GK Starting Position

Cool It With The Front Post

The fear of the near...near post, that is.  This column shows a youth level GK, who is solidly college-bound, offerering exhibit "A" regarding conventional wisdom in goalkeeping.  Below, in this post we will look at the first goal scored by Messi in the first leg game against Bayern in the Champion's League semi-final.

Here's the youth player:

Is this a great save, or did his positioning offer a higher quality chance than the play should have warranted?

As a recruiter, I love the save, of course.  But it does go for a corner (set pieces account for 30-40% of goals, depending on the team and level) and only temporarily stays the danger.  Better than nothing, and very good athleticism,

But here's the thing, at the moment of contact, look where the GK has positioned himself:

For a ball this wide, is it reasonable to think the near post is the main concern?  Looking, too, at the shape of the attacker's body and this doesn't look like a shooting situation.  The GK is nearly on the goal line, but so too is the crosser; the GK should take a more aggressive position perhaps three or four yards off the goal line, and toward the back of the first third of the goal:

Perhaps, with the nearly 1.5 seconds it takes for the crosser to swing this ball in, the GK, had he started at the blue dot could have come to catch (gold standard) or box (better than a corner, usually), or at the very least, been at such an angle to catch the shot rather than going all the way across the goal to tip it out for a corner as he did.  Recall Ter Stegen against Man City earlier this Champion's League season.

Nitpicking?  Probably...but it's in these mere few feet that games can be won and lost.

Neuer took a beating for the front post goal by Messi, but consider these points:

1. Messi was on his left foot, so the far post shot is likely
2. Boateng had the front stick covered, or should have done
3. There's no way even Neuer can cover the far post against Messi at this range unless he cheats off the near post, &
4. The pace and shape of the shot made even that very small space difficult to defend.
5. Ever try to set up for the far post, the way Messi does, and try to yank the ball to the near post?  That ain't easy....

The German side played the odds, and with a slight mistake by Boateng and Messi's brilliance and shee courage, something came of nothing.

Here's the GIF of Messi's first goal in that fateful first leg:

See that little move Neuer makes, just as Messi loads up to shoot?  He's prepared for the far post shot, and he's banking on Boateng covering the front stick, but Boateng turns his back and lets the shot go past him.  Add to that whiff the nasty, dipping movement on the shot, and it's a cocktail for a GK disaster.  Any shot that takes that short hop directly in front of the keeper offers a nearly un-catchable ball, and the bounce is very difficult to judge accurately.

The folks at Statsbomb did this seminal piece on near versus far post shooting....and if you buy the argument, and that data make it awfully hard not to, Neuer was wisely playing the odds, and nearly got away with it.  In this screen grab at the end of the play, we can see that Neuer had stayed close enough to cover the post, he's obviously "there," it's just that the shot was powerful enough to squeeze by him.  9 out of 10 he saves the shot at that location....but that's why Messi is Messi...he's the 1 in 10 genius: