Can we stop with the Oezil hate? It's downright moronic. He covers more ground than most players. The laziness if your inability to dissect a ********ing football match. He should continue to be the first name on the team-sheet every match.
For the qualifier against F. Islands I really would like to see this; Neuer Lahm hummels badstuber schmelzer( we really need a natural LB, so we gotta integrate him more) Khedira kroos (piggy will still be healing) Muller Ozil gotze Reus Schurrle in the 60th or half time Benders for M/D Klose if they want too in the 70th
I'm totally in line with this formation except I'd really not like to see Kroos in the starting eleven any longer.
Why exactly? Kroos does a great job whenever he is on. He was the CM for Bayern all season and did a great job there too, what exactly is the issue?
Ok, there seems to be a lot of debating with little substance. 1. Schweinsteiger at his peak is our best player on the pitch. Yes, he had a horrid Euro2012, at least by his standards. Barring his good display against a mediocre Holland, he was pretty mediocre. However, is it any surprise we've never played as well as we have in the WC2010 or Euro qualifiers? People are so quick to blame Oezil, and just as quick to allocate the entire ingenuity of the team to him. Truth is, Oezil doesn't link up defense to attack, he doesn't retrieve the ball, he doesn't control the tempo of the game - it's not his job. Schweini however, does keep the ball. He does create assists, score and he breaks up play wonderfully. Unfortunately, his injury seems to be chronic, but there's no doubt that when fit he's probably our most vital component to the NT. Him and Oezil make up 2 brilliant but radically different aspects to our game - its unfortunate that no one seems to notice that we don't have anyone, not Khedira or Kroos, is can play the way Schweini does. I honestly believe that we'll need to see how a fit Schweinsteiger plays with Reus, Khedira, Oezil, Schurrle and Klose and then we can make conclusive decisions about how good/bad we are. The only thing I walked with yesterday about Ozil was that he's not a game-changer, what else is new? We don't have a Messi, Ronaldo, Ronaldinho or Ibra.
"any longer"? He was a starter between the WC and the EC as CM and in that time we were very successful (including some of our best NT performances like the games vs Brazil or the Netherlands). Then he lost his place at the EC and now against Argentina but I can't really say that the performances in the EC or now in this game were an argument for his competition.
You guys read too much for the game you played 10 men most of the time. Germany attacking power still scared me to death up until the own goal which seemed to turn the game around. Reus was excellent and very mean around the box, Oezil was so smart with his ball distribution especially in launching counter attack, Klose showed he has so much to offer despite not at his best, Bender-Khedira and Boetang did well to support the attack. Anyway, I don't think Schweinsteiger is the key part of the NT anymore. He hasn't been been the main part of the the team since the end of WC 2010. The team aced the Euro qualifying without him in most games and still looking impressive with the three of Klose, Oezil, and Mueller on form. The three of them were also impressive in a friendly againts Netherland without Schweinsteiger. The NT best game in Euro 2012 is vs Greece which was the match where Schweinsteiger was flop of the match (at least for Germany side), that spoke a lot about how important he was to the team. Please don't say it's only Greece, if it's so easy to perform vs Greece why then the mighty Schweinsteiger didn't manage to look good at that game. Kroos and Gundogan have what it takes to play Schweinsteiger's role IMO, they just need consistent time to play there. Your attacking power has been your strength since WC 2010 and it still that way in Euro qualifying. Prior to the Euro though, there's some major problem on that. Mueller hasn't been at his best since he's riding the bench in the club last season and that affecting his performance in the NT. Klose with his injury here and there was simply declining and aging. Oezil for all his brilliance is not one army man and need consistent partner to perform with him and click with him. I think Reus-Oezil can work it out together, it looked promising yesterday even with 10 men. Reus took more risks than Mueller but quite sloppy with his passes sometimes but that can be fixed. If Mueller can recover his form he can join the two to be the focal point of Germany attack, I doubt it'll happen if he still struggles to start in the club though. Maybe Schürrle, or Goetze can fill in then.
You're criticizing Schweini's play for being hurt. He didn't struggle against Greece because he's no longer a boss, but because he wasn't healthy.
I don't think he's a CM. Not in a two man midfield. He is an odd player because he isn't a modern double-pivot CM or a #10 like Oezil or Kagawa who find pockets of space and penetrate from all sides. He may yet become a fully rounded CM but he lacks the positioning and the tackling. It's not surprise his best performances have come in a three man midfield against Madrid because he isn't shackled deep. i think he has yet to find his role but more importantly I think he is continually misused or slotted in because he is gifted and can fill some roles but nothing yet that has made him truly shine consistently.
