German thread

German thread

Since no one's started this I thought I would. Better late than never.

All I can say is ha ha - good job - see Jens you are as sh*t as Arsene thought!

Arsene knows.

I have yet to watch this mornings game, I downloaded it today and will watch it this weekend but it is interesting their defensive setup. Lahm played at left back during the WC with Freidrich at RB even though Lahm is right footed, I am yet to see if Marcel Jansen is as good Freidrich, though I wasn't that impressed with Freidrich at the WC. So I suppose there is the option of switching Lahm to the left and putting Freidrich, even Fritz on the right.

I can't comment too much on the CB pairing as I haven't seen any of the other options playing, but they do lack pace and probably have to sit a little bit deeper against quicker opponents so cant compress the game as much as they maybe did in the WC. Schweinsteiger I suppose is suspended for the next match, but if he wasnt I would have stuck him on the left with Podolski up front with Klose. I am not that impressed with Fritz, his work rate and industry is good but lacks the class that Schneider brought to the team, I can only think of Odonkor coming in to give more pace but he seems one dimensional but supposedly has improved his overall game since being at Betis. Or they go with a narrow midfield with Borowski and Trochowski with the wingbacks giving width, like Brazil have in the past, a 4222/4132

Again for GK, the lack of Bundesliga (Non EPL football in general actually) coverage makes it hard to comment on the back up options.

Should be too good for Austria

Odonkor's never impressed me. He seems to promise but never deliver, reminds me a bit of the Dutch wingers in the 80s/90s Gaston Taument and Reggie Blinker. Fritz, like you've said, is a good water carrier but lacks class. He's a ten-a-penny midfielder that most countries, even NZ, have in abundance.

Seeing as england aren't in it and cant thrash the krauts again, good to see Croatia sticking it to em :D

i forgot to write this yesterday but all you germans "shhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh 2-1" hahaha it was a good game

Onto the quarters and a cracking match against Portugal

Just watched some highlights from this mornings game, and what a miss by Gomez after some excellent work from Klose, miss of the tournament. It was also disappointing that Gomez didn't even go up for the header and try and knock in his shot. Next game I would like to see Gomez on the bench and either play Podolski up front with Klose and have Schweinsteiger on the left or Neuville up front, keeping Podolski on the left where he is playing pretty well so far.

I was very surprised when Mario Gomez started, I really thought Loew would have seen enough by now. I've got no doubt that Gomez will make the grade at international level - he's got all the raw ingredients - but right now he is pitifully out of form. Why Kuranyi hasn't had more game time I don't know. He should have got on instead of Neuville, and I dare say would have buried that late chance that Neuville spurned.

I was kind of looking forward to seeing Gomez after hearing all the hype around him (I'd previously only seen him play against San Marino) but he's been by far the biggest disappointment of the tournament for me so far. I mean there are out-of-form players, everyone goes through that, but he's been abysmally bad. Not just that miss from this morning, but throughout the tournament, he's shown basically nothing. He's not in sync with Klose, is always either a step too early or too late, technically looks ordinary, doesn't seem overly strong in the air, and has no appreciable pace. Is he just woefully out of form and perhaps allowing the big stage to get the better of him, or did he simply enjoy a Kevin Phillips-esque one excellent season before being shown for an average player?
I don't know, but the sooner he hits the pine the better for Germany.el grapadura2008-06-17 15:34:51

There was one moment this morning when a burst of pace and power took him onto a through ball and his left-foot shot was fairly comfortably fielded by Jurgen Macho. Just then he showed me at least that the material is there for him to be a lot better, he's just got no confidence whatsoever right now. I actually felt for him when he was subbed, the look on his face said it all. He should be benched for his own good and for the good of the team.

I only saw the highlights of the German game this morning (was watching Croatia v. Poland live) so didn't see that. But I saw the first two German games in the entirety and Gomez really disappointed me.

Do you think he's finding the hype and expectations too difficult to deal with?

Yeah, could be. He's only young (22) and has scored 6 goals for the national side (at around one in two, the same as his club strike rate) so obviously he is able to do the business. But confidence or lack thereof affects everyone differently and it's rare to see a player so short of it getting a game at this level. I think Loew is doing him more harm than good at the momnet by continuing to pick him, especially with options like Kuranyi and moving Podolski up front available to him.

looking good for a semi-final berth, 2 goals in 4 minutes. goodbye portugal

3-2 well done to the germans, im hoping for a german-dutch final.

Best of both worlds, 5 goals, exciting finish.  Apologies to my Portuguese mates, but that was a cracker.

Radio Sport.  9.15 onwards.  Ger-Por.  Brendan Telfer, unintentionally humourous, full of mistakes - yet smug - as always...talks NZ women football also...

 

www.radiosport.co.nz

yesterday's game = scorcher. Loved every mimnute of it. Up there with the Turkey v Czech game for entertainment.