Return To Normal

November 18th, 2009 | by: Nick |

As a fan it was hard to go back to watching the German national team get back to playing football. It brought a smile to my face, however, when the Ivory Coast came out of the dressing room reminding us all of the common noble spirit of football and human compassion. Over their brilliant orange jerseys were black armbands and white shirts in honor of Robert Enke.

The German team also emerged with black armbands in addition to their new 2010 home jerseys. The team seemed for the first quarter hour cohesive and galvanized. They were rewarded with a penalty that Lukas Podolski duly converted – dedicating it to Robert.

Then things truly reverted to normalcy. Perhaps the players were still shaken by the events and lost focus, perhaps it was too early to play football again, whatever the reason Germany sat back and let the Ivory Coast into the game. The truth may be that the Ivory Coast had a much better midfield on the day. The German defense was repeatedly carved open exposing Phillip Lahm’s shaky mindset and recent unfamiliarity with playing at left back.

The players still had the best of intentions and tried their best to remind themselves the significance of the match. Podolski, Trochowski, and Özil all had great chances on goal, but it was the Ivory Coast who struck next. Actually, it was Heiko Westermann who made an all too familiar poor choice in central defense. Under pressure Westermann hit a dangerous backpass to Manuel Neuer with other options open. Neuer in turn made a horrific clearance that struck an onrushing forward and the Schalke keeper watched helplessly as the ball rebounded into the net.

A good while of last-minute defending for both sides ensued along with a number of substitutions including the dejected exit of Jerome Boateng and the late debut of Aaron Hunt. Again it was Westermann who broke the stalemate. He was predictably caught out of position watching, as two forwards combined to daze Lahm for the 1-2 in the 85TH minute. The team at least didn’t give up and the substitutions brought a bit more life into the game. It was finally Westermann who charged forward and threaded a pass to Podolski who showed great skill with his left foot to equalize.

All in all the players did well. The team tried to win it. Wiese was rarely bothered. Neuer will have have better days. Westermann clearly would make a better midfielder than central defender. Lahm needs to learn being a left back again. Boateng needs to be more careful in the penalty area. Kiessling deserved his callup. Hitzlsperger once again did not.

As for Löw, he has become so predictable since Euro 2008 that BILD correctly predicted his lineup and formation a day before it was released. He now has the pool of players to potentially win the trophy in 2010. He just does not seem flexible enough to do it. His substitutions were once again ineffectual, but what can be expected of players introduced in the 80TH minute of a friendly in unfamiliar positions? Why position players whose strengths are predominately elsewhere, why choose players who are better left on the bench if not home, why not nominate players who have actually achieved something as of late?

These are all questions to be answered in the next few months in the next international year. So here is hoping to 2010… a year where a player like Marin can at least play instead of watching Hitzlsperger for 90 minutes from the bench.

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A Kap

That Neuer blunder was reminiscent of Paul Robinson’s and David ‘Calamatiy James’ howlers for England. Hopefully that goal is not a forebearer of things to come…
Ash

Yep I thought of Robinson when I saw that too. Was a wonderful finsh from Poldolski at the end.
LEONEL

completley agree with this article… specially with the part of Marin beeing in the bench, i can’t believe how little he gets to play
http://bundesliga.theoffside.com Jan

Great recap. I won’t blame the players too much for lapses of concentration or for being absent minded in this particular match – Manual Neuer has played a flawless season so far and Phillip Lahm also won’t have such a bad game twice. A couple of other thoughts:

Jerome Boateng. Two clumsy tackles could have easily turned into two penalties, especially because Germany’s penalty was very soft, so the situations with Boateng should have been called as well for the sake of refereeing consistency. Otherwise though I actually thought that he hadn’t a bad game and he seems to fit into the team. My biggest problem is rather with Löw’s insistence on playing him as a fullback. I remember former U21 coach Hrubesch bashing Hamburg for the way they treated Boateng last season – always moving him around in defense et al. Boateng really rebooted his career with his excellent performances in the centre of defense alongside Höwedes at the Eurps and Hamburg since then also made him their first choice central defender. It was only due to their severe injury crisis that they used him in other positions again. He did well in those games nonetheless – but I guess it’s easier to perform on your secondary positions when you feel the confidence of the coach and know that you will play in the centre again once the other players return from injury. In the national team though, he is in a position where he wants to prove his worth but has to do it as a fullback. It’s not an ideal situation really. The game against Ivory Coast would have been a great game to play him in the centre alongside Mertesacker. This is somehow reminiscent of the ill fated debut of Marvin Compper. Compper struggled as a fullback, was signed by Hoffenheim who played him in the centre, where he excelled. Löw calls him up and plays him as a fullback again…

Heiko Westermann. As mentioned above, I’m willing to turn a blind eye as far as this match is concerned, but he isn’t really playing a good season overall. He plays in midfield at Schalke and is unconvincing and he isn’t really a rock in Germany’s central defense either and I hope one decent game against Russia didn’t equal a starting spot in South Africa. I just read rumors of Wolfsburg and Bayern wanting to sign Schalke’s Höwedes for a double digit million Euro sum. Why am I not surprised that they don’t want to sign the more experienced Westermann instead, given that he’s a regular in Löw’s team and all, whereas Höwedes is not…

Stefan Kiessling. Spirited effort. He’s certainly one who deserves a spot as a backup striker for South Africa, though, when fit, I still rate his team mate Patrick Helmes higher.

Lukas Podolski. Maybe he just had a good game. Maybe it also had to do with the fact that Löw finally chose to play him in the centre, slightly behind Kiessling, again. That’s his preferred position and even though he may be able to play on the wing or in midfield, this game proved where he is really at his best.

Aaron Hunt. Not sure why he called him up. Maybe just to see whether he trains well and gets along with his team mates. What’s with these pointless ten minute debuts? It was the same with Özil. Özil only really showed what he could do for the team, when he was given the chance to play for 90 minutes.

Formations, squad selection. I liked the 4-4-2 against Ivory Coast and I think the squad simply is best suited for this formation. I don’t want to see Podolski on the wings again, and other such experiments. With Podolski, Löw proved that it might not be too late to hope that one day, he’ll form a team where the players play on their strongest positions for a change.
Dominic

Regardless of Westermann’s poor back pass there was no excuse for Neuer’s attempt at a clearance. All power, no height. Even just skying the ball straight up would have been a safer option.

Barring a 2002-easy draw I can’t see Germany progressing further than the quarters with Westermann in the heart of the defence. Is he really the future of the German defence? Hopefully someone else will step up before the WC.

Hoping to see Marin and Kroos given more opportunities next year.
Rahul

Group D: Germany, Australia, Ghana, Serbia

Hard group but I expect Germany to come out of it relatively easily – fight should be for spot 2. When was the last time that Germany had a poor tournament? There is no way they are performing badly on the world stage.