By Euro 2012 we'll have a relatively aging Klose, who will most certainly not be at his best. Who do you think will take his spot? There must be someone who is to be as reliable and give the NT what Klose used to give. My contenders are Andre Schurrle Mario Gomez Stefan Kiessling
I still think Helmes is the best finisher among all the options we have. A really clinical predator inside the penalty box, and can shoot comfortably with both feet. If he can get fit, i think he should be considered; Schieber also has a great season, not just scoring goals but also creating chances for teammates and showing his talent in shooting from long range n aerial ability (both headers and volley). He was unfortunately injured 2 to 3 weeks ago, but i think he is also a very exciting prospect and one of the best young strikers in the entire Bundesliga this season. He's a tank and a typical no.9, i think he's the kind of striker Loew likes(especially he's from Stuttgart); Andre Schürrle had a great game playing as a CF VS Hamburg, and he's also fast, technically sound, calm, creative and is a good passer n finisher. Not sure if CF is his best position though since i see him as a "trequartista" (e.g. Bergkamp, Roberto Baggio, Del Piero, Karl-Heinz Rummenigge, Stoichkov, Raul, Mutu, Robinho, Arshavin, Kujt...etc), and he certainly needa bulk up and improve his aerial ability. But overall , he's still a great prospect, who has already scored 12 goals and currently the 4th top scorer in the league. Nils Petersen is a GREAT player in the 2BL, possibly the best player there. Not only of the amount of goals he has scored, just that he's a very allrounded player with GREAT potential. He's just 22 so i think he has room to improve. But we'll have to see how he performs in the 1BL first. Not saying Loew will not consider players from the 2BL, especially when our options at striker are rather limited, but when u consider some "midfielders" such as Podolski, Cacau, Schürrle and Thomas Müller can all play striker as well...I don't think the situtation is THAT desperate. Petersen will be a 1BL player soon though. I know many people have written off Jan Schlaudraff already, and i also doubt he's an option for the NT. But he has been playing well for Hannover this season, and i realize their games without Schlaudraff on the pitch is pretty different. Schlaudraff is a versatile yet VERY creative striker, his style is rare in the national pool. He has made a comeback, and even he may not be considered, i still think he's a serviceable player if he can stay away from injury like he currently is I think, after Klose, the following should be Loew's pecking order: Mario Gomez --> Lukas Podolski --> Stefan Kiessling --> Julian Schieber --> Cacau--> Patrick Helmes --> Andre Schürrle --> Nils Petersen --> Thomas Müller --> Kevin Kuranyi --> Jan Schlaudraff
From the Italy friendly it seems that Loew's preference seems to be Klose followed by Gomez followed by Podolski. All proven NT players, with the exception of Gomez. After that, I would probably take Schuerrle.
I don't think Helmes will ever become the player we all hope so I think he is out of the question. Kiessling is reliable in many ways but not the guy I think the NT can depend on down the road. Cacau isn't getting any younger. Gomez doesn't exactly fit the mold of the NT and questions remain whether he can replicate his club form at the NT level. In light of this I hope Loew tries Mueller up top or gives Schuerrle a go. I think those are the two best options having said the above.
Schieber was very close though, before his injury. And i think in general, he has a more allrounded game than Gomez as he can also create chances for teammates, faster, more technically sound and has very impressive long shooting ability. Schieber has the Stuttgart connection too, so i wont be surprised if Loew is actually interested. Andre Schürrle, unlike Thomas Müller, has played more at CF and made impressions. "Thomas Müller can play at CF" is just a myth, since he has only played there once or twice for Bayern throughout the season. I know Thomas Müller was a striker for Bayern's youth teams and even for Bayern II, but not sure about that at the top level. Actually both Schürrle and Thomas Müller lack the physical strength and aerial ability required for the lone striker up top. If its a 2-striker-formation, no doubt they can play as a second striker beside a towering targetman like Klose, Gomez, Kiessling or even Schieber though Schürrle's case scenario s more like Cacau, who's also better as a supporting/second striker. Loew played Cacau up top too( Klose's primary backup during World Cup), so we'll see if Loew will also play Schürrle as a lone striker
At this rate Schieber definitely deserves a shout as well. Definitely would be interested to see how he and Schuerrle would do in Europe. We'll find out with Schuerrle next year but not Schieber, unless Stuttgart sell him, which is still possible.
I'm a big fan of Schurrle. He started this season really well, and then faded a bit towards the end of the year, and had since rebounded. He put up a great performance against Bayern, but poor finishing really got in the way of his scoring more. But it sounds like he did really well this weekend. And with a transfer to Leverkusen next season, where he'll hopefully get to play in CL, I think the timing of his progress is looking good. One of the things I like about Klose is he so fit. I would never think he's an aging player. Against Argentina, he was everywhere. His positioning has always been so top-notch. And he's super strong. He just overcomes some of those CBs like he's bigger than he is. This is where someone like Schurrle is lacking. He looks physically fragile.
