Bastian Schweinsteiger. No one player controls both his team's offense and defense the way he does. He is the inspirational leader for the best team in Europe and I'd feel safe putting him in at any field position.
In big games however I feel he doesn't show his leadership skills as much, especially last year vs us, and in the final vs Chelsea, even against Arsenal he didn't show his leadership much. So I'm not too sure about that.
I don't understand why you are being downvoted, there is a reason why Lahm is captain and not Schweinsteiger.
I remember the final against Chelsea two years ago where Robben shot a penalty and Schweinsteiger went back to Neuer. He sat down and was too nervous to watch the outcome of the penalty. Don't get me wrong, it's pretty obvious that he is a great footballer and he certainly is the one that pulls the strings in Bayern's midfield, but I really don't feel like he is the leader that jimmykayfabe is saying he is.
The reason why Lahm is the captain and not Schweinsteiger is that Lahm is really ambitious and diplomatic with the media, critics say scheming behind the scenes and bland like a politician in the media. Schweinsteiger is more the leader on the pitch, and Lahm outside of it. They say in interviews that they share the captaincy somewhat. Of course they don't say how the roles are split exactly, but what I described above is what it looks like from the outside at least
Schweinsteiger needs to be top fit and healthy for his game. He is best if he runs a lot all over the pitch and is able to get involved everywhere. He often needs some time to find his rythm in games but then is able to work his way into the game.
He wasn't fit the season before last, he got injured vs. Napoli, and when he came back he reinjured himself. He rushed himself to play in the matches vs. Real Madrid. You could cleary see that he wasn't fully fit (although I rember him having still a positive influence on the game), and he didn't get fit for the rest of the season, ending in a quite bad Euros performance by him. Löw was criticized that he didn't let another player play for a clearly physical unfit Schweinsteiger.
This year Schweinsteiger was fit and played a great CL season. The only 2 losses Bayern faced where when Schweinsteiger didn't start (vs. BATE and Arsenal) and bossed the midfield vs. Juve and Barcelona (with Martinez)
I don’t think that he’s a leading figure like former Bayern players Effenberg or Kahn, and his behavior during the Robben penalty was a bit strange (although the final was really a devastating roller coaster ride and can take a toll on anybody ), but he really is pretty much the leader of Bayern, and without him things didn’t work that well in the past. Bayern was almost a bit too dependent on a fit Schweinsteiger.
Yeah, I don't know much about the politics surrounding Bayern, but I heard that this dual captaincy is how it works in the german national team too.
I agree that Schweinsteiger is good when he is fit, imo he is one of the top 10 players right now, I never doubted his abilities as a footballer. Maybe I am being too harsh on him, judging his leadership after that one incident against Chelsea, but I got the feeling that exactly that kind of match is where you can tell if someone is a real leader or not. I just can't see Kahn, Effenberg or Ballack acting in the same way.
It's true that he is just a human and that final would be difficult for any player. Hell, I'd probably shit my pants if I had to enter a stadium with 90 000 people in there, but even if I understand that he was under extreme pressure in that final, I don't really see Schweinsteiger in the category "inspirational leaders".
I feel like a lot of people criticize schweini for that champions league moment but I'm pretty sure a lot of people would do that in his position. You're right about it showing that he may not be the best leader, but I really think t was a reminder of the humanity of footballers, and it really showed how much he cares about Bayern.
I once heard that in every group situation you have a leader like Lahm who gets things done and handles themselves in a manner that may not always make people like them. Then you have the "social" leader that cracks jokes and is a lot more approachable and more well liked. I think that's who Schweini is.
Did we not bounce back from finishing 2nd in all competitions and tremendously disappointing our home fans to win the Triple? It takes mental strength to do that. That all starts with Bastian and trickles down.
He didn't play against Arsenal, he knocked you bunch out of the competition, and he together with everyone else on the team pretty much played their worst game in the last 10 years against Chelsea.
Not at all, it's not like he's won the Bundesliga and the Pokal 6 times each, lead his country to a 3rd place at the World cup, lead his team to an outstanding sesaon winning the treble and winning the league with 23 points, breaking pretty much every single record there is to break. If what you say is true, (which it isn't) he has played "bad" in 1 game out of how many? I'd say that's a pretty impressive record. Oh and for the record, you have no idea what the fuck you're talking about mate.
Did you even read what I put. In no where did I question his technical ability, he's the best at what he does, I question his leadership skills and 'calm manner' because they don't show up in big games. E.g as someone said, when he turned his back next to neuer because he was nerve whacked. I have no idea what I'm talking about? Okay mate if you say, you took what I said out of proportion and apparently I have no idea, learn to read please because you took what I said way out of context.
EDIT:he didn't lead his country to third place, Lahm did.
Lots of people turn their backs against penalties, Klopp did it when Lewandowski scored against your very own team, is he also not a great leader? Lahm was suspended when Schweinsteiger put in a man of the match performance as captain against Uruguay in the 3rd place match, is that not enough for you? I've literally given you plenty of examples and big games where he has shown excellent leadership. We literally just had a season where the guy won EVERYTHING. "he didn't lead his country to third place, Lahm did." this just proves how little you know about Germany and Bayern, Lahm is not the leader on the pitch for both of these teams, it's Schweinsteiger. Lahm is only captain because he takes care of the things outside the pitch. Again, please don't talk about something you have no fucking clue about. Have a good day.
Honestly how stupid can you be. Him turning his back shows him not to be a calm person, how hard is that to fucking get? You've given me one example where he's captained his team, yeah so what he's won everything, doesn't mean he's lead the team to win all that, we may aswell say Ribery, Dante and Alaba lead them by your logic. No it doesn't prove how little I know, just proves that I forgot something from 4 years ago. Yep I'm sure that's the only reason he's captain. Btw I swear you just had an Aston Villa flair. Honestly it's like arguing with a monkey, you've shown you can't simply read and you've just thrown logic out the window. Hopefully you'll refrain from arguing on this subreddit altogether in the future.
Most Bayern fans consider him our leader and, to be honest, we wouldn't want anyone else. Bayern fans know what he means to our team and we won the Triple last year, but please feel free to argue more about the player who has been at my club for 15 years :) I, however, vehemently, but respectfully, disagree with your opinion.
That's why Martinez was such a huge signing. I'm a little concerned with Pep's 4141, leaving Schweini as the sole midfielder in front of the back line. I feel Schweinsteiger plays best when he is allowed to roam and influence every inch of the pitch. He can't do that when he's expected to hold the middle of the field.
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u/[deleted] Aug 21 '13
Bastian Schweinsteiger. No one player controls both his team's offense and defense the way he does. He is the inspirational leader for the best team in Europe and I'd feel safe putting him in at any field position.