Miroslav Klose Further Emphasizes His Importance to Germany In Superb 3-0 Victory over Holland

Back and Forth: Klose looks Number One for Loew once again.

Kindly travel back with me just six years, Germany faced arch rivals Holland just little over a year after their Euro 2004 clash, which ended in a 1-1 draw. Holland dominated the match from start to finish and through the magic of a then 21 year old Arjen Robben got a 2-0 lead, which they managed to surrender to goals from Michael Ballack and Gerald Asamoah. Yesterday, Germany trashed Holland 3-0. How the times have changed. 


And they have changed non more so than for Germany. The strikers playing for Germany that day were Kevin Kuranyi and Miroslav Klose, who was then substituted for Gerald Asamoah. Klose, 27 years old then, was on the verge of having arguably the best club season in his career, to date, but was struggling to score at international level.  After scoring just 15 goals for Bremen the previous season, Klose was also on a run of almost a year without an international goal. Kuranyi himself had scored just 13 goals the previous season and just 14 goals overall for Germany. It could be said that, at that point, Germany were in a crises up front. How the times have changed. 


Two of the World's Best:


The coach then was Jurgen Klinsmann, his deputy was Joachim Low who now finds himself in the midst of a dilemma many international managers would be dreaming for. Miroslav Klose, now 33 years and continuing to age like fine wine, played the whole game against the Netherlands and put in one of his best performances in a Germany shirt; a tall order when considering he now has 63 goals to his name. Despite having barely played for his club, Bayern Munich, the previous two seasons, Klose has been on his best goal scoring run for his nation with 19 goals in 26 matches since 2009. 


While Klose got the nod to start, his main competitor for the lone striker position, Mario Gomez, was relegated to the bench. Unlike Kevin Kuranyi from six years back, Gomez has been arguably the best striker in Europe for the past year. The statistics back him up as well. Along with scoring an incredible 27 goals in 26 matches in the Bundesliga for the year 2011, Gomez has added eight goals in the UEFA Champions League, three Cup goals and most importantly for his Germany career, eight goals for his national team. The overall figure coming to 46 goals for the year. These are two strikers would be in everyone's list as the top 10 strikers in Europe today so the question now, as compared to six years back, isn't about where to find quality strikers, but how to fit them together. Joachim Low was hinting at playing 4-4-2 in order to accommodate the two in-form strikers but that would be considerably risky given that Low had tried that partnership for during Euro 2008 and it lasted exactly three group games. So the major concensus is still to play with only one in the successful 4-2-3-1. Klose currently comes out as the best candidate for that position. Here is why:


Klose's Role for Germany: The 'False Nine':


I've stated before (refer to part where Gomez is compared to David Villa) that the role of the central striker in the 4-2-3-1 has deferred from previous formations. The case isn't any different for the 4-2-3-1 played by Germany. 

(c) Espn Soccernet

 Without the name underneath, you would think this heat map to be of Mesut Ozil given the variety of the movement displayed. Despite being labeled as the striker, Miroslav Klose had a total of five touches inside the box, one of them being the header for the second goal and another being the assist for Thomas Muller's goal, Germany's first. The assist was a simple but incredibly difficult touch pass onto Muller's run. Low has always been someone who values a striker's ability on the ball as much as his pure goalscoring potential and that ability on the ball is what ultimately separates Miroslav Klose from Mario Gomez. Though Gomez has improved his technique significantly over the past couple of years, in part because of Louis Van Gaal's insistence upon it, he is not up the level of Klose. It isn't a new development for Klose as well, he has always been reknowned within Germany as a striker with great playmaking abilities, his assists count in the Bundesliga stands at 65 in 310 appearances, most of which (38 in 89) came in during his time at Werder Bremen where he played in a similarly free flowing attacking system under Thomas Schaaf. A system which brought the best out of Klose at club level. 


 There is a popular term used for strikers with his ability not only to contribute on the goalscoring end but equally on the creative front as a the lone striker, the 'False Nine'. It would be strange, given Klose's reputation throughout the years of being just a finisher of chances, to label him as a false striker but a comparison between his recent performances as a the lone striker with players who have been given the 'False Nine' moniker show that he can well and truly be put under that category:

Messi vs Madrid 2010/11 (c) ESPN 

Lionel Messi is perhaps the best exploiter of the 'False Nine' position while playing for Barcelona. From his fantastic performance against Real Madrid, in which he didn't score a goal but contributed with three assists, similarities can be seen between his heat map and Klose's posted above. Rare touches inside the box, a healthy mix of action along the each wing with majority of possession in central positions far from the box are qualities shown in strikers capable of playing the 'False Nine' position.  


Mario Gomez: A Cultured Striker in the New Age:


Simply put, if Gomez were playing 20 years back for Germany, there would be no chance of him finding himself on the bench; rather, he would be playing alongside Klose. Since we are now in an age of the 4-2-3-1 rather than 4-4-2's and 3-5-2's, Gomez's lack of ability on the ball has seen his place in the side constantly under scrutiny, despite his fantastic goalscoring return over the past year (as mentioned earlier in the article). With that lack of ability to be part of the build up of attacks, Gomez always stands the risk of being anonymous in games were Germany would struggle to break down defensive teams. A case in point would be another recent impressive Germany win in a prestige friendly, this time against Brazil.

Gomez vs Brazil 3-2 (c) ESPN

Whats interesting about this match is that Gomez played the first 45 minutes, contributing little to Germany's offence which was being stifled by a deep Brazilian defence and Miroslav Klose played the last 45 minutes. Klose's impact on the game was immediate and it was therefore not a surprise to see Germany going on to score three goals with Klose being directly involved in the first two. It is for that purpose, that despite scoring 8 goals over the course of the previous year (more than Miroslav Klose), Gomez finds himself in danger. 

Klose vs Brazil 3-2 (c) ESPN

When up against the best defenses in World Football like Spain and Italy or even against very defensive sides like Ukraine just before the Holland game, a technically limited striker like Gomez would struggle to have much effect on the proceedings since he would be largely isolated upfront as the lone striker. Though Gomez has continuously improved throughout the last two years in this respect, Klose's relative performances shows how far off he still is. Maybe for the future,given his rate of improvement, but as of this moment, Gomez presents a slightly inferior starting option but an absolutely brilliant substitute. Who would not love to have the luxury of being able to call up a 30+ goals striker from the bench?

The Klose-Muller-Ozil Trifecta: Germany's Most Dangerous Weapon

While we've seen the heat map of Klose against the Netherlands, it would be interesting to see that of Muller and Ozil. What we would see is evidence of the rotating system between Ozil, Muller and Klose that has been terrorizing international football since the World Cup when the three players were played together in competitive matches for the first time. Germany's style of play was completely transformed under the influence of these three. From robotic build up from the back and predictable crosses through the wings in the past to a now creative-flowing system involving Muller-Klose-Ozil and also not to forget Podolski (whose form has curtailed for the last year though his replacement, Andre Schurrle, has already shown tremendous understanding). 

Germany's First Goal: Muller (red) positions himself centrally alongside the center back (Matjisen) while Klose (orange) breaks through down the right side of the box attacking the left back (Braafied). Ozil (white) is seen in the left edge of the box.

Germany Second Goal: Again we see Muller (red) playing in a central position, this time rotating position with Ozil (orange) who finds himself down the right wing. Klose (white) is the furthest forward awaiting Ozil's cross. 

The pictures for Germany's first two goals illustrates the point about Ozil, Muller and Klose playing a rotation system. Every group of players can not play this system, Gomez has not been seen taking up deep positions as regularly as Klose has been. Everything that Ozil, Muller and Klose had been trained in in the past seems to have been concluded to this point and this tremendous link-up play. From Ozil being played as a winger during his first years at Schalke and Bremen to Muller being a regular Second Striker at youth level and then being shifted to the right wing proffessionally for Bayern and Klose being part of the already mentioned Werder Bremen team which held pride in their free flowing attacking football. It was just about bringing it all together. 

One question on everyone's minds though is definitely based on the future of this attacking formation. While Ozil and Muller are still very young, Klose is 33 and though his performances have grown with age in recent times, it would be foolish to think he would be able to continue with his current level well past the European Championship's and into the next World Cup. That might be the time for Gomez to fully establish himself as Germany's leading striker. When Klose eventually does hang his boots, most likely as Germany's leading goal scorer, he will leave tremendously heavy boots to fill for whoever wants to replace him and wear the Number 11 jersey; not only on a goalscoring front but as a conductor of attacks as well.