Projected lineup: Neuer - Lahm, Boateng, Mertesacker, Schmelzer - Khedira, Gündogan, Müller, Özil, Reus - Götze
I think schmelzer is our best LB ATM. He knows Reus and gotze well enough with Dortmund. Lahm knows muller from Bayern. Ozil can make anyone look good I think boetang/hummels can be a solid cb pairing. I really think we have something here. Plus the mass amount of talented depth in the middle. If things are getting ugly, we can put Gomez in 60th min and change the game. This is looks good for the WC.
lol u are expecting Gomez to change the game, he is a proven misfit to out NT's system as i said this NT have no other option/plan B other than going strikerless, thats sad. Klose is aging/injury prone n Gomez is a proven misfit. If strikerless fails, it fails n there is no alternative. Looking at the future, will germany produce their own top striker like EVERY OTHER NATION does? 6 years since Gomez's emergence n we still fail to find a NT calibre striker. there is a problem with our youth system and of coz the BL teams arent helping by investing heavily on foreign strikers. When will this end? I've always hear poster saying "he'll come soon"......but i've been seeing this for at least 3 years and nothing has improved. Sad for Germany. N i doubt strikerless will be the trend for the future. Cant imagine top clubs (other than Barcelona) selling all their top class strikers n go strikerless. It seems like strikerless is just a coverup of our striker drought in all these years
So what if it is? You have repeatedly pointed out that we don't have any world-class strikers at either the top level or in the system. Even if the development system was revamped today, it would take years to produce results. So we make do with what we have, which is an abundance of gifted midfielders. You had better get used to a midfield heavy team, because that's the way it's going to be in the near future. I think everyone here would love for us to have a world-class striker on the national team. But we don't have that right now. So we go strikerless until a time comes when we have one. You have to live with it, I have to live with, Jogi has to live with it.
That's not the long-term solution when all teams/clubs ( other than Barcelona) are still investing billions on strikers and heavily rely on them. Our players are mainly from Dortmund, BM, Arsenal and Real Madrid. They are play with a 4-5-1. Strikerless is not the trend people are trying to make it to be. Will Real Madrid, AC Milan, Man Utd, Man city sell all their too strikers? Team will still play with strikers in the future That's why I don't like the NT to play a completely different system to the clubs.
I have already... Got tired of listening to the same exact Head smashing against wall repetitive bullshit over and over again
Switch around Müller for Götze and I like it. The littlest guy on the pitch should not be the spearhead of the attack.
I am not saying that strikerless is a long-term solution; in fact, I believe all of us would like to see a German national team that can play both with and without a striker in the long-term. But short term it absolutely is the solution. You said it yourself: we do not have a world-class striker. We have an aging Klose, and an immobile Gomez. That's it. We don't have other options. So we have to make do with what else we have. Luckily for us, we have an abundance of world-class talent in the midfield, both at DM and AM. There's nothing wrong with not liking a strikerless formation, and I can understand the uneasiness caused by moving away from a more traditional system. But I also think it would be fairly ridiculous to ignore a system which would allow us to get all of our best players on the field. Right now is precisely the time to be testing it out, and it's going to take more than two and a half games.
This isn't a club, Kirsten. If it were, I'd be all for buying Suarez or Lewandowski and forgetting this strikerless formation forever. But that isn't how things work here. As it is, Germany is spoiled rotten in midfield. We have technically proficient, extraordinarily intelligent, versatile, goalscoring midfielders. Our strikers are lagging behind here. The obvious solution is a proven formation which has worked before if the players are smart and technically sound enough to figure it out. Spain has used it, Roma has used it, Barça has used it. Even freaking Freiburg under Streich uses it. Maybe, maybe not. I'm no tactical fortuneteller, but we have gradually seen the evolution of the striker role move closer and closer towards that of a midfielder. In any case, allow me to make something crystal clear; BE PATIENT. Eventually another option, whether that's Parker, Volland, Ronald McDonald, I don't care, will present itself. That option is not here yet. Is it sad we have no decent strikers that fit? Yes it is, but we have to deal with it for now and quit moaning about the alternatives. There's nothing that can be done at this point. It is Gomez, Klose, or strikerless. Would it be nice to have more options? Yes. Does that mean you have a license to whine about it all the time and wishing we had a German "Lewandowski" rather than jumping on board and realizing "these are our options, suck it up, move on"? NO. Notice how everyone on this forum, even those who aren't fans of a strikerless formation, is fed up with you because you continually pine for a mystery "Plan B" that is not forthcoming? You need to wake up and realize, they may have a point. Because no one enjoys talking to someone that just repeats the same points almost word-for-word regardless of the response in question.
