Since playing his first professional game for hometown club Schalke in August 2006, Manuel Neuer has made precisely 1,171 saves in the Bundesliga, many of which were spectacular.
Bayern Munich’s honorary president Uli Hoeness recently credited the 2014 World Cup winner and sweeper-keeper pioneer as “the key transfer” behind the club’s dominance in the last decade (along with Robert Lewandowski), and perhaps the same will be true of the 2020s, too — the 35-year-old has just come off another stellar personal campaign.
A few days before the start of the Euros, Neuer sat down with The Athletic to talk about the technique and detailed preparation that underline his consistently excellent game.
Hi Manu. We’ll show you some of your best saves in a minute. To be honest, it was quite hard to pick a “top nine”, there were so many good ones…
What you’re really trying to say is that I’m quite old and have been around for a long time, right?
I’d never say that. All I’m saying is that you make so many saves. Do you have a favourite?
Tough to say. I don’t think there is one. Let’s have a look at the ones you’ve chosen.
Alright — let’s get started.
vs Neymar (Paris Saint-Germain), Champions League final, August 23, 2020
Two things are interesting here. First, you’re quite low down to begin with. You’re rather “small”. The second is your right knee twisting inside to form a low barrier.
Getting the knee on the floor is about avoiding the “tunnel” (“nutmeg” in German). I actually turn the wrong way here after the first save. I’m supposed to turn to the right first, towards the ball, but I had to improvise due to the way the first save played out. That way, I was better able to use the momentum and react to the second ball, and cut out the cross. Angel Di Maria was unmarked in the middle. It would have been a clear-cut chance; probably a goal.
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That first save, with the knee turned in, is quite typical for you.
Yes, but it depends. The angle isn’t that tight here. He has a few options but you do things a little differently when the striker is running at you from a wide area rather than centrally. When the goal’s more open, there are many different ways you can get beaten. Here, he’s a little wide and I’ve narrowed the angle, so the biggest danger is the tunnel. That’s why it was important to get the knee down. The ball also hit my hand; I held it slightly behind the body to make that block bigger.
I recall the late Robert Enke doing that thing with his knee. Was he perhaps the first one? You don’t see that from goalkeepers 20 years ago.
I can’t say if he was the first one. It’s not the same action every time but one of the moves you can use if the angle is right for it. It’s down to the specific situation, though.
Did you always do it in those types of situations, going back to your academy days, or is that something you’ve adopted later?
It’s not one of those things you get taught as a youngster but I saved a few shots that way, and then made it part of my repertoire. Some keepers make it a full block by going down on the knee and making two fists but I don’t like that as it’s quite a passive stance. A bit like being at the net in volleyball, trying to block a smash — you can only put up your hands and hope for the best. If the shot comes in from a very short distance, you might have to simply make yourself a target but I don’t want to be in that situation if I can avoid it.
Is there something like the ideal distance that you want to create between you and the striker to maximise the chances of a save? Or is that always subject to the angle?
It is. If this pass from Kylian Mbappe is a bit longer, I can be a bit more aggressive in coming out but this one is timed very well, which leaves me in a more defensive position. It’s always best for me if I can get to the ball first, of course, but that’s not possible. As a rule of thumb, the closer I get, the better for me but I’m also in trouble if I’m close but end up too square with my feet planted. Then the striker takes the ball past you and it gets very difficult.
vs Robert Lewandowski (Borussia Dortmund), February 4, 2011
A classic Neuer here. Coming out of goal this far is one of your trademarks.
I don’t do it because I want to make a statement. The idea is to prevent dangerous situations before they arise. It might look risky if I’m 30 metres outside my box but it’s better to intervene early than have the striker run at you unopposed at pace.
In this instance, it was actually the wrong option. I don’t get to the ball first so ended up in a position that’s neither here nor there. I can’t stop, though. If I stop, he will chip me. I have to keep on going, hoping to get close enough for him to hit me. With a bit of luck, I made the best of a bad decision.
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If you’re unlucky, he hits your arm and you’re off.
