The recent slamming of Bayern Munich goalkeeper Yann Sommer has been…surprising.
Sure, Sommer is not Manuel Neuer (though it is questionable on who might have ever thought he would be), but it seems as if people are now going out of their way to take a swipe at the Switzerland international.
The latest example is former Bayern Munich goalkeeper Jean-Marie Pfaff, who clearly chose violence when he spoke to Abendzeitung journalists Philipp Kessler and Mano Bonke (as captured by @iMiaSanMia):
Jean-Marie Pfaff on Yann Sommer: “Sommer is rightly being criticized. I didn’t recognize him against Manchester City. He made bad passes, always sideways instead of forward. I don’t understand why he tried to build up the play, that was risky.”
“A goalkeeper has to speak on the pitch. He has to command the players ahead of him and hold the backline together. They have to know where they have to stand. Sommer didn’t do that. He just stood still and waited. I don’t know, did he take sleeping pills?”
“My main focus was always to speak on the pitch. My teammates were so annoyed that they told me: ‘Shut up now’ – I answered: ‘If I didn’t say anything, you wouldn’t know where you should run’ – Sommer has to speak more, starting with the game against Hoffenheim.”
Well, at least Sepp Maier was there to pick Sommer up (well, sort of…in an unintentionally backhanded kind of way) in talking to Kessler and Bonke:
Bayern legend Sepp Maier on criticism against Yann Sommer: “Please leave poor Yann Sommer alone.”
See! Maier is taking Sommer’s back! Finally! Oh? There is more:
Maier: “It’s not his fault that goalkeeping experts brought him to Bayern. He’s a very good goalkeeper, but not superb.”
Uh…that was….sort of nice, I guess. Let’s hear what else Maier had to say:
Maier: “Manuel Neuer cannot be replaced by anyone. It’s time for him to come back as soon as possible. Until then, Yann will replace him as best as he can, but I would also have expected Sven Ulreich to do the same.”
Sommer…slammed again.