U.S. keeper Juergen Sommer has found more pace and pressure in the English Premier League.
When asked in which of his starts for Queen’s Park Rangers he pulled off several saves in rapid succession at the edge of the penalty area, U.S. keeper Juergen Sommer had to ponder.
“I can’t remember, really,” he says of slam-bang sequences common to Premier League play. “I had a situation like that in our last game [a 1-1 tie with Coventry Nov. 19], but to tell the truth, I’ve had a few of those lately.
“It’s not like the First Division, where a lot of players will only shoot if they have a clean opportunity. Here, they shoot on the turn, every half-chance or every half-step of space they get, and you just hope you can parry the shot.”
That’s not the only difference he sees in the top two tiers of English soccer. Sommer started in goal two seasons for Luton, after laboring on loan for nearly two years with lesser clubs.
“You’re really under the microscope all the time here,” he says. “There’s a lot more pressure from the fans and the press, and the tabloids here in London are always trying to stir something up. Most of the time, they just make up something to print, and see what happens.”
Sommer enjoyed a memorable debut in the Premier League after his $925,000 transfer from First Division Luton Aug. 31. QPR traveled to Leeds, which had just played a scintillating game against Monaco in the UEFA Cup, and came away with a 3-1 victory in which Sommer had very little to do.
“I really wasn’t that busy, although I did have a few crosses to deal with and a few saves,” says Sommer of a clearly fatigued Leeds team. “Tony Yeboah has been scoring on everybody with spectacular goals, but I managed to shut him out.”
Return of Hateley is critical
Since then, however, QPR has only one win in League action (a 1-0 victory over Bolton Sept. 30) and has sunk to 17th of 20 teams. It has scored only 11 goals in 13 matches, and Sommer hopes the return to fitness of Mark Hateley, acquired early in the season from Glasgow Rangers, and the offensive skills of recent England debutant Trevor Sinclair and Daniel Dichio will produce more goals.
As for his own performance, Sommer says QPR manager Ray Wilkins seems pleased, and he enjoys working with goalkeeper coach Phil Parkes, who played for England as well as QPR in the 1970s.
“I train with [Parkes] two or three times a week,” says Sommer. “He works with me on footwork, angles and positioning, the little things that are so important when you play against the players we have here.
“It’s incredible, really, what’s happened in England the past few years. You’ve got [Dennis] Bergkamp and David Platt with Arsenal, [Ruud] Gullit with Chelsea, Yeboah at Leeds. Look at Middlesbrough: A few years ago, they were going bankrupt; now they have a beautiful new stadium, and they just signed Juninho!”
Sommer acknowledges that despite its location in London, QPR doesn’t have the resources to compete in the players’ market with top clubs like Arsenal, Manchester United and Liverpool.
“But I think we can finish in the top 10,” he says, “and if we have a good Cup run and finish in the top half, it’ll be a successful season.”
Sommer and his wife just bought a house in the Primrose Hill area of north London, about a 20-minute drive from QPR’s home field and much closer to social and entertainment options than they were in Luton.
Among his recent visitors was U.S. national team coach Steve Sampson, who’s making the rounds of European clubs employing American players.
“We talked about the Gold Cup,” says Sommer, “but it might be hard to get away for three weeks in January. That’s a busy time, with the League and FA Cup [third round].”
Many observers point to the busy schedule as one reason English clubs falter in European competition, but Sommer thinks it’s more a problem of tactics. This season, five of six English teams went out early, before the heavy workload of League and domestic cup matches had taken a toll.
And, as Sommer points out, Arsenal won the Cup Winners’ Cup two years ago and lost the final of the same competition last year in the dying seconds. Experts rip Arsenal for its style, yet in Europe, such an approach often works.
“In England,” says Sommer, “fans want teams to play attacking soccer at home and they boo and whistle if teams don’t play that way, but that’s the kind of game that can get you in trouble against a team that defends well and can counter. A lot of people say Arsenal’s style is boring, but teams in Europe play like that away from home.”
by Soccer America senior editor Ridge Mahoney
English Premier League
Nov. 19 in London
QPR 1, Coventry 1. Goals: Barker (37); Dublin (75).
QPR — Sommer, Brevett (Challis, 24), Maddix, Ready, Yates, Zelic, Barker, Gallen, Impey, Sinclair (Wilkins, 74), Dichio.
Coventry — Ogrizovic, Shaw, Hall, Williams, Rennie, Richardson, Telfer (Strachan, 85), Ndlovu, Isaias, Dublin, Salako.
Att.: 11,189.