Speaking of the most special player on the football field, I believe many people will definitely vote for the goalkeeper. As the only position on the football field where you can touch the ball with your hands, the goalkeeper has always been considered the most important part of a team's defense.
Someone once said: A good goalkeeper can be worth the top half of a team.
At the beginning of the establishment of the complete football system, the goalkeeper's position was basically fixed at the "one-acre three-point area". Some goalkeepers who dared to make advance moves were often regarded as alien and criticized by the fan media.
With the gradual upgrade of the football concept, many visionary coaches have put forward higher requirements for goalkeepers-awareness. In short, the goalkeeper should not only pursue the ultimate response at the moment of the save, but should spend the same time developing the anticipation of the incoming ball.
For goalkeepers, what is consciousness?
From the author's personal understanding, the so-called consciousness is more based on the opponent's game strategy and the movement of the ball to make some advance moves, in order to achieve the purpose of preemptively destroying the opponent's offensive attempt.
Time has come to this century, and some "unconventional" goalkeepers have created more advanced skills-offensive organization.
When the defensive player gets the ball in the backcourt, he will not seek to make a big-footed clearance like the traditional way, but will unite the goalkeeper behind him to make some short passes in a small area, so as to dispatch the opponent's midfield The ultimate goal of the position.
At the same time, goalkeepers began to pay more attention to the exercise of delicate footwork. The so-called long pass does not only mean "relief-style bigfoot", but hopes to find the ambush more accurately through the fine control of footwork Teammates in the frontcourt, thus launching a series of follow-up tactics.
As the goalkeeper participates in the backcourt conduction, some goalkeepers who have excellent skills at their feet have further developed a new concept: their activity area is no longer limited to the big penalty area, but extends to each of their own defenses. Position, what's more, even dared to press forward near the midfield line,Completely transformed into a "scavenger".
What is the attitude of the major leagues towards goalkeepers participating in the attack?
How to define the degree of goalkeeper participation in the offense? Look at the number of goals and assists? The answer is of course no. Even those well-known "organizational goalkeepers" more often use passing to help the team's backcourt.
Therefore, if we want to explore the attitude of the major leagues towards goalkeepers participating in the attack, we have to start with the most basic number of passes.
As shown in the figure above, according to the data of the five major leagues last season, Serie A goalkeepers with more than 40 yards accounted for 38% of the total number of passes, and Bundesliga goalkeepers with more than 40 yards accounted for the total number of passes. 38.9% of the passes, French goalkeepers with more than 40 yards accounted for 42.8% of the total number of passes, Premier League goalkeepers with more than 40 yards accounted for 44.8% of the total number of passes, and La Liga goalkeepers exceeded 40. The number of yards passed accounted for 53.1% of the total number of passes.
Judging from the average pass length of the five major league goalkeepers, the average pass length of Serie A goalkeepers is 34.4 meters, the average pass length of Bundesliga goalkeepers is 36 meters, and the average pass length of French goalkeepers is 38.2 meters. The average pass length of Premier League goalkeepers is 38.5 meters, and the average pass length of La Liga goalkeepers is 43.3 meters.
Although the average pass length of goalkeepers in major leagues is different, the data gap is not large, which also reflects that the requirements of today's world football for goalkeepers are gradually becoming consistent.
If the above two data can reflect the goalkeeper's ability in the attacking process, then the data listed below can show another major feature of today's goalkeeper-the range of activities has increased dramatically.
As shown in the figure above, the average number of Serie A goalkeepers defending outside the penalty area per game is 0.48, the average number of Premier League goalkeepers defending outside the penalty area per game is 0.5 times, and the average Ligue 1 goalkeeper defending outside the penalty area per game is 0.5 times. The number of defenses outside the penalty area is 0.75, the average number of Bundesliga goalkeepers outside the penalty area is 0.75 times per game, and the average number of defenses outside the penalty area per game is 0.77 times.
From the data alone, it seems that the major league goalkeepers have not made many defensive attempts outside the penalty area, but we must know one thing: the goalkeeper’s so-called skill development is more based on the overall strength of the team. For most of the midstream and downstream teams, the goalkeeper's responsibility is more the stability of the goal line save.
