We already knew that Miroslav Klose is, as both Bayern and non-Bayern fans seem to agree, a better fit for the current style of play, than Mario Gomez. He just reminded us all of this fact with three exclamation marks on Tuesday. Per Mertesacker is, as all agree as well, a shadow of himself. Mesut Özil’s and Thomas Müller’s ability to interpret, run into and open space on the football pitch is a joy to watch. Even more so, because they have very capable team mates. Teams with a stronger focus on defense than the Netherlands can still pose a serious problem. Germany are one of the Euro 2012 favorites. It’s about time to win a title.

Goetzilla isn’t yet a very scary monster. There wasn’t much you could really say about the compatibility of the two on the pitch. The overall tactical changes were just too big, to evaluate the two beyond their individual skill level, that was on show in glimpses on Friday. Maybe we’ll get the chance to see both in Germany’s standard formation and get a better idea.

Zieler went through 45 minutes to forget, and 45 minutes to remember. 45 minutes into your first match for the national team and you are 3-0 down. The last time that happened to a Germany goalkeeper was during a World Cup 1954 group stage match (against Hungary). And that was deliberately lost by Germany. And there wasn’t really anything Zieler could do about it. Luckily for him, Germany didn’t just salvage a draw in the second half, but the back line kept being so unorganized, that Zieler had the opportunity to make two top class saves, to keep Germany in the game. Overall a promising debut actually.

Moving Aogo and Träsch up into midfield didn’t work at all. Christian Träsch had a night to forget anyway. Dennis Aogo looked pretty good going forward actually, but completely forgot about defensive responsibilities. Aogo missed a chance to move himself into position as the #1 Lahm backup. Then, again, the new tactical lineup makes it all rather difficult to really put too much blame on the performances of some players.

Toni Kroos made the best of Schweinsteiger’s absence. While the team would have certainly benefitted from Schweinsteiger’s presence and experience, it was the youngest starting eleven Löw ever fielded, Toni Kroos nonetheless ceased the opportunity to advertise himself as a certain starter for Euro 2012. He really only just keeps backing up the past four years of advance praise.

The squad for both games:

Goal: Manuel Neuer (Bayern Munich), Tim Wiese (Werder Bremen), Ron-Robert Zieler (Hannover 96)
Defense: Dennis Aogo (Hamburger SV), Holger Badstuber (Bayern Munich), Jerome Boateng (Bayern Munich), Benedikt Höwedes (Schalke 04), Mats Hummels (Borussia Dortmund), Per Mertesacker (Arsenal), Marcel Schmelzer (Borussia Dortmund), Christian Träsch (Wolfsburg)
Midfield: Lars Bender (Bayer Leverkusen), Mario Götze (Borussia Dortmund), Sami Khedira (Real Madrid), Toni Kroos (Bayern Munich), Thomas Müller (Bayern Munich), Lukas Podolski (Cologne), Mesut Özil (Real Madrid), Marco Reus (Mönchengladbach), Simon Rolfes (Bayer Leverkusen), Andre Schürrle (Bayer Leverkusen)
Offense: Cacau (VfB Stuttgart), Mario Gomez (Bayern Munich), Miroslav Klose (Lazio)

Miroslav Klose and, again, Marco Reus are out injured and stayed in Germany. Both might be fit in time for Tuesday. Lukas Podolski is a candidate to wear the captain’s armband against Ukraine. Ron-Robert Zieler will get his national team debut. Mats Hummels will defend alongside Holger Badstuber. Some other central defender will certainly play as right back.

The most interesting news though, is that Löw will experiment and play both Götze and Özil in the starting eleven. That should be very interesting.

Germany was lucky to survive Belgium’s early pressure. Something which was also true for the Turkey game. Germany’s back-line didn’t look particularly composed, organized and fit to soak up the pressure. Germany benefitted from the lack of precision and punch of the Turkish and Belgian attacks, which made them easier to defend. Germany look vulnerable and teams with more individual class could easily expose those frailties. The friendly against the Netherlands should give us a much better idea, how stable our back line really is.

