This. Looking decent against Armenia is hardly a proof of quality on this position.
Germany at World Cup 2014
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Atleast better than the proposed XI from BILD.
Im okay with "false9" but only with Müller upfront. Götze showed in the NT and at Bayern that he isnt feeling comfortable as the Striker.
My XI right now would be:
----------------------------Neuer---------------------------
-----Boateng-------Hummels------Mertesacker--------Durm
-----------------Lahm-------------Schweinsteiger (if fit otherwise Khedira)-------------------
-------Götze---------------Kroos----------------Schürrle
-------------------------Müller------------------------------
I dont like Müller on the right wing because he is more effective behind the Striker or upfront.
Özil showed that he cant play on the wings. Götze isnt too good aswell on the wing but the next best option for me for the Right wing now that Reus is out...
Subs: If creativity is needed Özil
If a true Striker is needed Klose
Podolski for scoring and attitude
Khedira for either Kroos or Schweinsteiger.
Dont expect much Rotation in the Defense unless someone really fecks up or is injured.
Schweinsteiger and Reus are not fit? Why do everyone here omitted them in their line-ups?
I dont know why someone would bring up Reus since he isnt even at the WC.
Schweinsteiger isnt 100% but may be close to come Portugal Game (pretty much like Ronaldo).
He is one of Löws favourites and if there is a chance he will play.
Podolski, Kroos and Özil lack energy, don't press at all or win back the ball. For that reason only 1 of them should be on the pitch at the same time. I am not that optimistic and expect a first round exit that will enable us to get rid of Loew.
I am really surprised, that everybody wants to use Müller upfront. He played way better whenever he played behind another player. If he plays as #9, he needs a #10, that is sharing his burden to stay in the box. Neither Kroos nor Özil provide that.
Götze / Klose > Schürrle > müller
Götze / Klose > Schürrle > müller
"Useless"? Bit harsh regarding his performances on the wing during the last 3 to 5 years...
Though Kicker magazine has become similarly poor as SportBILD, I find it interesting that they quote someone anonymous from Löw's environment that Jogi is living more and more in a parallel universe. 
I think Müller is amazing for us on RW and I'd love him to play there. But no idea who should play up front then if Klose can't.
Got Germany is my sweepstake at work, £100 if they win, fingers crossed !
Hmm agreed about Ozil, but it's highly unlikely that Loew benches Ozil
That's not true for Kroos. He changed his game a lot in the last 2-3 years and took another step in his defensive game in the recent season. There is a reason why he even played as a DM in the cup finale against Dortmund and did a good job. It's not unusual for him anymore to be the guy with the most tackles.
He is certainly no Vidal or Martinez in this regard but belongs in a totally different group than players like Özil, Podolski and so on.
We are talking about 2 places for Khedira, Kroos, Özil and Schweinsteiger.
Actually - he has to bench 2 of them...
Kroos still does not track back the way he should... - yes, he goes into more duels.
What about having this defense:
---------- Hummels
Durm Boateng Mertesacker Lahm
----------- Neuer
I prefer a team with 2 FBs rather having a big CB playing at FB. Just think it is better balanced and will do better against opposition wide attackers and also better when attacking yourself. Hummels can play stopper/sweeper/DM whatever label you want to give him.
Then add Schweinsteiger plus 4 attacking players (god knows which 4 to pick though
)
---------- Hummels
Durm Boateng Mertesacker Lahm
----------- Neuer
I prefer a team with 2 FBs rather having a big CB playing at FB. Just think it is better balanced and will do better against opposition wide attackers and also better when attacking yourself. Hummels can play stopper/sweeper/DM whatever label you want to give him.
Then add Schweinsteiger plus 4 attacking players (god knows which 4 to pick though
)Hummels himself will tell you that he cannot play that position anymore because of the muscles he has gotten himself the recent years. Klopp tried the version for Dortmund before - and failed.What about having this defense:
---------- Hummels
Durm Boateng Mertesacker Lahm
----------- Neuer
I prefer a team with 2 FBs rather having a big CB playing at FB. Just think it is better balanced and will do better against opposition wide attackers and also better when attacking yourself. Hummels can play stopper/sweeper/DM whatever label you want to give him.
Then add Schweinsteiger plus 4 attacking players (god knows which 4 to pick though
What about this:
edit:
didn't realize something similar had been posted already.
