Moritz Volz was so well-loved at Fulham, they ran out of nicknames for him.
‘220 Volz’, ‘The Electrician’, ‘Mr Resistor’, and ‘The Hoff’ had been simply a number of the affectionate monikers given to the right-back throughout his time at Craven Cottage.
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To many, he’ll eternally be often called ’15,000 Volz’ after scoring the 15,000th objective in Premier League historical past throughout a match towards Chelsea.
However quite than fond recollections, these west London derbies largely gave the German nightmares.
And that was all due to one man particularly: Arjen Robben.
Chatting with talkSPORT.com in Dusseldorf, Fulham legend Volz, who’s now assistant supervisor at Galatassaray, mentioned: “From knowledgeable standpoint, the most important problem I confronted, a person participant that I discovered very powerful to play towards, was Robben.
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“When he got here to Chelsea his first season, he was on hearth in the course of the Jose Mourinho spell. He was a nightmare to defend as a result of again then he was taking part in on the left. He modified to the fitting afterward with Bayern Munich. However as soon as he bought previous you, you could not meet up with him.
“So that you needed to thoughts your again. And as soon as he had his first contact beneath management, you had been additionally in bother. So the important thing actually was that the service into him isn’t as straightforward, not as precisely and never as continuously.
“Then you definitely discuss Chelsea in the course of the park again then with Frank Lampard, with Claude Makelele, with Michael Essien… the service was there. And it was high quality and it was frequent.”
Regardless of his common presence at top-flight degree in England, Volz by no means received a cap for the Germany first-team.
He did get referred to as up, however by no means made it onto the pitch – and Volz places that down to at least one match towards Robben.
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“I keep in mind very nicely a sport at Craven Cottage,” he continued. “It was proper after my first call-up for the German nationwide workforce for a pleasant towards Cameroon. I believe I used to be 20 or 21 on the time.
“We bought murdered. We bought beat, most likely 4-1 or one thing.
“Robben was dominant towards me and I believe it positively hindered my probabilities and my progress with the German nationwide workforce as a result of the coaches had been there to look at. They had been on me on the time. I would not say I had an absolute stinker, however I used to be positively challenged.
“I believe not too lengthy afterwards Holland performed towards Germany. I used to be not within the squad and I did not characteristic within the sport towards Cameroon. Possibly to a big extent due to Arjen Robben.
“The one factor that type of made it okay for me was the truth that he tore up Germany that day as nicely. I reckon over his profession, I am simply one among many who he bought.”
Volz bought his first style of English soccer at Arsenal, coaching alongside iconic gamers similar to Thierry Henry and Dennis Bergkamp.
He would go from a young person marking them in coaching to a senior participant tasked with stopping them within the Premier League after leaving the Gunners for the Cottagers in 2004.
And whereas Robben stays his hardest opponent, the right-back suggests no person in soccer historical past boasted a greater left aspect than Arsenal’s ‘Invincibles’.
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Volz added: “The massive video games for me had been towards Arsenal.
“Particularly on the time, taking part in at proper again towards Arsenal. You had Thierry Henry drifting to the left the place he appreciated to return in onto his proper. You had Ashley Cole bombing ahead at each alternative, happening the overlap. You had, simply to prime all of it off, Robert Pires, who additionally performed then in entrance of Ashley on the left-hand aspect.
“You discuss overloading a aspect and also you most likely do not get a greater left aspect, perhaps even in historical past, than that.”
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