Germany’s midfield looked “interesting”. Jogi Löw used the opportunity to experiment, by giving his players much more freedom to change and switch positions around. Something players like Özil, Schürrle and Müller are quite comfortable with. But instead of adding more creativity and unpredictability to Germany’s attacks, it often left things in disarray when Germany lost the ball or played a bad pass. It worked quite well during some periods of the match. It remains to be seen, whether Löw will try to make this work until the Euros, or just toyed with an idea.

Germany’s counter attacks and individual brilliance save the day. Continuously and consistently. And it’s reassuring to know, that you can always fall back on those two, while we try to figure out the right personnel for the back-line and the way we want our midfield to play.

Mario Gomez keeps stumbling and tumbling and scoring. Maybe what sets Mario Gomez apart from other strikers is, that he isn’t loosing a lot of balls to a defender, but to his own feet. His clumsiness lets me repeatedly hope for a more “gifted” striker to come through the youth ranks to replace Klose. But Mario Gomez’ current goalscoring record speaks for itself. Jürgen Klinsmann had the first touch of a pinball machine bumper and won it all with Germany as well.

It’s all tied in the defense. Höwedes or Boateng as right-back. Hummels or Mertesacker to play alongside Badstuber. None of them particularly stood out in a positive or negative sense. So, it’s really just about Löw making two picks and then let a fixed back line settle down until next year. That is also the amount of time I’m willing to give Philipp Lahm to prove, why exactly he is so much better on the left.

Sorry, I couldn’t write a post discussing the game. I didn’t manage to watch it, recorded it instead, but only had time to skip through it.

A few quick thoughts:

• A great game for Neuer to showcase what sets him apart from most other goalkeepers in the game. Instead of just clearing the danger or making a save, he also always tries to quickly initiate a counter attack. With quite some success this time around, as he basically set up the first two goals.
• The midfield looked a bit disjointed. Sami Khedira didn’t entirely convince me. Toni Kroos has a realistic chance to win the starting spot alongside Schweinsteiger.
• Lukas Podolski has proven with Cologne, that he can be devastating on the counter attack, while he also noticeably improved his defensive game. It would have made more sense to start Schürrle and then sub in Podolski, when Germany were leading, and Turkey had to open up.
• I’m not really happy with the experimental feel of the defense. The right-back position continues to be deserted, while Löw happily shuffles through different central defensive pairings. I hope Löw eventually finds whatever he’s looking for in his back-line.
• We have great depth.

Now all that’s left to do is beat Belgium, set the new record for Euro qualifiers and experiment some more. Götze won’t play, Özil and Klose could return. Toni Kroos could start. Maybe/Hopefully Marco Reus will get more minutes to prove himself.

Elsewhere, Germany’s youth teams are doing really well. The U21 kept their perfect record and beat Bosnia-Herzegovina 3-0. The U20 beat Switzerland 4-1 as part of a round of international matches. The U19 beat Montenegro 2-0 and qualified for next years elite round, which determines the teams taking part in the U19 Euros.

Here is who got nominated alongside Mesut Özil:

Goal: Manuel Neuer (Bayern Munich), Tim Wiese (Werder Bremen), Ron-Robert Zieler (Hannover 96)

Attack: Mario Gomez (Bayern Munich), Miroslav Klose (Lazio), Cacau (VfB Stuttgart)

Germany’s performances in games that didn’t matter were lackluster and erratic recently. With Belgium and Turkey both fighting for second place in the group, there is a danger of Germany leaving a bitter aftertaste on the outcome. Jogi Löw’s way of trying to prevent that is by targeting the unique record – for the German national team that is – of winning a perfect 10 out of 10 Euro qualification matches.

Whether that’s enough to motivate players in the midst of their club season and with difficult Champions League fixtures looming large remains to be seen.

Miroslav Klose at least will be very motivated to get on the score sheet as he targets Gerd Müller’s goalscoring record of 68 goals. He is currently 6 goals short. Yet, if he indeed does break the record, he’ll have needed close to or more than twice as many matches than Gerd Müller. A triumph of endurance over class?

The fight for a spot in the starting XI between Andre Schürrle and Lukas Podolski probably should also bode well for another motivated player in the line-up, with Lukas Podolski in particular looking to be in excellent form at the moment.

Marco Reus should be very motivated to not pick up any injuries in the run-up to the games, as we could finally (finally!) see him debut for the team. Toni Kroos is down with the flu and seems to be a definite doubt for the game against Turkey.

