Choosing a Goalkeeper

[Bernkastel]

Have you ever been forced to choose between to goalkeepers for your first team?

Perhaps you are lucky enough to be struggling with the choice between to wonderkid goalkeepers.

Maybe you have lost your first choice keeper and are now searching the market for a substitute. 

Have you ever thought about what your tactics demand from your keeper?

Lets start by enumerating and explaining the attributes of goalkeepers:

Aerial Ability: how high in the air he can reach, what the other players call jumping reach. Jumping reach only affects a goalkeeper when heading the ball outside his own area,

Command of area: how likely is he to attempt to intercept a cross. The higher the attribute the more likely he is to attempt this. Careful, this attribute has nothing to do with how successful he will be.

Communication: communication is an interesting attributes in that it affects the defense. A higher attribute means a boost to a defenders mental game while a lower can work against him.

Eccentricity: how likely is he to attempt to dribble, rush out to challenge someone to a one on one or dwell on the ball. This attribute is a double edge sword. A higher attribute means he will close down a striker that has bypassed your defense more often and sooner, but it also means he might try to to dribble that very same striker. 

Handling: how well can a goalkeeper catch the ball without dropping it. A higher handling ability results in fewer parries and overall a safer time for your defenders since rebounds are reduced. 

Kicking: the distance (not accuracy) a goalkeeper can kick the ball. The higher the number the further it will go. Accuracy is measured by vision, technique, decisions, anticipation and teamwork like any other player.

One on ones: how well he deals with situations where the striker is in front of the goalkeeper. The higher the attribute the more difficult for the player to score. 

Reflexes: how well he reacts to shots. The higher the attribute the sooner and better he will move to block or catch the ball.

Rushing out: will your keeper rush to face a striker or claim a loose ball? The higher teu attribute he better he will be at making the call. Careful, he still needs pace and acceleration to pull it off. Anticipation and decisions also play a part. 

Tendency to punch: how likely he is to punch and parry catchable balls. So is this a bad attribute? Not exactly. Imagine if Karius had deflected Bale's shot with his fist, Liverpool would not have received a third goal and might have very well scored themselves into extra time. If a goalkeeper is bad at handling this could be his lifesaver.

Throwing: how accurate a goalkeeper is with his hands. This time it is distance that is determined by other attributes, in this case strength.

Now that atributtes are covered lets talk about sweeperkeepers. 

Sweeperkeepers are special in that they need to be good at goalkeeping but also be comfortable on the ball (technique, first touch, passing) and have good vision (vision, anticipation, teamwork, decisions).

I have a decent keeper with good technical and mental attributes and a better keeper who is not comfortable on the ball, who should I use as a sweeperkeeper? Go for the guy with comfortable on the ball, the other guy will concede stupid goals by passing the ball to the opponent or dwelling on the ball too much.

Your keeper should be determined by your defensive line. A high line means there is going to be space behind your defense so he needs one on one, rushing out, pace, positioning and reflexes.

When playing a low defensive line there is going to be space on front of your defense so the goalkeeper needs Aerial Ability, Command of area, reflexes, handling and communication.

Isn't handling important for a high line? Not as much, the goalkeeper in a highline must first and foremost be able to deal with one on one situations against players who have left the defenders behind.

The goalkeeper in a low defensive lines often finds himself surrounded by both his defenders and the opponents forwards and shouldn't just parry balls to whoever is nearby for that person could be an opponent striker who has suddenly found himself with a very nice chance against an open goal.

All keeper attributes are important for all keepers but to me handling is most important for a goalkeeper who must generally deal with crosses and long shots. 

You mentioned reflexes twice, why? To me reflexes is the number one stat for a goalkeeper. A goalkeeper must place any part of his body between the goal and the ball. The attribute that determines how soon he reacts to a shot and therefore how well he can deal with it is reflexes.

Think of the 2010 world cup final. Robben is in possession and has beaten Casillas who is on the floor, all he has to do is shoot and he will do what not even Cruyff could do by giving a world cup to the Netherlands. He lobs the ball ever so slightly. And Casillas raises his leg just enough to deflect the shot. Spain went on to win.

