Gerd Müller turns 75 today

[strongwalker]

Gerd Müller, football legend, turns 75 today.

Germany's (some say: the worlds) most lethal striker started his career in his hometown Nördlingen. He started for Bayern Munich from 1964 until 1979, winning 4 German titles, 3 EC titles and one Cup Winners cup.

Some statistics to show how impressive and consistent his career was:

For Bayern: 509 goals in 563 total matches
7x Bundesliga top scorer
4x CL (EC) top scorer
Holds places 1, 2 and 3 in "most league goals in one season" (40/38/36)
Scored more than 20 goals each season between 67/68 and 77/78
Average goals scored over 14 (!) seasons: 26
68 goals in 62 matches for Germany, 14 WC goals in only 2 tournaments (he resigned from the german squad in 1974)

"Without him, the FC Bayern wouldn't be where it is today"

Sadly, Gerd can't celebrate with us as he is gravely ill with Alzheimers disease and withdrew from public about 5 years ago.

I met him personally once about 10 years ago and a more humble and nicer man i've never seen.

I'll have a Weißbier in memory of your beautiful goals tonight, Gerd!

 

[Adam-Utd]

Alzeihmers sucks what a horrible disease.

What a player he was. A player ahead of his time with the way he played.

 

[Zehner]

Happy birthday kleines dickes Müller. Grew up listening to stories about him by my dad. True legend of the game. Such a nasty disease :/

Anyone knows a quality compilation of his career?

 

[Piratesoup]

Alzeihmers sucks what a horrible disease.

What a player he was. A player ahead of his time with the way he played.

It's dementia. Not to say that makes it better or worse

I'll cross post this from the Bayern thread:
His wife gave a heartbreaking account of his current condition (https://www.focus.de/sport/fussball...gischen-zustand-ihres-mannes_id_12609357.html).
A (partially liberal) translation of her quote:
"Gerd is sleeping towards his end. His eyes are closed, he dozes, only rarely opens his mouth and gets pureed food. He is quiet and peaceful and I don't think he has to suffer. He's slowly drifting to the other side."

 

[Adam-Utd]

It's dementia. Not to say that makes it better or worse

I'll cross post this from the Bayern thread:
His wife gave a heartbreaking account of his current condition (https://www.focus.de/sport/fussball...gischen-zustand-ihres-mannes_id_12609357.html).
A (partially liberal) translation of her quote:
"Gerd is sleeping towards his end. His eyes are closed, he dozes, only rarely opens his mouth and gets pureed food. He is quiet and peaceful and I don't think he has to suffer. He's slowly drifting to the other side."

Any brain / memory disease is just the worst thing isn't it.

Give me a heart attack and get it over and done. It's nice to know he isn't suffering, but let's be honest he is practically already dead at this point. My grand father died this way also - wouldn't wish it on anybody.

 

[Piratesoup]

Any brain / memory disease is just the worst thing isn't it.

Give me a heart attack and get it over and done. It's nice to know he isn't suffering, but let's be honest he is practically already dead at this point. My grand father died this way also - wouldn't wish it on anybody.

Dementia/Alzheimers is the worst thing I can imagine. The thought that I might be in a condition where I myself am unable to be aware of it is just too much.

Müller's life ended a while ago, you're right. I hope his shell can pass away soon, can't imagine how it must be for his loved ones to watch him wither away like that, with no trace left of the man he was. It's just an absolute nightmare.

 

[adexkola]

Dementia/Alzheimers is the worst thing I can imagine. The thought that I might be in a condition where I myself am unable to be aware of it is just too much.

Müller's life ended a while ago, you're right. I hope his shell can pass away soon, can't imagine how it must be for his loved ones to watch him wither away like that, with no trace left of the man he was. It's just an absolute nightmare.

Writing in my will that if I get to that point just pass me a cyanide pill while I'm receiving a handjoe

 

[Piratesoup]

Writing in my will that if I get to that point just pass me a cyanide pill while I'm receiving a handjoe

I'd like to go out before it gets to that point. I don't want to die twice, once as a person, once as a body.

 

[adexkola]

I'd like to go out before it gets to that point. I don't want to die twice, once as a person, once as a body.

Indeed

 

[Joga Bonito]

Happy birthday kleines dickes Müller. Grew up listening to stories about him by my dad. True legend of the game. Such a nasty disease :/

Anyone knows a quality compilation of his career?

A decent one on his career.

 

[Trezeguet17]

There is poster on this forum who made some very nice youtube highlight videos about him, can't find it right now.

What a fecking player this guy was!

Best ever german player even ahead of Beckenbauer for me.

 

[GameOn]

Best finisher of all time. If he got the ball in the box, it was a goal.

Nobody else comes even close in that aspect.

 

[Invictus]

There is poster on this forum who made some very nice youtube highlight videos about him, can't find it right now.

Must have been @Joga Bonito!



I believe you will find more than a dozen Gerd Müller match-compilations on his Youtube channel (and like ~250 total videos featuring all sorts of past greats)... (^o^)

 

[Falcow]

I didn't realise he was so I'll. Poor man.

What a footballer, absaloutely incredible stats, the numbers tell you everything you need to know about how good he was.