I would agree with this one as well:
Neuer
Boateng---Mertesacker---Hummels---------Durm
Lahm----------
---------Kroos
Götze-------------Özil----------Schürrle
Müller
I know many people don't want to see Özil and if Gündogan or Reus were fit he wouldn't be in my startin 11 either. But I don't want Podolski out there as a starter.Boateng---Mertesacker---Hummels---------Durm
Lahm----------
---------Kroos
Götze-------------Özil----------Schürrle
Müller
edit:
didn't realize something similar had been posted already.
I would agree with this one as well:
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How do you get the people in Bahia to be in favour of the Germans?
Dante (who comes out of the region) has given Neuer and Schweinsteiger kits from the most famous football club in Bahia and learned them their club song. So they went on the street in Santo Andre with this kit - and found people to sing with them. They sent the video to Dante - and it landed on youtube, various smart phones and in the TV stations in Bahia and Brazil... The fans of the club EC Bahia called the other fans of the club to support the Germans. They even have opened a new fan club "Bahêa de Munique" ...
Dante (who comes out of the region) has given Neuer and Schweinsteiger kits from the most famous football club in Bahia and learned them their club song. So they went on the street in Santo Andre with this kit - and found people to sing with them. They sent the video to Dante - and it landed on youtube, various smart phones and in the TV stations in Bahia and Brazil... The fans of the club EC Bahia called the other fans of the club to support the Germans. They even have opened a new fan club "Bahêa de Munique" ...
Btw Ronaldo had to leave training for Portugal after 15 minutes and needed treatment on his knee.
He will play against Germany but its a pretty safe bet to say he wont be fit.
We need to take that advantage and get a Win. A win against Portugal and the Round of 16 is almost there.
Cant see us not getting atleast another 3-4 Points against Ghana and USA:
He will play against Germany but its a pretty safe bet to say he wont be fit.
We need to take that advantage and get a Win. A win against Portugal and the Round of 16 is almost there.
Cant see us not getting atleast another 3-4 Points against Ghana and USA:
manuel neuer is fit to play. good news!
That's really good!
I'm not feeling very optimistic about Germany to be completely honest. They have a lot of excellent players but this new possession style they're trying to implement goes against what made German teams so successful recently. Also the lack of a proper striker is worrying. Having said that they'll probably still make it to the semis.
Germany will apparently line-up in a 4-3-3 in their first game on monday against Portugal
Expected line-up (source: BILD)
---------------------Neuer---------------------
-Boateng-Mertesacker-Hummels-Höwedes--
-------------------Lahm------------------------
---------Khedira----------Kroos---------------
-Müller------------Özil------------Podolski----
I think there is not a single person in Germany who is convinced by the line-up
except of Jogi Löw.
My thoughts:
Neuer, if fit is the obvious choice.
Boateng at fullback is alright. He is strong, is very fast and is experienced at top level.
He already played as a fullback in 2010 (on the left side) and did well, so I expect him
to have a good World Cup on his more natural right side. He is not too bad going forward either.
Him and Khedira are a good match for Ronaldo and I'm convinced they will keep him quiet.
With Boateng playing on the right there is no choice to make in the middle. Mertesacker and
Hummels are the only experienced options and I hope both will step up, as I'm not really a fan
of Arsenal's 'Big fecking German' and I did not see Hummels play at his absolute best for a long
time. The way to go for opponents is to attack them with pace, Mertesacker is fairly slow and Hummels
always tends to 'fall asleep' for a few seconds during matches.
Höwedes at leftback. I - and about 81.199.199 other people in Germany - have absolutely no idea
why there is the need to play somebody who NEVER played left fullback in his professional career, who is right footed, who is a natural centreback and who is everything but good going forward , in this position.
Marcel Schmelzer is not even in the squad, Erik Durm, who played a fantastic Champions League campaign, will sit on the bench and we will see non-existing overlapping and no danger going forward instead coming from the leftback position.
Germany's strength was their offense these last years, but we conceded lots of goals and instead of making a few adjustments in style of playing, Löw build a new defense consisting of 4 defensice capable centrebacks. in my opinion this will take away a lot from our great offense, it's like playing a back four of Jones, Ferdinand, a better Smalling and a worse Jonny Evans. Sounds Moyesish to me and certainly not good enough to become World Champions.
The midfield -
Lahm decided to play in midfield which is alright on the one side, because he's great in that role,
but stupid on the other side, as he is our only world-class fullback and we have more options in midfield.
