Remember him? Well, he looks pretty much the same...just erm...change the yellow to red and put on a big smile and presto...you have Mario Gotze!
Yes, he moved on to "bigger" things and has left an unlikely void in the Dortmund team. I say this as Dortmund may somehow face the unthinkable after last year's exploits. Because of Napoli not backing down, Dortmund may perhaps have to settle for trying their hand at the UEFA Cup. (Screw you Platini, I am NOT calling it the Europa League).
Klopp does not want that and a team of Dortmund's caliber have no business being anywhere near that competition. But they failed to get those three points in their HOME stadium, and there are questions being raised. I won't put money down that Dortmund will DEFINITELY beat Napoli at home or will beat a proud Marseille away wanting to leave with some dignity. All this has me thinking about how different this could have all been with Gotze in the team.
Mkhitaryan has been brought in to replace Gotze and despite that glorious miss in the first half against Arsenal, he lacks what the German boy had.As good as his attacking instincts are, he does not have that creative vision that Gotze possessed. I believe this is what Dortmund may be missing. It's that added bit of vision to find that killer pass to open up the defence. And I felt that if Gotze was on that pitch in the Champions League final, Dortmund would perhaps have won that match.
You look at that Arsenal match that Dormund dominated last night. They had the chances, but even when they went down a goal, apart from Reus, I did not see that point-man who could give Lewandowski the pass or cross needed to bring the yellow and black boys level. When Reus actually went off then I knew it was pretty much all over, game set and match.
I do fear for the future of Dortmund. We all know Lewandowski is going and Klopp now has to rebuild again with another striker and creative man. If anyone can do it, I know that he can. But it just makes on wonder. What if Dortmund had Kagawa, Gotze, Reus, Lewandowski, Gundogan and Mkhitaryan all in the same team? Without a doubt, that Champions League trophy would be inevitable.
HH
