GK Blocking

Guts, Glory, Blocking

Photo/Video Analysis

Guts...Fabien Barthez had 'em in spades

I love watching brave GKs who make tough plays.  Few situations are tougher than the instances when the 'keeper can get to the attacker, but cannot commit to the ball, or get the hands to the ball.  The shooter will arrive at the ball a split second ahead of the GK, but the GK can reasonably expect to make a save by simply letting the shooter hit him or her.  It's difficult for so many reasons, including the lousy deal of just getting smacked with a shot, the sense of a lack of control, and the incredible athletic skill it takes to get close enough fast enough without over-pursuing or committing a foul.

Here are a couple shots of "blocking."  Blocking is a technique (3 techniques, actually, but more on that below) used when in a 1v1 situation where the attacker and GK are in close proximity to one another, and the attacker is able to play the ball before the GK can.  It's a last-ditch scenario, but one that occurs regularly.

The theory behind opting for a block (rather than diving hands-first):

• stay on feet
• stay bigger/wider/taller
• able to get up for rebound
• use of the legs allows for quicker cover of low shots; takes too long to lower the hands
• Make the shooter hit a spot; remain uncommitted as long as possible so the attacker can't take advantage of overly aggressive play

Central American style:

Think shortstop in baseball...body turned to one side, one knee down other up, make the body as low and wide as possible.  Less aggressive than the German style (below) wider than the American style (below) but committed a bit more to one side than another, and not as athletic as the American style.




American style:

Casillas shows the end of a play, one knee up, the other down, attempting to be centered on the ball.  This position keeps the GK on his feet, very low, and athletic enough to dive, run, or move in any other fashion.






German style:

Currently the style of choice in Europe...the nice thing is that the GK can stay on his feet as long as possible, then just kick one leg forward and drop, keeping the torso tall and arms spread.  There's a lot of person to hit with a potential shot.  It's last-ditch stuff, as it's highly unlikely the GK will control the ball, but it maximizes the surface area presented to the ball, it's pretty scary to the forward and while the GK does go to ground, it's pretty easy to pop back up from this position:

Manuel Neuer

Joel Robles of Everton.  Stopped this shot
with his right hand; the ball is going straight
down in this still after the stop.

Two angles of the same save by Neuer against Lewandowski in the UCL Final, 2013:

Thibeaut Courtois on loan to Athletico Madrid from Chelsea:

Neuer again:

and again...

It takes guts to spread yourself out in front of the ball...This German style above is the embodiment of the tradition of borderline psychotic characteristic of German goalkeeping.  Joe Hart shows he's a Teutophile, too:

 

But he's not Oliver Kahn:     

  

The Dane, Peter Schmeichel, went with a "star jump" approach a couple times, quite famously the save at the end of the play starting at the 3 minute, 30 second mark:

Here are a couple stills (forgive the formatting error!) of similar saves by Schmeichel:

                            

Roman Wiedenfeller with a standing block on Arjen Robben in last year's UCL Final.  Talk about laying it on the line:

 

High blocks:

Edwin Van Der Sar

Iker Casillas

By comparison, Rob Vartugian of the Philly Union is a proponent of going hands-first into these situations.  Zack McMath is a good practitioner of this approach, which is very aggressive and requires incredible timing; any failure to get the hands on the ball will result in the ball going past the GK.  Blocking won't allow the same degree of control; by definition it's a more passive play.  If a GK goes hands-first like McMath does in the film below, the ball will be driven away from goal if the 'keeper doesn't secure it.  Both approaches have pluses and minuses.  See the miss in this highlight by McMath at the 1 minute mark: