Lahm Kapitän, Neuer Keeper, Träsch OUT! (Update 3)

It’s still a concern that two goals were scored by midfielders and Podolski is not on the scoresheet. The forwards really need to fire.

Podolski had two assists. The Cacau goal and the own goal. I don’t know why Kiessling is still going to SA. To be fair though this was after an intensive training week and the whole team was reportedly slow and tired. Now if you look at the international friendly results… among which Portugal is scoreless against Cape Verde at halftime fulltime the result is not that bad.

Thanks for the update, Nick. I still think Podolski should find his scoring touch, hopefully he does so soon. I do agree with you about carrying 6 strikers, someone has to be dropped. Maybe two. Can’t decide between Kiessling, Gomez, and Mueller though.

Unfortunately Jogi has already said all of them are going and from the sound of it Podolski was playing as winger again. I really hope Marin isn’t cut. Also another injury in defensive midfield and we will be playing our games with Westermann starting in all of them.

I just hope Jogi pulls his head out and is starting to look at more defensemen options because running out of options and/or playing some defensemen out of position will mess us up in a very bad way.

Who should be captain? C Schweinsteiger VC LAHM
Who should be first choice in goal? Neuer
Which two players should be dropped? Trasch,Keissling
Should Löw nominate others for injured players? yes Hummels in ballack out

Does Germany have a goal scoring problem up front?
No

Who should be captain?
My first choice would be Schweini as he is the obvious man-for-man replacement for Ballack (although he clearly isnt ready to take the mantle just yet – as the Inter-Bayern game clearly indicated. That was a tough match this past Saturday that needed a leader – someone to deviate from the ‘game plan’ and dribble/muscle through Inter’s defense and take a shot, or pass to the forwards. Schweini repeatedly chose to play the safe pass to Robben/Van Bommel, and/or stick with the patient build up – His youth and inexperience showed in that game, but in his defense they were a young team overall – as is Germany this time around. Does not bode well for our chances overall in that regard)

Who should be first choice in goal?
Neuer was my first choice – even over Adler.

Which two players should be dropped?
Probably Trasch and Tasci. Kiessling is making a good case for himself too with those terrible misses.

Should Löw nominate others for injured players?
I still think Frings should be given a shot, although he did himself no favors in making a claim for team leader by getting sent off in the Pokal Final.

Does Germany have a goal scoring problem up front?
No, its more about finding the right system and combination of players from different club teams. The Mannschaft set up is similar to Bayern’s in that they now tend to rely on one out and out striker (Klose / Gomez), with Muller in the hole supported by the wings in a 4-2-3-1. The problem is that both Klose and Gomez are better playing is a more traditional 4-4-2 when opposing defenses are busy with two strikers and not all the attention is on them. In making the case for the 4-4-2, they also play well off each other in my opinion, with Gomez able to hold the ball well and Klose a good striker on his own. Unlike Bayern with the pint-size Olic and Muller, Germany have tall, strong forwards and we should be playing lots of characteristic pin-point crosses into the box from the midfield/wings (especially against teams who are not good in the air -Spain, Argentina, Brazil, Most other South American teams with players of smaller stature)

Ultimately, finals and indeed the world cup will be won by a team that is adaptable over the course of the tournament and as in the case of Bayern this past weekend – the lack of a reliable ‘Plan B’ will be exposed by the best opponents.

Ultimately, finals and indeed the world cup will be won by a team that is adaptable over the course of the tournament and as in the case of Bayern this past weekend – the lack of a reliable ‘Plan B’ will be exposed by the best opponents -

Unless you have one man who can carry the entire team on his back and show the world his middle finger at the same time – a la – Diego Armando Maradona, ‘86.

I think Christian Träsch firmly deserved his World Cup spot, especially with Ballack out. Stuttgart had the most successful Rückrunde of all the BL teams and it was in large part to Träsch solidity in midfield. Now that he is most likely out, I am beginning to worry that Jogi might force a defender to step into that position instead of actually getting reinforcements.

