Re: Ze German Thread

by Zealous Mon Jul 14, 2014 12:53 am

Fußball wrote:Z, your banter rebounds off me today like a certain someone's freekicks against 1 man walls. You can adress me as "Herr Weltmeister" from now on.

lol sure thing Proud

by FennecFox7 Mon Jul 14, 2014 4:36 am

this thread is retarded.. why was it even made Laughing

algeria is pretty much africas best team Laughing

by TalkingReckless Tue Jul 15, 2014 12:20 am

Ze German Thread - Page 24 Camp-Bahia_2972259b

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/teams/germany/10962216/World-Cup-2014-Germanys-purpose-built-training-camp-has-given-them-extra-edge.html

by VivaStPauli Wed Jul 16, 2014 12:48 pm

Interesting article in the Guardian about Manuel Neuer's role as the sweeper-keeper:
http://www.theguardian.com/football/these-football-times/2014/jul/16/manuel-neuer-germany-revolutionising-goalkeeping-world-cup-bayern-munich

Very interesting read, though the author loses, and infuriates, me in the last third of the essay, when he credits Guardiola with basically all of this, completely ignoring the fact that Neuer has been playing this way even for Schalke, and Germany have utilized Neuer in this role even back when Guardiola was still boring Ibrahimovic with weird philosophical rants back in Spain...

by Adit Wed Jul 16, 2014 1:33 pm

Find it funny that the Hummel's we know was back in the final. I think he has serious problem with judging the ball played over the top and pace. The mistake he did against palacio..I remember the same mistake in CL final.

by VivaStPauli Wed Jul 16, 2014 2:06 pm

Meh, I don't think it's a general problem with Hummels' technique, pace, attitude or judgement. He was obviously not fit. He had no problems running the entire match in the previous knockout games, yet against Argentina he started to slow down noticeably at around 75 minutes and could barely walk during the ceremony after.

He was slightly injured, that was the problem.

by rwo power Wed Jul 16, 2014 3:41 pm

VivaStPauli wrote:Interesting article in the Guardian about Manuel Neuer's role as the sweeper-keeper:
http://www.theguardian.com/football/these-football-times/2014/jul/16/manuel-neuer-germany-revolutionising-goalkeeping-world-cup-bayern-munich

Very interesting read, though the author loses, and infuriates, me in the last third of the essay, when he credits Guardiola with basically all of this, completely ignoring the fact that Neuer has been playing this way even for Schalke, and Germany have utilized Neuer in this role even back when Guardiola was still boring Ibrahimovic with weird philosophical rants back in Spain...

Actually he was even more forward for Schalke ^^

BTW, I love this pic:

Ze German Thread - Page 24 Neuer10

Gravity is so overrated...

by Hapless_Hans Wed Jul 16, 2014 7:06 pm

that's true that was always Neuer's game, but as I understand Neuer loves to play under Pep as he gets to be responsible for a LOT of space lol

by Zizou Wed Jul 16, 2014 7:46 pm

rwo power wrote:

BTW, I love this pic:

Gravity is so overrated...

*lol@ overrated Gravity and...

OMG! He looks like a Super Hero... !
Who do I sell my soul to if I want to exchange it for a evening with Manuel Neuer?

by Casciavit Wed Jul 16, 2014 8:32 pm

VivaStPauli wrote:Interesting article in the Guardian about Manuel Neuer's role as the sweeper-keeper:
http://www.theguardian.com/football/these-football-times/2014/jul/16/manuel-neuer-germany-revolutionising-goalkeeping-world-cup-bayern-munich

Very interesting read, though the author loses, and infuriates, me in the last third of the essay, when he credits Guardiola with basically all of this, completely ignoring the fact that Neuer has been playing this way even for Schalke, and Germany have utilized Neuer in this role even back when Guardiola was still boring Ibrahimovic with weird philosophical rants back in Spain...

Maybe because Schalke defended rather deep, so he found himself less often in a situation where he needed to come out of goal?

Unlike Bayern, where he's responsible for like one half of a pitch lol.

by Hapless_Hans Wed Jul 16, 2014 8:57 pm

inb4 Lewndowski points to Götze and says "Me and the dwarf got this, we don't need the philosopher.."

by Hapless_Hans Fri Jul 18, 2014 9:27 am

Lahm retiring from the German NT...

wtf..

can't be serious

Shocked

by Sri Fri Jul 18, 2014 9:53 am

Yeah.. He beat Miro in announcing first Razz

by Hapless_Hans Fri Jul 18, 2014 9:56 am

He's only 30..!!!

Should stay for the European Championship title at least..

by junkyard Fri Jul 18, 2014 10:13 am

Saving himself for Bayern!!

Utterly selfish decision. Depriving your country of your service!!

Has not shown any sign of decline.

by archwooohh Fri Jul 18, 2014 10:31 am

He beat Klose to it? scratch

by Sri Fri Jul 18, 2014 10:40 am

archwooohh wrote:He beat Klose to it?

Yeah I was expecting Miro to be the only one who hung up his national team boots after the WM win.. Miro hasn't said anything to that effect (yet).. But Lahm already beat him to retiring from NT..

by VivaStPauli Fri Jul 18, 2014 11:51 am

by Art Morte Fri Jul 18, 2014 11:56 am

by rwo power Fri Jul 18, 2014 12:03 pm

He sulked because Jogi Löw put him back to RB.

Ha! Manuel Neuer for captain now!!

by VivaStPauli Fri Jul 18, 2014 12:22 pm

I kind of get it after the WC win,
on the other hand he just barely turned 30, and would most likely be in fine form for the Euros. Which he hasn't won yet.

