Thomas Mueller has 7 goals in 10 games in the Bundesliga. Reus has 11 goals in 20 games in all competitions. Mario Goetze is very young but already you can see his big goal scoring potential. His stats are pretty decent and he makes great runs. More and more goals will come from him. Draxler is a goalscoring machine in the making. His shooting ability is unbelievable. Schuerrle needs to improve his decision making but his potential is big. Serge Gnabry and Max Meyer are two other fantastic goal scoring midfielders coming through. So we dont really need a striker.
I don't see why we have to stop relying on Klose once and for all until he stops performing at a high level. Until then I have no qualms starting him in front of Reus-Ozil-Muller. I do, however, like the idea of developing the strikerless formation when he's unavailable, rather than trying to change the team to suit Gomez or forcing Poldi into the position, working on this formation seems a good option. We created numerous chances before taking our foot off of the pedal in the second half, with our best players and some competitive match time in the formation those would start going in. If someone like Volland or Yesil explodes and becomes a player like Klose by the WC we won't need it and will be able to stick to the 4-2-3-1, but developing it as an alternative still wouldn't hurt.
I love Schweini..... but this may be a touch too far. I would not put him ahead of Xavi or Pirlo. He's top 5 in world when he's injury free, but he doesn't have the creativity to be in the same space as someone like Xavi. His biggest assets are his industry and intelligence. One name that hasn't been mentioned is Lars Bender - who in my opinion had a great game. He was solid throughout!
The positives out of the Netherlands friendly match are: Gundogan proved that he can be a reliable creative defensive midfielder who can keep the ball and do intelligent passes and he needs some experience to push schweinstiger out maybe in 2016 or when schweine isnt fit enough. Howedes is a very reliable and solid player who needs to play in central defence beside hummels. Bender also played a solid game. Finally i wish Low put Draxler in the beginning of the 2nd half.
Are you joking? Maybe in 2010 when he was fit and hit his peak but schweini now is woefully short of that.
To those that are mad about this alternative formation... Klose will be too old... Poldi is useless up front and Gomez does not fit the NT style, as great as a striker he is. Bayern have robbery and play by the wings to pass to a poaching Gomez.. The NT play through the middle more and play much more of a link up play, which doesn't suit Gomez style... So we are left with no real option but to adapt...since we can't rely on Klose forever and we have no idea who will step up in the striker situation AND integrate into the NT at the highest level in time..... This is that we are left with; adapting an alternative style and practice it as much as possible. This way we aren't caught with our pants down come WC... So I am not sure why the complaining and being mad about it.
Have you even watched Bayern play this season? Serious question, because if you had I don't know how you could possibly rate Gundogan or Pirlo above him. I only got to see the second half of this match because I forgot to set the Tivo before heading to work yesterday. That being said what I did see was just incredibly awful. No movement, no creativity, no goal threat, and massive technical errors and passing failures. If Gomez was playing and the team performed like this there would be a ********ing witch hunt going on in here.
We played to have an injury free, passive and easy game. It's clear both teams wanted to just get it over with without effort or incident..
How overrated is Gundogan in this forum is ridiculous.I mean he is great prospect but he still need to improve.50% Schweini is better than him. Gundogan to take Schweini position lol. Let's say that Schweini gets injured or something still Gundogan will not be first choice for that position
At this point Pirlo has passed Xavi. Xavi of two years ago was the best midfielder in the world, but Yaya, Pirlo and a healthy Schweini have all passed him as he's slowed down.
Gundogan should be first choice if Schweini's hurt. He's really the only other top class DLP we have.
I find it interesting that when people reference Schweini's qualities they feel obligated to say a "healthy" Schweini...I think that says a lot.
That all seems to stem from the second half of last season where he faced a series of injuries. He was in great form from 2009 to 2011 when his clavicle was broken. This season he has been on top form again now that he has healed from all of the injuries during the second half of the 2011/2012 season. Even playing with an injury he completely bossed Real Madrid's midfield, so I think all this "when he is healthy" talk is overblown. For the record I think Guendogan is a great prospect and very talented, but he is significantly overrated on these boards.
lol at Pirlo being better than Schweinsteiger. Guy takes way too much time on the ball and his defensive qualities are nowhere near Schweinsteiger's. Don't base it off an injured Schweinsteiger vs Pirlo in the summer along with Loew's horrible Bundesliga II level tactics against Italy to base your judgements on the player. The only player in that position better than Schweinsteiger is Xavi, and that's not too bad considering he's probably one of the 3-4 best ever in that position. He's the heartbear of a team that won 3 CLs, 2 Euros and 1 WC.
Is that people are saying? You can always rely on fans to say the most hilarious things depending on form. I remember Fritz was also an amazing choice before the Euro 08 in here as well.
Pirlo and Schweinsteiger are not good comparisons because one is a retainer, the other has become an all encompassing retainer and deep lying playmaker. Pirlo's current form, in the latter stages of his career is testament to his greatness. History will probably also be kinder to him, and while Schweinsteiger can still have a great impact, Pirlo's legacy is already carved out. Schweinsteiger had only one great season and he's in his late 20's. He only started playing in midfield two years ago so he has a lot to prove still. For me there's no question, Pirlo is superior, but after him and Xavi, on form Schweinsteiger is probably the best.
Pirlo's certainly not the defender Basti is or as capable to get forward, but he's a better passer and he's been played in the perfect role with both Juve and the NT, as he's got multiple hard running mids around him so that he has time and space to spray those fantastic passes of his. I actually think he's got a much more solid case to be ahead of Schweini than Xavi, who's noticeably slowing down. Yaya Toure's hands down the best midfielder in the world right now for me. He's just an absolute boss, defensively, linking the team vertically, around the box, he's just an all around terror and the single biggest reason Citeh clinched the EPL last year and why the Ivory Coast will be a threat at the next WC.
Schweini is just as good as Pirlo passing wise imo. Serie A is in a crapfest atm and the weakest in my lifetime, not really the proper barometer for a team/player playing well, especially Juve who seem to get an abnormal amount of referee decisions go for them. Schweini is a better retainer, better defender, runs more and is more dynamic along with having the same passing ability (where we disagree). His passing % I would imagine would be very similar, but if Pirlo was so great, they wouldn't be in the situation they have been in Europe the past few years, and the reason that Milan sold him in the first place. Schweinsteiger is known for good vertical and long passes and switching the field from the left side to the right and vice versa. As for Yaya, he's a monster but I still rate Xavi and Schweini more than him. They are simply much better retainers and can control games while Yaya dominates them, it's far less frequent then the other two. I would say Xavi, Schweinsteiger, Yaya, Pirlo would be my list, though I'm sure I'm missing one another. Don't really rate Pirlo anywhere near as much as the other 3, as I think all are quite a bit better. I can't really rate someone that does well in Serie A right now because while the league is more even (considering the big teams are now just as weak as the teams they normally would be far ahead). Just look at Milan & Inter.