German squad below. By no means a full strength team. Midfield is decent enough with Holtby, Moritz, Hermann and Emre Can in there and the 3 keepers are all solid.
The quest to find a young German striker continues. Lasogga is the best of those strikers I think - he’s a tall lad but decent movement and playing in the second tier has probably helped him get a run of games.
[FONT=Arial][SIZE=14px]Goalkeepers: Oliver Baumann (SC Freiburg), Bernd Leno (Bayer 04 Leverkusen), Timo Horn (1. FC Köln).[/SIZE][/FONT]
[FONT=Arial][SIZE=14px]Defenders: Tony Jantschke (VfL Borussia Mönchengladbach), Sebastian Jung (Eintracht Frankfurt), Jan Kirchhoff (1. FSV Mainz 05), Sead Kolasinac (FC Schalke 04), Matthias Ginter (SC Freiburg), Oliver Sorg (SC Freiburg), Stefan Thesker (TSG 1899 Hoffenheim), Lasse Sobiech (SpVgg Greuther Fürth), Shkodran Mustafi (UC Sampdoria).[/SIZE][/FONT]
[FONT=Arial][SIZE=14px]Midfielders: Tolgay Arslan (Hamburger SV), Christian Clemens (1. FC Köln), Patrick Funk (FC St Pauli), Patrick Herrmann (VfL Borussia Mönchengladbach), Lewis Holtby (Tottenham Hotspur FC), Christoph Moritz (FC Schalke 04), Sebastian Rode (Eintracht Frankfurt), Sebastian Rudy (TSG 1899 Hoffenheim), Emre Can (FC Bayern München).[/SIZE][/FONT]
[FONT=Arial][SIZE=14px]Forwards: Pierre-Michel Lasogga (Hertha BSC Berlin), Peniel Mlapa (VfL Borussia Mönchengladbach), Sebastian Polter (1. FC Nürnberg), Kevin Volland (TSG 1899 Hoffenheim)[/SIZE][/FONT]
Looks pretty weak when you consider some of the players available to them. Is Rudy not a lot older? I remember seeing him play against the huns a good few years ago for Stuttgart and I thought he was brilliant. How is he rated in Germany? Holtby and Hermann are the other big names I’d be familiar with. Jung has been attracting a lot of big teams so he could be an interesting player.
Have been disappointed with what I have seen from Holtby since he joined Spurs. Seems a bit headless and reminds me of Alexander Hleb a bit in his decision making
Yeah he’s 23. He’s an alright player but don’t think he’ll be in the top tier of midfielders, he’s one of those lads who has had an extended under 21 career because he’s good enough for that level but not good enough to push into the senior team.
Yeah he’s been very poor the few times I’ve seen him.
Very strong Dutch squad, Willens being the only realy notable exception and he is first choice for the seniors and hasn’t featured for the 21’s in the last couple of seasons
Very attacking squad selection with 5 out and out strikers and some very attack minded midfielders like Sansone, Saponara and Insigne who would all probably be more recognised as attackers.
Spain and Germany are the two favourites but looking at their squads I don’t understand why. They are also both in the Group of death along with Holland and Russia. Italy to me would seem like the likely favourites and Holland would have the next strongest squad. Really looking forward to this.
I see the Rusians have Alan Dzagoev in their squad. Kind of defeats the purpose seeing as he has never been capped at Under 21 level and is a regular starter for the senior side with close to 30 caps
[quote=“Il Bomber Destro, post: 780825, member: 1052”]Quite surprised at the odds for this tournament.
Spain and Germany are the two favourites but looking at their squads I don’t understand why. They are also both in the Group of death along with Holland and Russia. Italy to me would seem like the likely favourites and Holland would have the next strongest squad. Really looking forward to this.[/quote]
What odds are Italy? Their squad looks better than Germany’s anyway.
Shock horror.