Mario Gomez has a hard time fighting for his place in the first team at Bayern this season. Heynckes preferred using Mandzukic, who is also a strong finisher and a very hardworking striker. Mandzukic established himself as the first-choice striker and a striker with the quality of a Gomez is not satisfied with the bench, of course. Leaving Bayern will be Gomez’s chance to get his reputation back and would help him to fight for a place in the national team. Chelsea is interested Gomez (as we are actually interested in every striker on this planet) and we ready to pay 30 million£ for Gomez.
Biography
Born in Riedlingen (10. July 1985, age 27), Gomez joined the youth of VFB Stuttgart as a teenager, soon playing for the first team. He made his Bundesliga debut at a 1-2 defeat against Hamburg in May 2004, but his first international match came earlier, and that against Chelsea in a Champions League game (March 2004) which ended in a goalless draw. In his 121 games for Stuttgart, Gomez scored 63 goals and won the Bundesliga with Stuttgart in 2007. Gomez moved to Bayern in 2009 for a record fee of about 35 million € at that time. At Bayern, Gomez has won two Bundesliga titles (2010, 2013). He currently scored 74 goals in 112 games for Bayern (until 1. May 2013).
Gomez made his debut for Germany in 2007. He played at the Euros 2008 and 2012 and at the WC 2010, but never really played a main role for his nation as Löw preferred Klose. For Germany, Gomez has scored 25 goals in 58 games.
Position/Style of play
Mario Gomez is a typical number 9 player. He mostly plays alone up front with two wingers supporting him, but that’s the only thing to say about the position of Gomez as he doesn’t play any other positions.
Both footed, strong header and always at the right place at the right time. Gomez is the natural goal scorer and he has the instinct to position himself the best to get chances and to score. It’s very easy to find him at dead balls and he can finish counter attacks as well.
A big difference between Mario Gomez and Mario Mandzukic is how both defend. Gomez is trying to close the space for the opponent while Mandzukic makes more tackles and is also able to fall back to a deeper position what is very popular nowadays (for example Michu at Swansea, Messi at Barca or Fabregas in the Spanish national team). This explains a lot why Guardiola would prefer Mandzukic over Gomez as Barcelona is the team playing pressing in a more than magnificent manner.
Gomez has also a little problem integrating himself into the game instead of standing in the box and waiting for chances.
Strengths
Finishing: Whether if it’s with his left foot, right foot or even with his head; Gomez is a clinical striker who’s a nightmare for the defence if he gets the ball in the box. His athleticism allows him to get the better against physical strong player, what is very important in the BPL. His strength makes him an enormous threat at free kicks or corners and he’s also very strong in the air.
Instinct: Gomez is the born striker who has got a feeling where to stand and run to score a goal. We have a lot of creativity behind our striker with Hazard, Oscar and/or especially Mata, who just have to pass or cross into the box, because Gomez will be at the right place to score it.
Counter: Not only is he a very calm and cool striker, whose quality is shown especially in counter-attacks. He not only can get forward very quick with or without ball, he can also hold the ball in such a situation and move the ball forward very quickly and direct.
Weakneses
Technique: Mario’s technique isn’t the best, but nowadays in a modern football game, technique is such an important thing. Whether it’s passing, crossing or dribbling; Gomez isn’t strong at any of these subjects.
In game activity: He can’t get himself involved in the game a lot because of his weakness in his technique. But it’s so important nowadays that the striker can do a lot more than scoring goals. He’s just the kind of striker who only waits in the box to strike in the most important moment.
What Gomez’s role at Chelsea would be
The only role for Gomez at Chelsea would be the first-choice striker, because we won’t pay another 30 million £ for a bench player. Interesting would be what we would do with Lukaku. Is he going to be loan out again or will he play for Chelsea next year? If he stays at Chelsea, how many games should Lukaku get? What happens to Ba then? And will Torres be sold at last?
Conclusion
The striker position is the most difficult position to get a player who fits in the right system as the job of a striker is actually very simple and that is scoring goals. But really finding a great striker who fits in the whole concept is such a difficult thing. We had one striker in Drogba, but he’s gone. Besides Drogba, no striker under the Abramovich era could really impress on a longer term.
If we really want to get a striker, I would prefer Lewandowski or Cavani, as I see these two strikers as the current best strikers in the world (and yes, I see them both even better than Falcao in the moment as Falcao played brilliant last year and Cavani and Lewandowski impressed me more this season, but that’s just my point of view).
Even Gomez is not my first choice, but he will give us what we need: goals, goals and goals. He doesn’t have the best technique, he doesn’t pass the ball like Xavi or he doesn’t score spectacular goals the way Ibrahimovic does. But Gomez is a goal scorer and I actually don’t care if he can’t do those things like I mentioned before, because it’s not his job to do it. He’s a striker and he has to score goals. In Germany it’s said, whether a striker is good or bad is proved by the goals he scores and nothing else. In the end, this phrase is more than correct.
So leave me your opinion on Mario Gomez and the whole striker discussion in the comments! Jonny (@jonny9fan)
