From : Audi
Subject: Podolski
Date: Tue, 10 Jun 2008 16:50
Excellent post as per usual. Small correction though, Podolski didn’t lose his place to Ribery, he lost it to the Toni-Klose partnership. He was signed as a striker, which is where he played while at Cottbus. Bayern play mostly 4-4-2 with Ribery and Shweinsteiger on the wings. In the 2006 WorldCup he played alongside Klose as well.
Myles replies :
Thanks for setting me straight on that one. I should not be getting that stuff wrong. I did say he was eclipsed, and he was probably eclipsed by Ribery when he played, as well as when he didn’t play.
Clearly, you know where Podolski should be playing but German coach Joachim Low does not.
Tonight Podolski played on the left wing and it was 4-4-2 and the most static, inept team performance I can remember from a German national side.
It was blindingly obvious what change had to be made but Low did not bring Schweinsteiger on for Mario Gomez until they were 2-0 down. Podolski moved up front and scored with a scorching left foot shot after Ballack’s knockdown hit a defender and broke to him in space.
Croatia had passion, flair, invention, belief, ideas, variation. And Germany were tired and robotic. Switching Lahm to left back, where he attacks naturally, made a big difference, and Bastian Shweinsteiger gave them more link-play.But BS was sent off in stoppage time.
This performance was terrible. Truly, truly terrible.
I wonder what Franz Beckenbauer thought of it.