The NT Players Performance and Ratings Thread 2011/2012

this^^ except that Kroos is capable of pulling the entire team behind him. He's 22 years old, there is still plenty of time needed for proper development, but Bayern must stand behind who might turn out to be a brilliant playmaker.

 

Lars Bender responds excellently to the NT callup, scoring 2 goals today. wonderful.

 

Lars is excellent. Probably best all around player in league this season. Can defend deep, and attack/link up when needed to.

 

I think he could be a perfect partner for Schweinsteiger. He has a good mix of Khedira's and Kroos' qualities. He has however the same problem as Reus, simply not enough time left till the EC to convince Löw.

 

I don't know how much convincing he needs. He was terrific last season as well and made an incredible step up this year. He has turned into a real leader and big game player.

 

Leow trusts khedira, who has a ton of experience already at the highest level. Lars is tremendous, but isn't in the right team, or old enough to really make an impression except if he is given a chance to play against France alongside Kroos.

 

I'm not saying start over him. Don't think it matters what team he is in either or how old he is. A good player is a good player no matter what.

 

Tell that to Schurrle.

 

But Schurrle isn't really playing like a "good" player, is he?

 

Low said it before, he trusts players with great mental strength which is why Mueller and Badstuber will always be a part of his squad. He was even surprised at how level headed Badstuber was which is partially why he features him even if he might not be good enough.

Bender will have to prove that he won't collapse when it really matters. It's one thing playing the BL or against a Barcelona team which is already going to win no matter what, and another thing to be a key component of a team heading to win the Euros.

Anyways, I think he's a very able contender for a spot. He's got an excellent reading of the game, has an eye for goal and runs all the time, fantastic.

 

He's been doing well in the last couple of matches and he's still a quality player, no matter how problematic the situation is at Leverkusen. He's proven that with the NT over and over.

 

I can't think of many young German players at the moment with greater mental strength than the Bender brothers to be honest. In fact, that might be their biggest strength.

 

They're fighting khedira for one spot, he's a player with a ton of quality. It will be interesting.

 

Terrific display from Lahm, Boateng and Badstuber today. Badstuber has looked increasingly competent off the ball as well by taking matters into his own hands and trying to score. Boateng with really intelligent movement as well.

 

lol you say that after you saw their defensive display against Basel. wow

 

Against Basel there were other factors which had more to do with rafinha moving too far forward and stretching us. Individually, both Boateng and Badstuber did fairly well, but they were too far apart cause boateng had to keep covering for Rafinha.

This is why fullbacks are central to the modern game, play is too fast, if a fullback runs up the field and doesn't drop back (and no one to cover him), defense is in a lot of trouble.

 

How long til another shocker from Badstuber though?

I don't think his mental strength is an asset at all. When under pressure, he's forced to make rash decisions far too often. It's a matter of time til he's sorted that out but as far as season performance has been it's not any better than last. Of course it goes without saying, the current club environment is absolutely terrible for him.

 

"another" shocker? I can't remember any real shocker by Badstuber this season. That's usually Boateng's thing.

He has been FAR better than last season and I don't see any problem with his "mental strength". I'm not even sure how you determine that but he hasn't made any critical mistakes so what exactly is your basis? (keep in mind that every defender in the world will make a few minor mistakes here and there)

 

What generally annoys me is his recklessness. Far too often he makes the wrong decision and commits himself early. Against Basel he made a tackle that was totally unnecessary, could have been sent off and could easily have risked his team. It's typical of youngsters to do this but Hoewedes and Hummels don't commit themselves like this. (Hoewedes being a slight exception because he's constantly asked to cover for two players at a time unfortunately)

In general I think he gets anxious over-agitated when under immense pressure, hence those challenges and the criticism of mental stability. It's something that will obviously be overcome with time - hopefully but it needs to be pointed out.

I'm also very curious to how his partnership with Boateng will affect him. Boateng being prone to these things occasionally as well will perhaps encourage Badtsuber to curb his game? That's why I think a perfect partner for him is Hummels because he's a calmer presence and a true leader.

 

How many blatant mistakes have vidic, ferdinand, pepe or ramos made during their careers? plenty. He's absolutely fine this season, very stable, conservative player.

 

I've watched every Schalke game this season, howedes has been marginally above average, the difference between him and badstuber this season is considerable. I think defenders in general are liable to criticism because usually it is up to them to prevent the other team from scoring.

If you look at the performances of top class defenders, you'd see similar situations occurring, this has more to do with being a defender than being so young.

Keep in mind Badstuber is very young, and typically, very few defenders at that age ever feature so often for a team challenging top honors. This speaks volumes about his mental strength actually, considering how he's been part of a duo that has conceded just 14 goals the entire season in the league, a remarkable record maintained - especially considering that Schweini has been away for over 2 months now, and much of that is because of Heynckes drilling concepts into the team.

 

I don't understand your point or the need for that statement. Ferdinand until he was in his mid twenties suffered from mental lapses as good as he was and it took a year for Vidic to form that perfect partnership with Ferdinand when he arrived.

Ramos and Pepe's flaws are quite obvious as well.

This is an observation of Badstuber in the face of comments that completely disregard this major attribute of his game. Inherently he's conservative but let's not be naive here. His temperament when under pressure have led him to make some outrageous tackles in the past and in the context of a partnership he's generally better when next to someone calmer and confident.

And keep in mind, Bastuber is in the most favorable position in the league, playing for the 'best' side and having more cover than most. I'm judging him individually, not in a collective. If we are to judge Hoewedes collectively he will come off very poorly for instance as you mentioned above.

 

What's with his "angry persona" by the way? It comes across as completely put on. Is he not being taken seriously on the pitch or something?

 

My point was that defenders have that tendency because their positions in the field demand aggression, this is an attribute of most defenders really.

Regardless, conclusion: Badstuber is a young defender who is talented, but will become better with time. He's not the kind of defender Phil Jones is, someone who can hit the ground running.

 

Grande Miro. Another winning goal for him in the 1-0 win against Fiorentina. Without him, Lazio would be 10th but they are 4th with same number of points as the 3rd udinese.