I'm 50/50 on Selke, sometimes he shows promise while plenty of other times he shows bad play and inconsistency. Will he make it? Who knows it's up to him. For now we have Werner and a bunch of late 20s/early 30s strikers to rely on.
After being part of the U19 Euros winning squad in the summer, Selke went on to have 9 goals during the 2014/15 season for Werder as a 20 year old. He was well on his way to continue with his breakthrough. However, he decided to go with the RB Leipzig experiment. First going back a step and playing in 2BL for a season. And then getting overtaken by Werner and others in the season after, and eventually falling out with the coaching staff. Some tough steps he has taken in the last 2 years, but he is still relatively young. Especially for someone at the striker position. He turns 23 in the Rückrunde. And Hertha spent what I believe is their club record transfer fee to get him to be part of their future. I think his target this season should be scoring about 10 goals or so. With the right mentality and work ethnic, there is still plenty of time for him to get back on track. And he should enter his prime towards his mid-20s right around for 2020.
and he has 0 caps for the NT. His chances really rely on players being injured to make the final 23 man team.
i think Tim Kleindienst made the right step to join Freiburg n now he has Streich's trust Kleindienst had a good season in 2BL last year. His finishing needs to improve but but he has something u want in a striker : physicality, ability to hold up the ball in final third, can interchange with other attackers n decent technique/pace. He pressed a lot VS Dortmund, looks like he can defend on the offensive end Hopefully Eggestein n Arp will play more later this season. Maybe Wintzheimer too if Lewandowski is injured With Timo Werner, Uth, Selke, Kleindienst n the two super talents we have in Eggestein n Arp, I think we are all set post WC We only need two strikers in the roster after all
it's good to see Germany finally getting strikers after so long. Over the last 10 years it's been basically aging Klose and Gomez and that's it.
It's been even worse than that. Since Klinsmman retired in 1998 we have had old man Bierhoff, Klose, ,and Gomez until now. Almost 20 years and only 2 top strikers.
I didn't look that far because I would rather pretend that most of the 90s never happened. WC 94, 98 were embarrassing, losing to Bulgaria and Croatia. Even early 2000s, with EC 2000 and 2004, GS exits.
I think Timo Werner, Johannes Eggestein, David Otto, Fiete Arp, Jesaja Herrmann (if he gets his issue with Wolfsburg sorted)... have serious potential to be top strikers. I don't know Pohlmann's position now, maybe he prefers to play at RW now, but we have to see his development Werner n Arp in particular will be world-beaters. N yes Youssoufa Moukoko too. Even if his real age is 16-17.... he's just way ahead of other players at the same age
CL Liverpool, Karius and Can start Man City: Sane and Gundogan on the bench (seems like Sane still isn't a starter this season) Real: Kroos on the bench RB: Orban, Demme, Werner, Klostermann, Halstenberg start Dortmund: Toljan, Dahoud start while Castro, Gotze, Philipp all on the bench still not that great when it comes to Germans starting GS1.
that leftwing position doesn't seem to be doing well currently. Reus-Injured until January Draxler-mostly benchwarmer Sane-benchwarmer Schurrle-Injured Younes-Regular Gnabry-Starter/benchwarmer as he had injury problems. Younes seems to be the only one that's a starter.
just like last year, German clubs are doing pretty badly in Europe. Even worse as only 3/4 CL teams made the CL. Freiburg-out EL Qualifiers Hoff-Failed to make the CL GS and then lost in EL GS1 Koln lost 3-1 to Arsenal Hertha drew 0-0 Dortmund lost 3-1 RB drew 1-1 Bayern had an unconvincing 3-0 win vs a 10 man team gotta say from that list there aren't really many positives for now.
True, particularly disappointing for Dortmund and Hoff, especially the latter. Braga are no world beaters. I think Bayern will easily qualify, RB have a good chance too, they have a very open group. Dortmund will need to win at home to Real and Spurs to get through, which is possible but very tough. In the EL I think both Hertha and Hoff should be able to qualify, Koln have a chance too but will need to improve their form first.
just read that Hector is out for potentially 3 months with an ankle ligament tear. So he'll miss both the EL games and the last 2 WCQ. now I'm curious as to who will play left back? Plattenhardt? Toljan?Gerhardt? Anyone else?
I prefer Plattenhardt since he can provide some threat on the left, and very good in set-pieces It's a wake up call to Loew. He hasn't developed a backup plan for Hector in the last two years (well ... not consistently) That's a bad news. At both fullback positions, we basically have no backup plan I think Loew will go with Gerhardt tho. He has some ballplaying skills n is a lefty.
90s were a great decade for German football. 90 WC winner, 92 EC Runner up and 96 EC Champions . WC94 Germany were leading Bulagaria 1-0, scored a 2nd and was ruled out due to a rule no one had heard off before. Stoichkpov scored from a free kick that should have never happened - he was not fouled. Germany was in total control until they conceded.. and I think the ruled out goal affected them. WC98, team was ageing but still had fight in them with the ability to score at any moment. Germany was in the game against Croatia until we had a player sent off and it then Koepke decided to have an off day. Making the QF in both tournaments, while not going far by the NT's standard, is still a successful tournament for most NTs. Post WC98 until WC2016 were some of the darkest NT period, ever.
Maybe a good news it's not happen right before the WC so Loew is pushed to think and find an alternative for LB
yeah the 2 fullback position and striker have always been the problem. Especially if there are injuries or suspensions as the backups especially for fullbacks are inexperienced players. I think Toljan has a chance too, seems to have done well in CL. He's the only one playing CL football. Hector is in EL and with his injury will miss basically the whole GS. Plattenhardt is also playing EL, while Gerhardt has nothing. in other news seems like Weigl might finally make a comeback to the 1st team.
Well at striker position, we have a top talent in Timo Werner n a veteran in Mario Gomez as backup. That's ok Even Stindl, Sandro Wagner, Mark Uth n Max Kruse should be at least serviceable against certain opponents. And u can see some outstanding talents like Eggestein, Janni Serra, David Otto, Fiete Arp n even Moukoko have good potential. Someone not in the youth NTs like Daferner, Florian Kruger (injured before), Jesaja Herrmann and Bleart Dautaj are also very good. Fullbacks is more worrying. I m not a fan of Henrichs but of coz he needs time. N of coz other options like Weiser n Klostermann have not been tried also Maybe Toljan? He played well at LB for Dortmund VS Spurs but he hasn't been tried before. So yes, I think the fullback situation is worse
Klostermann was solid for RB while playing in the RB position in the CL game vs Monaco. as for Toljan, yeah he did well, even back at Hoff last season, him and Sule were key players on that team. At the U21 he was also one of the better players in the starting XI. Plenty of key goals were scored from his crosses. So he's as good going forward as he is defending. in the end of the day it doesn't matter if they've been tried before. As besides Hector and Kimmich, the rest all lack senior NT experience but now is the time. We have 2 WCQ in October and 2 Friendlies in Nov. That's 4 games total.
I m ok with Toljan or Plattenhardt Don't think Henrichs is ready for senior NT yet, n Gebhardt is as good as some might have thought Toljan has Olympic n U21 Euro experience, not the most significant match practice. But I think it's adequate as a backup fullback At striker, either Werner, Gomez, Stindl should do some damage. So I m no longer worried about the striker position. Post WC, we can have Mark Uth
concerning Henrichs I don't think he's fully ready and Bayer seem like they will struggle all season. But from the CC, Low does seem high on the kid.Seems like he's the current backup RB.
Pascal Gross with an assist as Brighton lost 2-1. Seems like the only creative player on that team is Gross. With 2 goals and 2 assists in the last 2 games.