Kicker ratings : Aufstellung: Neuer (1) - Höwedes (5) , J. Boateng (2,5) , Mustafi (3,5) , Hector (4) - Khedira (2,5) , T. Kroos (2,5) - T. Müller (4,5) , Özil (3,5) , Draxler (4) - M. Götze (4,5) According to that which means the following: Muller must move into CF position, he really did not play well, maybe cause he did not get the support from Hoewedes Hoewedes to be replaced with either Hummels coming in and Mustafi moving over to RB or Kimmich replacing Howedes.... Goetze not to start..... Anyway Still dissapointed that Jogi did not sub some players earlier.... Sport Bild Scored the players as follows: neuer 1 Howedes 4 Boateng 2 Mustafi 3 Hector 4 Khedira 3 Kroos 1 Muller 4 Oezil 4 Draxler 3 (Surprise) Goetze 4 Not sure the difference between Sport Bild and Bild, as Bild had Goezte as a 5
Götze clearly isn't suited to the no 9 position, and Müller is more effective playing more centrally these days. Yesterday's formation got the best out of neither, which is a waste. A similar performance against Poland will not be enough to win, but overall as long as lessons are learned then that was a good solid start. Kroos is World Class, but the midfield needs adjusting against better teams. I would drop Götze, move Müller up front, move Khedira into the 3 behind him and bring in Schweini, Kimmich,Weigl or Can alongside Kroos.
People want to talk about trying Gomez out... Honestly guys that maybe even worse then what we have going on now.. I'm afraid we're going to have to grind out 1-0 type games all tournament long like we did in the WC (for the most part) I think our best defensive lineup maybe bastian Kroos Khedira with muller Draxler Ozil up top which we lose a little bit of offensive spark but concede a lot less chances.. I really don't know how to make this team balanced
Sounds about right to me as well., with Muller taking the CF spot and oezil,draxler coming in over the wings. The three upfront can still inter change as always!
I want Muller to play in ST position...as we lost Reus, didn't bring in Bellarabi and Schurrle is anonymous these days, our game changing options from the bench are thin..we need the best out of Muller asap...can we have Can to partner Kroos, Khedira to form a 3 man midfield? Can did a very good job as a defensive CM under Klopp last 3 months of the season..Schweini can start from quarter final
Biggest talk online about the match....Loew's love for his own scents and eating his own dingle-berries.
https://streamable.com/3h69 https://streamable.com/t3ek https://streamable.com/r58s http://imgur.com/a/1cUSI
By the way - when Schweini and Poldi are talking do you get the impression they are not exactly the sharpest tools in the box?
Well of course every national team is going to have gaps somewhere and in 2014 Germany did a good job of covering up their problems. The obvious problems are no decent 9, lack of shot volume and a suspect defence. I think Loew did a good job in 2014 after a shakey start. 1. Ozil is probably the best left winger in the squad and also the quickest. Should he take one for the team and move back there like in 2014? 2. Kroos and Khedira looked great with a 6 behind them as they really gave germany power thru the middle in a way Ozil does not. 3. Schurrle is shit but at least he is quick and shoots a lot 4. Mueller is now a really good centre forward - thats different to last time. So whatever to make the space for him! 5. Mario G is nowhere near the player he was 2 years ago 6. the defence looks much better when the fullbacks don't rage up the pitch so much! For goodness sakes keep that lumox Hoewedes back! Does this lesson have to be learned all over again since 2014?
Well.. I had quite some fun yesterday - and also afterwards seeing all the desperate comments in here. It's all fine guys, Ukraine brought a very good performance to the table and after the first matchday in our group I say they're the 2nd best team. Poland will have a hard time to beat them if they can repeat their performance. The defense looked great yesterday, the defense performance by the team was shit. They really had some practice yesterday and this will show in the next matches. I would play a 100% Mustafi over a 90% Hummels, though. The real problem yesterday was the attack. Götze and Müller both had a very bad day, Özil was always covered by at least two Ukraine players and neither of them supported Khedira/Kroos much defensively. That lead to a lot of crosses because the spaces to combine through the center were nonexistent. With Mario Gomez Germany probably would've faired better yesterday. Though, Löw will start with Götze in the next matches - at least for the group stages as he has done before in previous tourneys. It could very well be possible that Götze is able to rise his game with minutes played. All in all it's never good to peak too early in a tournament and fall flat in the k.o. stages. It's a sign of a tournament team to grow into a tournament and to peak in the later stages, like we did in 2014 from the quarter final on. For me, this was a good start. edit: Merte with Kindl and Beck's out of cans? He never had the chance to develop a good taste for beer though as professional football player. He will learn fast I guess.
Interesting fact....Spain just won 1-0 , they also created 18 goal chances, completed 696 passes , had 72% possession, completed passes 89%.... Any how this is very different to the WC, European teams know each other better, they can predict and counter the game play very much better then African, or American teams can. So I still say Uefa is more difficult for the top teams then the WC is. If you play a USA in the QF or mexico or what ever is easier then playing a Europe team.... So far we had no big scores in any of the games... lets see what the remaining games will bring!
The Euros is traditionally a much harder and more defensive tourney than the WC Unfortunately the expansion has meant a dilution of the group stage
Has it? Seems to me like everyone, including the minnows, are playing like they belong so far. No blowouts, no abnormally poor games, etc.
Wales beating Slovakia was an upset by FIFA, Elo ranking, and form. Granted, it was only a small upset.
Argh..... There's OTT for these kind of things.. I literally avoid human contact and OTT all day so I can come home and watch the DVR games.. I guess j have to avoid the bs forum all together throughout the week... :/
Yes, all the berating of our front four is ignoring the strength of Ukraine's defense. They played part of the match inspired, held a fairly tight unit on defense for almost the whole match, only really pressed their attack for about 20 minutes in the first half and for a few minutes at the end. We wasted a lot of time on the ball with backwards passes in the second half, but can't really fault that when you look at the final score. As some have mentioned 2-0 win is great at this stage. Also, despite some defensive holes we have a clean sheet thanks to Neuer (and Boateng's insane acrobatics).