No one has ever argued that playing on the break can't win individual matches against teams who play in possession. The issue is that you can't play on the break when your opposition bunkers against you because you're more talented and have the target on your back. So Leicester's title & Athleti's success over Bayern & Barca, have little to do with about 99% of our NT's matches. We can take some lessons from them when we run into Spain; but in our other matches, what worked for them will do ******** all for us. And even in a lone match against Spain; I'd favor our chances of taking them apart with our attacking prowess, over our chances of sitting back & successfully praying that they are as wasteful as Bayern was in that tie...and that their coaching is as cowardly as Pep's was. I have a lot of gripes with Pep and those who refuse to ever critique him. But it's hard to argue with the results his football gets over a league campaign. In one-off matches or two-legged affairs the results are obviously more unpredictable. But over the course of a full league campaign you just can't argue the results. Sure he's only done what giant clubs are supposed to do, but it's something that giant clubs fail to do all of the time. Roma, Arsenal, Basel and Napoli are not CL contenders. And Mandzukic rotates with Morata as the second fiddle to Dybala...a smaller technical Forward... Mueller's a god at WC, but how is he an argument in favor of bigger strikers over more skilled & mobile ones?
Its always better to have more options than limit your game to "all-or-nothing" approach Obviously i realize the trend is to play with more possession. But as someone has pointed out, Leicester and Athletico Madrid have also achieved something with rather different tactics, they play more direct. to leave options open...is something we should consider. I think with Mario Gomez n Hahn in the roster, we can play some direct football when needed. I dont like the "obssession of possession". I would easily take out Podolski, Volland n Schuerrle if i was Loew RW) Mueller, Sane, Bellarabi AM) Oezil, Goetze LW) Reus, Draxler CF) Mario Gomez, Hahn I think this attacking combination is more than good enough
And I explained why Leicester and Athletico's recent success are completely different than what the German NT faces. Do you think Barca or Bayern would ever sit deep & counter against Athleti? Cause that's what all of our competition does against us. Sure it would be nice if other teams would come out and expose themselves for Mueller, Reus & Ozil to shred them on the break...like we were able to do in 2010. But that was 6 years ago. Teams aren't going to do that any more. Nevermind that we don't need a big lummox like Gomez to take advantage of teams who do let us catch them on the break; we're kinda really good at that already. We just almost never get to do it. That attacking combination would do a great job of playing into the hands of teams bunkering against us, but clogging up the box for our creative players, and giving them one less option to pass the ball to without losing possession. We've seen this countless times when Jogi has tried to force Gomez into the national team. If he could come off of the bench as a plan Joker then I can see the argument for giving him the Poldi role of team cheerleader & human victory cigar. But Gomez sucks off the bench, so he can't even fill the one role that he could be of use to us in.
I'd imagine Gomez coming off the bench to provide a more direct option when needed. Playing teams that pack the defense will always be an issue. Against a well organized defense the endless passing will be fruitless (2-3 passes and then lost possession) and frustrating. What is required is a dribbler. Someone that can regularly beat their man forcing the defense to scramble and create openings. A littbarski/Hassler type player.
Does he? I'm not so sure. He doesn't have a great hold-up game and relies on his movement, technique, and pace as opposed to aerial prowess or physicality. He's closer to Mueller than Gomez on the scale, no?
Shame we can't trust Jogi to give Dahoud his spot in the starting 11. Reus -- Mueller Ozil Dahoud - Kramer/Khedira/Can/Kroos Kroos/Weigl/Kimmich Schmelzer - Mats - Boa - Weiser Neuer and we'd be sitting pretty for the Euros even without Ilkay.
Hahn wouldn't hurt us if brought along, like Gomez would, as he actually could fill that plan-B/Joker role; but there's just way too many more-deserving forwards to chose from. A hot-streak over the final 3-4 games of the season doesn't move him ahead of them.
How is it true when the only parts of the classic big striker archetype that he fit were that he was tall? He wasn't a force in the air who jogged into the box & waited. He was a counter-striker who relied on his pace and his ability to beat defenders 1-on-1 in space to get in on goal alone. The big difference between el Nino & Reus is a few cm on their player profile.
I'm not so sure that the only type of player who should be considered a typical number 9 is Carsten Jancker or Oliver Bierhoff. We have Gomez if we need to make a change in tactics during a match. No need for Hahn IMHO.
The arguments for a "traditional" striker always revert back to having the physicality and aerial ability for the team to just thump it up to them; so I don't see why not. *shrug* ...but if we were forced to bring a "traditional" striker along, better Hahn than having Gomez remind people (yet again) of how disruptive he is to this team's ability to attack & score goals.
Lots of debate about Gomez here, but at the end of the day, if he is healthy, then I think he is very likely to be in the squad for the Euros, whatever anyone thinks of him. It is Löw's decision, not the fans. He is best qualified to judge who is and who isn't deserving of a call up. If he picks Gomez, that proves he is worthy of his place imo.
Yeah, appealing to authority is an especially weak argument when the authority you are appealing to is Jogi Low lol ...cause Poldi...
http://www.bild.de/sport/fussball/b...ld.html?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter Looks like Hahn will be called up to the NT's preliminary roster , in Loew we trust.
The team with the best deference wins you titles....See Spain/Italy and Germany in the last tournaments teams winning many games by 1-0 ... take it.