I think Lowe needs to make some changes,

Neuer instead of Adler

Westermann in place of Taski

Ozil Next to Ballack

Schweini right flank

Keissling to be rotated with Klose

Cacau as a starter all the way

Lahm right wing back

Lowe seems content to give germany a (good) showing , but as we know , this is not what Germany is about . it is number one and the WC or nothing folks.

I Germany needs to start looking at developing more local talent for the bundesliga as the local talent is eroding and the proof is only Ballack plays outside germany for any significant to 15 clubs in the world, That is pathetic and the results show it.

Seems it sill be another quarterfinal exit.

Posted from  Lebanon

best thing to do now is switch back to 4-4-2 and call back frings

neuer
lahm-westermann-mertesacker-schafer
schweinsteiger-ballack-frings-ozil
kiessling-podolski

klose can be the new neuville

Posted from  United States

Against athletic physical teams:
Brazil, Holland, England, Italy

4-4-2 Diamond
————-Adler————–
—Traesch-Boateng-Merte-Lahm—
————Hummels————-
———Schweini-Kroos———
————-Özil—————
———Klose—-Poldi———

Against possession based team:
Argentina, Spain, France

4-4-2 Flat
————-Adler————–
—Traesch-Boateng-Merte-Lahm—
————Hummels————-
—Schweini–Kroos–Özil——–
———Klose—-Poldi———

Against a weak team or last minute equalizer:

4-2-3-1
————-Adler————–
-Beck–Boateng—-Hummels–Lahm-
————Schweini————
————Khedira————-
–Marin——Ozil——–Kroos–
————-Klose————–

Now that we are a bit farther away from the action. An addendum to Jan’s points.

We have two types of strikers: targetmen (Klose, Gomez) and supporting strikers (Kiessling, Poldi, Cacau, Hunt, Mueller). Neither of which can create chances independently. (Poor Helmes)

This leaves the job to midfield. Since the flanks were occupied by two strikers one out of form and one too raw everything fell upon Oezil. It effectively became a 4-2-1-3 or from what it looked like a 4-2-1.

Oezil is not in the best shape recently, inexperienced, and does not have the number 10 mentality yet. He was easily pressured and closed down against a strong Argentina midfield, who know how to deal with solitary playmakers. Honestly, Kroos would have been more suited to the role with Oezil on one side and Marin on the other.

Our two usual outlets Ballack and Schweini were wasted in the DM role where their job was to watch the defense.

This brings us to why Loew fielded a 4-2-3-1 with Ballack and Schweini in the first place. He did not want to lose. He realized correctly that our defense is mediocre at best, so often times we saw Schweini playing CB and Ballack trying to kill the Argies.
It also explains why almost all of our attacks before the introduction of Cacau and Kroos came from Tasci, Lahm, Boateng.

Bottom line is our strategy was bad, but it’s because our defense is shaky that it was stacked that way. Tactically Loew unsurprisingly did not make the right substitutions at the right time. I still maintain that Hummels could have made this game different. He certainly could have fouled the goalscorer in time that;s for sure.

my dream XI @ 2010 FIFA WORLD CUP

neuer

lahm / metzelder / friedrich / westermann

schweinsteiger / rolfes / ballack / ozil

muller / gomez

in defense of adler. despite the by now infamous ’step too late’ he made a subsequent brilliant reaction save (the deflection that hit the crossbar and had the guts to come out again after his rushing error to make a clearance that almost certainly prevented a goal. i like neuer, too, by the way, i just don’t see this as the goalkeeping disaster that it has been portrayed to be. the guy is young and with a back-up like neuer the keeper is the least of g’s worries.

Posted from  Canada

Neuer is the best keeper Germany have available right now. Adler and Wiese probably make up the other two spots in the top 3, and Lehmann himself is still not all that bad. Enke was an awesome keeper, and wouldve given Neuer a fight for the starting spot for Germany if i was coach. It would be a close one.

Why is Westermann out of the starting line up , he sure is better than Botang and Taski .

Posted from  United Arab Emirates

Willi

Adler made the save before his rush out. He still looked suspect from the set-piece later in the game. It’s a friendly, but Adler has always looked a bit suspect on set-pieces.

basel

Westermann has been injured for a while so it’s taking him time to get into the starting lineup at Schalke. He is at the same level as Tasci and stronger than Boateng going forward, but weaker defending.

