Comments on: 10 Conclusions: Croatia 2-1 Germany

By: WIIBOY101

WIIBOY101 — Sat, 21 Jun 2008 21:01:42 +0000

who gives a flyin fuck argentina are no 1 and the gods sjhould give them there reward and basile fukibng take a look at lazzetti and that france based argy striker the poor mans batistuta forgot his name there both out and out scorers along side messi and with good wide suppoert thell score loads ARGENTINA NEED A EURO STYLE CENTRE FORWARD ALONG WITH THE TEXEZ THE MESSIS THE ROMANS THE LUCHOS

CONACHUNI HIS NAME SPELT DESPERATELY LOL HE IS SUCH A GOAL SCORER GET HIM UPFRONT WITH MESSI AND TEVEX PLAYING BEHIND HIM THEN HAVE A LINE OF 4 FOLLOWED BY 3 UNBEATABLE WELL AFTER SOME PRACTICE

By: bunchapooha

bunchapooha — Sun, 15 Jun 2008 06:32:15 +0000

Shut up Nick, shut up.. If Germany wins 3-1 in the finals I’m holding you responsible.

By: Burair

Burair — Sun, 15 Jun 2008 03:49:00 +0000

I can’t say how sad I was after by the end of the match, not because of the result.. but more because of how we played! This is not our team that I know of.
Anyways, I must disagree with Jan here: Lehmann was a super flop, and played like a teenager who is playing in a local team, yet in an important match (talking about how inconfident he seems to me).
Löw showed that he is not a top class couch. Am talking about putting Odonkor, who can do nothing but run, and creating a “dead” right side.. in addition to the fact that he couldn’t think of a solution for his team!
I think Germany should start with the same squad Klinsman used in in world cup 2006, but having Schneider’s place taken by Tim Borowski.. and on the left side Hitzlsperger.

By: Nick

Nick — Fri, 13 Jun 2008 20:37:11 +0000

Well it looks like 1974 all over again doesn’t it Jan?

I hope Germany can live up to it’s end

By: Jan

Jan — Fri, 13 Jun 2008 19:00:23 +0000

Well, the individual quality is there, some players are still young, some aren’t in top form but I wouldn’t rate the 1996 team higher in that respect tbh. Löw took a gamble on players like Lehmann or Metzelder and will have to take responsibility for that if it fails. On the other hand you couldn’t have anticipated Gomez flopping like he did and Jansen being such a liability. There’s a lot of room for improvement.

By: curt adalbert

curt adalbert — Fri, 13 Jun 2008 18:58:42 +0000

Lehman your time has come, Lehman you’ve had your fun it’s time to run, Lehman Lehman it’s some else’s time in the sun.

By: Nick

Nick — Fri, 13 Jun 2008 18:19:28 +0000

Kenan I have been following Germany since 1998, and I know the post-war German team history well. The current team may play the most attacking brand of football since 1982, but that is because we play aflexible 4-4-2 since Voeller and improved under Klinsi. Germany has thus abandoned the traditional sweeper 5-3-2 system. We can;t revert back to 5-3-2 because we do not have wonder sweepers like Beckenbauer or Sammer anymore. In fact over-reliance on 5-3-2 is why Germany has been “bad” since 1998. Brazil uses it, but let’s be realistic we are not Brazil by any stretch of the imagination. Our current model is inspired by England who humbled us in Munich but much more on France who have been on top of the World since 1998.

Our crosses are not bad (usually Lahm), but we no longer have a pacy killer instinct in front of goal (Klinsi). If we tried shooting from distance we might squander a buildup as we don’t have killer distance kick takers anymore (Haessler, Brehme)

I see what you are saying Croatia did not let us play our passing game. So we reverted to what England does best lobbing it forward. Since our defenders our now are no longer Sammer, Kohler, Eilts, Reuter, Tarnat, we have to change our game plan to suit the opponent sometimes. We have not done that. We can beat up on teams who do not close us down Poland, England, Portugal, Argentina, even an old Italy, but for those teams who adapt to our formation, Croatia, Czech Republic, basically every other East European team and Ireland/Wales we play poorly against.

