Be Bold, Young GK

Goalkeeper Starting Position

Youth GKs kill me The adults who allow/encourage this sort of thing kill me when youth GKs camp out under the crossbar of their goal for the full match.  A very wise GK coach I work with time to time advised me the other day that a good teacher of the game will train a young GK for the way they will play as an adult, and simply accept the consequences at the youth level that will bring.  Meaning, play high off the goal line where appropriate, and understand that a 4-foot-10 kid will give up goals over their head...but when they're 18, stand closer (or hopefully over) six feet tall, those'll be easy saves.  "Positioning should be based on where they are going to evolve to...not based on short-term success."  

At any rate, take a gander at Ter Stegen's starting position on this cross by Man City's Navas in the 61st minute.  In the first still image, Navas has just received the ball off a Barca turnover just in front of the technical area visible at the bottom of the screen:

Ter Stegen can be seen seven or eight yards off his line, and doesn't flinch much as he knows the odds of a successful shot from this location are virtually nil.

Here the cross has just been struck, Ter Stegen will be well aware there's one runner in the area...this means that so long as Ter Stegen & Co. don't allow him to get the ball, there is no danger whatsoever.  This is liberating for a GK of his quality as it means he can go anywhere and take all manner of risk so long as the one danger man is dealt with:

Navas has to hit the target, a teammate running on an angle some 25 or 30 yards away, all while missing the Barca player trying to block the cross...not easy (Navas was 0-4 in his substitute shift on crosses).  Ter Stegen, for his part, leaves a small opening at the front post to shoot at (and if Navas declines to go at goal here, so will every other mortal soccer player) and his boldness pays off as he takes a couple steps to his right and forward and makes a relatively easy catch.  Of course, any error in his handling and it's trouble, but there's risk in everything.

All too often young GKs are instantly back on their line when possession is lost, especially as in this case when the turnover occurs in their own half, and thus this type of easy catch is never made...and while the play wasn't particularly dangerous for Barcelona, had Ter Stegen started too deep, that ball was directly in the path of the runner who was very clearly onside.