Gerhard Tremmel

Gerhard Tremmel
Image from: footballpiehole.co.uk

Swansea City's veteran German goalkeeper started off at Bayern Munich, though he left their youth system to join 1860 Munich and then on to Unterhaching while still a youth player. Beginning his pro career at Unterhaching, he managed to rack up 70 appearances for them, with 20 clean sheets, before Hannover 96 swooped to sign him. His spell in Hannover was a little less successful and he only made 23 appearances, with 6 clean sheets, before leaving them on a free to join Hertha Berlin.



Tremmel's time with Hertha was even less successful, as he only managed 7 appearances for the first team, mostly ending up playing for the second string. Though he did manage to keep 3 clean sheets in those 7 matches for the first team. Energie Cottbus was his next destination, where things took a major upturn for him as he racked up just over a century of appearances, 101 to be precise, with 26 clean sheets in those matches.







His four years there came to an end with another free transfer, this time he left Germany to join Austria and sign with Red Bull Salzburg. Tremmel spent just one season there, playing 38 matches, conceding just 37 goals and keeping 13 clean sheets before he moved to South Wales in August 2011. There Tremmel has had to be mainly happy with a back up role, first to Michel Vorm, then, after Vorm moved to Tottenham Hotspur, Lukasz Fabianski has kept him on the bench.







Tremmel is a big presence in the goal, as the previous video shows, who relies on good positioning and the ability to spread himself well and get in the way of shots. The reason he was brought to Swansea was how well suited he is to their style of playing, due to being a good distributor of the ball. It makes him an excellent back up, allowing managers to be safe in the knowledge that they have two keepers who can play what has become the Swansea way in recent years.











As you can see, despite his ability to block shots, he very rarely gathers them in, just parries them, which can put the team in trouble if the ball falls to the opposition while he is getting back up. That is why, despite his big presence and positional skills, he is second choice keeper for the Swans. He is a very good back up though, which is why he was handed a new 2 year contract with the club in the summer.