Would ter Stegen be a better choice?
Neuer’s next mistake opens up big goalkeeper discussion
08.06.2024, 11:49 a.m.
Manuel Neuer is under observation. Because the number 1 at FC Bayern and in the DFB team made serious mistakes, national coach Julian Nagelsmann has to put up with unpleasant questions. Because with Marc-André ter Stegen, a world-class goalkeeper is sitting idle on the bench.
A happy policeman in a bulletproof vest got the last autograph shortly before midnight before Manuel Neuer got thoughtfully into the team bus. The national goalkeeper wanted to avoid another mistake at all costs – instead, a week before the European Championships at home, unpleasant headlines accompanied him into a starry night: “The new T question” or “Nagelsmann in a goalkeeping jam”.
The fact that the long-time undisputed best goalkeeper in the world is no longer a sure-fire shot-stopper is not something the national coach can afford. When Julian Nagelsmann tried to stifle the debate after the final whistle of the otherwise poor European Championship dress rehearsal against Greece (2:1), it had long since gone from a small flame to a wildfire on social media and in people’s living rooms.
Is Manuel Neuer still the best option for the German goal? What has many fans pondering is still a clear yes for Nagelsmann, basta. “I won’t allow any discussion to arise, even if everyone tries,” said the national coach firmly about the role of the 38-year-old: “He had three world-class saves, everything is fine.” The phrase that “Manu” has already saved so many games was heard everywhere in the mixed zone afterwards, from Pascal Groß to Jamal Musiala.
Several Neuer errors in the past weeks
Neuer himself admitted that he “should have gotten the ball away better”; it had bounced off his chest and face after an otherwise harmless bouncing shot by Düsseldorf’s second division top scorer Christos Tzolis. Giorgos Masouras slotted it in. Like Nagelsmann, Neuer also referred to the story behind it: Jonathan Tah had put Musiala in trouble with a fatal pass from his own penalty area, and Musiala lost the ball immediately when he received it. “It always takes several players,” Neuer analyzed, “but I’m looking at myself now.”
This view reveals that his mistakes are piling up. In the Champions League semi-final against Real Madrid, something similar happened to him after a previous world-class performance. “Out of 10,000 balls, he saves the 10,000th time,” said Bayern coach Thomas Tuchel – but the number 10,001 has been coming up again and again recently. Neuer made several mistakes in the Bundesliga final against TSG Hoffenheim, and against Ukraine he stormed out of the goal towards the halfway line in the 88th minute to clear the ball, but chipped the ball into an opponent’s foot. Only an offside position prevented the 0:1.
And now: this. Nagelsmann called the phenomenon that one second determines an entire game “the goalkeeper’s cross. If you don’t solve a situation perfectly, you always concede a goal. But we have three situations beforehand that we are not allowed to play – then no goal is scored.”
ter Stegen disagrees with Nagelsmann
At least Kai Havertz and Groß saved the mood with their goals, but the national coach is still aware of the explosive situation. Marc-André ter Stegen, FC Barcelona’s first-choice goalkeeper for years at a high level and the well-behaved place-warmer in the national team during Neuer’s long injury break, has just expressed his incomprehension about the European Championship decision: he “does not agree” with Nagelsmann on this matter.
Long-time Bundesliga coach Ewald Lienen said in an interview with ntv.de after the game that “the time has long been ripe to give Marc-André ter Stegen a chance”. Neuer “has no continuity over a longer period of time due to his injuries. That’s why mistakes like these happen” like against Greece, Real Madrid or TSG Hoffenheim. “And in March, when we all thought that Germany was suddenly playing as well as Bayer Leverkusen or VfB Stuttgart, ter Stegen was in goal,” said Lienen.
Nagelsmann had also repeatedly stressed that he wanted to derive personnel continuity from the March international matches against France and the Netherlands – although he had already decided on Neuer. There will definitely be no change of number one before the European Championship opening match against Scotland on Friday in Neuer’s hometown of Munich. Nagelsmann hopes that Neuer will stabilize and play a convincing tournament. And that shot number 10,001 will not be taken at all.