Sommer already made a mistake against City and Paris, but again he did not convince against Hoffenheim. Doubts about him are growing, while Tuchel is convinced of Neuer’s comeback.
Julian Buhl reports from FC Bayern
Like many of his colleagues, Yann Sommer preferred not to say anything after FC Bayern’s 1-1 draw against Hoffenheim. The Swiss ran through the mixed zone of the Allianz Arena together with a club employee and apologized when t-online spoke to him there. Sommer referred to a sponsor appointment inside the stadium where he was expected.
The goal (71st) by Andrej Kramaric also went uncommented. The goalkeeper caught the ball with his fingertips when the free kick was taken, but was only able to direct it to the inside of the post, from where he jumped into the goal. Already in the first half, Sommer hadn’t made the safest impression and had attracted attention with a few sloppy passes that ended up on the side. The doubts about him that have arisen in the past few weeks continue to grow.
So far, Sommer had always faced the critical questions about mistakes. For example, after the Champions League second leg against Paris Saint-Germain (2-0), when he lost the ball in his own penalty area when the score was 0-0 – and only his team-mate Matthijs de Ligt conceded the safe goal with an incredible one Sliding tackles on the goal line prevented. “I’m very self-critical,” Sommer said afterwards to t-online and announced at the time that he wanted to send his colleague a whole truckload of Swiss chocolate as a thank you.
Sommer shows weaknesses in the decisive games
Until then, Sommer had initially kept what Bayern had promised from his commitment during the winter break for eight million euros from Borussia Mönchengladbach. With his transfer, the Munich team wanted to ensure that they could continue to achieve their high goals for the season in the second half of the season.
In any case, the lack of a world-class goalkeeper should not fail after Manuel Neuer’s end of the season, who fractured his shinbone on a ski tour in November – and they didn’t want to rely on backup goalkeeper Sven Ulreich. In the meantime, however, the championship is the only remaining realistic title opportunity.
But it was precisely in the decisive games of the Champions League, in which Sommer was put to the test at the highest level, that he showed weaknesses. That was also the case with the 0: 3 in the quarter-final first leg on Tuesday at Manchester City. He prevented an even greater defeat with strong reflexes on the line, but also repeatedly showed insecurities: both in the game structure with unclean and hesitant passes, one of which Erling Haaland almost pushed one over the goal line, and with coordination problems with the man in front Dayot Upamecano.
There was a lot of discussion about him when he conceded to make it 0-1, when Rodri scored a dream goal with a long-range shot into the left corner of the goal. Sommer had stretched out, but could no longer reach the ball with his fingertips.
Discussions about Sommer’s reach
Commentator Jonas Friedrich asked the question live on air on Amazon Prime: “Would Manuel Neuer have gotten the ball?” He also alluded to Sommer’s relatively short height for a goalkeeper at 1.83 meters. Neuer is exactly ten centimeters taller. Most goalkeepers in the Bundesliga are over 1.90 meters tall. No first-choice goalkeeper in the league is smaller than Sommer.
Former Bundesliga goalkeeper Roman Weidenfeller (1.90 meters) recently referred to Friedrich’s criticism and also said after the game against City: “These are the centimeters that he is missing. Manuel Neuer would have saved the shot.” So is Sommer too small, his arm reach too small, to be a world-class goalkeeper? These doubts have accompanied the 34-year-old since his arrival in Munich.
His new coach Thomas Tuchel vehemently defended Sommer at the press conference on Friday. “If Yann was 30 cm taller and had been in the corner earlier, he would have kept the ball, of course. In the video and in super slow motion we thwart every goal,” said Tuchel smugly and stood in front of his goalkeeper.
