Marco Reus will miss the next tournament. Löw had to cut him today for injury reasons. This guy just can't stay healthy. On the other hand, Reus lost all the significant finals he ever played, so that might be a good sign. This is our squad: Goalkeepers: Manuel Neuer (Bayern München), Marc-André ter Stegen (Barcelona), Bernd Leno (Bayer Leverkusen). Defenders: Jérôme Boateng (Bayern München), Jonas Hector (Köln), Mats Hummels (Borussia Dortmund), Benedikt Höwedes (Schalke), Shkodran Mustafi (Valencia), Emre Can (Liverpool), Antonio Rüdiger (Roma). Midfielders: Sami Khedira (Juventus), Toni Kroos (Real Madrid), Mesut Özil (Arsenal), Julian Draxler (Wolfsburg), Bastian Schweinsteiger (Manchester United), Joshua Kimmich (Bayern München), Julian Weigl (Borussia Dortmund), Leroy Sané (Schalke). Forwards: Lukas Podolski (Galatasaray), Thomas Müller (Bayern München), Mario Gomez (Beşiktaş), Mario Götze (Bayern München), André Schürrle (Wolfsburg).
Our defense worries me, especially at the wings. Only true LB is Hector, who's mediocre, so Löw may opt for Höwedes or Mustafi at LB, as he did in 2014. And then we'll probably play Can at RB, who's too slow and inexperienced to defend real wingers. Neuer bailed us out last WC (especially vs Algeria), so many people forget how bad Germany's defense really is. We should've lost vs Algeria, France and Argentina (thanks, Higuain) and were extremely lucky to win the WC.
How dare you... But you're right about our defense. Will be intereseting to see how Löw tries to solve this. Guess he's gonna switch the lineups in the group stage to find his best formation. Maybe even Boateng on the wing could be the key, once we're playing real good opponents.
They probably lack the experience but sure, England is good for the semi finals and maybe more. Interesting players in midfield and striker position for sure
Did Sakho play? Also how do you and Raz feel about Schweini making the German team? (I already know how ATW feels about it. I imagine this is him after the news ---- .
Sakho didn't play and is not on the final Euro roster. Schweinsteiger can be am extreme help mentally with his experience and spirit, but I'm not sure how healthy he is at this point. Our midfield is a bit thin because of injuries this time, I don't even see a reliable starting group. The only guys that can truly play at 6/8 are Kroos, Khedira (injured til last week), Schweinsteiger (injured til season ended) and then Weigl+Kimmich (both inexperienced and not who I want to see playing vs good opponents). A healthy Schweinsteiger would be valuable, so let's hope he is.
Haven't seen Schweinsteiger play in ages, so I can't really tell. But since we lost experienced players like Lahm, Mertesacker and Klose, some veteran leadership can't be wrong. I think we're good with Khedira and Kroos in the middle as starters, but let's see. Maybe he's playing a few minutes versus Hungary on Saturday.
I'll be in France, Spain and Portugal in mid-June. I'll avoid any public gatherings in France, but am looking forward to the fan zone in Lisbon during a Portugal match.
Would have been a huge surprise if that hadn't been the decision, so I wasn't too emotional about it. Basti is already training with the team. They will probably bring him on slowly during the tournament, like at the world cup - worked pretty well there. More than anything, I hope that the Euro will be safe and that there will not be any terror attacks. That's more important to me than who wins it.
I get what you are saying and he has experience, but Mertie has been a liability on the pitch for years.
For Arsenal - maybe. For our national team he mostly played quite well and did his part when we won the World Cup. I would feel much better with Merte as a backup than with Mustafi oder Rüdiger.
Agreed. He was also one of these guys who are good for team chemistry. The significance of that is often underestimated. That said, I feel a lot better about Boateng going into a race with quick strikers than Merte... .
Since I am bored this morning at work, I'm trying to take a stab at potential starting line-ups. I'll start with England and France. England -------------------------Hart---------------------- Walker-------Smalling--------Cahill-----Rose ------------------Dier-------------- -------Henderson-------Alli----------- --------------Rooney----------- ---------Kane---------Vardy------------ France: -----------------Lloris------------------ Sagna-------Rami------Koscielny-------Evra -------------Cabaye-------Matuidi-------- ---Griezmann------Pogba----------Martial ---------------Giroud------------------ Not sure if Coman will get to start. One of the German brehs can do Germany, Jontro can do Albania
Starting lineup Germany in the matches that count: -------------------------Neuer----------------------------- Kimmich-------Boateng--------Hummels-----Hoewedes ---------------------Schweinsteiger------------------------ -------------------Kroos-------Khedira--------------------- --------------------------Oezil------------------------------- -----------------Mueller---------Goetze--------------------
Really don't want Kimmich to start, he's been crap in knockout games and is terribly overhyped as a defender. Would rather start Can at right back.
Austria --------------------Almer----------------------- Klein------Dragovic-----Hinteregger/Prödl----Fuchs ---------Baumgartlinger-------Alaba-------------- Harnik----------Junuzovic----------Arnautovic---- ----------------Janko---------------------------
Yeah, that was the one I wasn't sure about. I'm not a huge Can fan either, though. Maybe even put in Hector on the left wing and move Hoewedes to the right side.
