This week there were a lot of good saves in the Premier League and there’s one goalkeeper in particular who made the list not once but twice. To be honest, I’m personally really happy to put him on the list because he’s been one of those goalkeepers that’s been around the league for years. What he showed this week is that positioning is still the key to goalkeeping pretty much no matter how you want to look at it. There are a lot of different variations of saves on the best saves Premier League Goalkeepers for match day 11. If you haven’t seen last week’s list I’ll link to it. Hopefully we’ll be able to keep the tradition going.
Since this is only the second installment of this weekly tradition I do feel obliged to talk about the criteria that was used to make the list. There are potentially certain saves that are literally going to slip through my fingers. Sometimes that’s intentional though because I do want to look for variations in the save. Ultimately the site has become a bit of a teaching blog for goalkeepers. Therefore, I may over value a super technical save that you can learn a lot from over just an athletic play that only a handful of guys are going to be able to pull off. Still, I feel pretty strongly about my picks this week so let’s get started with the best saves, Premier League Goalkeepers for match day 11!
5. David De Gea vs Manchester City
David De Gea is weirdly the only keeper that appears on the list this week that will only appear once. If that didn’t make sense, I’m spoiling part of the rest of the list by saying you’ll see two goalkeepers appear twice. David had a solid outing and was the best player on the pitch for Manchester United this week in a losing effort. He made a couple of saves including one with his foot on what would’ve been the second own goal of the game that proves he’s not slowing down even though the once child prodigy is in his 30s at this point. There was talk about letting him go over the summer, but with performances like this he’s probably going to stick around for a while.
There are two things that make this save spectacular. The first thing that is next level is how quickly he gets up from the shot, and he’s in position to make a play on the ball. A lot of us would’ve been wobbling at best to the other side of the goal and would have never been able to dive to the far post to make the save. Arm strength, abs, amazing leg strength are all on display this is a gym save for sure. The teaching point here is simple, you don’t give up on the play. In any position that’s something that should be taught. A lot of times though it seems overly cliché. That’s not the case here. The hustle makes the save.
*The video gives us a bonus Ederson save from a Cristiano volley. That save was really close to cracking the top five this week!
4. Pope First Save vs Chelsea
This week’s saves highlight a bit of a grim part of goalkeeping in the sense that you can play a great game and still come up short. In fact, a lot of times you get a lot more chances to showcase your skills as a goalkeeper in a losing effort. For the obvious reason that you usually lose when the other team takes a lot of shots on goal. Burnley though were able to pull off an improbable tie with Chelsea and that was due in large part to the performance put together by Nick Pope. As was the case with De Gea there were a couple of saves that could’ve cracked the top 5 this week.
A lot of people are going to be quick to label this a reflex save. They’re not necessarily wrong, but you only get your body down that fast and that effectively if you’re well-trained. Sure, good natural reflexes help, but it’s perfect from as he goes to the ground. The rebound is one of those things that you can’t do too much about in a shot that’s as close as this one is. Pope shows amazing body control on this save. That being said, he took things to another level with his next save!
3. Pope Second Save vs Chelsea
I recently talked about bringing some nice variety to this save section. This save by Nick Pope once again is exactly what I mean. If the first save was made thanks to perfect form the second save is just pure improvisation. If there’s one thing that’s hard to teach in goalkeeping is being able to use your feet to make these types of saves. More than one keeper would’ve had the ball go through their legs. Just on the grounds that they wouldn’t know what to do with their feet. An argument could be made here that he’s looking for the ball, and he’s able to clear it away. This wasn’t one of those saves that can be labeled a happy coincidence.
Is this something that you can train, being able to move your feet like this? There are a lot of interesting futsal drills that you can try out. At times coaches feel too much feet saving is a bad habit. Personally I would rather learn the skill and then try and work out what type of shots you’re going to use your feet and what you need your hands for. If you don’t ever work on the skill that part of your game will be non-existent.
2. Ben Foster Corner kick Save vs Arsenal
The cycling GK proved this week that he’s still got something left in the tank. As I mentioned before, sadly his great performance still came in a losing effort. He also had a play where he came off the line a bit awkwardly. Since he came off the line he was able to save a goal as he left the Arsenal striker offside. This first save that made it on the list is such a veteran goalkeeper save. We saw this week a reportedly top goalkeeper like Allison have trouble with a similar play that Foster is able to manage in stride.
In reality the key to this save is to not get flustered when you’re fighting off a defender or even a teammate in the box on a corner kick. Premier League refs are letting them play on corner kicks, and that really makes the goalkeeper’s job much harder. He has to fight off his own teammate, he keeps his eyes on the ball trajectory, and he just puts himself in the right position to make the save. The fact that he’s able to stick the foot out and make the save may be attributable to all of the cycling that he’s apparently doing! We saw something similar with Hugo Lloris last week. Having the patience to navigate the goal and put yourself in the right spot makes goalkeeping much easier.
Best Saves Premier League Goalkeepers Match Day 11 2021: Best Save
1. Ben Foster Penalty Kick Save vs Arsenal
Don’t ever let people fool you into thinking that penalty kicks are just about luck. Actually, as a penalty kick taker you can get lucky and put one in the net from time to time. As a goalkeeper to be able to make a save you need this type of skill. You can see from how hard he pushes off to his right that Foster is committed to that side. The trick though is committing to one side in your mind, but not letting the penalty taker know where you’re going too early. That first part Foster pulls off masterfully. It’s arguably the second part of the save though that’s even better.
The reason I say he commits to the side is because you can tell he’s actually coming in too hot for where the shot is. What he’s able to do is change his hand position in midair to be able to make the save. For a lot of goalkeepers this is one of those PKs that you guessed the side right, but ultimately it still goes in. Foster’s hand movement in midair allows him to make the save. He gets his foot in as well, to be able to deflect the ball. He’s got a leg up in the air and still he’s able to land and pounce back on the ball in a heartbeat. I have to try cycling because I want to be able to do that at 38!
Best Saves Premier League Goalkeepers Match Day 11 2021: Conclusion
Really loved the variety of saves that we got to see this week. Also, the fact that different goalkeepers are involved this week compared to last week really speaks to the level of play of Premier League goalkeepers. You look around and there are some pretty medium to lower tier teams that start top talent at goalkeeper. That’s not something that is overly common in any other league in the world. Speaking of other leagues, why not check out this week’s saves in La Liga?
