As the Bundesliga goes into the winter break, it is worth noting the best performers in the German league during the first half of the season.
Any selection tends to stir heated debate and the goalkeeper’s choice is no less subjective. Bayern Munich’s Manuel Neuer might seem an automatic choice. He went 770 minutes without conceding abd true to general belief he is the best goalkeeper in the world. But Neuer, quite simply, has too few opportunities to show his worth with Bayern. Meanwhile, 19-year-old Marc Andre ter Stegen has preserved a number of close wins that have taken Borussia Monchengladbach back to the top four. Having shipped just 11 goals, he is one behind Neuer, but has come under far more pressure than the Bayern shot stopper.
At the heart of the defence there is no arguing that Borussia Dortmund’s Mats Hummels has shut out the league’s best strikers. Indeed, Borussia have conceded just once against teams in the top six. Dominant in the air, yet sufficiently agile to defuse one-on-one situations with onrushing forwards, Hummels has shown that when the going gets tough, he can also push the ball upfield and Dortmund’s entire formation with it. Many consider his as a future Germany captain.
Alongside Hummels, Holger Badstuber has been a consistent performer for Bayern Munich. His partner at Bayern has been switched back and forth between Daniel Van Buyten and Jerome Boateng, but in any circumstance, the 22-year-old has been quietly effective, helping the Bavarians set the pace for a potential new Bundesliga record for fewest goals conceded. And what many people forget is that he also takes corners and long free kicks. There a few centre backs anywhere with the skills to do that.
Right and left backs are always tough to choose in a 4-1-3-2 formation but Lukas Piszczek of Borussia Dortmund deserves mention. The Pole has become one of the most consistent defenders in the German league and from his forays upfield you can notice that he began his career as a striker. He was also one of the few bright spots in Dortmund’s disappointing Champions League adventure.
The left back position normally belongs to Phillip Lahm. Schalke’s Christian Fuchs also had a splendid season but Filip Daems prevails. Filip who? Gladbach’s 33-year-old captain has been a main orchestrator of the Foals’ back-from-the-dead act. He scored three goals as well already and didn’t pick up a single yellow card.
The choice of Bastian Schweinsteiger in midfield is unanimous though. Until he was injured in early November, he was the best footballer in the Bundesliga. His leadership and versatility had Bayern playing on a level at which they were compared to Barcelona and Real Madrid. Without him, the Bavarians often had trouble containing their opponents and kept a clean sheet just once. The events of this season have proven that Schweinsteiger is absolutely integral for Bayern’s title hopes.
And who better to receive Schweinsteiger’s probing passes than team mate Franck Ribery? The fleet Frenchman is the creative inspiration and had regained his place in the heart of the Bayern fans with a number of dominating performances. With eight goals and six assists, he has more often been the man to break down opposing defences and start the scoring torrent that has come to characterize many Bayern games. We all agree that his revival has something to do with the departure of task master Louis van Gaal and the absence of Arjen Robben.
Another Bayern Munich midfielder, Toni Kroos makes it in the team of the season so far not because he has made so many stunning Bundesliga displays but for his consistent and versatile play. He has yet to be used in his true position –that of a box-to-box midfielder in a flat 4-4-2 system. But even so, his work as either an attacking or defensive midfielder has been exemplary. His trainer recently said he has unlimited potential. If Kroos can develop further, he might some day be remembered as a legend.
This season’s surprise package have been Borussia Monchengladbach and no player embodies their resurgence quite like Marco Reus. Always a top talent, the 22-year-old attacking midfielder has taken massive strides, scoring 10 goals in the first half of the season, one behind his personal best for a full season. No other attacking midfielder has had such an impact on his team’s success – take him out of Gladbach and they plummet in the table.
One tends to be spoilt for choice when it comes to picking the two best strikers. Dortmund’s marvelous Robert Lewandowski cannot be ignored. Werder Bremen don’t even want to think about where they’d be without Claudio Pizarro’s 12 goals, despite the Peruvian’s 33 years of age.
The most prolific marksman in the league has to be included in the team for the first half of 2011/12. And that is Mario Gomez who has found the net 16 times thus far for Bayern Munich, putting him on course to eclipse his previous best of 28 goals in a domestic season. He has grown in confidence and became far more resilient than ever before.
Not far behind Gomez in the goals tally is Lukas Podolski, who has found the net 14 times and provided five assists. Not long ago, he was widely regarded as the type of player who could only perform at international level, but his performances this season have silenced all doubters. Podolski has been prolific in the centre of attack, attracting no shortage of interest from clubs both in Germany and abroad. And considering that he achieved all this with a club as mediocre, and occasionally shambolic, as FC Koln, Prinz Poldi gets the final striker position, just ahead of Schalke’s Klaas-Jan Huntelaar, who bagged a pretty lethal 15 goals. Just a goal behind Gomez, the Dutchman could pip the Bayern forward for this season’s Bundesliga’s top scorer award.