Does Thomas Muller Get Given Enough Credit?

Okay Hamburg are garbage, I get that. But you can still appreciate the quality of a footballer, especially when he balls irrespective of the quality of opposition. In an age where there no strikers or players who really have the attacking instinct inside the box, I have to point to Thomas Jeremiah Muller as a player who should be on ANYBODY'S team. He may not be the most amazing player to watch for finesse, skill and technique...but what use is that if you can't be effective and contribute to a football match?

Last night, Muller showed why he is just as important as Robben if Bayern are to finally get those paws on the Champions League trophy again. One of the key aspects in football, no matter where you play, is the ability to READ the game. To know what will happen before it happens. This is something that does not necessarily come from experience, but is just a skill that you either have or don't. There are strikers who can spend forty days and forty nights, and they would not be able to create as many chances or get into as many goalscoring positions as Muller does.


Effectiveness.


This is an important word when it comes to football. Having a bunch of skilled players who can do amazing things with the ball, is not enough to win a match. There are dudes who are amazing playing five-a-side football, but put them in a full size pitch and they are just not the same. Muller is the kind of player that is required on any team. For those one or two skilled magicians, you need a Muller who knows how to finish off the chances that they can create. In order for those chances to come to fruition, that is where the reading of the game comes in, and it's about being decisive and getting that ball inside the fishnet.









When people talk about the best players in the world, I never even hear Muller get a mention. I can understand it from the viewpoint of him not being as technically gifted as Robben or Messi. But if we are to talk of the supporting striker position, then he has to be one of the best in that role in the world. The thing on top of that, is he is very versatile. He can play behind the striker, can roll into a free-role, can play out wide and can even be a main striker. This is because of his intuition of the game, he just knows how to make things happen. Get behind a defender, get to a ball before the defense wakes up to it, play a one-two off a teammate and get himself into the right danger area. Surely, this should make him talked about a lot more in the media.


When Bayern go into Champions League mode this season, the main hope is for all their players to be fit. Most especially, Robben, who at the end of the day is their most dangerous attacking player and is still one of the best in the world. Muller though, is the kind of guy that you need in those big games. If Robben gets marked out and shackled, which teams will do because he is a known threat, that leaves Muller free and the VERY German looking player is one of the most elusive and hardest to track players around. And therein may lie Bayern's possible path to Champions League glory.



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