Those were Casillas' reflexes doing at work. A knee jerk reaction to a shot. 

Think of Ochoa saving Neymar's header in the 2014 world cup just before the ball crosses the goal line. He failed to collect the ball (aerial reach, command of area) or grab onto it (handling) but his reflexes earned him, an admittebly shortlived, worldwide fame.

I am sure you can come up with your own examples where every other attribute has failed but reflexes saved the day.

I am not saying that reflexes alone make a good keeper but to me it is the first attribute I look at. If you don't have good reflexes for the level of football you are playing at there is no way you are keeping for my team.

I hope that you find this post instructive. It is simply my way of looking at goalkeepers, if there is any question ask away. If there is any critique, critique to your heart's content.

I am writing this because I am not sure if I am going to have the fortitude to write for my "The Special Way" topic after a 700km journey by car and I don't want to completely break the promise to write about football manager.

[JeffDogg]

I have to choose between those 2 guys:

 

I go with Herwitz, just because he was considered 4.5 stars instead of 1 for De Waard. Also Herwitz was loaned for a few years and I wanted to give him his chance. He took it.

[Bernkastel]

3 hours ago, JeffDogg said:

I have to choose between those 2 guys:

 

I go with Herwitz, just because he was considered 4.5 stars instead of 1 for De Waard. Also Herwitz was loaned for a few years and I wanted to give him his chance. He took it.

Both your keepers are excellent for a low block. They are not as good when playing in a highline because their rushing out is lacking but they do have an excellent one on one.

However you play you are right to choose Herwitz, he has the better attributes for both kinds of keeping and his mental stats help him as a sweeperkeeper even if his passing is worse than Stefan's.

I had forgotten to talk about goalkeeper distribution. 

There are two keeping attributes that determine distribution. Kicking (how far he can send a ball with his feet) and throwing (how accurately he can distribute the ball with his hands).

Additionally, distribution is determined by strength (how far he can throw) and the typical mental attributes of a playmaker (vision, teamwork, anticipation, decisions)

I want my keeper to throw the ball long like Reina or Smeichel. Your keeper needs throwing, strength and vision above all else. The other playmaking attributes help.

My keeper has a poor reading of the game, is he going to give away possession whenever he has the ball? if your keeper lacks mental attributes I would have him pass to the fullbacks (the safest option that still retains possession most of the time or if he has great kicking I would have him distribute over position defense. A keeper with good kicking and a target man with Bravery and Off the ball make for some good route one football.

 

 

[MadOnion]

I know what you mean and it can be tempting. I do have a couple of wonderkids in the reserves, but at the moment I rotate between Zoet and Svilar. Felix is the 3rd GK.
At the moment my number is a 30yo (Zoet, model citizen) is the #1, whilst Svilar (who is already better than Zoet) plays in cup games and easy league games. I also have Felix coming through.
Zoet is currently mentoring both, so I'm hoping their personalities improved. That is the sole reason Zoet plays since I need his squad status to be as influential as possible.

1st Choice

 

Backup (arguably better than the 1st choice)

 

(Best under 19 GK in the squad)

[Warrenwwr]

Nice write up OP.

I've been trying to see how bad a gk I can get away with and still push for winning the cl. My current favorite is a regen who excels at nothing except agility handling and reflexes. He is 3 star rated for the cl. He is paid 30k pounds per week. He got MOM a few times in tough matches, incredibly in the final of the cl a few times. I'm talking about astonishing saves, pk saves u name it he did it.

From my own experience and my own tests with better gks agility, handling, reflexes are key. Meaning that to me  there's no attribute that noticeably compensates for these. So these have to be great on a gk for me to consider him. 

[FMunderachiever]

I think the two most important attributes for keepers IMO are command of area, and aerial reach.

I think aerial reach beats outright agility but reflexes are very important.

I tend to find too that even if their 1v1 attribute is low, keepers witj high aerial reach and command of area will be very good in one on one situations.

I dont look too closely at the passing stats but i dont tend to build up from the keeper either.