Welcome to the Goalkeeping Newsletter. Today's issue will deal with what
a keeper should be watching when the ball is in their defensive third of the field.
I received an e-mail a few weeks ago from a subscriber who was complaining because her son
was injured playing goal. It seems while he was concentrating on the ball as it was
coming from the middle of the field, and an opponent slid in from the side making contact
with the ball and the keeper at the same time. Her questions basically were
shouldn't a keepers total concentration be on the ball and if so shouldn't the referee
protect the keeper from this type of tackle?
While at first it would seem that this would be true in terms of concentrating on the
ball, the reality is that a keeper is responsible for all of what is going on around the
field. Too often keepers focus solely on the ball and forget about their
surroundings. This becomes obvious when a ball is played across the goal mouth and
the keeper thinks it will go wide only
to have an opposing player at the far post open for an easy finish. When this
happens, it always seems unfortunate and it's not unusual to see the keeper start yelling
at her defenders for not doing their jobs properly. The truth is that it's the
keeper who isn't doing her job in this situation. It is her responsibility to know
where all of the players on both teams are at all times and make sure that each of the
opposing players are properly marked up.
Keeping track of all the players is a difficult task but one that is necessary to succeed
as a keeper. The best way to learn how to do this is by playing as many games as
possible, preferable starting with very small sided games. On every pass, reassign
each mark (this doesn't mean players have to go to a different mark but rather the keeper
should re communicate these assignments). Even if this is being done in a 3v3 game a
keeper can develop the vision and communicative abilities that will gradually transfer to
a full sided match. Be very specific in your assignments and only say what is
necessary (don't become a cheerleader because players tend to tone them out, rather say
what is important). You can also work on the offensive leadership skills since the field
would be very small and that should keep you mentally more involved in the game.
Gradually, work up from 3v3 to 4v4 and all the way up to 11v11. Be consistent in
your communication and be confident in your calls.
This type of communication and reading of the game is one of the things that separate the
levels of play of goalkeepers. It is also the reason that traditionally the top
keepers around the world on the men's side have been in their mid 30's. To become
proficient at reading the game and leading it as well comes from experience. For
those of you who are youth players, to think that you could develop this ability while
training twice a week is ludicrous. It gets even worse when these training sessions
involve a lot of standing around or even pure shooting drills. Small sided games
with restrictions and a purpose can
accomplish as much if not more then any drills a coach can come up with. Good drills
followed by small sided games is the best way to get better.
There is another way to start developing the ability to read the game when you don't have
a team to train with as much as you might like. Get a tape of a soccer game (either
a high level game or at the very least a game at a level about where you compete) and
watch the game as if you are the keeper. At random times, stop the play and on a
sheet of paper or white board, draw where all 22 players are on the field (even if the
game was still on, you wouldn't be able to see all 22 players but based on what has been
happening you should be able to guestimate where they all are. Then once you are
confident that you have this correct, see if you can anticipate what the players in that
game will do next. Don't try to say what they should do but based on what you have seen,
taking their strengths and weaknesses into consideration, see how accurate you can be.
When you get to be consistently correct in your positioning of the players and in
their next couple of passes, you can next see how many passes you can anticipate before
things break down in your reading of the game.
This will help you learn to watch games better (and the truth is that watching games and
giving directions is a large part of being a keeper. Watching games is not a
substitute for playing or training but an effective way to supplement your training.
This is also a great way for coaches to improve their ability to understand the
game. Give it a try.
Next week I will have a pretty interesting announcement concerning FineSoccer.com. I
think you will find it will make this site even better.
