Golden Times

一个很有意思的采访。有料的东西。

穆二爷聊前场多面手，空间制造者，瓜、海之不同，曼联与加二，最爱的前锋，空闲远离足球，以及……最后一个问题，该来的糖还是会来的。

five-a-side team——守门员毫无疑问诺伊尔，后场的话拉姆，小猪和格策在中场，前锋的话，克洛泽就很好了。

Thomas Müller is the most effective player when it comes to making intelligent runs and dropping into space. There’s even a new role invented as a result of his unique style called the ‘Ramdeuter’.  

Not only is he renowned for getting into the right areas but he regularly finishes off chances as well. The World Cup winning German sat down with adidas to discuss his role within the team and also the various coaches he’s played for.

Q: Where do you feel most effective on the pitch?

A: I’ve played all over the pitch in my career – as an attacking midfielder, on both wings, as a centre forward, as a second forward and in midfield. I enjoy all those positions and I think I’ve been effective in all of them to some degree. Ultimately, it’s not for me to say where I’m the most effective, that is something for a manager to decide. Playing lots of positions helps your all-round game and that benefits you when you switch around. I like being versatile. For me, the key thing on a football pitch is to find space and it has become what I’m on the pitch to do. I’m lucky now that I’m often allowed quite a lot of freedom to drop deep or go wide and find areas to be effective in.

Q: How does it feel to have a football role – the ‘Ramdeuter’ – be invented because of you?

A: Ha! It feels good I guess! It goes back to that concept of space. It means someone who is always looking for an area to have the ball with some freedom and space to do damage in. What is difficult for opposition defenders? They don’t like it when they can’t predict your pathways or runs, when they can’t work out how you are going to score a goal, how to stop you. But it’s not just about space – it’s about scoring the goal when you find the opportunity too. I’m happy that I’m getting the ball and scoring for Germany and for Bayern Munich.

Q: What is the biggest difference between working with Pep Guardiola and Jupp Heynckes?

A: They are both great, great coaches, so there isn’t a massive difference when you are a player under them – you are still expected to produce your best. They have different styles and tactics – Heynckes liked real power play, always pressuring, attacking from the wings, overlapping runs. Guardiola likes a more possession-based style and we have used a different formation. But both have tremendous assets.

Q: Heynckes is part of the Bundesliga legend…

A: Yes. To be involved in over 1,000 Bundesliga games as a player or a manager? That is just unbelievable – there is nothing about German football he doesn’t know. And the team he put together in 2012-13 that won the Champions League as well as the Bundesliga and the DFB-Pokal Cup, is one of the best Bayern sides ever. He is so driven, so ambitious and so smart. When he left, whoever followed him was going to have to be very confident in themselves because how can you top a treble like that? Only someone like Pep Guardiola could live up to that and I think he has done and he will continue to do. We all know what a great coach he is, the style he likes to play.

Q: What effect has each had on your career and progression as a player?

A: They both developed me so much, they have moulded me as a player. Louis Van Gaal also had a huge effect on my development. I am very grateful to him – he gave me great help and leadership, and he saw something in me as a forward where some others didn’t. But then Heynckes played me a lot and he was a striker himself, so he had good advice for me about goalscoring. And how can you not learn under Pep Guardiola?

Q: Is the training under Guardiola the most intense you’ve experienced as a professional?

A: Training was intense with Heynckes, with Van Gaal, with Jogi Low, with every coach I’ve had. But Guardiola of course is special. He has built some of the best sides there have ever been already, and he has such radical ideas. He explored the idea of me being more versatile, of playing between the front line and midfield, of finding that space, expressing myself, trying new things.

Q: Louis Van Gaal gave you your big chance at Bayern Munich, how much can he achieve at Manchester United?

A: He is such a smart guy and he has won trophies wherever he has gone, so I think he’ll do the same with United. The Premier League is very tough, there are big sides like Chelsea, Manchester City and Arsenal, but knowing Louis, he will have the confidence that they can beat them, win leagues, win big trophies. It is what Manchester United are famous for and he will need to win to succeed there. And he is a winner.

Q: Which striker did you most admire when you were growing up?

A: I grew up near Munich and when I was a very young boy Jurgen Klinsmann was scoring all the goals for the club and of course for Germany, so everybody knew about him and admired him. He just scored and scored. I was lucky enough to be managed by Jurgen very early in my career, he gave me my first game in the senior Bayern team. And of course Miroslav Klose was the man when I was a young player. He is still going today, and he still has that unstoppable appetite for scoring. It is truly incredible and you can’t help but admire his attitude.

Q: How did that change your approach to training and progression in general?

A: With both Klinsmann and Klose, you just see utter professionalism in the way they approach everything. That’s what I learned most from them. You see the hard work that goes into goalscoring – there are no short cuts. They dedicated everything to it, so I knew I would have to be the same. I wouldn’t win physical battles but I could become a clever goalscorer, learn to move well, play with my head up. For them, the goal is everything and I had to make it like that for me too. You pick up all kinds of things from watching them play. I was very happy to have the best possible tutors around.

Q: Which leagues, teams and players outside of the Bundesliga do you enjoy watching?

A: I must be honest, away from the game, I don’t watch a great deal of football. I’m not one of these players who studies games obsessively, 24-7 – that’s just not me. I like to relax, I have horses, I think about other things. But of course there are great leagues out there, and the leagues in England, Spain and Italy are always good to watch, if there is a match on. Who wouldn’t enjoy watching Barcelona against Real Madrid? Seeing a great player like Messi or Suarez is always a joy. But I get to play with the likes of Manuel Neuer and Philipp Lahm, so I never have to go far to  watch great footballers.

Q: Make a five-a-side team from players you’ve played with.

A: Now that’s a question! I’ll get in trouble for leaving the wrong people out. Goalkeeper is easy – Neuer. At the back, Lahm. Schweinsteiger and Mario Goetze in the middle. And Klose can put the goals in. Not a bad set-up, that!

(From Goal.com)