Not a debut, but a comeback could be in sight for the good old 4-4-2, which Jogi Löw might try out, following his rather unstable experiment with a 4-1-4-1.

4-1-4-1 accommodates Germany’s attacking options and underlines Germany’s defensive weaknesses. If Jogi Löw considers 4-1-4-1 his formation of choice for next year’s Euros, then he has a lot of work to do, to get the balance between offense and defense right. It’s perfect for high scoring friendlies and against smaller teams though. The last three games of the national team were all quite entertaining. Still, Poland only needed one or two passes on the counter attack to open up acres of space. They could have scored a couple of goals more, if their finishing wasn’t so bad. Not that Germany did any better – also because: Szczesny > Gratzei.

Christian Träsch won’t be fined for his performance. Which is the one positive he can take home to Wolfsburg. If you know of any other German midfielders, central defenders or strikers Jogi Löw should try next as right-back, please get in touch with the DFB.

Arsene Wenger has some work to do. Let’s hope the Arsenal coach can return Per Mertesacker to form and teach him a thing or two about proper positioning and passing. This was an underwhelming comeback against Poland. But as long as players like Hummels or Höwedes stay fit, it won’t be our biggest concern ahead of the Euros.

Tim Wiese should stay on his line. He didn’t kung-fu kick any Polish player to hospital but played his part in both Polish goals. He shouldn’t try too hard to be a “modern” goalkeeper. He won’t have to fear that Jogi Löw invites Roman Weidenfeller anyway.

Toni Kroos finally finds the back of the net. It took him 21 games. Let’s hope we won’t have to wait another 21 games until he also finds the right position in this team. He often seems to be in the wrong place, either missing in attack or defense.

That goal by Götze and the following shot of Löw with the crowd in the background sums it all up. But here are some quick post match thoughts nonetheless.

Christian Gratzel had a bad game. Before showering the German team with praise, it should be said that two and a half of Germany’s six goals were gifts from the Austrian goalkeeper. A better goalkeeper could have stolen the ball from Özil’s feet for the second goal and would have properly covered the near post for the third and fourth goal – the fourth goal was a deflection, but still. In general, the performance of the Austrian team didn’t come close to their gritty, gutsy display in Vienna. Their coach seems to be a lame duck and chances to qualify purely hypothetical, which didn’t help their game either. But now to the good part.

Germany had a great game. Another great game. A lot of the praise from the Brazil friendly could be copied and pasted into this post. But to repeat: Germany looks much improved in possession and when chasing the ball, while maintaining most of the pace and directness of the counter-attacking football from last year’s World Cup. Spain may yet be more elegant and accomplished in that respect, but at least Germany manages to keep the ball without passing the fans and followers to sleep. Brazil was a good test, but it was against a team in transition. It’s time for a proper challenge, which will be served in November when our neighbors and currently the #1 team in the world pays a visit.

Mesut Özil and Thomas Müller were devastating. The two combined scored and assisted three goals – the referee somehow decided to award the first goal to Klose for his 62nd international goal, but it was an Özil hat-trick for everybody else. Basically the two just need to make sure to stay healthy and keep their current form and we’ll have little to worry going into Euro 2012. Then again, with players like Götze and Reus waiting on the bench and with Holtby and Draxler waiting in the U21, we would have little to worry going into Euro 2012 even if Özil and Müller were out injured. Our current level of depth is quite reassuring. And while he is still a bit hesitant, it’s also reassuring that Löw doesn’t rule out playing Götze alongside Özil, even though he sees both players primarily in the center.

Miroslav Klose delivered a blue print performance for whoever will succeed him. Minus scoring some goals. But the way he was integrated into Germany’s attacks and how he exchanged passes with other players was exemplary. Quite a bit different style of play compared to the lone marksman whose job is to bang in the goals from perfectly timed deliveries. I like the suggestions from the comments, that Andre Schürrle might be a player, who could fill that role better than someone like Gomez.

