Kevin Großkreutz - Borussia Dortmund #19

I'm atm watching the Doppelpass talkshow on Sport1, and the guys there stated that Borussia Dortmund's Kevin Großkreutz is a player with a massive playing intelligence. In fact, he is able to play around 5 or 6 positions, but due to that, I mainly considered him a versatile utility player.

One quote given was that a pundit asked Kloppo: "Why don't you have a back-up for Marcel Schmelzer?" To which Kloppo replied: "Ever heard the name Großkreutz?"

In yesterday's match, he played at RB and pretty much excelled there, so I wonder - is he in fact underrated?

maybe if people knew how to pronounce his name he wouldn't be

He reminds me a superior version of Jonas Gutierrez.

Works hard, very professional and will give a decent shift to the team in any position you ask him to play.

But doesn't tend to offer much to effect the game offensively, which is why in some ways its better for the team if he plays in the back 4 as Kuba, Reus and Gotze is the advanced trio behind Lewa offer a lot more.

Is he underrated? as always with that question that depends what the overall view of him is and i can't really answer that while being out of the spotlight of the German media.

I personally think he's valuable player to have in your squad and everyone needs someone like that.

Well, I asked that question as I have read in a lot of forums that people think he is more or less a dead weight and can't actually play properly etc.

Personally, I always considered him highly useful as he can play practically everywhere from defense to attack (when he was in the 3rd/2nd division team Ahlen, he was actually one of their top scorers), although he often appears as not the brightest in interviews. ^^

If that is how he is seen then he is underrated yes.... i think the problem maybe is some fans have been spoilt by the likes Reus, Gotze and Kuba and by comparison he is nowhere near as talented.

He always does a decent job where ever he's picked though and i'm sure Klopp see's him as invaluable because of this.

*nod* Yeah, I think many people really forget that the football artists actually need hard workers to support them so that their teams can function.

well, most of the großkreutz hate in germany is based on his stupid looks and often retarded or unrightfully cocky statements. the bvb fans love him and pretty much everyone else thinks he is an idiot. for schalke fans he's satan.

he has his moments but a lot of it is based on luck. he's a poor man's müller in that regard. other than that there is his immense workrate and very solid defensive aspect to the game. but he needs to play over his limit like in 10/11 to be considered as a starter.

thinking of him always reminds me of the fifa games where all the BVB ratings went through the roof in the last 3 years but he constantly remains at 76 or so .

Just runs and runs whenever I've seen him. He's a decent player though who can be rather good, but nothing more than that.

What mole and M"don"Lewis said

No he is not underrated as he is rated just fine. I like Grosskreutz and have rallied to have him replace the utterly useless Schmelzer as LB but nothing more.

All he really does is compensate for his lack of skill by running all day long. He also isn't an intelligent player as I'd go as far as to say he is rather bland tactically (to put it nicely). If he was intelligent and tactically sound then he would actually focus on his positioning in attack or off the ball and save his energy for something more productive.