When you add to the fact that the players were missing cohesion and heart, the ONLY consistent thing Germany has done throughout these decades, we crumbled. Same thing happened in Lyon a decade ago. (Though Woerns got red-carded at a crucial juncture, and Vogts decided to add on more strikers without supplying mid-fielders, we became complacent, frustrated, and well we acted a lot like Spain or England.)

I guess I am arguing above all else that the 1990 World Cup winning team and the 1996 European Championship team had much better individual players (Haessler, Moeller, Klinsmann, Bierhoff, Eilts, Littbarski, Voeller) than we do today. Nonetheless 4-4-2 (as France has shown) is the way forward, Germany needs to continue to invest in youth and we as fans need to keep supporting Germany, on the field especially.

I have always wondered what it would have been like to be there in 1954 in Berne? We are in Switzerland today again, perhaps we cand o somethign special again.

Italy is on it’s way out we are on the way to the final.

By: kenan

kenan — Fri, 13 Jun 2008 14:54:37 +0000

I’m a supporter of Germany since 1982, and I’ve seen the ups and downs of Germany. This team is so much better than many other teams that passed before. Everyone talks about the positioning of players, and how should be on the bench and who should not, etc…. However, I like to talk about things that no one pays attention for:

Free Kicks: Who’s our expert? Ballack? How many has he scored from a free kick? Long gone the days when we had Mathaus, Brehme, Hussler, Moller. If you have a lethal free kick expert, you can almost win always. Offense would only need to get close to the penalty area and force a foul. Remember how many goals Brehme scored from free kicks, against France first goal in 86, Italy in 88, England in 90, and Husller scored in the 91st min against Russia in 92.

Crosses/Corners: My God even that we are not doing right. Rememeber how many goals we scored like that in 98 when Husler combined with Klinsmann. We have tall players, but we don’t have someone to deliver. Jensen doesn’t cross, he shoots and that makes it difficult to head the ball into goal, better he keeps it low.

Shots: WHY WE ARE NOT SHOOTING FROM OUTSIDE???? enough of those silly 1-2 in front of goal. Use a combination of both, let the defence not know where it will come from. Be unperdictable.

Formation: 4-4-2 isn’t working. Call me crazy, but here’s what I would do. First replace Lehman, Germany has half a dozen better keepers. Formation to be 5-3-2. The back wings contribute a lot to the forward, so there is will be no harm leaving 3 at the back. Most of the goals and missed chances came from the center. A sweeper with authority would solve that. That person is Frings, YES Frings. Didn’t we move Lothar from the center to the sweeper position before. He will deliver from the back, cuz none of the center defence has the confidence to do this, they simply pass to Frings or Ballack. Stick to Lahm on the left, give the right to Fritz. In front of defense, play Hitzilberger, we could make use of his powerful long range shots. Then in center forward Poldi to the left, Ballack to the right forming with Hitzilberger a trinagle in the middle. In front, Klose and someone else (for now, not Gomez) if left for me I would start with Neville, and substitute him with Kuranyi or vice-versa.

On the bench we’ll still have schweinsteiger for Poldi, Borowski for Ballack, Gomez, odonkor, and one player that I think should do nothing but practice free kicks and corners, and that is Trochowski.

By: Intan

Intan — Fri, 13 Jun 2008 14:46:05 +0000

Croatia’s more chances were because they were able to keep the ball away from the Germans by pressuring them, which is by playing an uncomfortable style of football for the Germans. Which is really tactics, although I agree that Croatian talents to play a part (it may be a bit crude for me to say this, but player by player, the Germans are expected to have more talents than the Croatians…). As for the Croatians having more of the ball, the stats show that the Germans still managed most of the possession at 57% compared to Croatia’s 43%.
I think we did watch the same match, but people interpret matches differently, no?

By: diana

diana — Fri, 13 Jun 2008 14:40:19 +0000

‘7. Jogi Löw had no umbrella, it wasn’t raining and it wasn’t Wembley. But when he brought on Odonkor to take Fritz’ role on the right midfield side and when he then replaced Fritz with Kuranyi and allowed Odonkor to act as a right-back, you knew that even the coach had his off-day.’
Even all the more Steve McClaren was in the stadium as well for the BBC.

Regarding Mario Gomez, being a Stuttgart fan, he disappointed me.

Whatever the outcome in Vienna against Austria, I am already mentally prepared. Nothing surprises me in football anymore.