I think Germany should add Frings. He was very good in Werder’s stretch run and his experience could be invaluable in the last 15-20 minutes of a match coming off the bench.

Neuer is the GK.

I would go with Lahm for the captain. He was the backup captain for Van Bommel at Bayern.

Unbelievable that we are concerned with defensive mids. We used to have several good players for this position. This of calling back Beckenbauer, he’s experienced.

Who should be captain? Schweini

Who should be first choice in goal? Neuer

Which two players should be dropped? As of now this should be a moot question, more like who should be added!

Should Löw nominate others for injured players? yes Hummels for starters

Does Germany have a goal scoring problem up front?
No. I agree with JT. We have enough its more on who we use and what system(s) to use to benefit us the most.

Hummels! and maybe Castro?

Hey Nick what are the date and times of the upcoming friendlies?

29.05.2010 20.00 Ungarn – Deutschland
03.06.2010 20.30 Deutschland – Bosnien

So that’s about 2:00 & 2:30 PM Eastern Standard Time.

I really wished I was wrong this past weekend, but the game played out like it was in slow motion from the script.

Below is a pre-game assessment I wrote on another blog:

“Ultimately, this is a mouthwatering clash of two European heavyweights (although I am a wee bit biased as a Bayern fan of 25+ years) and a tactical battle between the ‘Master’ and his ‘Apprentice’
In contrasting the teams:

*BAYERN:
—————-Butt———————
–Lahm—V.Buyten–Demichelis–Contento–
—Robben—V.Bommel–Schweni–Altintop–
————–Olic–Müller—————

*INTER:
—————-J.César——————
–Maicon—Samuel–Lucio—Zanetti——-
——Stankovic—Cambiasso–Sneijder—–
———-Etoó—-Milito—-Pandev——–

Defense: Advantage Inter
No contest here. Lucio and Samuel are scary efficient as well as hard tacklers, who can sprint out of the back and start attacks as well. Maicon is pacy and Zanetti, while a bit slow, is world class and has been for a long time – but Robben’s pace will keep him busy all night. For Bayern, the game against Man U exposed the weaknesses for all to see – Van Buyten and Dimechelis are tall, strong in the tackle and good in the air, but not very fast. They are susceptible to speedy counterattacks when Bayern hold a high line. Van Gaal might and should consider Badstuber in central defense – for all his mistakes, he is younger and faster than either of those two. Lahm on the outside is world class and Diego Contento (while very green) is strong in the tackle, fast, reads the game well for someone his age and very helpful in attack.

Midfield: Advantage Bayern
Pretty even, although I tend to say Advantage Bayern. Van Bommel and Schweini are strong tacklers and distributers of the ball. Robben is world class, and Altintop was in outstanding form at Manu-U and Lyon – subbing in for Ribery. Cambiasso plays the Van Bommel ’stopper’ role for Inter, with Sneijder the main creative force. Stopping Sneijder is key to stopping Inter and preventing the midfield link to the offense.

Strikers: Advantage Inter
Barcelona were ‘estupido’ to get rid of Eto’o – his blistering pace on the counter attack combined with the grit and guile of Milito give Inter a lot of different looks in attack. Bayern will have their hands full. Bayerns attack on the other hand with Olic and Muller are not very flashy and rely more heavily on strong midfield support and a slower buildup – which they might not get if they are pressed too far back by Inter.

So 2-1 in Inter’s favor and they go in as favorites man-to-man, but as any bookie will tell you – Bet against the germans at your own peril.

Managers:
The difference could be the managers –
Tactically, both managers have tremendous resumes and although i think Van Gaal is more well rounded with more experience, Jose is probably the shrewder – street-wise – manager and better at reacting to the opposition play on the day. He also has better, in-form players on the bench as options.
What is fascinating is the history these two bring to the table and as Van Gaal’s assistant coach, Jose probably tried to impress back in the Barcelona days doing his scouting reports and opponent analysis – giving Van Gaal insight into how this man thinks.

