Neuer, Tapalovic and the role of the goalkeeper coach

Toni Tapalovic and Manuel Neuer have known each other a long time. Tapalovic was a keeper at Schalke when Neuer broke through into the first team. He joined Bayern Munich as a goalkeeping coach a month after Neuer signed for the club back in the summer of 2011. There is over a decade of history between the two.

The departure of the goalkeeping coach has rocked Neuer and caused Bayern Munich's captain to deliver an uncharacteristically emotional response that has since developed into one of the most public dramas in the Bundesliga club's history.

With the arrival of Michael Rechner from Hoffenheim, a man who moulded an era at the club and developed current Bundesliga goalkeepers Koen Casteels, Marvin Schwäbe, Gregor Kobel and Oliver Baumann, Bayern have not only signed someone with a great reputation but also a coach who knows Julian Nagelsmann.

Fertile ground

Making tough decisions, such as changes in coaching staff, are a part of any leader's job, but recognising the human impact of such a decision is pivotal to its successful outcome — particularly when it comes to specific coaches like goalkeepers.

"It's a more personal relationship," former keeper and current goalkeeping coach David Preece tells DW.

"The manager has 35 odd players to deal with but when you've only got a couple of players to deal with you can be like that. It's more fertile ground to create those kind of relationships. It's important to have that."

Preece, who used to play for Aberdeen and Silkeborg and has been a goalkeeper coach for nearly 20 years most recently at Sunderland, believes that having that personal connection is necessary in the job. It's why he's still in contact with four of the goalkeeping coaches he had during his playing career and why he still watches Anthony Patterson in goal for Sunderland even though he is no longer coach there.

"There's always going to be a boundary where you have a coach-player relationship but I've always felt it has to go beyond that. You have to have trust, you have to feel like someone is backing you."

It's clear that Neuer and Tapalovic had that. As Preece says, this is "not just a relationship but also a trust and with that comes confidence in each other."

Nevertheless, Preece recognises that football is a business and that situations that involve personal connections inside that environment will almost always lead to clashes.

Human challenge

Michael Rechner's CV speaks for itself, but nevertheless he will have to tread carefully in his new role.

If Neuer's remaining time at the club is more limited than first considered, then it is indeed the end of an era and with it a drastic change in style. Rechner will have to be aware of that.

"Peter Schmeichel almost ruined goalkeeping for a lot of people because people tried to copy him and they just couldn't do it because it worked for him and it's the same with Manuel Neuer. He looks like he could adapt to any sport because he's just an athlete," Preece says.

"What he [Neuer] does works for him and he's very unique in his style of play whereas if you look at Yann Sommer he's more of a conventional goalkeeper."

With Neuer out, Sommer is the new number one ahead of veteran Sven Ulreich and youngster Johannes Schenk. Another one of Rechner's tasks will be managing the goalkeeping unit even without the presence of Neuer.

"It really is a case of creating a team within in a team so they become a support network for each other. And from a coaches perspective, you treat them all as if they are all your kids. You give equal attention to all and try and create a flat hierarchy between them. Of course around games the focus will be more on the keeper who is playing and that's when the support system is most valuable," Preece said. "It isn't always easy and requires careful management."

Perhaps the biggest challenge for Rechner though, will be if Neuer does return whether he can form a human connection with the captain.

"As a goalkeeping coach coming into that scenario, you have to be adaptable," Preece told DW. "You're not going to come into a situation with someone like Manuel Neuer and dictate what they should be doing and changing. You have to learn, especially with someone like that, you have to gain their trust."

"It's about having that human connection first before the professional one."

Edited by: James Thorogood