Originally posted by Paradigm
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We should have started Reus, Klose, and Muller from the beginning of the match. Why?
- Klose is more of a 'work-horse' than Gomez is and is willing to move into the opening to receive the pass. With Gomez, you have to find him and make sure to give him the perfect pass as it's unlikely that he'll be running around much. When you have two men marking you and your not willing to hustle and rather choose to remain stationary, it's unlikely that you'll get a chance to score. Ozil and Klose are definitely a much stronger combination in the sense that they are able to 'connect' on plays.
- Every coach will always have a soft spot for a certain player - regardless of how poorly that individual plays, he'll still be selected to the starting XI. In Low's case, that player is Podolski. Don't get wrong, Podolski has been one of the most consistent players for the German NT in the past but this wasn't to be his tournament. Perhaps it's the fact that he was pulled back to a more midfield position in Low's 4-2-3-1 system whereas in the past he was always paired up front with Klose. Regardless, there were very few German attacks coming from the left until Reus came in and brought some pace and creativity.
- The Muller/Kroos starting XI switch is slightly more understandable than the others. If you noticed, Germany employed a 4-3-3 system today rather than their 4-2-3-1 system. Given their offensive approach, they wanted to use a slightly more defensive Kroos to mark Pirlo - especially considering that Ozil rarely gets back to play defence. Unfortunately, by the time Italy were up 2 - 0, there no real need for Kroos.
Overall, I still that this German side is the strongest in the world right now and has the strongest 23-man squad. The fact that they entered this championship as the youngest team and managed to play some of the most attractive football speaks volumes of what they're capable of come the 2014 World Cup. Unfortunately, they went for too much too early against Italy and that cost them the match (and the tournament). Had Germany slowed down after their initial 15 minute onslaught, they could have controlled the match while tiring the Italians who had 48 hours less to rest than the Germans. I honestly thought that this would be one of those games that would end 1 - 0 due to a late German goal but I guess Germany was overly ambitious today.
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