The midfield will be completed by Khedira and Kroos.
In my opinion there is no need for Khedira if you play 4 defensive defenders (makes sense,huh?) and Lahm in front of them. Sami is bad going forward and will run around a lot without adding anything to our game.
Kroos had a good season and deserves his place, but him Khedira and Lahm is too defensive in my opinion and not creative enough going forward.
Müller on the right is the obvious choice, everybody knows he'll score goals and have a great tournament.
Not a fan of Podolski, but he always stepped up for Germany and is a pretty realiable scorer and hard worker, too.
It's too sad that Marco Reus is injured, he was by far the best German player for the last 6 months and would have set the World Cup alight cutting in from the left side.
Mesut Özil at false 9 - It never worked well and I guess it never will. Löw is in love with Özil and always plays him, for me his form is not good enough though. If Klose is notfit the best option would be to play Müller upfront, atleast he sometimes plays that role on club level.
The whole line-up is a disaster waiting to happen, but at the end of the day it's Germany
and when it matters we're always there.
My line-up(with Lahm wishing to play in midfield) would be
--------------------Neuer---------------------
-Boateng--Mertesacker--Hummels--Durm-
--------------Lahm--Schweinsteiger/Kroos--
---Götze------------Özil---------Schürrle---
--------------------Müller--------------------
There is loads of people here who really hate Jogi Löw, some don't even support the team because of that and I see where they are coming from, but somehow we'll still reach the semi-finals and I hope confidence will grow during the tournament so maybe we can finally win something
Auf geht's!
Expected line-up (source: BILD)
---------------------Neuer---------------------
-Boateng-Mertesacker-Hummels-Höwedes--
-------------------Lahm------------------------
---------Khedira----------Kroos---------------
-Müller------------Özil------------Podolski----
I think there is not a single person in Germany who is convinced by the line-up
except of Jogi Löw.
My thoughts:
Neuer, if fit is the obvious choice.
Boateng at fullback is alright. He is strong, is very fast and is experienced at top level.
He already played as a fullback in 2010 (on the left side) and did well, so I expect him
to have a good World Cup on his more natural right side. He is not too bad going forward either.
Him and Khedira are a good match for Ronaldo and I'm convinced they will keep him quiet.
With Boateng playing on the right there is no choice to make in the middle. Mertesacker and
Hummels are the only experienced options and I hope both will step up, as I'm not really a fan
of Arsenal's 'Big fecking German' and I did not see Hummels play at his absolute best for a long
time. The way to go for opponents is to attack them with pace, Mertesacker is fairly slow and Hummels
always tends to 'fall asleep' for a few seconds during matches.
Höwedes at leftback. I - and about 81.199.199 other people in Germany - have absolutely no idea
why there is the need to play somebody who NEVER played left fullback in his professional career, who is right footed, who is a natural centreback and who is everything but good going forward , in this position.
Marcel Schmelzer is not even in the squad, Erik Durm, who played a fantastic Champions League campaign, will sit on the bench and we will see non-existing overlapping and no danger going forward instead coming from the leftback position.
Germany's strength was their offense these last years, but we conceded lots of goals and instead of making a few adjustments in style of playing, Löw build a new defense consisting of 4 defensice capable centrebacks. in my opinion this will take away a lot from our great offense, it's like playing a back four of Jones, Ferdinand, a better Smalling and a worse Jonny Evans. Sounds Moyesish to me and certainly not good enough to become World Champions.
The midfield -
Lahm decided to play in midfield which is alright on the one side, because he's great in that role,
but stupid on the other side, as he is our only world-class fullback and we have more options in midfield.
The midfield will be completed by Khedira and Kroos.
In my opinion there is no need for Khedira if you play 4 defensive defenders (makes sense,huh?) and Lahm in front of them. Sami is bad going forward and will run around a lot without adding anything to our game.
Kroos had a good season and deserves his place, but him Khedira and Lahm is too defensive in my opinion and not creative enough going forward.
Müller on the right is the obvious choice, everybody knows he'll score goals and have a great tournament.
Not a fan of Podolski, but he always stepped up for Germany and is a pretty realiable scorer and hard worker, too.
It's too sad that Marco Reus is injured, he was by far the best German player for the last 6 months and would have set the World Cup alight cutting in from the left side.