Schürrle is not physically "fragile", imo. He certainly needa gain physical strength but he rarely gets injured and has pretty good body balance. But where Schürrle will be playing for Leverkusen next season will be a big question mark. If Leverkusen sticks with their 4-2-3-1 formation, Schürrle may be playing on the flanks and he has Renato Augusto, Sam, Bernatta, G.Castro, Joergnsen and new signing Bellarbi to compete with; and playing Schürrle as a winger does not help the NT at all since there is a "log-jam" at the winger positions already. Leverkusen already have Kiessling and Derdiyok up front. Both are quality options and there is only one striker spot for Schürrle to compete. Bayern Munich have proven that one 2 CFs in the entire roster is more than enough if the team is playing 4-2-3-1(Klose is already complaining) Apparently, if Leverkusen change to a 4-4-2, i am pretty certain Schürrle will be a starter next to either of Kiessling or Derdiyok up top. But u just dunno what's gonna happen next season
When I said he looks fragile, I meant he doesn't look particularly strong. Re; Leverkusen. I've read some reports that the club is really looking forward to having Schurrle on the squad so I reckon, they will integrate him into a starting role. Whether that means changing the formation remains to be seen.
Schurrle can replace Castro as Left AM in Leverkusen. He reminds me of Thomas Muller a bit, but maybe because they both are young and agile, and around the same height(?). If he can excel as LAM, maybe he can challenge the Prince for a spot in the NT, because I think he is the better player of the two.
If you look back on some of my older posts, I'm the first one to challenge Poldi's placement on the team when he's not delivering, but to be honest, he's producing some of the best football I've seen him play in the BL in quite some time these last couple of months. I'd like to see him translate this into NT success.
The great thing about Leverkusen (under Heynckes) and Schürrle is the rotation and versatility. That makes him getting playing time not problematic at all. He can play anywhere in the top 4 as far as I'm concerned and there is heavy rotation in the Leverkusen squad anyways, even more while playing in 3 different competitions.
I agree. He has been playing really well in the last couple of matches. Let's hope he can maintain the form, and bring it to the NT
He's at his normal form since over a year, yet. This first half of season last year wasn't that exceptional though but all other strikers were worse. He's nothing special but I wonder how the media would praise him with the stats Gomez reached this season. This was one of the worst moments this forum had, when all in here were praising StolperStefan Kießling as a world beater. That was really embarassing.
True. But even Derdiyok doesn't look impressive anymore, not only because of his goal drought earlier this season, but his game in general doesn't look impressive Both Kiessling and Derdiyok do not seem to have high ceiling... It is still possible that Schuerrle can become their starting CF when he joins Leverkusen. He has the potential to become the best striker among the 3. Hell, he's probably the best already.
When did that happen? When it looked like he was going to win the torjäger kannone? It was impressive that his type of striker was able to outscore most others in the league. Don't remember much else beyond that. I think your memory is a bit off there.
What? You mean last season when he was runner up an almost won it if it weren't for a last match day goal by Dzeko?
No his memory is perfectly intact and correct, I remember the hilarity of it as well. I do disagree with you Dage, the most embarrassing of times was when Cacau was the new Pele in here, on how he was much better than Klose. Now THAT was on some whole other level!
I agree with that. Cacau looked good, but people exaggerated his ability. But I do think that this had to do with Kloses apparent bad form back then, everyone wanted someone to challenge his place in the first team. I totally understand that, though Cacau wasn't really the one. About Kiessling: I think it was something similar, there wasn't a lot of choice up front and Kiessling was in the race for the Torhägerkanone even in the second half of the season, contrary to what Dage said. Since Kiessling isn't the typical poacher but more a hard working allrounded striker, people were impressed and hopeful of course. On the general topic: I believe that Löw should try to integrate Gomez into the squad before turning to other players. If - and that is a big if, I admit - Gomez manages to translate his club performances to the national team finally, he should be the first striker for the foreseeable future.
Klose just manages to fit perfectly in the NT setup. With players on either flanks and plenty of support, he always managed to score those goals when it matters, regardless of whether the game is in the WC, Euro or against some minor country like Finland. I never saw Cacau as replicating that to be honest, though he is a good striker. Kiessling I am still hopefuly for, he has a good touch. Last season, he scored 21 goals, better than Podolski, Klose, and I think Cacau. It was a tremendous improvement despite the second half dip in form. I still have hope for seeing him in the NT. See Gomez today? The problem with Mario is that he is far too inconsistent and unpredictable. Now, he's been in tremendous form this season, but at any moment this form can drop to staggeringly low levels. He might be the NT striker one day, but I doubt Leow trusts him enough to do so.
Nils Petersen(22), Kevin Volland(18) and Pierre Lasogga(19) are all having a good season in the 2BL. Volland is playing at a very high level since he has been given a starting role; Lasogga is a tank and a scoring machine up top, he doesn't really do much other than scoring. Nils Petersen is just a great player in general Looks like the 2BL is a much better place to develop strikers, coaches are more open to implementing younger strikers in their starting lineups; whereas clubs in 1BL are more aware of playing these young strikers. Mlapa, Lennart Thy n Sukuta-Pasu did play in the 1BL but they're not even on their teams' bench lately, Schürrle can play regularly at CF is mainly because Szalai is injured and they have a rather small roster; Its just a matter of time when Wagner will become a benchwarmer again since he doesnt have the required quality for a 1BL player Now, i just hope some highly rated young strikers from the youth NTs such as Mlapa, Lennart Thy, Shawn Parker and Füllkrug can be loaned back to the 2BL side so that they can gain match practice. I doubt they can breakthrough easily in the top league, especially when clubs in 1BL genrally prefer using foreign strikers
