Poldi Warms the Bench
October 19, 2007
The good news for Bayern Munich coach Ottmar Hitzfeld is that he will likely not be pressed to field Lukas Podolski in the near future.
Podolski was one of the major disappointments in Germany's 3-0 home defeat against the Czech Republic on Wednesday night, showing no signs that he deserves a place in Munich's starting line-up.
After all, Hitzfeld's decision to go with Klose and Luca Toni has already proven to be right as the two international strikers share the scoring table lead with eight goals each -- and Munich enjoy a five-point advantage atop the standings.
Podolski was last month warned by Munich general manager Uli Hoeness to finally deliver in his second season, a view also shared by national team general manager Oliver Bierhoff. "Lukas knows that he has to work on his weaknesses," said Bierhoff.
Klose back to partner Toni
Podolski will have to take his familiar place on the bench on Saturday as Klose returns from an injury layoff which kept him out of Germany's latest Euro-qualifiers.
Podolski remains convinced that he can nail down a first-team place with Bayern Munich. "I still have two-and-a-half years left on my contract with Bayern. I want to fulfill it," Podolski said this week.
Hoeness said last month that the player would not make it at the German giants if he didn't "change his attitude."
Podolski responded to the comment, saying "I can't be prevented from laughing."
Poldi more successful in white of Germany
Podolski has scored 23 goals in 41 appearances for Germany, but has not been as successful in Munich after a 2006 move from Cologne, with just four goals to date in 25 league matches.
He has failed to score in his five substitute appearances in the Bundesliga this season following a comeback from a summer injury.
Klose, 29, has been out of action for three weeks with a knee injury, but between him and Italian World Cup winner Toni, the pair already have a 16 goals between them after just 10 league games.
Competition fierce up front for Bayern
German international striker Jan Schlaudraff is also fighting to break into the Bayern first team after a back operation, but says the world-class pairing of Klose and Toni are a sizeable obstacle.
"Let me be clear about this: they absolutely deserve to play, they've both been superb," said Schlaudraff, who joined Bayern this summer from Aachen. "It should be every footballer's ambition to play with these stars and learn from them."