German National Football Team Thread (Nationalmannschaft)

[Det the Threat]

Team arrived in Brazil.
http://tv.dfb.de/video/ankunft-im-campo ... um=twitter

Looks like Poldi's in a great mood. He'll probably score five goals this tournament.

[needbox]

Anyone have any cool wallpapers for desktop or iPhone?

[Foye]

There has been a report today that Löw thinks about starting 4 CBs against Portugal lol.

[Det the Threat]

There has been a report today that Löw thinks about starting 4 CBs against Portugal lol.

Not really surprising, given that he played four of them against Armenia.

BTW: Löw just stated that Lahm will most likely play in midfield against Portugal.

So I guess we'll see a back four of Boateng, Mertesacker, Hummels and Höwedes.
Lahm should be the DM, while Khedira and Kroos are playing a bit more up front.
Müller and Podolski will start as well(think Schürrle is a great super sub) and then you're either playing the traditional striker in Klose or the fake ones in Özil or even Götze.

Though, if he does play Götze I hope he gives Müller the freedom to play up front.

[Foye]

This 4 CB's thing will never work.

Also, Lahm has to be the most selfish captain ever. Stating he sees himself as a midfielder when we have no experienced FB other than him on the roster is beyond ridiculous.

What is even worse is that Löw is rewarding this with a place for him in midfield.

This WC will go down as "Löws fiasco".

[and1GS]

This 4 CB's thing will never work.

Also, Lahm has to be the most selfish captain ever. Stating he sees himself as a midfielder when we have no experienced FB other than him on the roster is beyond ridiculous.

What is even worse is that Löw is rewarding this with a place for him in midfield.

really? And 4 CBs? Huh?

[Man of Steel]

There has been a report today that Löw thinks about starting 4 CBs against Portugal lol.

BTW: Löw just stated that Lahm will most likely play in midfield against Portugal.

As a Portugal fan, this is good news. Lahm doesn't "shut down" Cristiano per sé (I don't think anyone can at this point), but you could see the effect that taking off Rafinha and putting shifting Lahm back to RB had for Bayern; I imagine it would be similar for Germany, since Portugal also field a 4-3-3 with Cristiano on the left.

[Foye]

There has been a report today that Löw thinks about starting 4 CBs against Portugal lol.

BTW: Löw just stated that Lahm will most likely play in midfield against Portugal.

As a Portugal fan, this is good news. Lahm doesn't "shut down" Cristiano per sé (I don't think anyone can at this point), but you could see the effect that taking off Rafinha and putting shifting Lahm back to RB had for Bayern; I imagine it would be similar for Germany, since Portugal also field a 4-3-3 with Cristiano on the left.

The rotten corpse of Nani will destroy Höwedes on the right side. Höwedes is a CB, not a FB.

[Hijinks]

we all have to thank pep for that. peps idea to put lahm in the midfield screwed him up for the national team. löw stated, that lahm can't play a full season in midfield and then suddenly be in the defense when the world cup starts. bad enough, that lahm wanted to play on the right side instead of the left side, where we lacked qualitiy players over the years. and now this, smh.

[Det the Threat]

we all have to thank pep for that. peps idea to put lahm in the midfield screwed him up for the national team. löw stated, that lahm can't play a full season in midfield and then suddenly be in the defense when the world cup starts. bad enough, that lahm wanted to play on the right side instead of the left side, where we lacked qualitiy players over the years. and now this, smh.

Well, but apperantly Höwedes can play left back when he hasn't done so for a full season and only played that positions about three times in his career.

[Foye]

Someone needs to make a Löw "I have no clue what I'm doing" picture.

[Hijinks]

we all have to thank pep for that. peps idea to put lahm in the midfield screwed him up for the national team. löw stated, that lahm can't play a full season in midfield and then suddenly be in the defense when the world cup starts. bad enough, that lahm wanted to play on the right side instead of the left side, where we lacked qualitiy players over the years. and now this, smh.

Well, but apperantly Höwedes can play left back when he hasn't done so for a full season and only played that positions about three times in his career.

dont get me started on höwedes. that löw even considers him for the starting 11...

[AlexDelta]

Someone needs to make a Löw "I have no clue what I'm doing" picture.

I think this works.

[cgf]

we all have to thank pep for that. peps idea to put lahm in the midfield screwed him up for the national team. löw stated, that lahm can't play a full season in midfield and then suddenly be in the defense when the world cup starts. bad enough, that lahm wanted to play on the right side instead of the left side, where we lacked qualitiy players over the years. and now this, smh.

