Re: Ze German Thread

[juventus101]

Podolski and Muller can also play as Center Attacking Mids. Both do it for their clubs, Koln and Bayern.

[VivaStPauli]

I counted that as "SS" for the sake of my list, but: yes, you're right.

[rwo power]

A few statistics:

Bayern München: 8
Borussia Dortmund 4
Bayer Leverkusen: 2
Real Madrid: 2
Borussia Mönchengladbach: 1
Werder Bremen: 1
Hannover 96: 1
Schalke 04: 1
1.FC Köln: 1
FC Arsenal: 1
Lazio Rom: 1

(Or from next season it would be Dortmund 5 and Arsenal 2, thus eliminating BMG and Köln)

The average age of the 23 players squad is 24.39 years with Miroslav Klose the oldest player at 33 years and Mario Götze the youngest at 19 (will be 20 soon, though). Only two players are 30 years or older, but twelve are 23 years or younger.

[McLewis]

Can't Hoewedes play as an auxiliary DM and/or RB?

I've seen him play full-back before for Germany and I hear that Magath tinkered with using him as a DM with Schalke when he was coach.

[rwo power]

Höwedes usually plays either CB or RB. I can't remember seeing him as CM, I'm sorry.

[McLewis]

Yeah the DM/CM bit sounded a bit far fetched to me as well. I don't recall ever seeing him play there so maybe there's nothing to it.

[rwo power]

Oops, I meant DM not CM. But either way, I never saw him anywhere on a midfield position. I think I should better catch some sleep. I may be virtual, but right now I'm rather tired nonetheless

[Sushi Master]

The only Schalke CB I've seen in the DM position is either Matip or Papadopoulos... never remember seeing Höwedes at DM, either.

He's all CB and RB.

Not sure who'd make a better RB: Höwedes or Boateng They're both pretty solid even it it isn't their natural position.

[Valkyrja]

Neuer
Lahm - Badstuber - Howedes - Boateng
Khedira - Piggy
Muller - Ozil - Reus
Klose

[McLewis]

Always thought Hoewedes the better RB than Boateng. He seems a lot more natural in that position while Boateng just looks more makeshift. Hoewedes isn't afraid to get forward while Boateng is more reserved.

If Hoewedes is a ball-playing CB then he may have some crossing ability as well, which I'm sure Boateng doesn't.

[VivaStPauli]

Schweinsteiger fit again, let the trophies roll.

[rwo power]

In today's PK from Gdansk, Manuel Neuer and Per Mertesacker are speaking. I wonder if that means that Löw will field Badstuber and Merte plus Lahm and Boa for Portugal (neither Neuer nor Merte commented on the line-up, of course).

[urbaNRoots]

Neuer
Boateng Mertesacker Badstuber Lahm
Schweinsteiger Khedira
Müller Özil Podolski
Klose

[VivaStPauli]

Looks like a winner to me. With Schürrle, Götze and Reus on the bench as attacking impact subs, that's a pretty beastly lineup in my view.

[rwo power]

In about 15 min (at 12:30 CEST), the DFB-PK will be broadcast. Joachim Löw and Philipp Lahm will talk today.

http://tv.dfb.de/index.php?view=290

http://www.kicker.de/news/fussball/em/startseite/570158/artikel_live-ab-12-30-uhr_loew-und-lahm-in-der-dfb-pk.html

[Onyx]

Mertesacker: “We’ve managed to nip in the bud any of Ronaldo’s efforts in past matches against Portugal and must try to avoid at all costs one-on-one situations. He’s as fast as lightning and a master of football trickery but we will be practising how to stop him.”

[VivaStPauli]

Mind games, if a dud like Schmelzer can stop Robben, Lahm or Boateng can stop CR7.

What I loved on goal.com btw was today's article of Özil saying that Portugal is more than just Ronaldo, while they had the exact same article 3 days ago with Badstuber saying it.

[juventus101]

I feel like the problem alot of teams have with Ronaldo, or one of the major ones, that gets overlooked so oftpen is just that you cant give him space. He can shoot the ball from anywhere on the field so jf he give him space hes gonna rip one upper 90. They should honestly practice on Podolski, whose their most similar player, making sure he doesnt get enough space to shoot.

[rwo power]

What I loved on goal.com btw was today's article of Özil saying that Portugal is more than just Ronaldo, while they had the exact same article 3 days ago with Badstuber saying it.

Actually, Lahm said the very same today in the PK, too. I guess the players were briefed about some standard answers to standard questions.

BTW, one interesting thing in the PK was that Löw actually ponders about playing Lars Bender as RB. At least he praised Lars' abilities in that respect very highly.

[Babun]

Lars is a defensive multitalent. I always liked him

[VivaStPauli]

Still prefer Sven defensively, but Lars at FB would be boss, I'd like to see that.

[Albiceleste]

"What Ronaldo is planning for Saturday is not important," Podolski told Bild.

"He is one of the best in the world, but we have done well in recent games against Portugal. We'll disturb him aggressively, entangle him with tough tackling.

"One thing is clear: we have enough players with great potential. Germany will win 2-0 against Portugal!"

Godolski

[SaintJoe]

Hello german ladies and gentlemen. You guys are going down

[rwo power]

Hello german gentlemen. You guys are going down

1. I'm no gentleMAN.
2. I guess we shall see on Saturday

[SaintJoe]

I hope we get a great game, may the best win. I'm not that confident tbh, but I hope we can pull it off! I also read that the electricity of the stadium couldn't hold more than 5 minutes so they had to bring an emergency generator. I hope it goes fine

[rwo power]

I'm also looking forward to a great match! The German defense is probably a bit dubious again (Löw even talked about Lars Bender as RB, so he is not fully convinced of either Boateng or Höwedes), so we'll probably get a lot of goals on both sides.

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