So, we now know the final twenty-three man squad that will be going to the Euros. No surprise really – the selection was exactly was what I expected, though it would have been nice had the Maharishi Jogi gone with my heart’s choice rather than my head’s.
If you have read any of my more recent posts, you’d have got the gist already: suspect BV 09 Borussia Dortmund left-back Marcel Schmelzer has made the cut, while Schalke 04 youngster Julian Draxler has to look forward to spending the school holidays zu hause and fighting for a place once the qualifiers for Brazil 2014 begin.
Given the lack of depth in defence I always knew that Schmelzer would be picked, but given his abysmal display at the weekend – and his catalogue of poor performances in the Nationaltrikot in general – I had secretly hoped that Draxler might have taken that final place. Ja, na... I just hope he’ll just be there to carry drinks.
The other three men to miss out were pretty much in line with the opinions that had been circulating in the various fan forums and Twitter feeds – Sven Bender misses out while his twin brother Lars makes the cut, Marc-André ter Stegen’s indecisive performance on Saturday means that he is the ‘keeper that misses out, and striker Cacau’s role as team motivator and prankster comes to an end as the coach sticks with the two specialist strikers – with Marco Reus as a possible backup.
The latest squad details can be found here.
I would have still prefered to have another real striker in there-Kiesling-Helmes-Hanke- as either klose or gomez might get injured and in some matches if we are behind and the other team is defending with ten men, we might need two strikers up front to receive crosses. This was clearly shown against Israel and against chelsea.
I agree Schmelzer is not at his best, I would have had him replaced by another defensive player as we only have 7 now. I strongly think that Hummels should get the start partnered by someone else.
Having dropped Cacau I think Löw was always planning on taking just the two out and out strikers with perhaps Reus or Poldi as potential backups.
I agree about the tactics; I think a 3-5-2 would have worked against a team of bus-parkers.
As for the defence, I would not have taken Schmelzer as he has never really justified his position in the NT – while in the middle I’d have Hummels and Badstuber.
Digging the analysis and Durchblick. You sure Lars and not Sven made the cut? They duped the German media the other day by switching names; they play similar positions/similar styles; date the same type of women … we might all be getting punk’d. Seriously though, only big difference I have seen is in media training. DB (Dortmund Bender) seems a lot more comfie at the mike, fielding questions.
When I saw them both on the pitch on Saturday I thought I was seeing things… I really believed until that time that there was only one of them. Well either that or I had too much wine to drink…