Poor Timo

By: Cesar | September 13th, 2008

You have to feel somewhat for German goal keeper Timo Hildebrand.

He came here last season to replace a Valencia legend and resident diva, Santiago ‘Night Club’ Cañizares.

He’s in a strange country, full of strange customs and odd foods. He was expected to lead the new ‘Renaissance of Valencia’ under coach QQ Sanchez Flores and then Ronald Koeman. He came from a good situation, having won the German Bundesliga with Stuttgart the previous season.

Now where is he? Football purgatory.

Today, coach Unai ‘Bull Durham’ Emery decided to omit the hulking German who has a striking resemblance to music star John Tesh (pictured below) from the team sheet for tomorrow’s game against Almeria.

That’s now two games this season that Hildebrand has been left off the squad for a game. Did I happen to mention this is the second game of the season?

So what happened here? Why has Timo been relegated to Curro Torres stature, serving the other players peanuts during matches and making sure there is enough ice in Vicente Soriano’s drink?

For one, he hasn’t shown an extreme form of confidence. He can often times look lost on the pitch.

Is this due to a communication problem? Can he speak Spanish? I can’t answer that. But the question’s a good one.

Also, he’s very streaky. He can pull superb games out of his hat, playing other worldy against Barcelona in the Copa Del Rey semifinals and Getafe in the Cup final.

But then, too often, he’s all over the place.

He doesn’t catch the ball well. He’s a tad bit slow. He looks a tiny bit out of his element.

Still, I feel for the guy.

His personal website, where he includes family photos and pictures of his adventures through the game of football, speak to his anxiety.

In a post dated September 10th, Timo lets his frustration out.

Besides saying Santi has no style (which anyone who has ever seen our former ‘keeper around Valencia can attest to … the guy simply can not dress himself), Timo rants about his situation at Los Che.

“Our new manager decided against selecting me for the first La Liga game against Mallorca,” Hildebrand told his personal website. “Exclusively for technical reasons.

“Obviously I wasn’t happy with such a decision but was disappointed and irritated. We talked about it and he explained to me his point of view. I must accept it and that’s what I’ve done.

“Speculation about my future have grown but I’ve decided to do what’s important: train well, play my part and fight to have a place within the team.

“I don’t want to give interviews about my sporting situation. We’re going to see what the future is made of.

“I can just wait for my next opportunity and will give everything to enjoy it. For the next three months I can only practice well, push for it and wait for the manager’s decisions.

“Then we’ll see where my future lies.”

Sounds like he’s ready to leave during the January transfer window, eh?

Unai says he has no problems with Timo.

“(Timo) was in the stands because he was affected by not playing and I wanted to give him time to calm down,” Unai explained.

“I know that he was angry about things, but Angulo and Del Horno were also up there. (Isn’t Angulo always there? Along with Curro Torres?)

“There should be no problem with Timo because he likes it here and he is training well and I think that he has reacted well.”

Not a ringing endorsement.

Whatever the situation is, I feel for Timo. It can’t be easy to see your position taken by a young upshot while you waste away on the bench.

It must not have been easy to come into this situation taking over for a legend like Cañizares, who is known to act the diva when he feels threatened. (Some of you probably know the saga between Cañizares and former defender Miroslav Djukic, who Santi refused to talk to for over 5 years because of a defensive gaff the defender made during a game.)

Timo has acted like a gentleman throughout the situation.

I may not fancy his style of play. I may curse him out for what I believe are stupid gaffes or soft goals.

But you have to respect the guy for taking a chance. I hope he uses this episode to strengthen himself and come out even better than before.

Good luck, Timo.