Angle Play
Once the goal keeper has established good body position, good projection of one’s self, good dynamic stability, good balance and equal distribution of weight, it’s time to start talking about angle play. Great goalkeepers
generally make their most spectacular saves between the six and the twelve yard lines. They come off their line,
and so should you! ‘But,’ you ask, ‘When?’ ‘How far?’ ‘Should I favor one post over the other?’ ‘What about chip shots?’
Angle Play is three dimensional. Obviously the keeper is concerned with left and right, the near post and the far post. They also must be concerned with balls kicked above their head. Additional factors that influence how far the goalkeeper should come off the goal-line include the following: their physical abilities, their physical dimensions,
the speed that the attacker is coming toward the goal, the likely speed of the shot; the likely direction of the ball (near post, far post, high or low), the likely flight path of the ball, rising, falling, or looping, and the condition of the field as far as ability to change positions is concerned.
The first priority in angle play positioning is to protect the near post. The ball has a shorter distance to travel and its speed will be greater. Tip: Two hands to the near post, one hand to the far post. Because the goalkeeper is more vulnerable near post, he/she must position themselves to be able to get two hands on any ball struck to the near post even if that means that they can only get one hand on a ball struck to the far post. If a goalkeeper is conceding goals to the near post, more than likely it is the result of poor positioning.
The best goalkeepers are not necessarily the most athletic goalkeepers. The best goalkeepers determine their positioning by their reading of the game and their anticipation of what is most likely to happen next. Their experience helps them constantly evaluate all the factors mentioned above and determine the optimal position on the field at any point in time. Then their athleticism and movement skills help get them there.
In angle play, the goalkeeper must constantly position themselves so that the flighted ball will split them in half, sending half to the near post and half to the far post. This straight line between the keeper and the ball is called the ball line. When the ball is in motion, the goalkeeper is in motion. When the ball is stationary, the goalkeeper is stationary. The motion of the keeper should be harmonious and in synch with the movement of the ball. Assuming that the attacker with the ball is marked, the further the ball is from the goal, the further the keeper is from the goal-line. The closer the ball to the goal, the closer the keeper is to his/her line.
For the purposes of angle play we could rename the posts the fast post and the slow post. The reason the near
post is the fast post is that the ball gets there quicker. It’s moving faster and has less distance to travel. We want
to invite the shooter to shoot for the far post. We hope that our defenders may be able to recover in time to assist
us on far post shots. Therefore, our positioning will usually favor the near or far post
One of the best aids in helping goalkeepers visualize correct angle play is the rope. Tie each end of the rope to each of the posts and then stretch it out to the point where the ball lies. The rope now delineates the widest possible ball paths that can result in a goal. As the position of the ball moves, the rope can be moved to continue to outline the shot cone. The player must move forward so that a dive in either direction will allow their hand(s) to extend to either boundary of the shot cone. This would mean that a smaller player would have to move out further than a tall player. While this does make the small player more vulnerable to chip shots, those are among the most difficult to execute, especially on the move.
The rope as a training aid is also valuable in teaching the correct angle to make the dive. Many goalkeepers
assume that their dive should be parallel to the goal line. Others believe that the dive should be some what forward. Still others believe that if they have advanced off their line that the dive should be slightly rearward.
Star Goalkeeper Tip: The most effective direction to dive to deny the greatest number of shots is perpendicular to
the rope line, that is, the outer edge of the shot fan.
There are approximately 360 non-overlapping paths that a ball can travel and go between the goal posts. It is the goalkeeper’s job to deny as many of these as possible to the shooter.
The goal is, of course, stationary and fixed in its’ dimensions. However, simply as a result of a goalkeepers
accurate positioning, the goal can be made to appear to a shooter to be much smaller than it really is.
Especially at the higher levels of play, a correct position can often be measured in inches - getting the fingertips
on the ball to deflect it wide.
Courtesy Dan Gaspar - Star Goalkeeping Academy.
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