Therefore, the average number of defenses outside the penalty area in major leagues can reach today's level.
Although the overall data of the major leagues are not much different, we can still find the differences in subtleties and infer the different understandings of the goalkeeper position in different regions.
The most obvious is the "conservative" of the Serie A goalkeeper. Compared with the other four major leagues, Serie A goalkeepers have a lower pass percentage and average pass length from 40 yards. Their defensive attempts outside the penalty area per game are only 0.48, far less than other leagues.
The above data proves that Serie A's requirements for goalkeeper activity habits are quite traditional, and each coach does not emphasize the goalkeeper's wide range of moves.
In order to further demonstrate the above conclusions, we might as well enumerate the main goalkeeper heat maps of several major leagues. As shown in the picture above, most of the main goalkeeper Szczesny of Serie A giants Juventus in the 2019-2020 season is in the penalty area.
On the other hand, Barcelona goalkeeper Ter Stegen and Bayern Munich goalkeeper Neuer, their active area basically extends to the front of the penalty area and can make a more timely response to the opponent's ball.
Compared to Serie A, La Liga goalkeepers are more open in terms of range of motion and ball handling. Their pass percentage of more than 40 yards, average pass length, and the number of defenses outside the penalty area can all be ranked first in the five major leagues.
Of course, there are rewards and risks. While getting more options for handling the ball, the aggressive play style will also expose a huge gap behind him.
In other words, once the goalkeeper’s risky forward press fails to control the ball for the first time,The opponent can easily get the opportunity to hit the empty door.
In this season's La Liga Barcelona 0-1 loss to Atletico Madrid, Barcelona goalkeeper Ter Stegen staged an embarrassing scene.
When Atletico Madrid sent the ball to the left side of the front court with a long pass from the backcourt, Ter Stegen chose to abandon the goal very risky, but he did not steal the ball as usual. Instead, he was taken by Atletico forward Carla Sco put on a crotch play.
In the end, Carrasco made some adjustments after getting the ball and easily hit the empty goal.
Of course, the current mainstream view still emphasizes that even if there is a certain risk, expanding the area of activity and moderate participation in the attack are still the mainstream requirements of the current world football for goalkeepers.
So, how do the gates participate in the attack? What is the advantage of the goalkeeper in the attacking process?
1. Add a passable point for the team's backcourt, which greatly reduces the pressure on the central defender
In most of the last century, the goalkeeper was a pure "two-handed worker." Rarely are asked to make some more complicated passes with teammates. For some teams that emphasize building offense through short passes, central defenders are often the key link in backcourt pass control.
But over time, many coaches have also discovered the loopholes in this tactic: the receiver is too single and too close to the opposing players.
Let's take the most traditional 442 formation as an example. When the left center back gets the ball, the pass points that can be selected are nothing more than the midfielder, the right center back and the left back.
Since the opponent's forward is closer to the back line, the time and space for pressing is relatively abundant, which puts a huge pressure on the central defender's shot: once it is handled carelessly, it is likely to be intercepted by the opponent.
Under such a background environment, the goalkeeper's potential in the process of passing and receiving the ball is gradually stimulated.
After the midfielder gets the ball, the opponent will inevitably put a reasonable upward pressure in an attempt to put some pressure or seek a steal. When the goalkeeper has sufficient passing ability, the central defender does not have to make some risky passing attempts.Just hand the ball to the goalkeeper who is more secure behind you.
It is precisely because of the existence of the goalkeeper that the double central defenders do not need to be limited to the middle in the offensive process, but can actively pull to the two corners of the penalty area to provide sufficient reserve for the full-back forward insertion.
This kind of running arrangement can help the team construct a basic "three-corner transmission system" in the backcourt. No matter which point the opponent concentrates on, it is difficult to form a steal. The effect of "partial involvement" emphasized by modern football is reflected. .
Of course, in some teams with two midfielders, many coaches will also require one of the two midfielders to withdraw to the back line during the organization process. In this way, the original "three-corner pass system" will be changed to a "four-corner pass system", and the team has more diversified ways of building offense from back to front.