I feel it plays to both teams strengths to have Bayern fight for possesion, and dominate the ball and midfield – and have Inter play on the counter – which makes sense for Van Gaal (”The best defense is a good offense”) and for Jose (”I will expose these fools and their weak backline on the counter”)

Hard to call this one – my head says Inter but my heart says Bayern. Mia san mia.”

Who should be the captain? LAHM: i would have like Klose but it is better to have a defender as captain than a striker.
GOALKEPPER: Tim Wiese
DROPPED: Tasci is already out and Aogo.
LOW Should not bring in any new player now.
GOALSCORING: Germany has been having a goalscoring problem since Klinsmann retired.

i have one question about German squad – why is Clemens Fritz not in squad? In my opinion, he was one of the best German players in 2008 euro

Ya, whatever happened to Fritz? Is he injured?

Fritz is just not good enough.

alan hansen on radio described this german team as the worst in living memory, and stated enland should target a germany match up in the second round as england would walk all over em, but hes making thes statements without even knowing anything about the newcomers in the squad, whats the reaction with u guys

Typical English media. By all means meet us in the second round and get sent home early. Don’t have to sit through the torture worrying about Rooney. It won’t even have to go to penalties because it’ll be 4-1.

What about the Euro 2000 squad? That was definitely the worst I can remember

On the subject of Hummels :
why don’t the journalists ask jogi about Hummels and what was his answer if that was asked already ? how could he be out of touch with reality? However i remember Vogts was accused of this in Euro 96 and he ended up winning with his choice players and i remember particularly a defender that no one liked performed brilliantly , his name is DIETER EILTS for those who remember him. He did not make one mistake in the final and the semi finals and marked all the top strikers of europe in that tournament to perfection .

I ultimately think however that Jogi has less to choose from the Bundesliga pool of german talent. Foreign players have eroded the talent and we could see that . Even in italy , Intermilan won the CL final with no italian players in the line up which is so bad for the game as it has become a foreign forest of south america and african players mostly .

do i think jogi can win a major tournament ,maybe , but it will not be without an inspired team full of leaders and character to compensate for the lack of manifested talent . In the german squad a leader will need to emerge but i don’t see it yet as the coach seems to lack the confidence of his own players as well with his erratic moves and disputes with the DFB earlier.
Defense has always been the strong german suit and i don’t see it in this squad , not to mention the offensive fire power lacking as well.

nick i cant agree with you, a england germany matchup could be desastour for germany, england would expose the brittle germany defence with lightening pace in rooney, gerard, lennon, walcott, on the other hand enghlands defence is not as strong as recent times, but still is strong, and i would say england might be too strong, therefore germany needs to play pacy defenders and midfielders and needs to win the group to avoid england

englands defense is slow….and fairly short sighted in terms of reading the game…with kroos and ozil in the line up they’d stand no chance, and schweinsteiger is hands down miles better than any midfielder england has..based on current form…defence is still an issue though…and for me it always will be until i see hummels’ name on the team sheet, i expect this to be the line up in south africa

Neuer
boateng Mertesacker Tasci[hummels would be so much better] lahm
schweini khedira[ still not sold on this guy]
ozil kroos podolski
klose[ low would eat his own underpants before he chooses to not start klose, regardless of form]

Nick and sajad :

I am eagerly waiting for our DEUTSCHLAND team to once again humiliate those incredibly unrealistic and jingoistic braggards supporting England.They live on an island. You can surely tell.

I still recall their self-important arrogant misconceptions in ‘06 when they were dreaming of winning the World Cup. And you know what happened: Poof …

And Beckham vomited and cried.

England is like Spain used to be… actually still is in my opinion regardless of Euro’08… good on paper and come up short on the field.

@ sajad

Whenever it’s England / Germany it’s 50-50 no matter who the players are. If you remember way back to the 2009 U-21 Euros though Germany whipped England good. Walcott was there. Unfortunately Hummels is now not. Still I think we don’t have too much to worry about because we have the stronger midfield and all they have is Rooney and a Lampard deflection maybe. Until we meet a team like Holland, Spain, or Brazil we should be fine.