I tried to keep my arms away from the ball as much as I could by raising them high but if he does go for the chip, it’s a red.
Improvisation came to the rescue here. This perhaps wasn’t the best example of your sweeper-keeping but on what basis do you decide to go or stay?
I’m always on my toes. I try to anticipate situations and read the game. I try to help the defence, cutting out deep passes. The details make the difference. Is the ball bouncing and hard to control for the striker? Has it been hit with backspin to bounce away from me? Is it a fast or wet pitch? If yes, it helps my game because my starting position is higher. If it’s sticky, I have to stay deeper.
Were you always keen to use your feet?
I’ve always been a goalkeeper who gets involved. I’d rather be the 11th outfield player than a mere keeper waiting between the sticks. I used to watch videos of Edwin van der Sar at Ajax, he was the first keeper I remember who played such an active role by passing the ball and coming out quite a lot.
At Schalke, I often took part in training with the outfield players whenever we didn’t have specific goalkeeping training. When I was 13, the club even considered making me an outfield player because the other keepers were all much taller than me. But then the coaches looked at my parents and saw that they’re quite tall. They thought: the son will probably grow and I continued as a goalkeeper. Not the worst decision.
Does it matter to you who’s running at you?
In terms of the possible finish, yes, and it absolutely matters to the way the game is likely to unfold. Fast players are more frequently sent long with direct, vertical balls; slower players prefer the ball to feet. To an extent, you can anticipate what kind of attacks you’re facing, which, in turn, informs your game off the line.
vs Erling Haaland (Borussia Dortmund), DFL Supercup 2020, September 30, 2020
Here’s somebody running at you: Erling Haaland.
He’s in after a good, deep pass. Haaland is on his strong left foot and he’s put a good distance between himself and Niklas Sule, as he’s so fast. He has two options: aim for the far corner or the short one. He’s going for the short one but I’m lucky here that the shot is coming at a good height for me. The angle for him isn’t perfect and I’m in a pretty good position. The decisive factor here is having a strong wrist to protect that near post. It even made the ball bounce back to a defender.
What I’m interested in is the starting position of your hands. They’re close to the body. Does that allow you to make a more explosive movement towards the ball?
It’s a reaction save. I see that he pulls back the foot for the shot, he shoots, and the hand goes up, and that momentum helps me. If the shot travels a greater distance, it’s more difficult to get that power into the save. From a shorter distance, you use your shoulder and biceps to add stability. A lot of things went right here.
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How much is your position affected by Haaland being left-footed?
Not so much. It could have played out the same way on the other side, with Marco Reus, but there are other factors you take into account: for example, the kind of finishes strikers go for. Haaland is a very powerful, straightforward shooter. You can see what he’ll do when he takes that last touch and gets ready to hit it.
You know he’s not going to chip you.
Yes, I’m too deep for that and not every striker likes a chip. If I’m closer, he might want to go past me.
How much research do you do into the type of finishes preferred by the strikers you’re facing?
You don’t need to do it against Borussia Dortmund because you’ve played them many times and know the players well, but against teams in the Champions League, you dive a little deeper into the analysis. We look at the way the forwards and the substitutes move and shoot. Toni Tapalovic, my goalkeeping coach, does that with me. It takes a bit of time but it’s time well spent.
Did you ever sit down and talk with one of the strikers of your team about their thoughts in front of goal?
No, but we often take shots ourselves in goalkeeper training and try to memorise the choices we’re making, to come up with the right reactions to it.
vs Yuya Osako (Koln), March 4, 2017
I remember I had analysed him before. I knew he’s a good header of the ball; he had scored many goals in Japan. I sensed that he’d be able to get his head to the cross. My positioning was good. I’m able to take a step and jump off. What’s important for me is that I come down from that first initial little skip at precisely the right time to jump off again — when he connects.
Tell us about that skip. Why do you make it?
Because it’s easier to push yourself off the ground within a movement as opposed to a standing position. It’s the same with defenders. They cannot be square to the attacker, waiting for them to make a move. They have to be on the move themselves, positioning themselves to react.
And you bend your knees a little bit, to get that springiness.
Exactly. You need to have all those angles in your hip, your knee and your ankle.
(Neuer stands up to demonstrate).
If I’m straight in those joints, I can’t jump very far but if you angle your hip, knee and ankle, you can generate power from those three areas.
Do you have a “Sprungbein”, a preferred leg for take-off?
In school, everybody competes in an annual track and field event called “Bundesjugendspiele”. It includes the long jump and later, the high jump, which is why every German kid knows which foot they jump off with. For me, it was the left. I was initially happier to dive to my left. Off my right, I’d get bruises because I landed more awkwardly but as a professional goalkeeper, you have to be equally good on either foot. We worked on that.
vs Bartosz Bialek (Wolfsburg), December 16, 2020
I think he wanted to go for the corner, into the “small net”, but the shot came in quite centrally, towards my head. It’s a reflex save because I thought he was going to the right of me. I’m fortunate here that I’m still in a position to get the hand up high.
Can you train reflexes?
You can’t be afraid of the shot coming at you but most importantly, you have to have gone through this process a thousand times to know exactly what your options are to make a successful intervention without the time to think about it.
What’s the impact of pressure from a defender on the shooter — and your calculations of what he might do?
It has a big impact, ideally, to make things more difficult. A striker will shoot differently if he has time on the ball. A good tackle narrows the angle but it’s not always an advantage to have a defender closing on that shot.
Why?
Sometimes, I prefer going one-v-one with the striker without the influence of a defender. It can be a bit irritating and affect my positioning, especially if the defender takes one long step and leaves his legs open, enabling the striker to shoot into the far corner. That’s a problem. It’s a bit like that in handball. If there’s a block, you need to go over a bit to have a clear view but that leaves the other corner of your goal a bit more open. But you can’t blame defenders for trying their best to make up the ground and stop the shot, of course.
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Did you play handball?
No. But I’ve always been interested in how handball goalkeepers spread themselves and make so many point-blank saves.
vs Marcel Sabitzer (RB Leipzig), September 14, 2019
Here’s something a little different: a shot from distance and a ball radically changing course in mid-air.
A typical Sabitzer shot. David Alaba hits them the same way, to make them swerve in the air. Not everyone can do that. I know who the players who can are, so I’m prepared for it, to an extent. You have to watch the ball as long as possible as the trajectory changes. And your wrist needs to be strong as well. This one hit me on my lower arm. Not easy, those.
Talking about swerving balls, goalkeepers used to complain a lot before every international tournament but that seems to have died down recently. Have balls become better again?
I never complain because I consider the ball my friend. I have to see it that way. I don’t want to be looking for excuses before a tournament; I want the ball to help me during the game, which is why I approach this subject differently, talking positively about the ball.
Have you noticed fewer shots from distance? Statistically, they’re going down in all of the top leagues as more players realise the odds are really against them — even when you’re not in goal.
I can’t say. It depends a bit on the team, I guess. If you’re playing nice passing football, you’re less likely to try a shot from distance. I believe many teams have become better at keeping the ball and playing position football, which reduces their reliance on set pieces or shots from outside the box.
Does it matter what colour or pattern a ball has? And what about the grounds you play in? Jens Lehmann once told me he found it more difficult to evaluate the flight of the ball in England, where many stadiums have different-sized terraces.
Well, we don’t have that issue at the Allianz Arena. The ball is mostly white but the seats aren’t, so that’s not a problem. But the position of the floodlights and the harshness of the light can vary. You adjust to that.
Alright. Here’s a penalty save. Cristiano Ronaldo.
vs Cristiano Ronaldo (Real Madrid), Champions League semi-final, April 25, 2012
That was in the shootout. During the game, he had converted a penalty going the other way. You can prepare for penalties by looking at the shooter’s preferences but players like Cristiano take them in all sorts of ways, so you’re back listening to your gut. Sometimes it works out, sometimes it doesn’t.
I watched quite a few penalties with you in goal and noticed that you often keep your hands down while you’re jumping. I guess you do that to be able to react if the shot comes in straight?
