Goalkeepers prior to the 2010s were predominantly utilised through using their hands. However, fast track now to 2024, the modern-day goalkeeper is now expected to be just as productive with their feet as their hands.
Legendary Premier League goalkeepers such as Petr Cech and Peter Schmeichel were world-class shot-stoppers but may not have been as technically gifted with their feet as modern-day goalkeepers are now. Current Premier League stars such as Ederson Moares and Alisson Becker are required to be “ball-playing” goalkeepers.
During an investigation in 2019, by Fabian Otte, about how modern-day goalkeepers train, technical skills such as footwork were listed as one of the four main skills regularly focused upon. Shot stopping was not mentioned, which can directly show the transition in how the role of the modern-day goalkeeper is being developed.
Both the aforementioned goalkeepers are vital to their teams' playing style and are required to be competent with their feet. Goalkeepers are now crucial in building up attacks and dictating the game with their distribution. An evolution has occurred since the 2010s and has accelerated since the arrival of Pep Guardiola.
Goalkeepers were once simply the last line of defence in between the sticks, but now they are required to assist in starting the attacks due to playing style development. As Sam Griffiths, Derby County Women’s coach said, no matter what level of the game, goalkeepers need to be as skilled with their feet as with their hands.
Pep Guardiola Revolution
One of the key pioneers in changing the dynamic of the goalkeeper was Pep Guardiola. Since managing Barcelona in 2008, Guardiola has always demanded his goalkeepers play to the style he wants. Refusing to deviate from his tactical philosophy, Victor Valdes, the Barcelona shot-stopper at the time, sometimes struggled with his distribution in relation to what Guardiola demanded.
Guardiola’s reliance to his goalkeeping playing style was highlighted early at Barcelona when Valdes made a costly mistake against Real Madrid which resulted in a goal. “Most goalkeepers would boot it, but Victor kept playing the ball. I prefer us to lose the ball like that but [have] continuity to our play”, stated Guardiola. The Spaniard wants his goalkeepers to continue to play passing football and build the attacks, showing this tactical idea is paramount to his style. Whilst at Barcelona, Pep Guardiola established his ball-playing goalkeeper style, and makes us ask the question is this the future for the tactical use of goalkeepers?
England welcomed world-class manager Pep Guardiola to stamp out his blueprint for modern-day goalkeepers in 2016. Joe Hart had been Man City’s number-one goalkeeper for multiple seasons prior to the arrival of Guardiola. Despite being excellent with his hands, he endured a tough spell on the sidelines after Guardiola deemed him not appropriate for his playing style. This caused him to turn to one of his former Barcelona goalkeepers Claudio Bravo in the transfer market. Despite their previous past, Guardiola demanded even more than he had before from his goalkeepers with their footwork. Ederson was eventually identified as a match for the perfect criteria for what Guardiola required in a goalkeeper.
Ederson Moraes was a breath of fresh air for the Premier League and reinvented the typical role of a goalkeeper through Guardiola’s tactical playing style. Over the 7 years Ederson has spent with the Citizens, he has been without a doubt the goalkeeper with some of the best footwork to contribute significantly to his team's playing style. Crucially, his ball-playing ability has assisted Manchester City in winning five Premier League titles. Before his move to Man City, he had shown amazing ball-playing ability which was on another level for a goalkeeper. Benfica's technical youth co-ordinator said, “Ederson always had amazing technical ability with amazing skills at his feet and can even play better than some centre-backs.”
Ederson's passing ability is impeccable for Manchester City and allows them to stamp their domination upon the Premier League. Ederson follows the trajectory expected of modern goalkeepers in terms of their technical ability.
Ederson vs Hugo Lloris
Hugo Lloris has been a fantastic shot stopper for Tottenham Hotspur for over 10 years before his departure in 2023. In 2016, Sky Sports reported Lloris recorded a save percentage of 75.68% which was second best among Premier League goalkeepers. A fresh new generation of goalkeepers are emerging, these goalkeepers like Ederson, Allison, and Aaron Ramsdale are now dual threats with their feet and hands. Being one-dimensional is no longer acceptable for managers like Pep Guardiola and other managers are now following suit. In the most recent 2022/23 season, Ederson’s passing ability dwarfed Hugo Lloris’s. The most outstanding statistic is that when passing the ball long Ederson has a 92% success rate at finding a teammate. While Hugo Lloris struggles in this department, only achieving a completion percentage of 51% according to FbRef. Pep Guardiola is determined to play through Ederson as he sees him as a catapult to start attacks. Ederson averaged 30.56 passes per 90 in all Premier League matches last season. Demonstrating that both Guardiola and Ederson himself are extremely confident in his distribution skills. Lloris averaged only 22.07 passes per game which is reflective of his playing style and that his skill set is predominantly with his hands.
