Thomas Müller

Bayern München

Forward/Winger/Attacking midfielder - Germany



2010/2011 Mid-season: 28
End of 2010/11 - Start of 2011/12: 35
2011/2012 Mid-season:30
End of 2011/12 - Start of 2012/13: 45

End of 2011/12 - Start of 2012/13:

Before the 2012/13 season where Bayern are currently looking excellent, my favorite recent Bayern period was when in the Bundesliga winning 2009/10 season then coach Van Gaal would play a very flexible front four of Olic (whenever Ribery was injured but the Frenchman was also fine), Müller, Robben and Klose. Behind them in a midfield tandem Van Bommel and the re-innovated Bastian Schweinsteiger ruled. Gomez? He was mostly on the bench and the overall result was some wonderful fluid football bringing the best out of everyone's characteristics, and of course, they actually won something too.

Reading it again it looks like I already somewhat touched upon it down below in the 2011/2012 mid-season Müller-comments, but it's now clear that last season just wasn't anything like that. The way Bayern set-up and generally played didn't bring out the best of everyone, least of all Müller who had his worst season so far acting way too much as Gomez (who certainly did enjoy it apart from when he and Bayern were exposed against Dortmund shoving in their faces exactly what they were lacking) personal rather limited water-carrier.

Both Gomez (who at least least made use of it to bomb away) and Robben did a terrible job of occupying Müller's space and limiting him to the one place on the pitch where he is least effective. You only have to look at this season and what new striker Mandzukic different movements and nothing short of exemplary teamwork compared to Gomez, has done for Müller's game, to realize that in comparison last season's Bayern make-up just wasn't ideal for Müller to keep shining on.

There is plenty of praise and description of the many admirable Müller characteristics in the various yearly installments further down the entry, but it should also be said that with his quickness, anticipation, freak-strength and stamina he is also all you could ever wish for in an attacking player defensively, someone quite simply made for effective ball-pressure (gegenpressing, counterpressing) providing real value for his team defensively as well.

2011/2012 Mid-season:

I'm still a big fan of Müller's qualities. His impressive athletic ability, teamwork, great stamina, quality movement and superior versatility.

He still didn't show any signs of slowing down last season following his great 2009/10 breakthrough. It's now perfectly clear that this is one very durable player, and I think perhaps it is only a healthy Robben, even when constantly cutting inside and all, still inevitably forcing Müller more central, where there is less space for his pace to eat up, and instead increased demand for technical ability, that can at least reduce his effectiveness somewhat.

There is still his great movement though, and in between Gomez occupying space ahead of him central, and Robben dragging defenders with him cutting inside, Müller will still find space to exploit with his runs no matter where it is, and his anticipation for getting to chances, including in the penalty area, is close to phenomenal.

More than great skills with the ball, where most this high up the list will be better, Müller score and create all the goals that he does with a combination of great sprinting (the sheer amount he can perform), outstanding teamwork and some uncanny anticipation.

 2010/11:





Müller's amazing breakthrough season continued at the World Cup.

Entering the 2010/11 season for Bayern things haven't been going quite as smoothly so far but personally I'm more convinced of his qualities than ever and eventual weaknesses are getting harder to spot all the time.

I think I'm even seeing new strong points when it comes to Müller. Now rather than almost exclusively complementing players around him (and doing it superbly) not least through off the ball movement (those relentless sprints!), he now also looks capable of creating with the ball, and not just the piercing runs but through effective passing as well. Including some range.

In my mind, the rise of Müller shows no signs of stopping.

2009/10:

Tall 20 year old athletic freak who must be a dream to have on a football team. Müller can play several positions well and combines superb work-rate, attacking and defending, team work and quick movement to make him already one of the best players in the world without the ball. There I said it.

He'll operate effectively anywhere in the final third and with his prolific pace and constant movement and ability to perform one fast sprint after another throughout 90 minutes makes him very difficult to properly mark.

With the ball he is a little more inconsistent (or how scary would he be?). On the wing he definitely has the ability (and agility) to make piercing runs with it at great speed, or if central the ability to perform quick turns once he gets it shielding the ball, but will at times fail to control passes that look rather simple.
My perhaps incorrect theory is that he is often very ambitious with his first touch and that will make him look below par sometimes. No matter what it is though, subpar technique, great ambition or poor decisions, improvements can definitely be made. But make no mistake about it, this is already an excellent player. One who sooner rather than later will have a good case for an even higher ranking.

Mario Gomez

Bayern München

Striker - Germany



Gomez needs to think of happier times:



Original 200 writeup:

Okay so it really hurt he claims, and that does make sense of course, but a goal is a goal and lately Gomez is in another harmful situation (possibly here hurting his behind in the process) sitting on the bench not able to score the goals he loves so much and which over his still young career he has netted at a fantastic rate.

A year ago it was 24 in 30 league starts (37 in all). Then 23 in 28 across all competitions. In 06/07 there was 14 in 22 and even when still finding his feet in the Bundesliga the year before that, amidst many substitution appearances, it was for what its worth 7 goals in 6 starts.

But here he is at Bayern, their best striker by some margin I still believe, on the bench.

For starters you can only have so many attackers in a lineup and Bayern have two excellent ones in the form of Ribery and Robben both somewhere higher up the list.

Then there were the impressive form of two of my favorites (and I can definitely see why any coach would feel similar!) Olic and Müller who both contribute, as talked about in their writeups of course, in different ways with different things than Gomez does. Then if the coach in connection with all the other players in the lineup, feels that's what makes the team better, then it doesn't really matter if another player isolated on his own is better individually ( not least if those other things are deemed less important on this particular team with their specific players).

Even Klose. Himself with a history sitting on the Bayern bench brings different movement and dynamics (in the form of his remaining pace) to the team than Gomez.
I would though, even if he returns to good form, have a harder time understanding him playing over Gomez than I would Olic or Müller.

Then again if as some reports on and off during the season suggested are correct, that Gomez (Luca Toni style? Maybe not quite but still) have practiced feuding with Van Gaal, then that's not something that will provide the greatest outlook for more starting time.

If he were to get the chance again what Gomez does brings of course is a very impactful around and inside the box presence. He is very strong, good in the air and while at times can look underwhelming still with good and definitely underrated technique. Both when it comes to control and finishing.
I still think a large part of the under appreciation or denial even of any Gomez skill at all come from his high profile failure at Euro 2008 where he just didn't put a foot right.

With great performances in the Bundesliga naturally getting much less attention internationally, those things can haunt a player.

But Gomez from the starts that he actually DID get last season (and in all competitions he did score 19 goals) I thought both when it came to movement other places than in the box (maybe even more pace) and general ball skills as well that he looked better even than at times for Stuttgart during his scoring goals for fun (even using penis) glory days of the previous seasons.

In many ways that's what this good (even if too good according to some) ranking is based on.

Rightly or wrongly I thought he looked very good when I saw him and while as the season progressed getting to see that less and less certainly hasn't boosted his ranking, I'm not willing to dismiss my impression totally on a 25 year old, at his club in competition with excellent players, when I have no reason to suspect he is suddenly a worse player than the free scoring one of a year ago or the one I was very impressed with this season while he was still getting the chance.

The 300 update:

Who knows what took Van Gaal so long starting Gomez for Bayern this season.

Klose once again couldn't get any rate of acceptable goalscoring going, considering he's the starting striker for the strongest team in a very attacking league.

Gomez on the other hand, once he got the minutes, predictably, returned to goal scoring machine kind of form.

Look for it to continue.

Mark Van Bommel

Bayern München

Midfielder - The Netherlands




Original 200 writeup:

The dirtiest player in the game? Someone who wins very few friends in the heat of battle among opposition players.

Personally I wasn't even aware that Van Bommel was still any good before this season. Like some other Bayern players, his reputation with me at least, had been damaged almost beyond repair by some of the dismal performances I watched from them last season and he wasn't even on the list originally.

Well, enter this season and Bayern now with a great coach, Louis Van Gaal in charge, instead of a rather clueless one in Klinsmann, and slowly but surely improvement in all areas started taking place resulting in a very strong team playing up to its potential.

Now needless to say almost Van Bommel at 33 isn't the player he was in his 20s where on top of having the qualities that he has now, was also efficient going forward and quite the threat with his shooting ability.

Twice he won Dutch player of the year being a major part in 4 PSV championships and along the way even, coached by Hiddink, even went deep in the Champions League then later won the trophy at Barcelona.

That's where the transformation I guess into a primarily defensive midfielder really began. One that is now well complete and where Van Bommel aggressively operate for Bayern.

Now do I think Van Bommel is better as a defensive specialist than the recently ranked Palacios, Song or Toulalan?

No all them are better physically and all that comes with that, which defensively obviously are integral parts of the game, but through his very own evil combination of intelligence (experience really) and controlled aggression right to the limit, or over it whenever he can get away with it, Van Bommel mostly holds his own in those departments. And as an overall player I still like him more.

The hint of a former very good two-way player just still remains, but mostly what sets him apart compared to those mentioned is his range of passing, where with his new central midfield partner Schweinsteiger who can do the same, he can really help control games for Bayern.
Whether it's great decision making in the short passing game or it's effortlessly hitting longer accurate passes from side to side stretching the opponent's team defense. Especially that, with Bayern on the wings having such excellent players as Robben and Ribery that's something extremely valuable coming from the central midfielders.

The 300 update:

That was a very long 2009/2010 redemption season for Van Bommel. All the way to the Champions League final then the World Cup for Holland and another great run to the final there.

You can excuse Van Bommel for feeling a bit worn then and he has been missing games this season.

Another thing for Bayern so far has been life without neither Robben or Ribery's wing play due to injuries.

In the original writeup I talked about Van Bommel and Schweinsteiger's control of games through their distribution. Well a big part of that, when the real pressure is created, was often them working towards getting the ball wide. While I rate Müller very highly (as his ranking shows) he is definitely best when his fantastic movement isn't glued to the sideline.

The Bayern central midfielders aren't playmakers however, able to make piercing through balls like an Özil, and without the options out wide, complementing their range of passing, Bayern's sometimes overwhelming possession will lack tempo and be a bit one dimensional. Easier (even for Bundesliga teams) to contain.

There are other factors involved in Bayern collecting a below expectation points tally (an abnormal amount of individual defensive errors doesn't help) in the Bundesliga before the upcoming winter break, but I do think the above has definitely contributed.

Van Bommel who now doubt will welcome the winter break is still Bayern's first choice partner to the excellent Schweinsteiger, but maybe look out for Toni Kroos who has been part of the problem out wide, but who now Van Gaal perhaps sees a diamond in when it comes to central midfield.

Toni Kroos

Bayern München

Midfielder - Germany



Original 200 writeup:

That photo of Kroos, the young Bundesliga sensation and the legendary Kaiser himself was taken back in 2007 at the U-17 World Cup where Kroos was awarded the Golden Ball as player of the tournament.

As a 16 year old he had already been signed by Bayern Munich and done so well for their youth team that at 17 he was promoted to their senior squad. There he showed great things as well - for starters he set up two goals in his 2008 debut - but appearances predictably were very limited and he was sent to Leverkusen on loan.

A loan-deal that was then extended into this season in what turned out to be a great move not just for Leverkusen where Kroos played a big part in taking them straight to the top of the table with one brilliant display after another, but for Kroos himself who got the stage where at a young age he could take the Bundesliga and the Germans so much by storm that he'll be very hard to avoid for the World Cup.

When I first saw Kroos he kind of reminded me of young Steven Gerrard. Build and appearance seemed similar and there was that striking ability when kicking a football to have it do whatever he wanted. Especially when it came to shooting.



Now this was a sketchy first impression and Kroos doesn't have that freak athletic ability and unique drive of Gerrard when Gerrard is at his best, making Kroos a less dynamic player, but what he does have is a silky touch when it comes to ballcontrol and the more delicate passes, he even has vision, and then, again like Gerrard, when it comes to crosses, for an example on set pieces, he can really put force into the ball and be accurate at the same time. Or how about just electing to put the ball into the back of the net!

Kroos quite simply has excellent technique involving anything that has to do with kicking a football and that is not a bad thing at all.

The 300 update:

Kroos as expected returned to Bayern München this season.

Compared to Leverkusen he's been playing more central and quite often struggled to make a real impact. At least one similar to what he did at Leverkusen.

The ineffectiveness of Klose, who Van Gaal kept sticking with, probably didn't help but as it is right now there aren't any indications that behind a striker in a 4-2-3-1 is Kroos best position. It might very well be in the future but right now there isn't enough difference-making coming from him there. Neither by being dynamic as a scoring threat himself or creative enough to provide for the attacking players around him.

Out wide with his great deliveries would make more sense or how about the latest speculation, that he has a future further back in central midfield. There he wouldn't be expected to be a great difference-maker, but could make a very solid contribution to the team with his classy technique and range of passing.

Even for Bayern he would have to improve defensively. But for starters physically, where he isn't a weakling and has a lot of upside I think, improvements are right around the corner.