Nick.. you’ve obviously never heard the name Stefan Kießling in your life, have you?

He’s waaay better than the retards Klose and Podolski.

Kiessling is very well known in Germany for being Chancentod – in other words he wastes chances. Did you see the match against Köln and his career before this year?

The Hinrunde was an aberration. He has scored as many goals as Helmes since December, so using Kiessling who has scored even less than Helmes on the national team during the WC would be risky. We might as well have Kuryani based on your criteria.

Klose on the other hand let’s not forget has been top scorer or there about for the last two World Cups and was critical to German success during Euro 2008 and as recently as the qualifiers against Russia and Finland.

My verdict is Kiessling would be great for a friendly, but unless he is on fire in the BL or the CL like Cacau he will only be a bench warmer.

How about Lennart Thy? HE was very good at the u21s

personllay i hope this is the starting eleven.

Neuer-Beck-Mertasacker-Hummels/Tasci-Lahm-Khedira-ballack-Kroos-schweini-Ozil-Klose/podolski

—————Neuer——————–

Beck——-Mertasacker—Hummels—-Lahm

—————Khedira——————

————Balllack–Kroos————-

Schweinsteiger——————-Oezil–

————–Klose———————

Posted from  United States

and dont worry about the one striker…Klose/schweini/ozil/ballack/kroos all are goal scoring players..

And never doubt Klose’s class .

He has 5 goals in both the last two world cups.

Form is temporary but class is permanent..

Posted from  United States

“How about Lennart Thy? HE was very good at the u21s”

You mean U17.

Posted from  Germany

Too bad we don’t have a Robben!

We do have quality players but the problem is that our beloved Jogi didn’t place them at the right position.

Posted from  Malaysia

Germany have quality players, some world class like Ballack, Klose & Schweinsteiger… But still lack calibre of all-time greats of 80s & 90s like Rummenigge, Mattheus, Andreas Moller & Sammer who can “turn around” the whole team…

Posted from  Malaysia

“These factors combined mean two tricky away games against a resurgent Turkish side – one in Turkey and one in Berlin.”

Interesting. I know USA fans feel this way when USA plays Mexico or other countries with large US-based populations. Is it fair to draw parallels between the two situations?

Hertha had this problem when they played Galatasaray, but this is a club specific problem (i.e. inability to win over the Berliners) and not a country problem.

I would disagree that the game in Berlin will be an away game. IMHO the situation is very different from the US, because the German public does care a lot about football and so the Olympiastadion won’t turn into a hostile environment. Or rather, only if the German team plays like shit and is subsequently booed off the pitch.

I guess there’ll be a lot of Germans in the stadium, who have a Turkish immigration background. But it would be sad if they booed their own country and players like Tasci or Özil, who are Germans with similar immigration backgrounds.

Posted from  Germany

——————–neuer——————-
lahm—–tasci——mertersacker—westermann
——————rolfes——————–
schweinsteiger————————–ozil
——————ballack——————-
——-keissling—————gomez——–

subs:
adler,
fritz,friedrich,boateng,schafer,
khedira,kroos,marin,muller.
klose,cacau,kuranyi.
-probably the full squad of GERMANY @ 2010 South Africa FIFA World Cup.any suggestion?

I think it certainly has social parallels. Jan is right in pointing out that Germans might be in the slight majority, but I think the support will mostly be behind Turkey.

Of course if Germany won the World Cup then…

From what I have heard in Deutschland, and again this is just from people Ive talked with is that they (Turkish) support Turkey first and Deutschland second. Unlike a lot of Mexican immigrants in the US who support Mexico first, then other NTs like Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay, etc and probably run the whole list before they say US… maybe this touches upon how passionate locals are for their NT. Most if not all European, South American, British, countries are very passionate. In the US percentage-wise, you cant even compare… yet

Posted from  United States

I think a majority of the Turks in Germany today have never actually been outside of Germany. So it’s natural they support Germany also. I really hope Germany has a good performance in the summer and especially Ozil. Imagine if he scored the winning goal in the final!

Have been following this discussion for quite a while. I wonder if Germany could use 4-3-3 formation instead?

Adler/Neuer/Butt
Westermann—Boateng/Marte—Hummels—Lahm
Ballack—–Rolfes—–Schweinsteiger
Ozil/Muller/Cacau—-Klose/Keissling—–Poldi/Marin