Marko Marin     22     Winger/Midfielder     Werder Bremen   

How do you find the key to a consistent level of performance, sustainable over the course of a full season? Answers on a postcard please, but if you do crack it, you might be able to give Marko Marin the keys to football’s executive boardroom marked ‘world-class’ on the door.

On form, Marin is capable of the spectacular, the surprising and the genuinely breathtaking.  All too often he is also capable of the frustrating, the mediocre and the wasteful. For every man of the match award there’s a non-performance and if he could cut that out of his game, he would be among the very best in the world in his position. Watch three consecutive Werder games and you’ll see the problem.

Hopefully with maturity and experience will come consistency, and possibly more caps for Germany. His international career has so far been stop-start and with the amount of excellent players vying for 23 places in Jogi Löw’s European Championship squad, you have to question whether there is a real need to pick a player who would have to be seen as a gamble. Capable of so much, it would be something special to see him reach his potential on a consistent basis, we at IBWM certainly hope he one day finds the key......but we have our doubts.

“I’m a huge fan of Marin but not so much that I can’t see his faults. His final ball could be better, his consistency can be all over the place but (and it’s a very important ‘but’) he can be outstanding at times. Veers from the sublime to the mediocre, may need a new challenge to crack the code for long term form” – Dave Hartrick (IBWM)

“Lively, but seemingly unable to translate that into a final ball. Has flattered to deceive” – John Dobson (Journalist)

"Brilliant dribbler, impossible to play against on his day. Might need to leave the comfort of Bremen to get some consistency" – Michael Cox (Zonal Marking)

C+   Consistency could lift you to a different level, can you find the key?