Defending Crosses

Nerves Of Steel

Here's why the old-fashioned cry of "just put it in the box" is ill-advised.  Mind you, GKs have been doing this stuff for decades...but these days the level of organization inside the penalty area means that GKs and backs are accounting for very small margins.  Attackers must be very cool and precise to break down such defenses.

Wojciech Szczesny pulls out all the stops to defend this Man City cross.  The attack comes from a tough angle for the GK as the player with the ball is able to threaten the goal, particularly if the defender over-pursues and allows him to run at the goal.  The attacker is also well-positioned to play a ball between the GK and the covering CB (Per Mertesacker) for the central attacker to run on to.  To mitigate some of these threats, Szczesny does a quick little cheat move, though in the end the attacker elected to play a ball into a space reasonably comfortably covered by Mertesacker who cleared over the endline for a corner.  For a GK, however, the lesson is a good one in terms of excellent footwork and timing to gain an advantage...perhaps his movements forced the crosser to pick out a less dangerous pass.

With the attacker just approaching the edge of penalty area, Szczesny has a solid, if basic, starting position:

As the attacker is put under a small bit of pressure, puts his head down to attack the defender and advance into the penalty area, Szczesny jumps a yard or more, nearly to the top of the 6 yard area to get a jump on the ball played centrally:

As the cross is played, Szczesny identifies that the ball is an excellent one, and unplayable by the GK.  He now relies on Mertesacker to cover the top of the 6 as Szczesny prepares to face a shot in case Mertesacker gets beaten to the ball...most key is that as soon as the cross is played, Szczesny has recovered back to the goal line, his original starting position so that he can cover the goal line laterally from a strong position and an athletic posture - he has given himself every possible chance to save a shot:

Here's the replay from a different angle.  The attacker enters the penalty area, and Szczesny has moved from his left shoulder outside the back post to his right shoulder inside the back post:

Jumped out to here as attacker looks up...

...and slides back to the goal line as the attacker plays the cross.