Precisely. If he shoots down the middle, I can still raise an arm but if I’m already jumping toward a corner with my arms stretching that way, I can’t. Generally speaking, you can’t really react once you’ve extended a limb. That’s why I try to keep my arms and legs bent.
Because of that, it sometimes looks as if you’re not really trying when you go the wrong way.
Some people don’t understand what’s going on but that’s not a problem for me. All I care about is saving shots — not what some critics might say. I know why I do certain things.
More and more penalty takers wait for the goalkeeper to make the first move. What do you do against them?
Things haven’t become easier for us goalkeepers now that referees are clamping down on encroachment more. What can you do? You can wait as long as possible. It’s a mind game. You can only try and figure out what he’s trying to do.
Can you tell whether penalty takers will shoot across the goal or go for a placed shot into the other corner?
At this level, it’s difficult. Very good players don’t change their run-up but open up the foot — or not — at the last second. Cristiano could have done that here.
vs Anderson (Manchester United), Champions League semi-final, May 4, 2011
You’re saving this shot from Anderson with your “wrong” arm. Why not use the left hand?
It’s a simple matter of reach. Once you’re flying one way, it’s easier to get the other arm up over your head. It might look a little bit like a trend but I remember training with (former Bayern and Germany goalkeeper) Sepp Maier many years ago and before that, Oliver Kahn used to do it as well.
When do you use the palm of your hands and when the fist?
That comes down to the situation and to gut instinct. It depends where the opponents are, how far away, how many defenders are close to me, many factors come into play. I try to catch the ball but I have to see how much time I have. How is that ball coming at me? How certain am I that I will catch it? In training, I might try to catch a few balls that I will punch away during the game because it’s less risky.
vs Karim Benzema (France), World Cup quarter-final, July 4, 2014
I like this one very much because it looks as if you’re simply hailing a taxi in the street. And it was a pretty important save as well, securing the win for Germany.
I had a shoulder injury going into that tournament and he hit it right towards that side. After that, I knew things were stable.
(Neuer laughs)
Again, it’s a good position, enabling me to react in any direction necessary. Up, down, right with my hands, to the left with my foot. Happily, I kept it out — in the 94th minute — and we won the game.
He didn’t have much goal to shoot at. If you’re unlucky, he puts it through your legs or smashes it over your head into the net.
It would have gone in, under the bar. Short reaction time but strong wrist and good momentum: it worked.
How would you say your game has developed since you turned professional? Is Manuel Neuer’s game from 2006, when you made your debut for Schalke, essentially the same as that of 2021?
It’s similar. Nuances keep changing with the teams you play for and their tactics. I have to adapt to the way we build from the back and attack the ball up front, to name just two things.
Last season, you had to adapt to a high line that was rather leaky. Bayern conceded 44 goals in the league and you had a lot to do. Did you secretly enjoy that? Or would you have preferred to be less busy?
I’m happy that I was needed and had plenty of opportunities to help the team. But on the other hand, we can’t be happy with that instability at the back and the number of goals we conceded this season (2020-21). It needs to improve next season. We really have to work on that.
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What’s the biggest misapprehension about goalkeeping?
There are too many cliches being peddled. For example, this idea that the keeper shouldn’t be beaten at the near post. I often hear that being said by people who are not really in a position to properly evaluate a goalkeeper’s game.
Our task is very complex. We have to cover as much of the goal as possible but also be ready for a pass inside. Is there someone unmarked in the centre? Is the ball on his weaker foot or his stronger one? You have to calculate all the odds in a fraction of a second; many different things might happen.
Sometimes, I catch myself thinking too far ahead, trying to be too much of a perfectionist. Getting beat at the near post can be a mistake — I don’t argue with that — but it’s simply wrong to say it always is. You have to evaluate every situation separately. Perhaps we keepers need to talk about the technicalities a little more, to explain our thought process to people.
Good point. So can we do this again after the next 1,000 saves?
Sure thing.
(Top photos: Getty Images; design: Sam Richardson)
