Do we have a goalkeeper problem?
By: Anna | April 15th, 2008
That question, which I was meaning to ask sooner or later, could have been answered with a “maybe.” Until this weekend happened and proved that not only Sven Ulreich is not René Adler, he’s also only nineteen years old and still has a lot to learn.
Raphael Schäfer, on the other hand, isn’t a René Adler either. He’s also not Timo Hildebrand, which might be the core of the problem he’s had ever since he arrived in Stuttgart.
Or at least that’s what Armin Veh alluded to in one interview, saying that there had been some problems with the fan base from the very beginning since they weren’t quite able to forgive Schäfer demanding a red card for Cacau in the DFB Cup final, when he still played for Nürnberg (Schäfer, that is, not Cacau).
But let’s start right at the beginning. Stuttgart fans have long had a love-hate (but more love, and it only got more love as time passed) relationship with Timo Hildebrand, with his parades, with the somewhat-800-minutes without conceding a goal, but also with him speaking openly (partly a little too open) about things he wasn’t happy with, starting a drama about his contract extension twice and eventually not telling anyone where he was going to once he’d left Stuttgart.
However, once the championship was won and he said goodbye with tears in his eyes nobody could remain mad at him. And it was obvious that his successor would have a huge hole to fill.
Schäfer knew about the size of the footsteps he was going to follow in. He couldn’t quite expect what happened then, though. It wasn’t so much the fans, but the deranged team structure itself that was throwing stones in his way.
Hildebrand was, together with a few others one person who drove the whole team forward. As a new goalkeeper, especially one whose defence is going batshit crazy, that’s not quite possible, and batshit crazy, they went. Especially our captain, who probably was with his heads somewhere in Turin (I’m sorry, blaming things on Meira is sort of a bad habit of mine. I still love him nevertheless).
The defence was a disaster, actually the whole team was, and Schäfer ended up being the one who was blamed. As a consequence, the nineteen year old Sven Ulreich, who had just joined the team that winter, was placed between the goalposts (Michi Langer really must regret leaving), leading huge groups of fans to exaggerated jubilance. At this point some experts said the kid would once become a better keeper than Hildebrand and was named along Manuel Neuer and the inevitable René Adler.
In the meantime, Schäfer did his best to work with the team, to support his younger colleague and to prove that he’s not going to give up, even though there already were speculations about him going back to Nürnberg, should they survive the relegation battle.
Now last weekend we’ve seen that even though he’s talented and really might become a great goalkeeper once, he’s not (yet) the answer to all of Stuttgart’s prayers, who have some sort of tradition in putting a lot of responsibility on the shoulders of single players anyway(did I hear the name “Gomez” somewhere?).
Veh openly spoke about the goalkeeping errors Ulreich had made and is probably going to let Schäfer, who trained with a lot of effort, play again in tomorrow’s match against his former club. If that is the answer to Stuttgart’s prayers will become apparent with time. Let’s hope he’s not too offended about a certain player’s attempt to sell his car on the internet and will prove that the time he spent on the bench has indeed made him stronger, like he said in an interview just a week ago.
By now, the coach shows himself rather annoyed about all the questions and discussions (as always). “I’m not saying anything about that. You’ll see tomorrow evening who’s playing.”
What disappoints me about the situation is some fans’ reaction, who never even gave Schäfer a chance and who pushed the switch in the first place, as well as the media. Raphael Schäfer is a very good goalkeeper can certainly help this team, if he’s given the chance.
Though I’ll also have to agree with former national team goalie Toni Schumacher there: “When I decide to play with a 19-year-old, I’ll have to stick to that decision. […]It was foreseeable he wouldn’t remain faultless” and “if Veh switches now, he’ll end up with two insecure goalkeepers.” So even if there’s yet another change, it should remain the last for a while for the sake of the team’s
stability.
So, do we have a goalkeeper problem? The next matches will show that.
Hitzlsperger is certainly not going to play, Gomez probably won’t start but might come in around half-time. Khedira is yet again injured after playing last weekend. Let’s see what this match brings.
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Comments
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[...] League. Though, we’ll only know for sure, once Leverkusen play against a team, whose goalkeeper isn’t responsible for two (and a half) of those three goals. Category: Energie Cottbus, [...]
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‘Let’s hope he’s not too offended about a certain player’s attempt to sell his car on the internet and will prove that this time has indeed made him stronger, like he said in an interview just a week ago.’
Ouch. That is all I have to say. -
The defence line is all the same as last year except the goalkeeper. So it is understandable for funs to blame goalkeeper. But Veh is not a fun. He should know what the real problem is instead of changing goalkeeper again and agian.
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“Let’s hope he’s not too offended about a certain player’s attempt to sell his car on the internet and will prove that this time has indeed made him stronger,”
What is this about?
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“He should know what the real problem is instead of changing goalkeeper again and agian.”
Yes, definitely. But what is the real problem? Earlier this season the whole team was shaken. Delpierre was missing, which had a huge influence on the stability and Meira was busy with transfer plans going to his head. Pardo, who also did a great deal of organisation in the defence, was still exhausted from having played, two, three years without a summer break. So that’s one thing.Now it’s different. Mind you, Stuttgart is not in a crisis (yet). And Ulreich is at least partly to be blamed for the first two goals, even though the inner defence is also to be blamed, as always. But where is the problem? Is it Ulreich just being too young? Is it the defence being confused by the changes in goal? Or is it maybe the whole team who so often rely on single players to do all the work and who aren’t able to finish a goal? Because Stuttgart play differently when they are leading and once they’ve conceded a goal it often seems like their neck is broken. Maybe that’s the problem. Or maybe not.
What would you change if you were given the chance?
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“What is this about?”
That’s what happens when you try to put too much information into one sentence and forget to proof-read before you post
Sorry, my bad.
The first part referred to Thomas Hitzlsperger (or at least Mario Gomez said it was Hitzl) setting up an ad about Schäfer’s car being on sale. Apparently Schäfer, Hitzlsperger, Gomez and Magnin are quite good friends even off the pitch and never miss a chance for a good prank. So of course I was hoping he wouldn’t end up sulking and refusing to play (sometimes I think I’m funnier than I really am).The second bit was a bit more serious then, from an interview from last week about being degraded to number two and he said that he was sure one day he’d return to being the goalkeeper of this team and that he could probably learn from the time on the bench and that in the end, it’d make him stronger.
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I didn’t see the interview(even if I watched, I can’t understand since I don’t know German). It seems that it’s funny. Has someone post it on Youtube or somewhere else?
Frankly, I don’t know what the real problem is either. Probably we used so much luck last season and now comes the feedback. Even if we did everything right, we cann’t get a goal(just like the shot Hilbert missed last Sunday) -
‘The first part referred to Thomas Hitzlsperger (or at least Mario Gomez said it was Hitzl) setting up an ad about Schäfer’s car being on sale. Apparently Schäfer, Hitzlsperger, Gomez and Magnin are quite good friends even off the pitch and never miss a chance for a good prank. So of course I was hoping he wouldn’t end up sulking and refusing to play (sometimes I think I’m funnier than I really am).’
Sounds funny for me. Hope Schäfer don’t take it too seriously though. -
[...] Anna took a closer look at the problems that came with Stuttgart’s post-Hildebrand era. (Stuttgart Offside) [...]
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