@ tomas

England can only dream of being anything close to Spain. Ever since 66 England has been in football stagnation. It’s not the coach it’s the system. They haven’t changed from playing the long direct ball, hard running, and robust tackling. They think it’s mental, but really it’s the whole English FA looking for excuses instead of answers. A good team will quickly find them out. That’s why England doesn’t get far in tournaments. Not Sven, not Capello, not even Rooney can change that – not by themselves and not in the span of a year.

@ basel

I don’t agree with the foreign influence angle in regards to the BL. It might have been somewhat true between 1991-2006, but the decline was due more to the fact that Vogts of all people (who was youth coach before he was assistant to Beckenbauer) didn’t tell or want to upset the DFB by saying there was a youth development shortage/problem. Also everybody thought the Ossies would make good and not just in football. After Sammer was injured out of his career and Kirsten among others never lived up to their club form all the flaws became apparent as the last veterans got too old. It’s a large credit to Ballack, Kahn, Voeller and Klinsmann that we were even contenders in 2002, 2006 and now in 2010.

About Eilts. I can see the resemblance in someone like Träsch – the under-rated midfield anchor, but not in Tasci or Westermann. Those two are simply too error-prone. I want to trust Jogi and if I was in the stadium I would definitely cheer them on. Nevertheless y being as inflexible as Jogi is you have to wonder does he have it all together? It seems to me that Jogi realizes he might be leaving the best German central defender home, but to him it’s a small price to pay to satisfy his ego or authority or whatever it is. Typical Schwabian! I should know too as Jogi practically grew up in the next town over from me.

Anyway I hope we do NOT win either of the friendlies so that maybe just amybe the media will force him to nominate Hummels. In the meantime I am banking on Westermann and Tasci to either collide out or have the tournament of their lifetime.

nick, what i meant by that was that they have talent on their roster, more so than a lot of other sides, but when it comes time to play, they arent that impressive when it comes to finishing. The only reason Spain won in ‘08 is because we never showed up. Our lack luster play without ANY urgency what-so-ever proved that point.

@Nick, what’s the chance of Tasci & Westermann’s heads collide when they’re after the same ball in the air? maybe a short term amnesia for both of them… and then suddenly Hummels & Howedes is in the plane to SA2010

they’re both good players, but I prefer H&H!

Captain: Ideally it’s Klose, but since he will not be playing all the time, Schweini is the more logical choice.

Goal keeper: My favourite was always Wiese, but of course Low will pick Butt.

There is no doubt in any sane man’s mind that Frings and Kuranyi should be in the squad. But Low has an interesting strategy: what ever the media says, do the opposite

Low will play with one striker and two wingers/ midfielders in the world cup. So he should Drop Cacau and Gomez, the wingers can be Kiesling, Podolski, Ozil, Muller, Trochowski, Marin. The strikers should be Kiesling, Klose, or Kuranyi

As for the defence, I cannot even comprehend why Manuel Freidrich is not in the squad, also Matts Hummels could be an interesting option. Serdar Tasci has never convinced me in his role, i think he’s a bad choice.

Germany definately has a goal scoring problem. A lot of players should be dropped, but I would go for Cacau and Tasci.

Check out the link below for some great footage from ESPN Classic on world cup legends:

Maradona, Der Kaiser, Zidane, Cryuff, G. Muller, Pele – and many more.

Link: http://www.espnclassic.com/highlights/383/watch-clips-of-the-very-best-world-cup-moments.html?territory=UK&ex_cid=worldcup_thesun_clickthrough

Enjoy!

Captain:Lahm
Keeper:Neuver
OUT:Aogo ,Träsch
LOW Should BRing Frings back, or Hummels
Stricker : THey should make a solid Attack LIke 06 Podolski, and KLose

@Halmar, no no no, not Aogo! he’s good. i’d prefer Beck not going to SA, since Lahm, Friedrich, and Boateng could play RB. the LB is already thin, i dont trust Jansen to play there. and please dont put Badstuber as LB too Jogi.