Mesut Özil at false 9 - It never worked well and I guess it never will. Löw is in love with Özil and always plays him, for me his form is not good enough though. If Klose is notfit the best option would be to play Müller upfront, atleast he sometimes plays that role on club level.
The whole line-up is a disaster waiting to happen, but at the end of the day it's Germany
and when it matters we're always there.
My line-up(with Lahm wishing to play in midfield) would be
--------------------Neuer---------------------
-Boateng--Mertesacker--Hummels--Durm-
--------------Lahm--Schweinsteiger/Kroos--
---Götze------------Özil---------Schürrle---
--------------------Müller--------------------
There is loads of people here who really hate Jogi Löw, some don't even support the team because of that and I see where they are coming from, but somehow we'll still reach the semi-finals and I hope confidence will grow during the tournament so maybe we can finally win something
Auf geht's!
- Schweinsteiger was flown into the hospital for a screening. Got a hit during training. BILD just reported.
That is not very serious.
BILD has the right contacts - that is sometimes a problem. But you usually know what articles of them you can take serious or not.
But the German FA just explained that - Schweinsteiger was flown into the hospital but it was only because of a treatment or screening because of FIFA rules concerning the insurance. All of the players that had injuries in a special period prior to the tournament seem to have to do that and whereas Neuer and Lahm had a post screening already in Germany it was not made with Schweinsteiger.
Because people don't agree with the line up I think it might surprise people.
Fantastic display from Germany vs Portugal. The way they control the tempo of the game, always look for players in better position, pass and move etc. is great to watch. Easily my favorite team at WC (once again). They seem to be the most intelligent team around.
I wonder if lack of proper wingers will cost them. Today it was quite easy as they simply outplayed Portugal (and scored an early goal), but they may find it hard when chasing the scoreline. They may lack those “game changers”, but as a unit they are joy to watch.
I was surprised with that midfield of Khedira-Lahm-Kroos but it worked really well. I guess that set-up gives more freedom to Kroos, and once again he was bossing the game. I wonder if they will play Schweinsteiger instead one of them in next games, because this trio looks perfectly balanced.
They play quite low-intensity game, this might prove a very important factor in more advanced stages of World Cup (I guess).
Game vs Ghana will be interesting, as they seem exactly the opposite- pace&strength but they lack technique and game-plan.
I wonder if lack of proper wingers will cost them. Today it was quite easy as they simply outplayed Portugal (and scored an early goal), but they may find it hard when chasing the scoreline. They may lack those “game changers”, but as a unit they are joy to watch.
I was surprised with that midfield of Khedira-Lahm-Kroos but it worked really well. I guess that set-up gives more freedom to Kroos, and once again he was bossing the game. I wonder if they will play Schweinsteiger instead one of them in next games, because this trio looks perfectly balanced.
They play quite low-intensity game, this might prove a very important factor in more advanced stages of World Cup (I guess).
Game vs Ghana will be interesting, as they seem exactly the opposite- pace&strength but they lack technique and game-plan.
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In a way I think the climate is really helping Löw. I don't really care how we got to this team selection and playing style, but I fecking love it and Löw deserves a lot of credit for it. His approach contradicts pretty much everything he told us in the last 4 years, but it was spot on for this game and is in my opinion the perfect way for the team to be effective in the heat (I'm pretty sure that's the reason behind shifting the focus towards defensive organisation and counterattacking again and if true, it's really great that Löw goes against his idea of football to build a team that works in Brazil.) The 3 man midfield had a wonderful balance and allowed Kroos and Khedira to bring their strengths into the team without hurting the defensive balance and Özil and Götze work way better together if one of them starts wide and both are allowed to drift freely around without getting into the way of each other. I wrote before that I don't mind the false 9 idea or whatever you want to call it as long as it's played in a 433 and not in a 4231 where Götze and Özil occupy the same space all the time.
I'm still worried that Löw could overthink it all at one point in the tournament and change something instead of just sticking to what's working at the moment and trusting the players to overcome the opponent, but for now I'm really excited. If Schweinsteiger is fully fit later in the tournament, I could see him replacing Lahm in midfield and Lahm going back to rightback, but other than that we really should stick with tactics similar to this game throughout the worldcup and then I'm confident we can beat anyone.
I'm still worried that Löw could overthink it all at one point in the tournament and change something instead of just sticking to what's working at the moment and trusting the players to overcome the opponent, but for now I'm really excited. If Schweinsteiger is fully fit later in the tournament, I could see him replacing Lahm in midfield and Lahm going back to rightback, but other than that we really should stick with tactics similar to this game throughout the worldcup and then I'm confident we can beat anyone.
