. 11/12: 2/6 10/11: 3/4 09/10: 1/2 07/08: 2/2 Total: 8/14 (In other words for 1/2 every game he has started in CL matches, he scores though his statistic is slightly better it's not yet a .6) 12 goals & 1 assist in 14 away matches in total in the Champions League for matches Mario Gomez has started, including his 4 CL games in Stuttgart. What does this tell you, that when you make up a nice little statistic it doesn't change anything and he doesn't have to prove shit to anyone in CL, because there's been at least for the past 2 decades, no German striker on his level at his competition, home or away matches. Next time you try to pamper statistics about a player to your liking, try to make it about someone people don't have a clue so it's not so easy to spot. Does this mean that Gomez is going to make rainbows come out of his ass, score 4 goals in London for certainly lead us to victory? No, but it does show that he is obviously a much better option than Mandzukic regardless if he can work harder because he's a fvcking not a defensive midfielder, so his km is less important than his primary role. There is also the reasoning of him not being match fit enough and this is currently the only reason why fake Mario should be considered or real Mario. It is true that Gomez could also be quite bad because he has been bad on some away CL matches (like every other planet on the planet), but considering what he has shown so far in his career over the 2 matches where Mandzukic was dire, it really isn't a competition. Now Hendrik, can you please be a great mod and move all this Gomez bs like my post and other related stuff to another thread so we don't have another mindless "all about the Mez" episode on every single thread. Danke!
I don't know what the point of all of this is. Gomez scores. So does Mandzukic. Likely, so will Lewandowski. The latter 2 offer more in addition to goals. That's the whole thing. If you want one more quick detail, I would love to see a statistical breakdown of Muller's effectiveness when playing with Gomez (or a "stationary #9) and when playing with one that vacates space and pulls defenders (Olic, Mandzukic, occasionally Klose but I'd be fine if he is excluded). To be fair, you could check on Ribery and Kroos as well. I don't think it's a secret that Muller's worst season came with Gomez firmly entrenched as the striker because all of a sudden there is no space for Tommy to exploit. As far as I see it, Gomez is a square peg for this team. He's a very good square peg, but he doesn't fit. I raved about Martinez when we were first linked with him and how he was the ideal DM for this team and it was the same situation then: Guztavo is a square peg. He is a very good square peg, but he doesn't quite fit. It makes sense to me to have players that bring out the strengths in everyone else and downplay their weaknesses. That's what Lewy will do and it is what Martinez has done after working his way into the team. With Gomez and Guztavo something is always "off". They are great players, so they will do great things, but you can tell that the team isn't as good as it could be.
love it!!! and I think JH has seen it as well. Gomez lags behind the evolution of this game, which has taken a path to prefer players that versatile and can do many things well in order to adapt to the changing strategy of the opposition.
Gomez is more of a straight forward striker than Mandzukic, though he doesn't get involved in a game as much as Mandzukic does. Game vs. Arsenal is perfect example of how a striker can play to fully benefit the team. Drawing Arsenal CB's out on the wing with him to open space in the middle for Kroos and Muller, great defensive work and an amazing workrate. I haven't seen link up play this good from any striker in a while now. I find Mario Gomez to be more 'clinical' than MM but Gomez can't play a striker the way MM played vs. Arsenal if he trained for million years. Gomez needs the whole team to work for his goals while Mandzukic plays football...plain and simple.
Some facts: Most covered distances ❶ Gomez 11,13 [23 Spieltag] ❷ Gomez 10,87 [21 Spieltag] ❸ Mandzu 10,83 [10 Spieltag] ❹ Mandzu 10,63 [03. Spieltag] ❺ Mandzu 10,35 [15. Spieltag] + playing time: Gomez: 356 minutes Mandzukic: 1446 minutes contacts: Gomez: 127 Mandzukic: 584 ► result: Gomez alle 2,80314961 Minuten mit einem Ballkontakt Mandzukic alle 2,4760274 Minuten mit einem Ballkontakt ahh.. and Gomez has 1 assist more than Mandzukic all competitions combined this season despite playing way less.