Captain : Philipp Lahm… I’m among the biggest fans of Schweini… But i don’t want any extra pressure on him.. And Lahm has a cooler head..

Goalie: Manuel Neuer … Butt has had big match experience, but Neuer is a huuuuge talent… I would’ve him starting even if we had Enke & Adler available..

Drop : probably Beck/Badstuber & Cacau/Müller… Not sure..

Changes : Yes bud… As obvious as it is, Hummels..

Problem upfront ?.. Naaaah…. There’s a lot of gunpowder in stock, so we won’t be short on firepower i guess..

And i heard Jogi – Poldi is gonna explode this WC.. I believe you Joachim, i believe you….

for germany to be successfull in this worldcup they need quicker build up play which means quick and mobile players so if they get caught out they can recover, that was the obvious glaring problem at euro 08, they just werent mobile enough, and the build up play was pedestrian, alot of these younger players are new and personally ive never heard of before, are these players mobile talented like the spanish?

Sajad, if you haven’t seen much of Özil & Kroos yet, i can promise you a hilarious experience next month.. After Deisler, we didn’t have such genius material in creative-midfield area…

Müller & Badstuber are talented, but i don’t think they’ll be at full until Euro 2012… Khedira passes well and Aogo & Boateng good going forward..

Tasci is off-colour now, Kießling is excellent when in form, Marin runs lightning quick… Manuel Neuer is world class..

Rest of them, you surely would know..

I seem to recall Neuer letting in a few soft goals in the Bundesliga season just past. He’s still young and learning of course, but I’d prefer it if he left the howlers back home.

Probably a bit late for a change of formation but a 4-3-3 could soften the blow of Ballack’s absence by stacking the midfield: Schweinsteiger, Tasci and AN Other. Front 3: Özil, Kroos/Marin and Kießling (unless Klose starts scoring again), with Özil allowed to drift inside.

@Sajad

Actually, I think that explosive mobility was precisely what the German team did have in Euro 2008, at least in short sharp bursts such as the first goal against Portugal and the first and third goals against Turkey.

Still, this team should have much more flair than the 2008 team. The worry in these parts is that it is likely to be even more defensively vulnerable than at the Euros.

Nick,

I think your sentiment toward Westermann rather harsh and unfair. First of all, I am also a big fans of Hummels. But consider Westermann performance with Schalke this season, I wouldn’t agree if someone wish him get injured to pave the path to Hummels nomination. Considering he plays pretty good this season, and Schalke has arguably best defence in BL this season, credit must goes to Westermann also beside Bordon and Howedes. And even taken his ability to play as CB, full back and defensive midfielder into account, its quite unwise to not include him into our squad. However, if you wish that kind of freaky-things happen to Tasci, I wouldn’t complain about that, lol.

1. Schweinsteiger
2. Neuer
3. Trochowski and Beck
4. Hummels. But won’t happen at all, Loew already said that he won’t call another player to replace Ballack and Traesch.
5. Crystal clear, the answer is yes. Klose isn’t Benjamin Button, he is not getting any younger. And his performance this season is far from convincing. Gomez actually play goods for the first half of the season, but ended being stranded by van Gaal in second half of the season. van Gaal decision to play him just a few minutes in not a decisive match in second half didn’t help him regain his confidence at all. Kiessling inexperince become apparent in Malta match, and he repeatly missed sitter from one to another. Guess Malta match didn’t do him a favour, otherwise, it could potentially screw his confidence in SA. Cacau is the best of bunch at the moment, and in terms of ability he is actually the least talented of those four. We certainly had a problem up-front.

what’s the talent pool for strikers, are they any good? choupo moting, sukuta pasu, wagner, thy? or are we gonna suffer for the lack of decent striker in foreseeable future?

well ive seen muller a few times this season and h’es mot impressed me, he lacks tecnical ability and looks lost

Nah, Müller has technical ability its just that his finishing sucks. He needs to work on that. It seems there are a couple of Bayern players, including Müller who had good showings last season and at the beginning of this season but something happened after winter break. I dont know if its fatigue or something mental.

