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Importance of being Manuel Neuer

An excellent article on the psychological impact Neuer had on the game against Real Madrid yesterday, much beyond the two penalty saves he made:

Resilient Neuer defies the critics with another Champions League gem: This is why Bayern signed him

Some excerpts:

"After seeing two shots saved before, Ramos was clearly worried about producing a saveable shot. Instead, he aimed for a much more difficult location than he otherwise might have, and missed. In effect, Neuer's first two saves might as well have stopped another."

"During extra time, however, Bayern did not lose their composure, they did not overextend themselves looking for a winner. They did not defend too deep, but it appeared that they were eyeing up a shoot-out, a testament to their trust in Neuer."

Much has been made of Reina's poor form in recent weeks and there have already been calls for selling him off while we still can. However, as we clearly saw in the build-up to the FA Cup semi-final, an out-of-form Reina still provides much more confidence to the back four and the team as a whole compared to a shaky Doni or Jones. I just hope when Reina does move on - either because he wants out or the club lets him go, there is an equally worthy replacement lined up.

The last thing we want is poor goalkeeping added to our striking woes.

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