And this thorough analysis comes from 20 minutes of gametime? You've chosen a very small sample size to look at. How about our incredible run of games in the world cup? Is it even arguable that Schweini's balance between defending and attacking was an enormous contributor to our stability as a team? Again, Schweinsteiger played in about half of our euro qualifiers, and the difference was always imminent. I don't know where you get this, Kroos and Gundogan are nowhere near as good as schweini, at anything really. They don't have the experience, nor do they have the mentality at this point either. Agreed with this, except Klose is just as brilliant as he ever was. He is the indisputable starter for the club.
If there's a player he can emulate its someone like Xavi or fabregas. He's attack minded, but not the type to go in for an aggressive tackle, though he does break up play, wonderfully. Simply put, I think he's a tremendous player with exceptional qualities and you're too quick to judge. Remind you last season was only his second full season being used as a #10. I think we'll be seeing much more of him in the next two years, he's 22 and still has time to shine - he just didn't develop at the rate Ozil has, and he's not a genius in the same sense either.
I think Iniesta is a good model because of his transitional properties. Kroos doesn't have the individual abilities or the penetrative ones but like him. Like I said, Kroos is not there yet to be a CM but maybe that's what he's being molded into. I think that would be a waste. Similarly it's hard to imagine him becoming an Özil type playmaker. A lot of it will depend on his development at Bayern and how he continues to be used. I don't think any favors have been done to him by constantly switching him around, in terms of finding stability and focusing his development but it can be a good thing if it allows him to grow into an all-round player. The risk is that can take quite a while and we will not see him perform superbly on a consistent basis as a result.
No, as I said, he's more like someone who passes the ball around, breaks up play and find the occasional through pass. He can definitely pass the ball and create assists, not as well as Ozil can but he's the best at what he does. Kroos is more well rounded in that sense, maybe he doesn't fit with the current NT setup atm, but we'll have to see him this season to really judge.
I don't know what you are disagreeing with. I said he doesn't have Oezil's penetrative game and isn't mobile enough to play as that kind of playmaker.
My disagreement was with the fact that Kroos can feature in the starting lineup at some point, he's just too young atm and hasn't been given enough game time.
Rough start for NT for our second and third goalies. Zieler - 3 goal conceded in his first game, red card after 30 minutes in the second. Ter-Stegen - 5 conceded in his first game, three in the second. Of course they can thank the defenders for that. When did this NT become so arrogantly complacent both in attack and defense? They attack like they have years to score, they defend like they play against Faroe Islands all the time. I wouldn't be surprised they'll concede against real Faroe though. I remember how the team defended while playing 10 vs.11 in Moscow with 80 thousand fans chanting and singing. It wasn't this exact team. No young geniuses in attack bar Ozil, no best defenders of BuLi at the back, with Ballack and Adler. And Boa getting red card in his first game for Germany with 30 minutes to play in a decisive game. Russian comm said in frustration, "They can defend with 10 against us easily, not big deal for this team. They know their game perfectly". No way this current team would be as compact, careful and wise. I feel they've started to live on reputation only.
They're for sure in official games. They defended good at Euro they just need more consistency and this is a classic disadvantage of youth. And in fact the team didn't grew the last years, Löw is always forced to get in the new young star. It's not wrong anyway because these players are simply more talented than their predecessors but it's some kind of arrgoance to believe they are world beaters yet or will be in 2 years.
Agree. Schweini is Kaka of Germany. At this point, based on form, contribution, trophies, and merit Gundogan is the best centeral midfielder in Bundesliga, period. It is just pure politics/fovortism to have Bender start ahead of a player like Gundogan. This sends the wrong signal to many great players with dual citizens. Take Belarabi for instance, a striker with great potential and someone Germany could benefit down the road. Bel is due to make a decision later this year and I am sure he will have no reservation in playing along side of Ozil, but for him to get there he needs to know that there will be a real competition for starting positition. Starting Bender or out of form Sweini over someone who has won two domestic cups, been the most influential CM in Bundesliga is not a good example to set.
I am hoping Bayern fans win something so soon. U guys are over the edge literally. Ozil is not a game changer cuz "u noticed" in the first match of the season that "he is not a game changer" and "that is the only thing u walked away with yesterday" lol. Did u also notice Ronaldo wasn't a game changer yesterday?
^^ Exactly. No one performed how they can or how they should in their first and very serious game of the season. How come Mesut is the one to blame for that draw? There was 11 men on the pitch. I noticed an abnormal number of head-crashes from RM players including very strange one with Iker and Pepe involved, one that left them both dazed and contused. Pepe in result will even miss Super Copa. For me it was a sign of lack of concentration, not sign of passion.