Best of the Best

Just to head off the objections: No, we don't have anything against people named Mario. And we at Deutsche Welle appreciate the talents of the league's top goalscorer, Mario Gomez, and perhaps its most skilled young ball-handler, Mario Götze.

But others, we feel, are having better seasons under more difficult circumstances or are more crucial to the success of their squads. So the two “Super Marios” just missed making our mid-season best-of list.

Instead, our list begins with a name we never thought we'd be mentioning in this context again.

Super strikers

Fourteen goals and five assists are fabulous numbers for any player on any team, but posting those figures with a club otherwise as mediocre, and occasionally shambolic, as Cologne is nothing short of phenomenal. So Lukas Podolski was a consensus choice for everyone but Matt. Poldi's been involved in all but seven of his teams 27 goals, and as Ben reminded us “It feels like he's an old man, but he's only 26.” A year ago rumors of Prince Poldi going to Arsenal would have been treated as a bad joke by Spurs fans. Now, many Gunners supporters hope they're true.

Speaking of efficiency, of the top clubs Schalke are the best in that category - a statistic that's pretty much down to one man, Klaas-Jan Huntelaar. If the Hunter got the sort of service Gomez does, he'd be leading the goalscorers' list by half-a-dozen. As it is, he's bagged a pretty lethal 15.

Dortmund's marvelous Robert Lewandowski got a nod from Ben, but we complete our front-line with a man who's bucking the Bundesliga's youth trend, 33-year-old Claudio Pizarro. Bremen don't even want to think about where they'd be without his twelve goals, so they better make sure they retain his services this winter. Nick says it best: “A class act who just gets better with age.”

Marvelous Midfield

Normally, we disagree about everything down to whether it's raining outside, but we were absolutely of one mind about who we wanted in our midfield. We started with Bastian Schweinsteiger, termed by Nick as “Xabi Alonso on steroids” - although we're sure Bayern's midfield rudder uses nothing stronger than carrot juice. With him in the line-up, Munich threatened to break every record in the book. When he went out injured, they suddenly looked like just another good side. Nuff said.

And who better to receive Schweinsteiger's probing passes than teammate Franck Ribery? The fleet Frenchman has regained his place in the hearts of Bayern fans with a number of dominating performances. We all agree that his revival has something to do with the departure of taskmaster Louis van Gaal and the absence of Arjen Robben.

Sadly, we at DW Sports don't have 18 million euros lying around. If we did, we'd be happy to pay Mönchengladbach's fixed asking price for emerging young superstar Marco Reus. The league's top scoring midfielder's nose for goal is a main reason why the Foals have galloped out to such a fast start. “He's a bit more tenacious than Götze,” says Nick of the 22-year-old, “and I like players that nip the ankles.”

Dominating defense

Another consensus choice was Dortmund central defender Mats Hummels. He's big enough to be a force in the air, yet sufficiently agile to defuse one-on-one situations with onrushing forward. And when the going gets tough, he's shown he can also push the ball up-field, and Dortmund's entire formation with it. “A future Germany captain?” wonders Nick. Don't bet against it.

And while Ben made a plea for Dante, we couldn't ignore Holger Badstuber. He's been the constant at the heart of the best defense in the league, and what many people forget is that he also takes corners and long free kicks. There are few center backs anywhere with the ball skills to do that.

Right and left backs are always tough to choose, but Lukas Piszczek has two admirers in Jefferson and Matt from his days with Hertha Berlin. The Pole has become one of the most consistent defenders in the league, and from his forays upfield you can see that he began his career as a striker. He was also one of the few bright spots in Dortmund's disappointing Champions League adventure.

We disagreed most about left back. Normally this position belongs to Philipp Lahm, and Matt wanted him to keep it. Jefferson opted for Schalke's Christian Fuchs, but Nick and Ben prevailed with Filip Daems. Gladbach's 33-year-old captain has been a main orchestrator of the Foals' back-from-the-dead act. He scored three goals, as well, and didn't pick up a single yellow card.

And if that choice surprised you, make sure you're sitting down. Our pick for goalkeeper is Daems' teammate Marc-André ter Stegen. Er, you ask, isn't Manuel Neuer the best keeper in the world? Yes, but Neuer quite simply has too few opportunities to show his stuff with Bayern. Or as Matt put it, “Neuer spent the first two months having tea parties with his favorite stuffed animals back there.” Meanwhile, 19-year-old ter Stegen has preserved a number of close wins that have taken Gladbach back to the top four.

So there you have it: a Bundesliga best-of list without Neuer, Lahm, Götze and Gomez. Call us insane, if you want, and we hope some of you will indeed write to us to that effect. And in any case, happy holidays to our top eleven and all of you.

Author: Jefferson Chase with lots of help from Nick Amies, Matt Hermann and Ben Knight.
Editor: Michael Lawton