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The best idea he obviously had was playing Müller as a Striker. He is at his best when hes the Striker or behind him.
I was extremely surprised by Germanys performance. Pretty much everyone played well. Boateng shut down Ronaldo once again. Hummels was absolutely outstanding eventough everyone is talking about Müller.
Hummels is such class. Clearly the best Defender at the WC so far. I mean he managed to tackle a guy in a fair way and hurts him at the same time
.
Hummels tackles were spot on and absolutely breathtaking. I didnt even noticed Mertesacker because Hummels was shutting down everyone.
The only guy who didnt play that well was Höwedes as expected. You could see his fear and lack of talent when going forward. He had some chances for good crosses but played the safe ball instead. He was also exposed a couple of times by Nani.
Lahm had some rare early mistakes but then managed a solid game. Kroos was outstanding aswell. Hes way better when playing the Nr.10 role instead of CDM.
Khedira was solid but his lack of goal scoring threat can hurt Germany. I mean how did he manage to fail to score on an open goal???
I was extremely surprised by Germanys performance. Pretty much everyone played well. Boateng shut down Ronaldo once again. Hummels was absolutely outstanding eventough everyone is talking about Müller.
Hummels is such class. Clearly the best Defender at the WC so far. I mean he managed to tackle a guy in a fair way and hurts him at the same time
. Hummels tackles were spot on and absolutely breathtaking. I didnt even noticed Mertesacker because Hummels was shutting down everyone.
The only guy who didnt play that well was Höwedes as expected. You could see his fear and lack of talent when going forward. He had some chances for good crosses but played the safe ball instead. He was also exposed a couple of times by Nani.
Lahm had some rare early mistakes but then managed a solid game. Kroos was outstanding aswell. Hes way better when playing the Nr.10 role instead of CDM.
Khedira was solid but his lack of goal scoring threat can hurt Germany. I mean how did he manage to fail to score on an open goal???
don't forget Mazic, by far the best man on the pitch for Germany
Was a pen despite being soft, and if you go by the rules Perreira is lucky not to get a red. Good decision by the ref.
Was also a red even though I do think give Pepe a yellow and a warning would've been alright too. I didn't think he meant to headbutt him, I feel it was more him trying to provoke a reaction from Müller. But that went wrong.
I think the Portugal penalty would've also been soft but could've been given. At that point it hardly mattered anymore though if we're being honest here.
@Lyricist already answered, but I just wanna add, that he is completely right. The penalty might have been a bid soft (though I agree with the call), but should have resulted in a red according to the rules. And if Pepe is stupid enough to do stuff like that he is the only one to blame.
Besides: Germany outplayed Portugal and would have won decisively with any ref. So now stop crying.
If they play like they did in the first half against Portugal for the rest of the tournament then they will be near impossible to beat. Very organized and high quality players with a lot of confidence in themselves and each other.
what do you mean ?
But agree, the climate got him to use a more cautious approach, not a high line in defence, not crazy high pressing. I was hopping for that as well.
The team showed a good mix of counter attacks and possesion game. The balance was just great.
But I don't know why that contradicts his statements of the last years.
Why so ?
Against other teams a different approach might be more effective. I am very happy that our team can switch between tactics if needed.
Would you use Durm against Ghana for more attacking power on the flanks ?
If Schweini plays in DM, Lahm as RB and Durm as LB we use a more risky approach, but against teams that are not as good on counter attacks, this might be not a problem.
I told you all that Germany would smash it!
Bastards
Bastards
As much as I like what I've seen from Durm he is just so inexperienced that I wouldn't trust him on a WC stage, yet(!). Höwedes is a pretty underwhelming choice, but what options do we have at LB? Maybe push Boateng there who absolutely deserves to be in the team?
--------------------Neuer--------------------
Lahm---Mertesacker---Hummels---Boateng
Khedira--------Schweinsteiger--------Kroos
Özil---------------Müller---------------Götze
But hasn't Löw ruled out Lahm as RB? And how fit is Schweini?
I'd give Hummels a rest against Ghana. We need him fully operational for the rest of the tournament.
You want to start resting players before advancing from the group stage is secured? Don't like the idea at all.
does anyone know if Mustafi is any better than Höwedes going forward? He played on the right at the end of the game, so he might be an option