The eternal summer flaw
Neururer at City-Tor: “Neuer would have kept him!”
Vincent Wuttke, Carsten Arndt, Reinhard Franke
Yann Sommer faces a strong headwind despite a strong performance against Manchester City. It’s about an eternal mark. The data speak for the Bayern keeper.
How important is ten centimeters?
When Oliver Kahn spoke about goalkeeper size at the start of the season, he certainly had no idea that the topic would catch up with him again so quickly.
“Does every goalkeeper have to be 1.90 meters tall?” asked the titan (himself 1.88 meters tall, by the way) in one Skydocumentation and provided the answer right away: After all, a certain Yann Sommer wasn’t the greatest either. “And you can compensate for that as a goalkeeper with excellent jumping ability.”
Champions League on SPORT1
Summer saves Bavaria from debacle
Since January, the 34-year-old Swiss has been able to convince the Bayern sports director that his assessment is correct. But the critics follow the goalkeeper.
After the 0: 3 smack in the Champions League at Manchester City, the headwind for summer is increasing again. He was one of the best in Munich with numerous brilliant saves, prevented humiliation and got from SPORTS1 the grade 3.
Above all, it’s about the 1-0 for City. Sommer couldn’t get close to the Schlenzer (27th). In the further goals conceded, he was completely powerless and was left in the lurch.
Peter Neururer made in SPORTS1-Fantalk the absence of Bayern goalkeeper Neuer responsible for at least the first goal. “Manuel Neuer would probably have kept the ball.”
SkyExpert Didi Hamann even launched into a sweeping attack: “For me, the goalkeeper was hopelessly overwhelmed today! (…) The goalkeeper not only unsettled the team today, but also in the last few weeks.”
Sommer did everything right at 0:1
A statistical study from the platform goalkeepers.com has shown that Sommer is not to blame for the 0:1. Expert John Harrisson explains on Twitter: “A shot with this speed and trajectory is held in the top class of 31 percent. You can’t blame Sommer. But balls like that have already been held.”
Harrisson goes on to say that the goalkeeper even reacted very well to the conclusion.
“Sommer’s positioning was great. He was a good 1.5 yards off the line and had a good angle, his footwork was decent and he had a good stride before his jump. His range just wasn’t long enough!” says Harrisson.
Then he adds decisively: “Even if he had had a longer range, I’m not sure he would have kept the ball. As I said: the ball goes in more than two thirds.”
Summer smaller than world-class keeper
So Sommer didn’t make a mistake. And yet the critics see themselves confirmed. (Champions League fixtures and results)
After all, Sommer replaces the injured Manuel Neuer. The five-time world goalkeeper. The man who, at 1.93 meters, is just ten centimeters taller.
The question of whether Sommer, at 1.83 meters, is actually too short for his job, has been with him throughout his career. “As a young goalkeeper, I often heard that height could be a problem for me,” Sommer once said.
It is said again and again that Sommer could be one of the greats if it weren’t missing a few centimetres. The last centimeters to fish an unsustainable out of the corner. The last centimeters in terms of presence, intimidation, especially in one-on-ones.
Champions League dates
The same applies to international competitors: Size between the posts is trumps.
The shortest goalkeeper in Europe’s top 8 is next to Sommer Chelsea’s Kepa, who is only 1.86 meters tall and is still three centimeters taller than Sommer.
A look at the world goalkeepers of the past few years also leads to the conclusion that size is important after all.
For ten years, no goalkeeper under 1.90 meters has received this award. Before that, a certain Iker Casillas won the award five times in a row. The Spanish goalkeeper icon measures “only” 1.82 meters.
