FWC-Germany-FFT
Food for thought: Germany's attack:-
To play a false-nine is a gamble on its own; however, to play an attacking MIDFIELDER as a false-nine is an even bigger gamble! So for Germany to go with such a complex plan (check out the tactical lay-out picture from previous post!) and deploy one of their attacking midfield players as a false-nine striker, then a HUGE amount of commitment is required from every single player around that striker and also from the striker himself (starting with the DMs and up to the wide players).
Also, an important aspect of playing as a false-nine is to drop deep into one’s own half and “come for the ball” to launch an attack all the way from the back; allowing the wide players and attacking midfielders to open-up play in the final third.
When choosing a midfielder as a striker, what matters the most are the numbers! Here are some quick, unsurprising, stats regarding Germany’s attacking midfield players’ goals-per-game ratios (GPG) [approximated] concerning this last season with their respective clubs (not including CLUB friendlies) and any games they played with the national team in 2013 and 2014:-
Lucas Podolski: 0.729 (/19 games)
Thomas Müller: 0.630 (/51 games)
Marco Reus: 0.609 (/46 games)
Mario Götze: 0.553 (/38 games)
André Schürrle: 0.462 (/28 games)
Mesut Özil: 0.296 (/51 games)
Clearly the perfect choice for a false-nine would be either Müller, Reus or even Götze; Podolski being omitted here due to the meagre amount of games he played this season. Özil certainly has the qualities required to play as a false-nine; however, his reluctance to take his chances in front of goal and instead opting to pass the ball to his team-mates (just ask Wenger!) makes it rather difficult to deploy him there.
Reus and Götze offer another dimension going forward and even provide that wow-factor with their dribbling skills and technique. Müller is more of a classical forward upon whom the team can always rely once the ball is delivered to him and therefore, he would be the “safer” choice.
It doesn’t really matter who ends up playing up-front, should Germany go for a false-nine strategy; as the responsibility will be huge and whoever would play there has to have a good command of what is going on around him and look to expose every single inch of space that the opposition defenders might leave.
To play a false-nine is a gamble on its own; however, to play an attacking MIDFIELDER as a false-nine is an even bigger gamble! So for Germany to go with such a complex plan (check out the tactical lay-out picture from previous post!) and deploy one of their attacking midfield players as a false-nine striker, then a HUGE amount of commitment is required from every single player around that striker and also from the striker himself (starting with the DMs and up to the wide players).
Also, an important aspect of playing as a false-nine is to drop deep into one’s own half and “come for the ball” to launch an attack all the way from the back; allowing the wide players and attacking midfielders to open-up play in the final third.
When choosing a midfielder as a striker, what matters the most are the numbers! Here are some quick, unsurprising, stats regarding Germany’s attacking midfield players’ goals-per-game ratios (GPG) [approximated] concerning this last season with their respective clubs (not including CLUB friendlies) and any games they played with the national team in 2013 and 2014:-
Lucas Podolski: 0.729 (/19 games)
Thomas Müller: 0.630 (/51 games)
Marco Reus: 0.609 (/46 games)
Mario Götze: 0.553 (/38 games)
André Schürrle: 0.462 (/28 games)
Mesut Özil: 0.296 (/51 games)
Clearly the perfect choice for a false-nine would be either Müller, Reus or even Götze; Podolski being omitted here due to the meagre amount of games he played this season. Özil certainly has the qualities required to play as a false-nine; however, his reluctance to take his chances in front of goal and instead opting to pass the ball to his team-mates (just ask Wenger!) makes it rather difficult to deploy him there.
Reus and Götze offer another dimension going forward and even provide that wow-factor with their dribbling skills and technique. Müller is more of a classical forward upon whom the team can always rely once the ball is delivered to him and therefore, he would be the “safer” choice.
It doesn’t really matter who ends up playing up-front, should Germany go for a false-nine strategy; as the responsibility will be huge and whoever would play there has to have a good command of what is going on around him and look to expose every single inch of space that the opposition defenders might leave.
Ahmad Al-Omar - 25. May, 05:58
