Valentijn Driessen is far from impressed by Marc ter Stegen. The De Telegraaf journalist believes the Ajax goalkeeper lacks authority in his own penalty area and therefore fully understands why Manuel Neuer was preferred for years by the Germany national team.
During the Kick-off podcast by De Telegraaf, the discussion first focused on Virgil van Dijk's disallowed goal against Germany. That then led to a debate over the behaviour of attackers at corners, with players increasingly being positioned around the goalkeeper on purpose to impede him. Ter Stegen came under some pressure from Brian Brobbey during Van Dijk's headed goal, with Brobbey standing close to him.
Driessen does not like that trend and pointed to examples from the Premier League too. "In England it is really commonplace. If that is football and if that is how goals are going to be scored, then I find it all a great deal less interesting," said the journalist.
Still, that did not stop him going after Ter Stegen. "That does not take away from the fact that our great friend Ter Stegen is of course a coward. Honestly, he simply does not dare come out," he said harshly. Ter Stegen tried a few times to punch the ball away, but according to Driessen he did not do so convincingly.
"I fully understand that Manuel Neuer was Germany's first-choice goalkeeper all that time," said the journalist. "He is a class above."
Meanwhile, colleague Mike Verweij said he would have found it strange if Van Dijk's goal had been disallowed because of a push by Brobbey. "If a foul like that happens in midfield, everyone says: just let play continue," said Verweij.
Driessen added: "You can debate whether he was actually knocked off balance. I do not think so, because in that respect Ter Stegen is simply a weakling." In reality, though, the goal was disallowed for offside against Brobbey, as Kicker reported on Friday.