Bundesliga News

Have Bundesliga goalkeepers really stepped up their level of play?

By Jonathan Dicks   @Jonathan_Dicks

The Bundesliga is usually seen as the league with lots of goals and lackluster defenses. Through Matchday 7, while there’s still plenty of offensive firepower, it feels as if the level of play for Bundesliga goalkeepers has stepped up a notch.
Yann Sommer.
Yann Sommer.Photo: Borussia Mönchengladbach
There have been some sensational goalkeeper performances to start the season, but Yann Sommer’s other worldly display against Bayern Munich stands alone. The 33-year-old set a Bundesliga record with 19 shots saved and single handedly earned Gladbach a point. But, that’s just where the story begins.


After receiving criticism for Augsburg’s 4-0 home loss against Freiburg to open the campaign, Rafał Gikiewicz has been world class ever since. If it wasn’t for his superb second-half performance in the win over Leverkusen, or clean sheets against Werder Bremen and Bayern, Augsburg would probably be sitting with hopeless Bochum in last place.

Compared to the Premier League, the Bundesliga is averaging a lower average goals per 90 minutes thus far at 1.45 to 1.39. Through Matchday 7 of the 2022/23 Bundesliga season, the average goals recorded per team has dropped from 10.7 to 9.7 compared to the figures through Matchday 7 of the 2021/22 campaign.

Let’s take a look at the top three goalkeepers in the league based on save percentage. The leaders include Sommer (90.9%), Union Berlin’s Frederik Rønnow (85%) and Mark Flekken (83.9%). In addition, Flekken has ridiculously kept a clean sheet in 5 out of 7 games for Freiburg.

Between these three keepers, they’ve allowed only 14 goals and each have their club sitting inside the top six. Hardly anybody would have predicted this before the season began. Even Manuel Riemann, who’s doing everything in his power to keep Bochum afloat, leads the top flight with 41 shots saved.

Digging deeper, Leverkusen, Dortmund and Bayern had a combined 25 more goals at this point last year. While there is more to the story, with several of these teams having various offensive issues, the trend still continues.

Maybe this is a good thing. Some of these Champions League clubs can use these surprising goalkeeping performances as an excuse for their disappointing play. Union and Freiburg won’t mind at all.


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