Happy birthday and hopefully your remaining time is peaceful.

 

[Falcow]

Must have been @Joga Bonito!



I believe you will find more than a dozen Gerd Müller match-compilations on his Youtube channel (and like ~250 total videos featuring all sorts of past greats)... (^o^)

Outstanding compilation video, great music also. The variety of his goals really stands out, not to mention the speed of his feet and accuracy of finishing.

He should feature way more than he does in GOAT conversations.

 

[Joga Bonito]

Must have been @Joga Bonito!



I believe you will find more than a dozen Gerd Müller match-compilations on his Youtube channel (and like ~250 total videos featuring all sorts of past greats)... (^o^)

Cheers Invictus.

There is poster on this forum who made some very nice youtube highlight videos about him, can't find it right now.

Here's the playlist! Insanely brilliant player and very much the antithesis of a poacher who played on the shoulder of the last man. Müller was very much a team player with great link up play and he loved to drop deep and facilitate play. In fact he played as a false 9 of sorts for the German 1972 side, a total footballing side, widely regarded by many as the greatest German team ever.

A great goalscorer and a scorer of great goals, some of which defied belief (as the goals compilation above will attest). Watching some of the replays of his goals was quite amusing though, he always seemed to be moving 2X the speed of his opponents . A truly brilliant footballer who gets wrongly pigeonholed as a poacher when his playing style was nothing alike. Just watch his game against Liverpool where he played as a DM. He'd often play that role in important matches. I'll quote @Synco , (who's more or less watched most games of Muller) post for those interested.

Spoiler: Synco's post

I have watched all of his competitive games I could find (little less than 50), so I'll try to fill in some of the missing stuff.

Contrary to the belief that Müller was a rather one-dimensional footballer, I find him very hard to pin down as a player. I'd make out four distinctive roles:

• pure center forward
• roaming striker / non-playmaking false 9
• box to box free role / defensive-minded midfielder-forward
• more or less pure defensive midfielder

Of course these roles weren't always definite - they often overlapped with each other, or Müller alternated between them during a game. In the available full games (which include almost all big games for Bayern & Germany), I'd say the latter three roles feature in more than half of the gametime. So much for the pure poacher myth.

The first two roles often overlapped in various mixing proportions. In some games Müller was indeed primarily the classic box-oriented striker he nowadays gets reduced to, but in others he regularly dropped deep or went wide in transition, and he could also be quite busy in defense at times. He didn't act as a playmaker when falling back (as the classic false 9 role implicates), but more as a supportive short passing combination player. The clear majority of available games are in this mould, sometimes leaning more to one role, sometimes to the other.

The rarest and most curious role is the defensive midfielder one, examples (as I see it) being Liverpool away 1971, Saint-Etienne away 1975, and the 1975 European Cup final against Leeds. In this role, Müller rarely ventured into the attacking third, often staying behind other teammates during attacks. Instead he defended lots in midfield and all over the defensive third, including in his own box and at fullback positions. In these three games combined*, he took only three shots, but had something like 40-45 defensive actions** (tackling attempts, interceptions, blocks, defensive headers). Plus much more defensive running and hustle that doesn't feature in these statistics.

Spoiler: approx. formation at Anfield '71

The box to box free role features elements of all other roles, but often with an emphasis on defensive work as described above. Think of Griezmann in terms of workrate. Müller played these two defensive roles exclusively for Bayern, and perhaps also exclusively in the 70s. During that time, Bayern often played super-defensively in tight away games and finals. But in the return leg, Müller might well play as a pure CF again. For Germany, all available games show him as a roaming forward or box-oriented striker.

Other things are also interesting for this thread, like Müller essentially being a low volume shooter (compared to Ronaldo), but this post is long enough already.

-------
*17 minutes of the ASSE game are missing

** edit: recoveries included, the number will actually be a good deal higher.

A (partially liberal) translation of her quote:
"Gerd is sleeping towards his end. His eyes are closed, he dozes, only rarely opens his mouth and gets pureed food. He is quiet and peaceful and I don't think he has to suffer. He's slowly drifting to the other side."

. Dementia really is one hell of a disease.

 

[Piratesoup]

Wanted to post @Joga Bonito's magnificent compilations just now. Very enlightening stuff!
Also: Shoutout to @Synco , great post

 

[harms]

There is poster on this forum who made some very nice youtube highlight videos about him, can't find it right now.

What a fecking player this guy was!

Best ever german player even ahead of Beckenbauer for me.

Look at the previous post

A decent one on his career.

 

[Synco]

Happy birthday kleines dickes Müller. Grew up listening to stories about him by my dad. True legend of the game. Such a nasty disease :/

Anyone knows a quality compilation of his career?

Just came across this nice one from Bayern's youtube channel, published on his birthday. Mostly chronological & with some rare early footage, albeit a bit selective. (Also has English subtitles, if anyone's interested.)

Also: Shoutout to @Synco , great post

Cheers, my favourite player all-time. Went down a serious rabbithole for a while, and there's so much remarkable/insane stuff about him that got lost over time. Not just all the qualities and abilities buried under the poacher cliché, I'd say he's even underrated as a goalscorer & matchwinner. As funny as that sounds.