Further evidence suggested Lloris is uncomfortable when using his feet, given the number of errors which have occurred leading to a goal. Misplaced passes had led to the Frenchman totalling a record-high four errors leading to goals, the most for him in any season. This reveals that as football has transitioned to goalkeepers being required to use their feet more frequently, Hugo Lloris had struggled to adapt as he lacks the technical ability in relation to his footwork. Meanwhile, Ederson recorded only one footwork-related error all season. Les Howie, a UEFA B licensed coach, was adamant that goalkeepers are no longer seen as just that last line of defence by managers. As football transitions tactically, goalkeepers are now becoming the first line of attack and are becoming essential to dictating which key areas of the pitch are utilised due to their outstanding ball distribution.
One of Manchester City's biggest rivals in recent times has been Jurgen Klopp’s Liverpool. One of the key changes Jurgen Klopp established at Liverpool was tapping into the transfer market for a dual-threat goalkeeper. Allison Becker, the Brazilian, matches a similar profile to Ederson of Manchester City. Both goalkeepers are the Brazil national teams’ number one and two, with Alisson Becker getting the nod at the most recent World Cup in 2022. Alisson attempts more passes per 90 minutes than Ederson, with 33.13 in the most recent Premier League season, although he has a lower completion percentage at 82%. Both have an extremely similar and very low average passing distance. Ederson’s is 28.2 meters whilst his Brazilian counterpart is 26.8 meters. This highlights that both goalkeepers are being used to help build up their team’s attacks from their defence instead of kicking long.
During the 2019/20 season, Alisson had the greatest xG (expected goals) chain per 90. Raumdata Football’s xG chain analysed the number of passing sequences that leads to a shot which has involved the goalkeeper at some point during the build-up. Alisson was credited with an xG chain of 0.25, while Ederson achieved a total of 0.23. From the data, goalkeepers which excel in contributing to their teams’ attacks are becoming gems for their managers tactically.
The Old School Goalkeeper
As mentioned previously, goalkeepers in the last few years only started developing to become a threat with their feet due to tactical demands from their managers. According to Sam Tighe, a journalist for Bleacher Report, no position has undergone more of an evolution in the last 25 years.
Goalkeepers back in the early 1990s, before the pass-back rule, were allowed to pick up the ball after a pass from a teammate. This meant that goalkeepers did not have to use their feet to navigate through pressured situations during the game. Their role was simply to save the shots from hitting the back of the net and kick the ball long for goal kicks. Despite shot-stopping being the bread and butter of goalkeeping, there are now new dynamics that are required to be a top keeper.
Petr Cech is often referred to as one of the best goalkeepers of all time, but especially in the Premier League. However, the game 10 years ago is not the same tactically wise as the modern-day. Throughout his entire career, Cech has only averaged 17.77 passes per match, while Ederson and Allison have averaged 26.61 and 30.55 respectively. Old-school goalkeepers such as Petr Cech were not utilised in the same way the modern-day shot-stopper is. The Czech goalkeeper spent most of his career in the Premier League at Chelsea, however, he was not moulded into being technically gifted on the ball.
A decade ago, the goalkeeper's primary role was to be an excellent shot-stopper - which Petr Cech excelled in. Tactically, managers would build attacks up from the back through their defenders and midfield. Goalkeepers possessed a very limited role in developing attacks.
The Present Day
In 2023 goalkeepers are being taught to be confident with their footwork on the ball and it is becoming standard practice for goalkeepers to focus on their technical ability. Guardiola’s pioneering concepts in relation to the position of goalkeeper has filtered down through the English Football League pyramid.
Darren Currie, a UEFA-qualified coach, and current Southend United assistant manager explained that goalkeepers are now required to possess and maintain a high standard of technical ability in relation to footwork, for high-pressure situations which might unravel during a game.
As more managers become inspired by the style implemented by Guardiola, it will become more frequent to see goalkeepers have extremely well-developed footwork to complement their team's style tactically. Teams such as Brighton, Brentford, and Aston Villa now require their number one to have a high calibre of footwork to suit their club’s tactics.
Until recently, goalkeepers were instrumental in only keeping the opposition's shots out the back of the net. Nonetheless, in the present-day game, goalkeepers are well-developed all-round technical athletes, who are becoming more crucial to managers' tactics to help the team build attacks through them.