As the coach with the highest level of knowledge in passing and controlling football in the world today, Guardiola's Manchester City will construct the so-called "four-corner pass system" during most of the attack establishment process.
We intercepted a clip of the latest Manchester City game. It can be found that the starting point of Manchester City's attack from back to front is goalkeeper Edson.
When Edson got the ball, the two center defenders Ruben Dias and Stones quickly dispersed to the two sides of the penalty area, while the midfielder Rodri actively retreated to the center of the defense line, "4-corner pass system "It was formed.
Let’s take a look at Leicester City’s “4-corner pass system”’s response to Manchester City’s press. After Tillimans got the ball, he immediately attracted Manchester City midfielder De Bruyne’s overpress and press, but he Instead of seeking to force a turn, the ball was handed over to center defender Se Yunju's feet with one kick.
When De Bruyne continued to press up and press against Seyunju, Mahrez pulled a little to block Seyunju’s separation route, forcing the latter to be unable to continue to deliver the ball to a relatively safe side. .
According to common sense, Manchester City’s looting plan basically achieved what we commonly call "point-to-point", but the existence of goalkeeper Schmeichel eventually made this looting a futile.
can be found,When Se Yunju handed the ball to Schmeichel's feet, although De Bruyne changed the direction for the first time and continued to press, it was already difficult to limit the next step of the Danish national goal. Schmeichel could choose The ball is sent to the frontcourt by a long pass, or the ball can continue to be handed over to Evans on the right.
In the end, Schmeichel used more sufficient observation time to transport the ball to the midfield area by a long pass. After Leicester City grabbed the first point, Plae took advantage of the situation and launched a counterattack with the ball. . Regrettably, Barnes had some restraints when facing the defenders 1 to 1 in the penalty area, wasting this excellent opportunity to counterattack.
In general, the addition of the goalkeeper makes the backcourt conduction system more hierarchical. The defenders do not have to be distracted to find the frontcourt correspondent when dealing with the waves of opponents. The goalkeeper with a safer position behind is completely Can take over this important task.
At the same time, because the goalkeeper is closer to the bottom line, it is very likely to force the opponent's defense to show signs of overall pressure during the process of holding the ball, exposing a huge gap behind him.
For some goalkeepers with more accurate footwork, the success rate of the team's counterattack has been improved accordingly.
Second, the field of vision is more open, using long passes to launch attacks
In the process of gradual establishment of the football system, the goalkeepers' so-called long passes can be understood as "helpless bigfoot relief."
With the development of football culture, major coaches have begun to put forward new requirements for the goalkeeper's footwork: "precision" gradually replaced "distance" as the most critical factor in measuring the goalkeeper's long passing ability.
After entering the new century, the giants have put forward more stringent requirements for the goalkeeper's long pass. Looking at many well-integrated clubs, "roughly accurate" can no longer meet the requirements. The goalkeeper's long pass often changes to varying degrees according to the situation on the field, the position of the teammates, and the opponent's tactical characteristics. "Flat draw" and other professional terms have appeared on stage.
Why is the goalkeeper of modern football given such a distinctive long pass task?
Compared to players in other positions,The goalkeeper is always facing the court and can easily observe the situation. At the same time, the opponent can give the goalkeeper less pressing pressure than the defender, and the goalkeeper can often get enough time to observe the running position of the front teammate.
In the top 10 of the Premier League’s successful long pass list this season, the top 8 are all taken by goalkeepers. Only Wolves’ Cowdy and Ruben Neves will take the last train; this season’s In the top 10 successful long passes of La Liga, the goalkeepers have achieved a monopoly; in the top 10 successful long passes of this season, the goalkeeper has 6 people; in the top 10 of the Bundesliga successful long passes this season, the goalkeeper has 8 seats ; In this season's Ligue 1 successful long pass top 10, goalkeepers occupy 8 seats.
Of course, the data can only prove that accurate long-pass guidance has become an essential skill for goalkeepers, but for most of the goalkeepers in the future, accurate footwork is only one aspect of offense. Successful position selection and footwork The use of and accurate situation judgment are equally important.
