I'm sorry did you.. did you bother actually reading my post? I said as an attacking midfielder, not as a central/defensive midfielder. There's a reason Bayern conceded the least amount of goals in the league last year along with conceding only 2 in 7 matches already this season, because our midfield 3 offers so much pressure when we don't have the ball. That's why a DM, Pig and Kroos ahead of them would be a defensively stable trio and one that has some technical ability.
Must an instruction from Löw because he plays much narrower for Bayern. I hope he lets Müller and Reus play more central otherwise its really wasting their talent.
I think they got a reality check vs Sweden. There is no need for more humiliation. This result taught them a good lesson. They will learn now to never give up until the last moment, to stay concentrated every minute. They will beat Netherlands.
I think this would be our most suitable 4-3-3 --------Reus-----Özil----Müller (interchangeable) ------------------Kroos -----Schweinsteiger----Khedira(Benders) -------B A C K L I N E-------- -------------------------GK It can do the defensive duties required of them, plenty of retention options without sacrificing any of the attacking. We don't need a striker anymore. It will take time to learn this but our attackers are versatile enough to make it work
Obviously they won't give up a 4 goal lead again, that happens once every 100 years to teams. I just want them to finally get their shit together defensively because it's been far too long. There are certain things the team just doesn't do well in that area without any progress. I'm sure they'll do well against the Dutch. Our best performance under Löw came against them last year in my opinion.
Just thinking of other top team draws on the same day as Germany's make me sick... Portugal, Spain, France, England (ok, not top, top team but they're always somewhere on top of that FIFA rankings ) - all struggled and scored only one goal. Germany scored 4 and just threw the win away in the most spectacular way. I don't think Bastian would say something about Benders if both weren't even on the bench. For what? To put blame on Tony? Ozil? Doesn't make sense for me, sorry. The whole team stopped playing. Maybe they already feel themselves invincible? Too early I'd say. Merkel's laugh and der Kaiser's smile at them are priceless...
It sounds to me like he's pissed at Loew more than anyone in particular. This is the second issue in 2 weeks where it looks like it's a side hit at the coach (lack of team spirit). This is speculation on my part though, doesn't mean that's where he's going with it.
How about putting in the Bender brothers and taking out Oezil and Schuerrle to protect a lead? Good luck getting the ball into our end! sorry - did not see Bender on the left. -----Reus---------- ----Kroos---- Bender----Khedira----Schweini----Bender Schmelzer---Hummels---Bads---Lahm
I understand your point, not Basti's if he really said that. Just looked up who we had as subs. Zieler, ter Stegen, Hoewedes, Westermann, Goetze, Shurrle, Podolski. Who'd save NT's ass at 4-2? I think no one... Even if we'd had Ilkay on the bench. He's more of Bastian's type of DM, not Khedira's or Benders'. The team is to blame for that particular collapse and the captain & vice captain more than anyone, not wrong tactics. They're all play at the highest club and NT level for years. Every time I hear one of them says something like "We don't underestimate our opponent" I have a feeling they do. Bayern did that with BATE. Now Germany did with Sweden, mediocre team bar Zlatan. Germany should have just choke them to death, not to turn into rabbits themselves.
One of the big problems in my opinion is that sometimes the players don't take responsibility for themselves on the pitch which was certainly the case against Sweden. I don't think you can put that on Löw entirely either.