The international break is over and it's Top vs bottom away to Stuttgart. Weinzrl's hiring has made this match tougher but ww should still be able to get all three points. I know Favre likes to experiment during first halves and adjust during second halves, but I think we should put this game to bed early and save our energies, as we have a much tougher test in the shape of Atlético Madrid. Akanji is injured meaning Toprak will get some match practice, who's proven reliable domestically but is found out in European competitions, so he'll be our weak spot come Wednesday. Let's win this game and stay on top, guys.
I would rather start with Diallo and DAZ with Hakimi and Guerreiro (if fit) then play Toprak after a lengthy lay-off. Even moving LP to CB and Diallo to the left would be an option.
Bürki LP Diallo Zagadou Hakimi Witsel Delaney Sancho Reus Brunn Larsen Alcacer Good depth on the bench: Hitz, Toprak, Weigl, Dahoud, Götze, Pulisic, Philipp No real surprises except Hakimi at LB and it will be interesting to see whether he can play there as well.
Reus with the 2:0 after we didn't have control after taking the lead. Well played by Reus and Alcacer.
Alcacer 3:0. Another beautiful goal by him. I hope the team can control the game now and save some energy for the coming weeks.
Good chance to go for the 4:0. Stuttgart doesn't play that bad going forward. In that regard, they aren't a relegation team. They also had a good chance to equalize after a corner. But it's crazy that they leave so much space in defense. You'd think they'd concentrate on stabilizing there after conceding 3 goals.
We are doing our best to get them back into the game. 3 good chances from short distance for them already.
Pulling players at half tells me we arr conserving energy. Bringing pulisic on for Larsen was a good choice to work on getting him fit again
Philipp scores. Very nice finish. His restrained reaction seems to indicate that it was a tough season so far for him.
4:0 in the end. We could have led by more than that in the first half, but we could have also conceded a few in the second half. Very tame presentation by us in the second half. It may sound strange when they provided a goal and an assist and I don't want to be too picky, but I thought our wingers weren't at the top of their game today. All 3 of them were sloppy at times and lost possession too often. They are very promising but this and previous games (Augsburg is a good example) reinforce what I think eaglespark mentioned: We don't have a player to partner with Reus (when he's on the wings) with comparable quality yet. They'll hopefully get there, though. As for our CBs, I think Zagadou had one bad pass that led to a dangerous situation and I'll have to review the first minutes with 3 chances for Stuttgart but otherwise I thought they were excellent. I think their confidence and precision in passing is a major difference maker in contrast to our previous CBs except Hummels.
Win and move on. As others have pointed out we have issues - and are not clicking on all cylinders yet. That’s encouraging because we can play much better just with what we have now.
Another win and away from home after an international period. Nice to see Philipp get the goal. Zagadou's passing is really brilliant, but I think he makes a few positional mistakes, but that is to be expected from someone so young. We played a very young back 4 and LP is sadly not very good, so it's hard for him. I agree the two areas we are weak in are LB and another quality wide player. I have lost all faith in Raphael and hopefully we can still get a good fee from PSG. The Atletico match should give us a realistic indication of exactly where we are. Atletico have a squad as good as any in the world.
Nice to see LP get forward to deliver a nice assist, as well as Pulisic get involved in Philipp's goal. I'm still in suspended disbelief over Alcácer - is the guy really this damn efficient? Unrelated but would it make sense to go after Philipp Max from Augsburg? Admittedly I just want Max Philipp and Philipp Max to play on the same team, but a good left-footed crosser who can defend and stay healthy (*cough*) would be nice.. Ultimately I think the team's ceiling comes down to whether anyone aside from Reus can step up to world class level in big matches.
If Guerreiro leaves, then it would certainly make sense. It seems to be only a matter of time until he gets his chance in the national team. I haven't seen enough of him but his numbers are really good. 13 assists in the last season is remarkable. One thing that prevented a callup to the NT so far, according to Löw, is that he regards other options as defensively better.
I haven't seen enough of him to comment either. However, I don't care about Loew's opinion when it comes to German players. Podolski over Reus in Euro 2012, not playing Lahm at right back etc.