Let's hope the captain's band goes to Schweinsteiger or Neuer.

by rwo power Fri Jul 18, 2014 1:05 pm

Well, unless Bastian Schweinsteiger follows suit and retires, too, the captain's band will likely go to him.

by VivaStPauli Fri Jul 18, 2014 5:49 pm

So your best player just retired two to four years too early - how do you cope?

Germany have several options, let's look through them, from simple, to the more complicated.

The "simple" solution: Direct replacement.
Lahm is, quality-wise, irreplacable. There is no other fullback in the world able to consistently do what he does. Especially the balance between attacking and defending is near-perfect, and nowhere else to be found.

But Lahms role can be fulfilled, and we do have decent enough candidates.
There's the obvious one:
Kevin Großkreutz played fullback a couple times, and to great effect, on both sides, for Dortmund, impressing more on the right wing (IMHO, that is) - he's got great tackling technique, a good eye for the odd assist, robot lungs and a nuclear power plant for a heart. Mofo doesn't slow down, ever. He also once reclaimed a hotel lobby for mankind from a pack of rabid wolves by marking the territory for humanity, and culinarily introduced someone to German multiculturalism, and the innovations of Turkish migrants, so he is an impressive off-pitch personality, as well.
Those are the pros.
The cons are obvious: he wasn't brought up as a defender, and thus, while he has great technique for tackles, and good pace, doesn't have the best decision-making process defensively. Also: his face, sadly. Oh, that face.

Sebastian Jung just joined Wolfsburg from Eintracht Frankfurt, after two impressive seasons with the Hessian outfit, now plying his trade with eternally restructuring Dortmund, the Leverkusen of at-least-won-that-one-time. He's got great actions towards goal, great tackling rate, and is pacey as balls. He's however never been tested internationally, and might be a tad too attack-minded to offer permanent stability, though I guess that can be adapted to.

Andreas Beck has tremendous experience, having captained Hoffenheim for a while now, and basically comes down to this: I don't know how good he is. When Hoffenheim plays badly, so does he. If they play well, so does he. Didn't move to Juve three (or four?) seasons ago, and I don't think that it was a smart decision. He was in the Germany squad back then, and never got reintroduced, ever since Hoffenheim are in crisis mode.
The 1899 team have resurged a bit though, as of recent, so maybe there's some hope for Beck yet.

Then there's youngsters who we do not know yet, and if Müller can win the golden boot at age 20, why can't a fullback completely cover his flank at age 20 in two years time?

Then there's the "middle ground" solution: converting a flexible player to fullback, which is essentially already what started with Großkreutz a year ago.
There's a couple of obvious options here:
Jerôme Boateng could play fullback. He's shown in the first few Germany matches that he can do very well at fullback, and Lahm was only really missed there, once friggin Mustafi filled in for Boateng. Boateng flanks well, runs fast, has great defensive decision-making, while also being a good enough passer to conceivably get the odd assist, and force defenders to mark him.
This also gives me hope, because, frankly, we have seen a functioning Germany team "without" Lahm. The matches where Lahm played midfield, that is. Because even though Lahm was, technically, on the pitch, players like Khedira, Schweinsteiger, Gündogan, the Benders etc. etc. etc., bloody hell, probably even Kramer, are superior midfielders, so Lahm can easily be replaced in that capacity.
So back to topic: Boateng to RB, this means we need another CB to partner Hummels. Badstuber might be back, though he's slow, Mertesacker is excellent, so he's slow. Best bet is probably to bring in Ginter or Wollscheid, who aren't that slow.

Quick shoutout to the Bender brothers who might also be candidates for this, after Lars did OK there in the Euro 12, plus this always works for me in Fifa (duh).

Option tha-ree, the thrizzle, the big one, the complicated solution: shift the entire tactics to no longer really need fullbacks - that's right people: shift to a three man defence, or rather five-man defence. You know the conundrum. Could be both.
Play Hummels and Boateng and one of Mertesacker, Höwedes, Badstuber, Ginter, Wollscheid or whoever the hell what do I care.
Have, ahead of them, hard-working wingers or central midfielders who have been accustomed to wing play.

There's a ton of players who could conceivably play as wing-back-turned-winger here, there's the central midfielders, like Schweinsteiger, Gündogan, there's the wingers known for the shifts they put in defensively, like Großkreutz, Reus, Müller, the Draxler - or just a converted DM, maybe have a wing-back pincer of the Bender twins?

Discuss, dear community, discuss!

by Hapless_Hans Fri Jul 18, 2014 6:10 pm

You are an Eintracht guy are you viva?

Rode might play right back for us, what do you think of that?

Might he be a good right back?

If he'd be good one for us he'd automatically become a candidate for the NTposition hmm

by VivaStPauli Fri Jul 18, 2014 6:21 pm

I don't know, so far Rode has been a defensively-minded CM, or a very industrious DM, depending on interpretation.
I have always believed that the positions of fullback and DM are some what similar, so he might conceivably do a good enough job, but the Eintracht never used him there, so I don't really know how the wing suits him.

by Hapless_Hans Fri Jul 18, 2014 6:30 pm

I have to admit I don't nearly know him well enough - I watched about 3 Eintracht games last season (the two against us and away at Porto).

But the transfer for me only started to make any kind of sense when I heard they see him as a right back possibly.
Because in CM he will not get enough game time, quite simply.

We'll see, with the 3 man defense Pep played Höjbjerg as right wing back, then probably he can see Rode there too.

I think in the Porto game away I remember Jung looked really powerful though, was bombing forward, should be definitively a candidate if he performs at Wolfsburg...

Though we both know with Löw staying the position is locked on Mustafi lol.

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