Let’s first look at one of the most basic long pass methods. As shown in the picture above, after Liverpool goalkeeper Allison controlled the ball in the backcourt, he used a long pass to easily form a connection with Salah, who was unmarked in the frontcourt. After the latter took the ball, he finally made a low shot. succeed.
However, on the whole, this situation is extremely rare in football matches. Most teams will arrange to drag the back defender while pressing heavily to prevent the opponent from using some concise long passes to attack behind. Therefore, if the goalkeeper wants to directly use the long pass to form a connection with the frontcourt teammate, there must be more tactical manifestations.
Let's look at a clip of Manchester City facing Huddersfield in the 18-19 season. After goalkeeper Edson got the ball in the backcourt, he did not use a long pass to find Aguero on the left, but sent the ball to his own attack on the right.
The purpose of this long pass routine is very clear: all Manchester City offensive players are concentrated on the left, lacking sufficient lateral pull, and blindly sending long passes to the left has no practical effect.
In the end, Aguero aggressively penetrated to the right and received Edson's long pass. At the same time, due to Aguero’s lateral movement to open space for his rear teammates,Both Jesus and the B seat can be inserted along the left, which attracted the full attention of the two defensive players.
Relying on the involvement of Jesus and the B-seat insertion, Aguero always had only one defensive player limit in the process of holding the ball. In the end, the Argentina international made a slight adjustment and hit the goal to help. The Blue Moon Corps opened the record at home.
When facing different types of forward teammates, goalkeepers will also adjust their strategies appropriately when using long passes.
For example, when one's frontcourt is shorter but known for speed, goalkeepers will appropriately increase the strength of long passes to give forwards the space to use the speed advantage to get rid of the defense.
Let’s look at a long pass counterattack by Manchester United in the 10-11 season. As shown in the picture above, because Rooney is not a fulcrum center in the traditional sense, his acceleration moves are more advantageous. Therefore, Van der Sar did not choose to pass the ball long to Rooney's feet, but deliberately increased his strength to find Rooney's forward line.
It can be found that although Rooney's starting position lags behind his opponent, he can still use his speed advantage to overtake in a short period of time, and finally succeed by shooting the far corner of the goal under interference.
For a center with a good fulcrum ability, speed does not have the advantage. On the contrary, holding and protecting the ball are their strengths.
In such an environment, the goalkeeper's long pass will not give too much advance, and it is more hopeful to accurately find the area where the center is located, and make full use of the center's ability to hold the ball to carry out the next operation.
Let's take a look at Chelsea's counterattack using the center fulcrum. The goalkeeper Kepa's long pass has a distinctive high-flying characteristic, and instead of flying straight to the opponent's penalty area, he found the high center forward Giroud who withdrew the ball.
Relying on his obvious height advantage, Giroud pressed the opposing defender to finish the header and then accurately found the number 8 Barkley.
Taken together, Chelsea made full use of the goalkeeper's footwork and the center's fulcrum role in this counterattack, using Kepa's precise footwork to directly form a connection with high center forward Giroud.It eliminates unnecessary short passes and potential risks in the process of establishing an offense, and makes the counterattack more concise and direct.
Therefore, the goalkeeper has a unique advantage in the counterattack by using long passes to launch an attack. In order to increase the success rate of counterattacks, a faster and more targeted long pass method came into being. This is the famous sideways volley.
There are three main advantages of sideways volley dribbling: 1. The ball is faster, the ball can travel to the frontcourt in a short time, and the side reduces the opponent's potential defensive force; 2. The height of the ball is easier to control and can tear the opponent's ribs. Defensive line; Third, the ball has a shorter fall time, and the side eliminates the possibility of the opponent's goalkeeper attacking.
It may be difficult to understand the advantages of this long-passing routine from the text alone. Let's analyze it with a real action picture.
In the 18-19 season Huddersfield home game against Manchester United, Huddersfield goalkeeper Rossi did not follow the established line of thinking after he got the ball. Instead, he used a sideways volley to drive the ball. Quickly transported to the feet of Mubenza in the front court.
It can be found that Rossi's sideways volley has penetrated the rib defense line composed of two Manchester United defenders, and the two defenders' intentions of supplementary defense have vanished.
