Goal.com Special: Bundesliga Team Of The Season

Goalkeeper

Robert Enke (Hannover)

It may at first glance seem a little odd that the goalkeeper from the club with the worst defensive record in the Bundesliga has been chosen in the Bundesliga Team of the Season. It is true that Robert Enke has conceded close to 50 goals this season, but that doesn’t do justice to him.

He has pulled off numerous miraculous saves and has been the difference on many occasions between Hannover taking points from a game or not. He is justifying Joachim Loew’s faith in him as a potential German national team number one.

Defence

Philipp Lahm (Bayern Munich)

It hasn’t been a vintage season from Bayern by any means, but the one constant performer this season has been full-back Philipp Lahm. He has confirmed his status as one of the world’s best in his position and has probably been Bayern’s ‘Player of the Season’ ahead of the likes of Franck Ribery and Ze Roberto. He has been highly secure at the back, while continuing to provide a threat going forward.

Benedikt Hoewedes (Schalke)

The old guard of Marcelo Bordon and Mladen Krstajic at the heart of the Schalke defence looks to have had its day, but the emergence of Benedikt Hoewedes as a star centre-back means that the back line will not suffer unduly. The 21-year-old has been a regular with the German Under-21 side and it is only a matter of time before he is called up to the senior squad.

Josip Simunic (Hertha Berlin)

Hertha have surprised a lot of people this season with their consistency and they were genuine title contenders right up to the final two games. Their success this season has been built on a solid defence, which has been marshalled superbly by the veteran Croatian Joe Simunic. He has been an absolute rock at the heart of the defence and is one of the stand-out performers in this season’s Bundesliga.

Midfield

Sejad Salihovic (Hoffenheim)

Hoffenheim were an unknown quantity at the start of the season following their promotion, but after taking the league by storm and leading at the half-way stage, everyone now knows about them and their star players. Bosnian Sejad Salihovic has been immense for them this season in his creative role in midfield. He has provided nine assists, scored eight goals and he possesses the ability to send a free-kick seemingly where he likes.

Franck Ribery (Bayern Munich)

The Frenchman was on a different planet from everybody else last season in the Bundesliga as was rightly crowned ‘Player of the Season’, and while he hasn’t quite matched that level this season, he has certainly been one of the best midfielders in the league. Injury blighted the start of the season, but it remains a fact that when he is in the right mood, Bayern Munich are a much more dangerous outfit.

Renato Augusto (Bayer Leverkusen)

The Brazilian arrived in the summer from Flamengo and took no time at all to settle in and start showing the fans what he is capable of. The number eight is highly skilful, has great vision and gets through an enormous amount of work each game. Leverkusen have a history of successful Brazilians at the club. Renato Augusto looks like he could be another Samba legend in the making.

Zvjezdan Misimovic (Wolfsburg)

The goals of Grafite and Edin Dzeko may have grabbed all the headlines this season, but without Misimovic pulling the strings, it is anyone’s guess as to how the season would have proceeded for Felix Magath’s side. The Bosnian has provided 19 assists as well as scoring six goals himself. An outstanding campaign from the ex-Bayern midfielder.

Attack

Edin Dzeko (Wolfsburg)

Dzeko becomes the third Bosnian to make it into this year's ‘Bundesliga Team of the Season’. Relatively unknown last season when he scored eight times, he is now on the radar of many top European clubs following his excellent goalscoring exploits this season. He has scored 25 times this time around in 31 matches and with one game to go is in a tussle with team-mate Grafite to finish as the league’s top scorer.

Grafite (Wolfsburg)

Unlike strike partner Dzeko, the Bundesliga had plenty of warning last season as to what Brazilian Grafite had to offer. 11 goals last season saw Wolfsburg make it into the UEFA Cup. His 26 goals thus far this campaign look like propelling Wolfsburg to their first ever league title.

Mario Gomez (Stuttgart)

While the debate as to Mario Gomez’ role as a German international starter rages on, he continues to make a great argument for himself by banging in the goals for Stuttgart. A superb second-half to the season has seen the Swabians emerge as title contenders and the 23 goals from Super Mario have been a key factor in that.