To be fair, we do need Lahm in midfield. Grosskreutz, Jantschke, Jung and Durm would be more than enough at fullback with a capable coach, letting us have a strong midfield with Lahm, Sami and when of the bayern guys, Kroos/Schweini. With a good pressing scheme and the boa-hummels pairing in defense that team could win...if not for jogi.

[bbms]

we all have to thank pep for that. peps idea to put lahm in the midfield screwed him up for the national team. löw stated, that lahm can't play a full season in midfield and then suddenly be in the defense when the world cup starts. bad enough, that lahm wanted to play on the right side instead of the left side, where we lacked qualitiy players over the years. and now this, smh.

To be fair, we do need Lahm in midfield. Grosskreutz, Jantschke, Jung and Durm would be more than enough at fullback with a capable coach, letting us have a strong midfield with Lahm, Sami and when of the bayern guys, Kroos/Schweini. With a good pressing scheme and the boa-hummels pairing in defense that team could win...if not for jogi.

Never seen any team in the history of the WCs winning with a FB cast this weak.

[cgf]

Arbeloa and alba...grosso and who was it zanetti? Lizarazu and sagnol. Cafu and Roberto Carlos are actually the only really strong FB pairing that have won the WC since the 3-5-2 and the wingbacks it catered to died.

[MaliBrah]

Arbeloa and alba...grosso and who was it zanetti? Lizarazu and sagnol. Cafu and Roberto Carlos are actually the only really strong FB pairing that have won the WC since the 3-5-2 and the wingbacks it catered to died.

zanetti is argentinian , it was zambrotta iirc. Spain had ramos and Capdevilla , alba only played staring euro 12'.

problem is though they had great great cover infront of them and strong CB's in the middle. Germany is Shaky across the line

[cgf]

Arbeloa and alba...grosso and who was it zanetti? Lizarazu and sagnol. Cafu and Roberto Carlos are actually the only really strong FB pairing that have won the WC since the 3-5-2 and the wingbacks it catered to died.

zanetti is argentinian , it was zambrotta iirc. Spain had ramos and Capdevilla , alba only played staring euro 12'.

problem is though they had great great cover infront of them and strong CB's in the middle. Germany is Shaky across the line

I attribute much of that to a coach who's in over his head. Jogi's "pressing schemes" constantly leave gaps between the high back line and our midfield so that if we don't imediately retrieve the ball we let teams run at our high line with space, which leads to per cheating back to cover for his lack of speed which leaves the offsides trap blown and Hummels' stepping forward becomes more of a liability than an asset. If he could watch a BVB game that isn't just when they play Bayern or Stuttgart he could see how our defense could operate and how excellent Hummels and Boa could be together if Jogi understood what Subotic does for mats and how perfectly suited for that role Jerome is. With a Lahm, Khedira and Kroos/Schweini midfield ahead of them and a hard pressing front line lead by mueller those FBs wouldn't be a problem.

But because of our coach we don't have those strengths in other areas to let us get away with playing just solid fullbacks, although I have to champion Tony Jantschke here. His getting snubbed was a massive travesty, he's a top level defensive fullback who's very secure and safe on the ball, even if in prior years he was overly cautious about bombing forward to implement his skill. He's very much already better than the best we've seen from Arbeloa. If Jogi watched football outside of the south this would be clear even to him.

[Det the Threat]

To be fair, we do need Lahm in midfield. Grosskreutz, Jantschke, Jung and Durm would be more than enough at fullback with a capable coach, letting us have a strong midfield with Lahm, Sami and when of the bayern guys, Kroos/Schweini. With a good pressing scheme and the boa-hummels pairing in defense that team could win...if not for jogi.

I'm not a fan of Lahm at midfield at all.
Lahm's a world class RB or LB, but nothing more then an above average player at midfield.
He's got no physical presence and isn't ever a threat to score or even shoot at goal.
All he does is try to keep position(important) and make the easy/safety pass while being dominated/or run over by more physical guys.

BTW: Watching that Spain vs Netherlands game yesterday it once again showed that Pep's system has quite some flaws and can be beaten, if you have the right guys.
Too bad we're probably the only team on this planet that would try to play a position game with the spaniards because Jogi's stubborn enough to not adept a more defensive approach.

Let's hope that game wasn't a foreshadowing of our game against Portugal, who'll play just like the Netherlands did against Spain.

[Ted Lasso]

Did you guys notice last night that Chile play exactly the way some of you want Germany to play?

Three midfielders & Valdivia a cross between a no. 10 and a false 9 & Alexis and Vargas as wing forwards who run in central very often