Does FC Bayern Munich have a goalkeeping problem? This discussion boils surprisingly high. After Yann Sommer’s winter transfer for the injured Manuel Neuer, the club thought they were on the safe side. But the criticism of the ex-Gladbacher is getting louder.
In the middle of the Champions League quarter-final first leg at Manchester City, the discussion suddenly arose: Could Manuel Neuer possibly have prevented the Citizens from taking a 1-0 lead through Rodri and kept the German record champions in the game longer with the English champions? Was Yann Sommer a few centimeters short of height or could the Swiss have prevented the goal with better footwork or a more powerful jump?
Black Peter for the 0:3 in Manchester
The 0:1 led the sensitive 0:3 defeat of Bayern at the Etihad Stadium a. As in the previous year, the Munich team is now threatened with being eliminated from the quarter-finals of the premier class. Alongside central defender Dayot Upamecano, who had caught a pitch-black day, the criticism was mainly aimed at Sommer. The Swiss national goalkeeper even prevented Bayern from suffering an even greater defeat with a few strong saves. Or?
Pfaff criticism below the belt
TV expert Dietmar Hamann (“the goalkeeper has unsettled the team significantly in recent weeks”), but also Bayern goalkeeper legend Jean-Marie Pfaff (“I don’t know, did he take sleeping pills?”) Didn’t see it that way, left him Afterwards no good hair on the 34-year-old. Sometimes it went below the waistline. Former national keeper Rene Adler remained professional when he classified Sommer’s positional play and his jumping technique as in need of improvement.
Tuchel: FC Bayern stands behind its players
“If Yann was 30 centimeters taller and had been in the corner earlier, he would have kept the ball, of course,” said Bayern coach Thomas Tuchel in response to the new goalkeeper discussion. And added: “In the video and in super slow motion we thwart every goal.” FC Bayern stands behind its players. Assigning blame sounds different. But also the reassurance that you continue to have complete trust in Sommer.
Backing comes from Gladbach
Significantly, a clear positioning per summer only came from his ex-club from Mönchengladbach, from which Bayern had iced him for eight million euros in January: “Yann has done an excellent job in Mönchengladbach for years. He’s one of the best for me Goalkeeper of Europe I have to be honest: How you deal with him is disrespectful, “said Gladbach’s sporting director Roland Virkus.
The goalkeeper is not automatically to blame for every goal conceded
The facts are, of course, difficult to grasp. In his 18 competitive games for Bayern Munich, Sommer has only kept five clean sheets. Not a good record for a league leader, even if you can’t attribute every goal conceded to a weak keeper. Of course, Sommer had a few uncertainties. In Paris, a mistake by the keeper almost brought his club to the brink of defeat. Sommer started to dribble and got the ball in the penalty area. But a tackle by Matthijs De Ligt prevented the goal and thus an earlier start of the discussions.
His catch rate has decreased compared to his season in Gladbach: Instead of 80 percent of shots on goal in Munich, he only fended off 67 percent. But that was also due to the fact that those in front didn’t always look happy and put the Swiss in dire need – see Upamecano in Manchester or Jamal Musiala, whose handball in the penalty area led to the 2-1 defeat in the DFB Cup against SC Freiburg.
Waiting for the “unstoppable”
Sommer has never been a penalty killer. And unlike Borussia Mönchengladbach or the Swiss national team, for whom Sommer regularly scraped a few “untenable” off the line, the new replacement in Munich could not yet demonstrate world class. “When will summer finally grow beyond itself?” asked the Munich tabloid tz recently. The answer remains open for the time being. It can at least be doubted whether it helps if the question is asked every time a goal is conceded, whether Neuer might have saved it.