Enke

Hoewedes - Simunic - Lahm

Salihovic - Renato Augusto - Misimovic - Ribery

Dzeko - Grafite - Gomez​

Honourable mentions:

Of course trying to pick just eleven players was a difficult task and a number of very worthy candidates didn’t make it into the final XI. They do however deserve an honourable mention for their consistently high performances this season.

Injury to Vedad Ibisevic robbed Hoffenheim of their prolific striker for the second-half of the season, but his 18 goals in 17 matches was a fantastic achievement. Mesut Oezil’s development at Werder Bremen has shown that the loss of Diego might not be felt as much as first feared.

Carlos Eduardo at Hoffenheim has shown his quality, while Schalke midfielder Jermaine Jones has developed into one of the league’s best midfield enforcers. Claudio Pizarro has rediscovered his goalscoring form at Werder.

Pedro Geromel has been immense for Koeln, while veteran Brazilian Ze Roberto continues to excel at Bayern Munich.

 

Goal.com is a bit shit, tho.

 

Bollockz. Nun uv theze awards r official.

Oh and Grafite > Dzeko

 

Bollockz. Nun uv theze awards r official.

Oh and Grafite > Dzeko

They're not, but they will be. It's pretty obvious who were the best players this season. Who can seriously match what Misimovic did in 08/09? He's the Xavi Hernandez of German Bundesliga. Ribery was inconsistent. Some days he played like Messi, other days he was invisible. Against Wolfsburg, he faced the wrath of Misimovic.

Just like Wolfsburg in the 33rd round. First place but not official. But then you see this:

 

3 Bosnians out of the starting 11, that's real nice :crazy:

Kicker.de named Edin Dzeko as the league's player of the year, while voters in Bundesliga.de voted Misimovic & Dzeko as the best players in the Bundesliga 08/09 season, with Grafite coming third.

 

that's the spirit

 

Where the **** is Diego?

 

Best playa uv the UEFA-Cup + German Cup.
Werder haz givn up the Bundesliga way to early.

 

Well if you watch him play, even you will not just like, but love him, .

I have the same feeling watching Misimovic in the Bundesliga as watching Xavi in the Champions League.

 

I heard a rumour that Bosnia sucks.


Not sure about the source tho.

 

You're not up-to-date brah.

The person in your avatar...he got his ass served by Bosnia...TWICE. He was no threat at all. In fact, he was garbage in the first game. But sure, he can shine in the EPL all day, .

 

It was just a rumour.

BTW, Fellaini had braids when he played Bosnia, and the fro is the source of all his power.

 

I'm still waitin fo the Bosnia x Spain match. Well c whos better. Xavi or Misimovic. I wudnt mind Bosnia to win this though, some one needs to stop these Spaniards

 

K, it will be a great match. But obviously, Xavi was nothing better than Misimovic in the first match Spain 1-0 BiH that was played in Mestella. Misimovic twice broke through and set up his strikers perfectly for a goal but they screwed up. Spanish defense was tight.

I know Xavi is a better overall player because he plays in a higher level of football, but their styles of play are very similar. Even their body types are sorta similar. Cleats are identical, and height is also identical. Both have a good center of gravity and good balance. Both are masters of crossing and passing, every ball is pin point exact and finds the strikers perfectly making jobs for Dzeko&Grafite and Eto&Messi&Henry x10 easier than it should be. They are both first choice freekick takers in their respective teams as well .

I think the game in Zenica will end: Bosnia 1-1 Spain. I have a feeling we'll take the opportunity when Spain is already qualified and doesn't need anymore points. Besides that, we got 2 of the 3 deadliest strikers in the Bundesliga: Ibisevic-Dzeko, along with a midfield that can match well with Germany's starting lineup. If anything will stop us from getting a point off of Spain, it's our defense, but even that position is improving with the likes of Vranjes (Red Star Belgrade say new Nemanja Vidic?), Hrustic, Pandza, etc. popping out.

 

I drafted Misimovic about two years ago in a Bundesliga draft and I was basically told it wasn't a great pick. Laughing at that notion all season.

 

^ Hahaha, I love it when justice is served.

 

Enke? What a joke.

Weidenfeller was GK of the season. He pulled off just as many miraculous saves, AND had 2nd least conceded in the Bundesliga behind Neuer.