FC Bayern Munich has a new goalkeeping coach in Michaelrechner. The change will be particularly big for the injured regular keeper Manuel Neuer. What will be important in future collaboration?
When Manuel Neuer is healthy again, he will work with a new goalkeeping coach
Different times have dawned at FC Bayern. A small era ended with the separation from goalkeeping coach Toni Tapalovic. After all, the close confidant of Bayern keeper Manuel Neuer has been with the record champions since 2011 – just as long as Neuer. Now there is a new goalkeeping coach in Michaelrechner who is following in the footsteps of the successful Tapalovic.
Butrechner also has some reputation, after all he trained at TSG Hoffenheim, where he had been a goalkeeping coach since 2008 – first in the youth department, then in the Bundesliga team from 2015 – the current Bundesliga goalkeepers Koen Casteels and Marvin Schwäbe , Gregor Kobel and Oliver Baumann. He also knows Bayern coach Julians Nagelsmann very well from his time at Hoffenheim and was his preferred candidate.
Rechner, the “improver”
Computers have “formed generations of goalkeepers,” said TSG sporting director Alexander Rosen in parting. “He's a do-it-all.” “He's one of the best goalkeeping coaches in Germany,” Dortmund's Kobel confirmed to “Sport Bild”: “He's a big part of the fact that I made it to one of the biggest Bundesliga clubs.”
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Michaelrechner is considered one of the best goalkeeping coaches in Germany
At FC Bayern, the “improver” is now working with number one Yann Sommer, substitute Sven Ulreich and the young Johannes Schenk. When Neuer has cured his broken leg, he too will join. And that's exactly when Calculator's task could become a lot more difficult than it is now, when the hierarchies are clear without Neuer.
After Neuer's return to training, it will be a special task for Calculator to gain his trust. After all, the Bayern captain lost a close relationship with Tapalovic – and then complained bitterly about it in an interview with the “Süddeutsche Zeitung”. Can calculator fill the gap?
Close relationship of trust
“It's a more personal relationship,” former goalkeeper and current goalkeeping coach David Preece told DW about the relationship between goalkeeping coach and goalkeeper. Preece, a former professional in England, Scotland, Denmark and Iceland, has been a goalkeeping coach for almost 20 years and knows that there is much more to it than putting the ball on goal for the keeper. In his opinion, a personal relationship with the goalkeepers is essential. “The head coach deals with over 35 players, but when you're dealing with just a few players, you can be like that,” says Preece. “It's more fertile ground for building these close relationships. It's very important.”
David Preece first stood between the posts himself, since retiring he has been working as a goalkeeping coach
Neuer had such a connection with Tapalovic, but it may not be as close withrechner, if only for the reason that the 36-year-old Neuer will not be working with him for eleven more years. “As a goalkeeping coach, you have to be adaptable in a situation like this,” Preece told DW. “You have to learn, especially with a player like that, to gain his trust. It's about having that human connection first, before the professional one.”
Head start for Sommer?
However, Neuer will initially not meet and work with his new goalkeeper coach every day. That only happens when rehab is over. Compared to Yann Sommer, Neuer starts with a kind of backlog. He's coming back after a serious and protracted injury. Computer has already been working with the Swiss for six months. Should Neuer, who has always been number one since his Bundesliga debut in 2006 with FC Schalke at Alemannia Aachen, suddenly find himself on the substitutes' bench, this could also lead to conflicts.
“From a goalkeeping coach's point of view, you treat all goalkeepers like your own children,” says David Preece. “You give everyone the same attention and you try to create a flat hierarchy between them. During games, of course, the focus is more on the goalkeeper who is playing. That's not always easy and requires careful management.” Ob Manuel Neuer and Michaelrechner – and possibly also Yann Sommer and/or returnee Alexander Nübel – will deal with the situation professionally before the new season.
Calculator as the “best solution”
His head coach is convinced that no matter who is ultimately in goal,rechner will train Bayern’s goalkeepers well and adjust them well: “Michaelrechner is an outstanding goalkeeping coach who is innovative and has a good eye for talent.” , says Julians Nagelsmann and, after separating from Tapalovic, described calculator as the “best solution in terms of content”.
Old friends: Julian Nagelsmann (l. ) and Michaelrechner (right) in 2014 with the TSG Hoffenheim U19s
The fact that we already know each other from Hoffenheim is also an advantage. “It's always good when you've worked together before. It makes sense to have people who think the same way. He should continue the work that I was used to from him from Hoffenheim times. Then we're all, including the goalkeepers, very satisfied.”