Germany are dominant in midfield and attack but careless at the back. When you are playing and winning so convincingly, conceding the odd consolation goal isn’t the end of the world. Yet, it would be a good exercise for the whole team to keep the concentration levels up for the whole 90 minutes for a change. And as many of you already pointed out in the comments: not a particularly good game by our biographer and captain. If Lahm decides to continue to be mediocre, then he really should be mediocre on the right and give Aogo or Schmelzer a chance to have a career in the national team. They’ll surely thank him when they write their books. It’s also a sad sight to see how every half decent German central defender / defensive midfielder has to waste his talent on the right wing just to suit Lahm’s preferences.

Is it OK to win a major tournament wearing this? Or should we pass and hand Euro 2012 to a better dressed nation?

And here is how the German squad for the upcoming Euro qualifiers will look like:

Goal: Manuel Neuer (Bayern München), Tim Wiese (Werder Bremen), Ron-Robert Zieler (Hannover 96)

Defense: Jerome Boateng (Bayern München), Holger Badstuber (Bayern München), Benedikt Höwedes (Schalke 04), Mats Hummels (Borussia Dortmund), Philipp Lahm (Bayern München), Per Mertesacker (Arsenal), Christian Träsch (VfL Wolfsburg), Marcel Schmelzer (Borussia Dortmund)

Midfield: Sven Bender (Borussia Dortmund), Mario Götze (Borussia Dortmund), Toni Kroos (Bayern München), Thomas Müller (Bayern München), Lukas Podolski (1. FC Köln), Mesut Özil (Real Madrid), Marco Reus (Borussia Mönchengladbach), Simon Rolfes (Bayer Leverkusen), Andre Schürrle (Bayer Leverkusen), Bastian Schweinsteiger (Bayern München)

Attack: Mario Gomez (Bayern München), Miroslav Klose (Lazio)

Marco Reus misses out on his Germany debut for the fifth time in a row. That surely is a new record.

No in-depth review, just a few take aways for a quick post match discussion, starting by stating the obvious.

1. Mario Götze is a very special player. Following a week full of praise, comparisons and speculation about his possible future place in Germany’s Football Hall of Fame, I’ll just leave it at that. He played a great game and scored a wonderful goal and certainly is more than just a back-up for Özil in the center. In fact, while Schürrle has played really well in his first few games for Germany – and again tonight, it probably isn’t about Schürrle or Podolski on the left but rather Schürrle/Podolski or Götze. Depending on how Holtby develops this season, I’d like to see Holtby as an Özil back-up in time for 2012.

2. Germany’s ball retention looks greatly improved. Ahead of the match Bastian Schweinsteiger talked about the team’s ambition to perfect their football. Winning the ball and keeping possession of the ball certainly has been and still is on the to-do list. But following this display against a team that usually likes to keep the ball as well, we can conclude that Germany is on the right way. Germany generally looked in control of the game and thanks to an aggressive pressing high up the pitch also quite dominant. There were some sloppy and careless passes – some were particularly dangerous as they gifted the ball to Brazil in Germany’s half or even close to the penalty box. The defense was well organized though and took care of most of Brazil’s attacks.

3. Mario Gomez doesn’t seem a perfect fit for Germany’s system. He scored at will for Bayern last season and also was on target for Germany recently, so it certainly won’t be a disaster if we’ll go into the next two tournaments with him as our first choice striker. But it just feels like he doesn’t quite fit into the current German system. His first touch really lets him down and it’s difficult to integrate him into Germany’s passing game except for the final pass he then has to put over the line. He feels like an improved and polished version of Kevin Kuranyi. I’d like to see a modern version of Gerd Müller up top instead.

4. Philipp Lahm (unnecessarily) blocks the left-back position. Just because he plays on the left for Bayern again, doesn’t mean Löw has to do the same. With Schmelzer and Aogo we have two left-backs who greatly improved their game over the past two seasons and I’d like to let the two go head to head for a starting spot instead of putting them on the bench, while players like Träsch or Boateng have to help out on the right side.

5. Substitutions were the only letdown. It was a great performance – and for a friendly this has been rare under Löw – so there really isn’t much to criticize. But even though it was Brazil and all, I would have liked to see some more experimental substitutions. It wasn’t Müller’s best game anyway, so why not give Reus 45 minutes? Give Gündogan a few minutes. Give Höwedes a chance alongside Hummels. I think those players are good enough to deliver, even in a high profile friendly.