Bruce
Well-known member
Saw this buried in the Isaiah Jones thread and thought it deserved its own thread
Thinking about this. Let's assume that at any given level, say Premier league level, most keepers can do most things with a certain level of ability. In a normal game, a keeper will have to deal with fairly few attempts at a goal. Most of those will be routine to deal with. Some of those will be impossible to save and a small number might be in that grey zone where the best shot-stopping keepers will prevent a goal more frequently than the average ones. Work it all out and on average it is unlikely that being a really good shot-stopper will make a difference in more games than not. Again, that's comparing a good shot-stopper vs an average one.
If you think back to Dimi; he hardly made a "save" all season.
The bread and butter of every keeper's match is organising the defence, claiming crosses and through-balls and starting an attack or period of possession. Every match, a keeper will be called on to do this multiple times. A team with a keeper who is good at this vs one who is average at it will benefit from that advantage multiple times each match.
A good shot-stopper who is playing behind a poor defence (or is bad at organising their defence) will make showy saves every match and look like the bee's knees. An average shot-stopper playing behind a well-drilled defence will hardly be noticed.
Steffen is an outlier because not only is he good with his feet, he is comfortable playing outside the box as a pseudo-outfield player. With Steffen we almost have 11 outfield players vs 10 and that is a huge advantage.
It may be pragmatic, but prioritising organisation skills and ball-playing ability over shot-stopping is probably the way to get the maximum benefit from a keeper.
Thinking about this. Let's assume that at any given level, say Premier league level, most keepers can do most things with a certain level of ability. In a normal game, a keeper will have to deal with fairly few attempts at a goal. Most of those will be routine to deal with. Some of those will be impossible to save and a small number might be in that grey zone where the best shot-stopping keepers will prevent a goal more frequently than the average ones. Work it all out and on average it is unlikely that being a really good shot-stopper will make a difference in more games than not. Again, that's comparing a good shot-stopper vs an average one.
If you think back to Dimi; he hardly made a "save" all season.
The bread and butter of every keeper's match is organising the defence, claiming crosses and through-balls and starting an attack or period of possession. Every match, a keeper will be called on to do this multiple times. A team with a keeper who is good at this vs one who is average at it will benefit from that advantage multiple times each match.
A good shot-stopper who is playing behind a poor defence (or is bad at organising their defence) will make showy saves every match and look like the bee's knees. An average shot-stopper playing behind a well-drilled defence will hardly be noticed.
Steffen is an outlier because not only is he good with his feet, he is comfortable playing outside the box as a pseudo-outfield player. With Steffen we almost have 11 outfield players vs 10 and that is a huge advantage.
It may be pragmatic, but prioritising organisation skills and ball-playing ability over shot-stopping is probably the way to get the maximum benefit from a keeper.
