German National Team News & Discussion Thread - Run up to EURO 2012 [R]

Reus made an exceptional pass today, he's really at the center of a lot of this.

Takes my vote for best player of the season thus far.

 

He has a much bigger chance after the Euros's, not entirely sure how he would fit in besides a backup player anyways atm.

 

Same here. There's no question really. I think at least four other Gladbach players including one of Stranzl/Dante, Ter Stegen, Arango, and Hanke could easily make the Team of the Season as well. Simply put everyone has been excellent. It's a shame they will lose three key players in the summer and most likely even more in the coming years.

 

Hermann has looked great as well, speaks to the terrific work done by the DFB really. We have more youth players now than ever and its reaping dividends.

I thought Kroos would have been the best player this season, but clearly my prediction is completely wrong - Reus is by far top quality at the moment. He could have even made a move to England.

 

Merte hurt his ankle playing on one of the absolute worst potato fields of a pitch I have ever seen in my life in the Premier League (Stadium of Light). Absolutely brutal.

 

Huh? As a room cleaner, or prime minister, or...?
Why should he move to England, and what's so great about that?

 

Seeing as how this is the kind of forum where we are encouraged to not only contextualize performances but create excuses for them, too, I would say that Reus is performing with a different set of expectations and blah and blah and blah that has obviously created the optimal atmosphere in which he can flourish. Kroos, and the mess that is Bayern right now, is not. He hasn't actually had any bad performances yet, just lackluster showings that are clearly the results of the issues Bayern is having to deal with because of this and this and that and that.

 

Who is he going to call instead of Merte...



Tasci.

 

What's our injury list so far who are going to miss the France game?

We have mert, gotze and piggy out. Anyone else?

I am hoping several of the following lines are used.

Lahm bads hummels boetang
Kroos khadira
Muller Ozil Podolski
Klose

Then half put in benders
Take out Podolski for schurrle
Klose for Gomez or even have reus play who knows

 

Poldi didn't play today either.

 

Is he injured?

 

He was. I think they've finally removed the cast, but he hasn't been playing for like three weeks now.

 

Well, we did win in EC 96 without Matthaeus.

Merte isn't actually world class. He emerged as a promising talent on the international scene with lots of potential circa WC06. Since then he hasn't improved much as a player. He's with Poldi in that respect. They've stagnated at a certain level. Whereas players like Schweini and Klose have improved year on year. Playing for clubs which do not believe in the concept of defending: Werder & Arsenal hasn't helped his cause either.

There are 2 distinct facets to this argument.
Will he be missed?: yes
Is he replaceable?: yes

 

That maybe so, but the frequency of poor performances when in the German jersey is substantially higher. Out of the top of my mind, I remember goof ups against Ukraine and Australia.

 

@ FR:

Fair enough. My post wasn't meant to be a critique of Hummels' ability. I was just saying that he isn't the consistent defender for the NT that he is in the BuLi. He still has the occasional gaffe for the NT.

He was good against Holland and Uruguay. But he wasn't all that great in the qualifiers. It was his miss placed pass that lead to an Austrain goal, IIRC in the 6-2 win. Not that it had any bearing on the result though.

Lets reserve our verdict till after the EC. Lets see how he performs when it matters.

 

Well until 2010, Schweini was in the "limited improvement" club as well. Then he took his game to a new level.

I think it's fair to say Podolski has done the same this season. He has never scored at anything close to this rate before.

 

I thought he did really well against Belgium, too (he was my MOTM), but all that shows is that he's inconsistent and in a tournament where he's now likely to feature in every single match, he should be able to produce the kind of top-level performance in all of them. His showing for the NT so far shows that that is unlikely to happen.

 

I think giving the back 4 constant full time in the next 3 friendlies will help solidify hummels and the rest.

Lahm bads hummels and boetang need to be with each other every game now till the euros

 

And for BVB, where he, at least twice, made crucial mistakes. Yes, he had a great game against arsenal - but against marseille for example, he definitely lost it a couple of times.

 

Boateng is a left back now? In that case, I think schmelzer deserves a chance he's been excellent.