No Klose, No Bart aka Lahm, and Germany WILL Struggle

I am not surprised.

Some of you may be. After all these are the WORLD CHAMPIONS. Surely they should see of Poland and Ireland and Scotland should not pose a threat. But if you look deeper....and at Germany's first few games of the World Cup, their struggles are not THAT surprising.

People don't give defenders praise. It's hard to. They just not as FLASHY as the midfielder or striker. So when I say that Bart Simpson should be on the ballot for the Ballon D'OR, people are shocked. But he has now come out of the team, and Germany don't look the same.

Forget his defending and the fact that he rarely gets booked, and is an EXPERT in robbing the ball off you. He is actually at the forefront of the bulk of Germany's attacks. The way in which they move forward all comes through him. He was the one that would link up with Muller and Goetze and Ozil and give Germany that added dimension on the right of the flank. With him gone, Germany have completely lost that and are not as dynamic as they were with him on the pitch.

I don't think there is anymore proof needed of just how important he was to Germany. Looking at the game against Ireland, it just seemed like they were missing that extra something. They did not have that guy who you could rely on to carry the ball from defense, be confident with it, and know of the right balls to play and when and how to put the cross into the box. THAT is what your boy Bart Simpson does.

Germany had two sides to them at the World Cup.

The one side was a team with no striker. A very talented team, but a team trying their hardest to imitate another team....Spanish in nature. That team were not coming close to any gold and would have been put out sooner rather than later.

Then the other side of Germany showed up, which was a team that DID have a striker, and it was a team that were ready, able, and equipped to win the World Cup. It was perhaps destiny that Klose would be called upon by Joachim, and he would answer the call by scoring a CRUCIAL goal against Ghana and breaking the record in the infamous lubrication.

What you need to understand is that Muller is an attacking MIDFIELDER and NOT a striker. Klose is a bona-fide striker...which seems to be of very short supply now. So when I see Germany play, they will keep the ball and show all their talent with nice touches, but with no cutting edge that Miroslav and Phil gives them, they WILL struggle to score when it matters.

What is the remedy or the solution?

Joachim MUST find a striker. Maybe this Kruse or someone, and keep Muller playing his best role which is an a free-roaming attacking midfielder, NOT a false nine. And more importantly, they need wing BACKS with the emphasis on plural. Only then can I put them in the hat of winning the Euros, but as of now...I believe they are fourth in their qualifying group. Hmmmmm....what if the unimaginable happened?


HH