Originally Posted by
The Emirates Gallactico
It's not that I think Hummels is a bad defender Blink, it's just I think he's become horribly overrated though that's partly due to a dearth of top CB's around. I mean, right after the World Cup and prior to Dortmund's slump you would have looked at a minimum of 35 million to even get Dortmund to the table for him which is ridiculous money. Whilst not as slow (and subsequently ridiculed) for it as Mertesacker is, he's not exactly fast either and you generally have to play him alongside a quicker CB (e.g. Boateng in the national team). He makes the odd clanger and like I alluded to in my first post, he's been the captain of the Dortmund team that are rock bottom of the table this season; he needs to take responsibility for that as that's partly due to his own poor performances.
Whilst probably a tad foolish in hindsight you do have to remember that there was a reason why Bayern decided to let Hummels go at the time in favour of Badstuber who they considered the better prospect. May be Arsenal bias, but for me Kos is a better defender than him and in fact one of the best around in the world; wouldn't trade him in for anyone.
And I completely agree with regards to RH's assessment of Klopp. He needs to take a massive share of the blame of the current predicament. You can understand them having one season not challenging and being around 5/6th or even mid table ....... but rock bottom? No way? It's not like they haven't spent money either; they've got the second highest net spent in the Bundesliga as well alongside Wolfsburg for the last couple of years I believe, though perhaps that figure should be a bit lower as they didn't get as much for their superstars as they should have (Lewandoski left on a free & Gotze had a release clause).
Still, there's no way players of the quality of Reus, Hummels, Sahin, Mkitryahan, Gundogen, Pizaweck etc etc should be anywhere near a relegation battle and the fact that they are is a damning indictment against Klopp. One of the consequences of Dortmund's slump is that it's going to make many clubs look twice at Klopp when they need a new manager ......... you would have thought he'd be a shoe in for a club like ours once Wenger leaves but probably not anymore.
It's not been as bad as the lesson I learnt after "Martinez" but seeing Klopp's current plight does give me a lot more appreciation for Wenger and his longevity and keeping us there or there abouts despite similar challenges (losing their best players etc etc). It's not as easy as people make out.