BREAKING NEWS

Lahm is capitan. Neuer is number one. Germany beats local U-20 24-0. That’s more like it. Müller suffered some abrasions from a mountain bike accident.

muller 2009-10 season
played 34 out of 34 bl matches.
second best top scorer fo bm with 13 goals.
top assistant for bm with 11 assists.
this season he played 52 matches and scored 19 goals in all competitoin.
also played 4 different positions(LW, RW, CF, and AM) this season.
he had a better season than podolski, gomez, and klose combine.

Funny stuff, Nick with regards to the mountain bike accident and Thomas Muller. I think i read somewhere the French team also suffered casualties while training in the alps in some sort of ATV/Buggy incident (think it was Gallas). Sounds like they all are on holiday and having a little too much fun.

Speaking of fun…the mexico team is getting spanked – first by England yesterday and today by the Netherlands in friendlies. Cannot be doing their confidence any good going into the world cup….so I guess thats why they lined up their third friendly against the ‘Bafana Bafana’ tomm. Imagine they lose that one too….

@JT Yep it sounds like summer camp! Luckily no one was hurt.

I think Mexico is going to be exhausted from playing all those games. In fact, I think they have the fullest friendly schedule. I suppose it gives them time to work out the kinks, but it might burn them out too. SA is improving I hear, but Mexico should beat them or they’ll be tired and depressed. Like Portugal! imagine if we tied Malta and I thought 3+1:0 was bad enough!

Nonetheless, I don’t think the score of the friendlies matter as long as the team harmonizes and the problems are worked out. We had a a pretty mediocre friendly result leading up to both the previous WM and EM 2008, but it gave us time to get our act together for the real thing. Hope it works out like that again.

@Hendry Wijaya

Well I really only pay attention to the players performance in the N-11 and big club / European games. I have seen though Schalke’s important fixtures and Westermmann looked OK, but nothing spectacular. He was missing for quite a while in the Rückrunde and I was surprised Höwedes took over his place in the starting eleven. That combined with his very plain defensive displays in qualifying makes me nervous about seeing him as a starter in the WM where we won;t be playing Finland. Obviously I hope all the players succeed due to their own merits, but with Jogi’s bias it’s hard not to smile a little if let’s say Tasci were to lose his memory for six weeks starting tomorrow.

Nick
I agree, i think the current team does not have the leaders like in 96 with klinsi and sammer and scholl , and most importantly a great defense that defusaed England and Czech republic and earlier Italy.
What do you think is the best option for Germany after Loew ? which cocch would you put as i think Germany is destined for a last 16 exit.

The next logical hierarchical choice for Bundestrainer would be Sammer though his record is not exactly sterling.

I actually think Ballack would make the perfect coach. He would require next to no adjustment time to know the team and the players respect or at least deal with him despite their differences. He’s quite intelligent with tactics and vision. He knows how to stand up to the media. Plus he’s a bit removed from all the DFB politics and club bias – well maybe a little sentiment against Bayern, but it’s all water under the bridge now. Anyway, we’ll have to see how this plays out because he still might retain the captaincy after the WM is over. Maybe it’s better with him off the field though.

Who knows we might win the thing. Our only hope now is that Jogi has full command and the confidence of his team – not just suck ups. That’s one of the most important things that is missing now – someone who is willing to speak up. It proved critical against Portugal in 2008 and it’ll prove critical on the field when referring decisions seem wrong.

Fyi Folks: The next friendly against Hungary can be seen on ESPN 3 at 3pm EST on Saturday 5/29

03:00 PM SOCCER International Friendly Hungary vs. Germany
Link: http://espn.go.com/espn3/index/_/sport/soccer-futbol

Enjoy!!

Very pedestrian first half and a lot of things to worry about. Ozil 0 for 4 cannot continue or we have a second Gomez. Trochowski was not sharp and the service was not good. Tough to tell about the defense as Hungary have not really had the opportunity to put them under pressure.