More importantly, Rossi knows that De Gea has a huge range of activities, and it is difficult to accurately find the narrow space between the striker and the goalkeeper by rashly using a high float.
In such a background environment, a very fast, sideways volley that is closer to the ground can perfectly overcome the above problems. In the end, Mubenza dexterously removed the ball and scored a single goal.
3. Being able to use hands to throw the ball to launch an offense, greatly increasing the success rate
As a goalkeeper, how can you forget their inherent characteristics-can you use your hands?
Some goalkeepers with strong upper limbs will not choose to handle the ball with their feet, but will directly use the hand to throw the ball forward to launch the attack. This kind of long pass routine is more special, but the advantages are also very obvious:
1. The backcourt is not easy to make mistakes
Because the football rules have special protection for the goalkeeper,It is almost impossible for the opponent to steal the ball from the goalkeeper, so throwing the ball to launch an offense greatly reduces the possibility of backcourt errors.
2. Shorter time to handle the ball
When the goalkeeper gets the ball, if you want to make a long pass with a big foot, you need to put the ball under your foot and then adjust the step point and then kick the ball. Perhaps this kick-off method is more powerful, but it cannot meet the "suddenness" requirements of some coaches.
3. Long passes are relatively easier to control
As we all know, humans have relatively stronger control over both hands. When the goalkeeper uses his hand to toss the ball, he can more accurately grasp the force of the ball and where the ball falls, which is of great benefit to the successful implementation of the counterattack.
I believe that many fans are still impressed by the 2007 UEFA Cup Sevilla final against Espanyol. In the 28th minute of the match, goalkeeper Pallop got the ball and used his hand to toss the ball straight to the left. Adriano hit the ball at high speed, the latter broke through David García after getting the ball, and then made a single cut inside.
Ability is important, but consciousness is also indispensable.
When we evaluate a goalkeeper's contribution to the offense, we always observe the accuracy of his passing. But from another perspective, it is important to have accurate passing footwork, but it is also indispensable to have a reasonable awareness of the game.
In the 1/8 final of the 2018 Russia World Cup in the match between Belgium and Japan, Belgium's third goal came from goalkeeper Courtois's hand tossing. This attack perfectly reflects Courtois. The overall view in the process of organizing the offense is worth learning from many goalkeepers.
Courtois received the corner kick taken by the opponent and immediately threw it with his hand to De Bruyne's forward path. The latter moved the ball forward and backward slightly to the foot of No. 15 Menier on the side.
Because Belgium's counterattack is advancing very fast, it almost formed an excellent offensive situation of 4 on 2 at one time. In the end, Mounier assisted Chadley to countdown lore.
Many friends may have to ask: After Courtois got the ball, he simply handed it to De Bruyne, who was not far in front of him. Why did the author say that he was reflected in the process of organizing the attack? Is there a sufficient overall view?
can see,Courtois was not eager to find his teammates in front of the court after getting the ball. The reason is simple. Although Belgium was in a counterattack state at that time, there was only Lukaku in the front field and he was double-teamed by two Japanese defenders. The difficulty of getting the ball can be imagined.
Under such a background environment, Courtois quietly changed his mind and quickly handed the ball to De Bruyne in front of him.
This choice has two major advantages: First, the midfield is the most empty place due to the large forward pressure of the Japanese team during the corner kick attack; second, most of their players are in the midfield during the transition between offense and defense, and will The ball is handed over to De Bruyne, who has a very strong control ability, who draws the attention of the defense and then divides the ball to the side.
Concluding remarks
For the current football teams, it is undoubtedly lucky to have a goalkeeper who is both offensive and defensive.
If the team's tactics emphasize rapid offensive and defensive transitions, the goalkeeper's long pass and hand toss can greatly simplify the offensive process and deliver shells to the frontcourt teammates; if the team's tactics emphasize backcourt control and gradually establish offensive, the goalkeeper will It can also add a stable receiver to the backcourt, reducing the opponent's press success rate.
On the whole, the development of the goalkeeper's offensive potential has become the development trend of modern football. Perhaps one day in the future, the goalkeeper will no longer be synonymous with defensive gates, but can appear in the green field with a more diverse identity.
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