“Jonathan Tah could have been a German defensive icon. But he isn’t. And that’s a shame.” © Revierfoto/imago images
As a highly talented footballer, how many years can you wait for your breakthrough in top-level football? The hosts of the football podcast address this question in the new episode He can kick after. Jonathan Tah is the topic, the giant from Leverkusen’s central defense. He has been playing there for nine years, but people have only been talking about him since this season. Tah is one of the leaders of what is almost certainly the new German champions from Leverkusen. And he has finally fought for his place in the national team.
But, says host Oliver Fritsch: “It’s actually a story about wasted time.” Tah was predicted to have a great career more than a decade ago, and he has all the prerequisites for it: “He has the stature to be one of the best eight defenders in the world, but he languished like that for ten years,” says Fritsch. This raises questions for him and his trainers, such as: “What went wrong, why now?” As usual, the hosts try to provide an answer that is longer than just: Xabi Alonso. Only since the Spaniard became his Leverkusen coach has Tah been playing consistently outstandingly.
“I don’t know whether Jérôme Boateng would have had a chance against him in the sprint when he was married,” says Fabian Scheler about Tah, who he considers to be a super optimizer with his various private trainers. “He doesn’t do shit,” says Fritsch. His header game is outstanding. His passing rate also speaks for him; he is the safest passer in the Bundesliga and one of the three best in Europe. “And yet I have residual doubts,” says Scheler, after all, Tah also struggled with a number of setbacks and failures in his career. It’s not yet world class, adds Fritsch.
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Im Can he kick?The team also includes two Leverkusen supporters who describe their view of Tah, and the hosts talk about the international matches and the resurrected national team. National coach Julian Nagelsmann seemed completely different to Fritsch: “Did he listen to our podcast?”
Tah is a boy from Hamburg and that’s why the hosts are looking for players in the top 5 of this episode with the rating: used to be at HSV. The result is a list that not only brings diamond-shaped nostalgic tears to the eyes of HSV fans. Mister X is also dedicated to a former HSV icon and one of the most spectacular goalkeepers of today. As always, the Powercard ranking concludes the show.
“He can kick” is the football podcast from ZEIT ONLINE. It appears every two weeks and is dedicated to the best footballers of our time. We talk less about tactics and more about what really matters in football: the individuality of the players. You can find all episodes of the podcast here, all Powercard ratings here. Write us! We accept criticism of the show and suggestions for Mister X at [email protected].
Scenes and texts we talked about in the podcast:
As a highly talented footballer, how many years can you wait for your breakthrough in top-level football? The hosts of the football podcast address this question in the new episode He can kick after. Jonathan Tah is the topic, the giant from Leverkusen’s central defense. He has been playing there for nine years, but people have only been talking about him since this season. Tah is one of the leaders of what is almost certainly the new German champions from Leverkusen. And he has finally fought for his place in the national team.
But, says host Oliver Fritsch: “It’s actually a story about wasted time.” Tah was predicted to have a great career more than a decade ago, and he has all the prerequisites for it: “He has the stature to be one of the best eight defenders in the world, but he languished like that for ten years,” says Fritsch. This raises questions for him and his trainers, such as: “What went wrong, why only now?” As usual, the hosts try to provide an answer that is longer than just: Xabi Alonso. Only since the Spaniard became his Leverkusen coach has Tah been playing consistently outstandingly.