And i wanna emphasize one thing: strikerless is NOT THE FUTURE of football as some of u want it to be Will top clubs like Real Madrid, Man U, Chelsea, Man City, AC Milan n BM sell all of their world class strikers and adopt strikerless? No. These top teams are astill gonna invest heavily on top strikers which are gold in football nowadays. All top teams are utilizing the 4-2-3-1 as do various youth teams through which of our National team players came through. Familiarity breeds consistency n that has very much been the case with this formaton over the years. If Nt goes strikerless n clubs dont, i see a conflict there. Players needa readapt the system for NT, it may or may not work. It may take time and will have no team chemistry as players are mainly from BM, Dortmund and RM these top clubs with top strikers. Team which usually win is the team with most balance. We only hv good midfielders n keepers DO NOT MEAN the starting XI are all midfielders n keepers. U need different elements in the game to make differences. Our midfielders are skillful, thats one thing. But, others elements like mental n physical toughness, defense, offensive execution, aerial ability...all matters. We still need striker as Loew has suggested. And i strongly believe this strikerless formation is overhyped at the moment. its not the future of football
Latest update from Monday's pre-match press conference in Bavaria : http://www.bundesliga.com/en/liga/news/2012/0000246524.php Head coach Joachim Löw's answer was hardly definitive: "There will always be a need for a striker," said the 46-year-old. "It’s entirely not the case that I’m abolishing the use of strikers in this team."As i've said, top strikers are still gold in the game. Look at all the top teams (other than Barcelona) and they all hv one or two top class out-n-out strikers in their lineup. Man Utd, Man City, Chelsea(looked at how much they invested in even Torres?), Dortmund, Real Madrid, Ac Milan, Juventus and so on. Top Strikers are needed still n are gold in the game. The entire Germany doesnt have one, thats sad. The striker drought doesnt mean we dont need striker, in contrast we still need a couple of top class strikers in the roster. Among all the team NTs, think Brazil, France, Holland, Italy, Spain, Argentina, England.........Germany is the only team with no decent option up top
Roma and Freiburg arent good examples to support ur argument. both teams are mediocre. And spain's strikerless has been analysed n the same tactics isnt working as well as it was anymore.
First of all, Löw said nothing that would suggest he wouldn't give the strikerless formation another shot. We've been over this already. You're the only one out of about five fairly active anti-strikerless posters blowing hot air about this; that should tell you something. Top Strikers are gold in today's game, we have no top striker that fits. The solution is here, you just refuse to see it as such. And if we "need" a couple of top strikers, we HAVE NONE. You keep on saying "our strikers suck", then you say "we need better strikers, strikerless sucks" like we're a club that can get new ones at will. WE HAVE NONE; WE WILL NOT HAVE ONE IN 2014! These are the options, figure out which one you want. Period.
U needa focus on clubs which our NT players play for. Which team play strikerless? BM? No, Dortmund? No, Real Madrid? No. And there are 4 teams in this entire world play strikerless. If teams n our NT play a different tactic, players need to adapt everytime m where is the team chemistry? Again, strikerless is a minority n not the future. Italy is playing 3-5-2 too, can u call it future of football? N even Spain struggles a bit with strikerless these days. Barcelona hv Messi who pretty much does everything; Freiburg n Roma are medcocre... So please
Where the heck do clubs enter the equation? If we practice the formation enough, we can master it. We don't have a Benzema, a Higuain, a Mandzudic, or a Lewandowski; we aren't Bayern, Real, or Dortmund; our options are of a different nature. Period. You constantly repeat "we don't have NT-level strikers". You're right; so then why the heck are you yourself advocating we use strikers when you say they're inadequate rather than trying this exciting alternative? Right, because Spain did not just win EURO 2012 playing strikerless the majority of the time. And Freiburg is not three points off a CL spot and ridiculously overperforming expectations based on talent utilizing a strikerless formation. And Roma is not experiencing a renaissance and improving upon last season's finish. Your argument here is short-sighted and overly general. Next.
Gotta say, I'm a little frustrated with you at the moment, Kirsten. I like you in the Youth Discussion, but you aggravate me when you discuss these things. It may be a good idea for me to follow Dhajj"s example and ignore you.
First, let's get the strawmen out of the way. No one thinks of playing only midfielders and keepers. That comment was asinine and you know it. All the big clubs aren't going to sell their strikers. Club football is a completely different beast, because your rosters can be effectively changed by dishing out cash. We can't spend money on a striker directly. As to the real issues, I never said strikerless was the future of football, and went out of my way to make it abundantly clear. I said we do need a world class striker (or more, tbh) because it gives us variety and makes us a more threatening squad. If I had my way, Klose would be a healthy and valid option through the next few tournaments. But he's not. And Gomez is a dud. So what do we do? Tell me what you would do. You're Jogi now, what's your plan? Don't just complain about how the strikerless formation is a fad, and it will never amount to anything outside of Barca. Don't rant on how we have developed no world-class strikers in years and point out how terrible it is that we are trying to play in a vastly different way than the major clubs. Offer a viable short-term solution. Tell me how we are going to compete for the WC. Give us a reasonable alternative to strikerless.