World Cup 2018: 5 Flops of the group stage

#4 Thomas Muller - Germany

Muller was dropped from the starting 11 for their final World Cup group game with South Korea.

While the German campaign this World Cup has been shambolic, save for a few graces here and there, it is really difficult to point fingers at one player alone. With the likes of Neuer, Boateng and Hummels all being equally responsible as any other German player to their county's premature exit from the Cup, we are going to focus on Thomas Muller here.

A serious winner who steps up for club and country at the hardest times and the biggest of stages, Muller has been in poor form having not scored a competitive goal for Germany since March 2017. He started Germany’s opening two World Cup games but was axed by Low in the final game that had 'must-win' written all over it.

While other players like Ozil and Khedira were also to blame for the lack of creativity on the pitch, Muller lacked the flare that made him so dreaded by the opposition defense, after all he didn’t get the nickname Raumdeuter (“space interpreter”) for no reason. His ability to create open spaces for his teammates to exploit for is impressive.

His tactical awareness on the pitch is second to none and his work off the ball is part of what makes him such an effective tool. It was one of his space-creating runs in the match vs. Sweden that led to Reus’s equalizing goal. However, glimpses of his prime were not enough for Germany to get past the group stage.

Muller has received a fair amount of criticism for playing as a wide attacking midfielder. He plays in that position a fair amount for Bayern Munich, but it’s not where he’s best suited, especially for the German national team.

Somehow the Muller that we all know did not turn up for this world-cup and when Die Mannschaft sit down to see what went wrong and rectify their mistakes, they should make sure that the electrifying Muller of the old can practice his trade to the fullest.