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Mario Götze: Still one of the best German players in the narrow spaces
Photo:
Moritz Mo & à ¸ller / imago images / Moritz Müller
Time was pressing.
Although Mario Götze, as a player without a contract, could have changed even after the transfer window had ended, the contract with PSV Eindhoven was finalized on Tuesday evening.
The club had to report its squad for the group stage in the Europa League by midnight.
And Europe is still the place from which the self-image of the Eindhoven Voetbalvereniging Philips' Sport Vereniging feeds.
In 1978 they won the Uefa Cup, and in 1988 they even won the European Champion Clubs' Cup.
Two European Cup victories, so you're on a par with Benfica Lisbon or Borussia Dortmund.
The fact that the Dutch opponents Feyenoord have three and Ajax six European Cup victories is in turn part of the problem for PSV: Although there are 24 titles in the domestic championship, the popularity and flair of the great Ajax have never been achieved.
That didn't hurt the identity of the club and its supporters: there the snuggly capital city dwellers at Ajax, here PSV and the "boeren", the farmers from Noord-Brabant.
The flag of the southern Dutch province is omnipresent around the Philips Stadium, the club's motto is "Eendracht Maakt Macht", "Unity makes you strong".
The key to continuing PSV's self-confidence is the constant incorporation of former greats into the club's apparatus.
Ruud van Nistelrooy, who was with PSV from 1998 to 2001, is currently the youth coach, 54-time national player Boudewijn Zenden, also a player of the club for five years, one of Roger Schmidt's assistant coaches.
The German coach Schmidt took over the club in the summer after a botched season and immediately started to rebuild the squad and tactics.
Older players like Ibrahim Afellay, Bruma or Ricardo Rodríguez were separated and the squad was rejuvenated.
Left-back Philipp Max came from Augsburg and was at times the oldest player in the starting line-up at the age of 26.
With the force and speed of the offensive forces Cody Gakpo, 21, Donyell Malen, 21, and Noni Madueke, 18, Schmidt has created a recognizable style after just a few games.
The longing for a strong coach and the willingness to break new ground with him is possibly more pronounced in Eindhoven than elsewhere.
At the club, Guus Hiddink, Kees Rijvers and Eric Gerets stood for what is so often labeled with the slurred word "mentality" and yet actually only means devotion and conviction to one's own strengths.
For decades, Dutch teams have had a reputation for playfulness, but also for a lack of tough competition.
However, this does not apply to PSV.
The team traditionally plays like PSV fan Max Verstappen drives in Formula 1: poisonous, aggressive, difficult to leave.
The Roger Schmidt factor
The fact that Götze, the 28-year-old winner of a World Cup final and 63 times German national player, is now moving to Eindhoven in the late summer and not late autumn of his career may surprise in Germany and may be due to Schmidt's work of convincing.
For those involved, however, the change makes sense: Götze gets some peace and quiet and, at best, has fun with football again, in addition to Erna Zahavi, 33, who PSV coach Schmidt knows very well from his time as coach of Bejing Guoan, PSV has an experienced, strong man who can guide the highly talented on the offensive.
Going to the Eredivisie may at first glance seem sporty to Götze like a descent.
But on the second it might prove particularly suitable.
For two reasons:
The style played in the Eredivisie could suit Götze's qualities.
The system that Roger Schmidt lets play at PSV provides the perfect position for him.
On point one: The Dutch league differs from the Bundesliga.
Frank Wormuth, former DFB trainer instructor and since 2018 with the Dutch first division club Heracles Almelo, once described the style to SPIEGEL as follows: "Better to win 5: 4 than 1: 0. Everything thinks offensively Leading midfield relatively unrestricted and with little counter-hardship. "
There you can play football, while in Germany it is more like "fighting football".
Götze fought for years in Dortmund and on an international level.
He shaped the "full throttle football" of the Klopp era at BVB with many intensive runs.
But recently he lost his dynamism due to an illness.
The intensity of previous years is missing.
But when it comes to playing short, fast passes in tight spaces and combining them, Götze is still one of the best players in German football.
And it is precisely this technical finesse and his sense of space that could make him particularly valuable for his new club in the offensive style of the Dutch league.
On point two: Schmidt stood for dogmatic pressing football for years.
That's how he once learned it at Red Bull Salzburg and later played at Bayer Leverkusen.
But during his time in China, Schmidt seems to have expanded his tactical repertoire.
He now relies more on possession.
In the first four league games with Eindhoven, his team had the ball more often than the opponent.
Schmidt always set up in a 4-2-2-2 system - with two masked tens that began on the outside, but mostly moved into the middle.
This position is perfect for Götze.
Here he can play to his skills.
With two strikers and a figure eight on the field, there would be other locations for Götze.
So he will very likely get playing time.
He didn't have this in Dortmund recently.
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PSV player around Sören Lerby (2nd from left) after winning the European Cup in 1988
Photo: Bob Thomas / Bob Thomas Sports Photography via Getty Images
PSV is also familiar with big names: Arjen Robben, Ruud Gullit, Patrick Kluivert, Georginio Wijnaldum, the Brazilians Ronaldo and Romário - they all played for PSV, excited and became international superstars elsewhere.
We are proud of that, look here, in Eindhoven people are carved for something bigger.
Götze could now go the opposite way, from the world stage to manageable realms.
But it could well be that he will be happy again there.
Icon: The mirror
