He was named a finalist for the Golden Ball today. And he did win the Golden Boot in 2010 and may very well repeat that in 2014. He is one goal behind James, but he has more assists and would win the award with one more goal based on that tie-breaker. Btw, he also won the Best Young Player award at the 2010 World Cup, and he's still only 24. You may "never admit that he's a good individual player", but you're setting yourself up to have a very minority opinion for many years to come. It's your right to put yourself in a box, but maybe it's best to keep an open mind? Your opinion is your opinion, so I can't tell you that you are wrong. However, I would suggest removing yourself from debates where your judgement may be clouded by bitterness.
My best XI, selected from the different lines. Manuel Neuer (Ger) Mats Hummels (Ger) stephan de Vrij (Ned) Raphaël Varane (Fra) Vincent Kompany (Bel) James Rodriguez (Col) Toni Kroos (Ger) Javier Mascherano (Arg) Thomas Muller (Ger) Arjen Robben (Ned) Karim Benzema (Fra)
If we're limiting the discussion to the World Cup, then yes. I wouldn't call Klose world class where one normally considers how a player plays for his club over the long term. On the flip side, there are a host of players I would call world class that tend to lay eggs in the World Cup. It would be hard to argue Klose's play when he wears the Germany jersey in a World Cup. The guy is money in matches for his country where much is at stake and when pressure is at its highest. In a tourney format, it's not just about demonstrated skill but about many intangibles. More than any other time, it means being tactically aware, fighting for your teammates, being unselfish, fast recovery time between matches, extreme composure, etc. I can think of many, many world class players who fail miserably in World Cups, and in large part, it's precisely b/c they are so good as individual players that cause them to fall by the wayside. In a nutshell, the pressure is too high and/or their team relies on them too heavily. Both Klose and Muller have demonstrated the worth to their country at the World Cup. I think that's very hard to deny no matter what you might think of them during the 47 months between World Cups.
Klose is a striker. Müller is an attacking offensive wingforward - he is every coaches dream. He is absolutely versatile and has a very high workrate - and the absolute sense for positioning. His off the ball movement is probably the best in the world - that is one of the first reasons why van Gaal promoted him. He makes the "pitch" a lot bigger for his teammates with his runs. And he has a goal+assist quote that is lower than one every ninety minutes - and that especially in the bigger matches and not against the dwarfs. He scored against all the big clubs that Bayern played against the recent 2 years - the decisive goals. If he is pressing he often really harms the build-up play of the opponent. You should look into the last 20 minutes against France in which - after his battery seemed to have recharged - a lot of the passes of the defenders and of the goalkeeper did not land at their supposed target. That is part of the match, too. Because of his unpredictability the opponent often does not know what he makes next - that is why his scoring rate is so big even if he is not the one with the biggest ball skills. But - he somehow can do it perfect under pressure... Your problem is that you just seem to look at the goals. But at the end of the day a goal is a goal - and if it would be so easy scoring this goals everybody would do it.
My top 10 are: 1. James Rodriguez 2. Arjen Robben 3. Lionel Messi 4. Muller 5. Keylor Narvas 6. Juan Cuadrado 7. Dimaria 8. Andres Guardado 9. Xherdan Shaqiri 10. Toni Kross I'm really impressed by juan Cuadrado. I think he will become a top wolrd player if play at Premer league
Muller plays a lot like... Every other German player on this squad. If you mention muller you should mention the whole starting 11. He is a product of a good German team. Put him in any other team and he becomes ordinary.
Here's my all-tournament squad: Neuer, Navas, Howard Gamboa, Zabaleta, Halliche, Yepes, Kompany, Medel, Hummels, Blind Mascherano, Moreno, Pogba, Robben, Vidal, Messi, Feghouli, Ruiz Rodriguez, Muller, Neymar, Suarez
Player / WC minutes / Goals / Assists Müller / 1030 / 10 / 6 Messi / 1045 / 5 / 6 C.Ronaldo / 1112 / 3 / 2 So apparently Messi and Ronaldo aren't individually skilled players, because they only score a shitton of goals with Barca and Real at their back. Everyone could do that. I mean come on even fools can see this kind of stuff.
pretty fair. i agree with most of the choices except for kroos and benzema. messi still scored 4 goals while having to do a crap ton of other work since no one else except for di maria stepped up. maybe vlaar over de vrij? that's just nitpicking though on my part.
Did Muller play today? He falls to 5th after today's display for best player of the WC: Rodriguez Robben Messi Neymar Muller Feghouli
1. James Rodriguez 2. Karim Benzema 3. Robin Van Persie 4. Manuel Neuer 5. Oscar 6. Phillip Lahm 7. Daley Blind 8. Matts Hummels 9. Stefan Van Vrij 10. Arjen Robben 11. Eden Hazard Nice team
IMO, in order based on performance James Robben Mueller Benzema Messi Neymar Schurrle Hummels Zabaleta Kompany
1. Robben 2. James Rodriguez 3. Muller /Neymar 4. Kroos 5. Messi 6. Mascherano 7. Campbell 8. Navas 9. Enyeama 10. Benzema
1. Arjen Robben 2. Thomas Muller 3. Lionel Messi 4. James Rodriguez 5. Robin van Persie 6. Toni Kroos 7. Neymar 8. Manuel Neuer 9. Bastian Schweinsteiger 10. Luis Suarez 11. Ochoa
1-james rodriguez 2-thomas muller 3-manuel neuer 4-robin van persie 5-lionel messi 6-neymar 7-arjen rooben 8-claudio mascherano 9-ochoa 10-navas
Well Van Persie did score one of the goals of the tournament against Spain, plus another one, and he helped Stefan de Vrij score. He was the man of that match. Also scored more goals in the knockout rounds. He is a great player. Second best player of Netherlands after Robben.
I give him his performance against Spain. 1 of the best in the tournament but what did he do after that game? He was Netherland's best player after Robben but I wouldn't rank him top 10 or starting XI. Now for a squad of 23, absolutely.
Van Persie doesn't make the WC squad of the tournament either. For forwards, Rodriguez, Messi, Neymar, Muller, and Benzema must come ahead of him at least.