There are weeks when I’m literally finding myself scraping the bottom of the barrel to be able to find relevant saves. It’s not that there are weeks with zero good saves in any of the leagues across the globe potentially. It’s just that for the most part on this segment I want to bring things that are over the top or saves that can provide wonderful teaching points. There were a couple this week that met the criteria in the teaching point side. They just didn’t have the visual firepower. Also, coincidently some of these saves were made by goalkeepers who lost badly this week. Most of the guys on the best saves Premier League goalkeepers list this week that took the L. One of them even had his coach sacked.
Although losses and especially big time losses don’t disqualify you from this list, it’s hard to bring on some of these guys. The sad truth of goalkeeping though is that when you have the chance to make superb saves there are a lot of times when your team is in a bad spot. Dutchman Tim Krul is the only winning goalkeeper in the best saves Premier League goalkeepers this week! I do want to hand out an honorable mention to Dibu Martinez. He had an amazing save from a frontal shot from up close that almost made the list. There was a Pickford save also that screamed awesome ball security, but these are the top 5 that I’m going with this week.
5. Jason Steele vs Aston Villa – What You Should Do In A Cross
I thought it was really important to put this one up this week because in the errors articles a lot of crossing plays keep coming up. More often than not, the media, and even goalkeepers around the game love to point the finger at a colleague when they make a mistake in a cross. However, we rarely highlight plays where they make the right decision. This one is really tough because the cross comes in almost to a point where he could arguably come out and try to high point the ball. Steele decides to stay put. What’s really critical though is that he keeps himself in the play. He doesn’t get flustered and puts himself in no man’s land he’s walking the goal.
When the header comes in he’s in the sweat spot where he can dive forward to make the save. A lot of times we see goalkeepers as I mentioned either take steps back towards the goal when the ball is in the air. The other thing they do is they get caught trying to chase the ball, taking steps forward and getting out of position. I have to say this is a perfect way to play a crossing play when you’ve decided that you’re not coming out. He’s at a perfect angle, and he’s able to get enough on the ball when he makes the save to clear it away. Arguably this is one of the hardest saves to be able to replicate from what we’ve seen all year!
4. Tim Krul vs Southampton – Reaction Save Helped By Length
If the ball had come in a bit lower and Tim really had to put his hand in the ground to make the save this could’ve been further up on the list. Still, it’s a great all around save. Naturally, for a guy like him with how tall he is that natural length really helps him out. However, the lead up to the save is what I feel really makes this special. You see him not wanting to over commit to the near post. In these types of plays where the striker is coming from one side it can be hard to find the perfect spot where you can have more of an effect on an incoming shot. Tim finds the right spot here. He sort of baits him to take that near post shot.
The technique before the dive is textbook. He bends his knees arching his body just a bit, his palms are facing outward. He’s able to hold that position and still have enough power to push off and make the save. If you’re a younger keeper, and you’re having trouble holding your position or initial stance like Tim Krul does perfectly here, it could be time to amp up the leg work. It’s not like Tim’s got the most powerful legs ever. He’s kind of jumpy here which can come back to haunt you if the shot comes in when you’re in the air. He’s got just enough of a combination of leg strength and natural arm length to make the save. In reality each goalkeeper’s got to look for his or her limits in that department. Shorter keepers need more leg strength naturally.
3. David DeGea vs Watford – Two Penalty Kicks Back To Back
This was one of the weirdest turn of events for a goalkeeper that I’ve ever witnessed. I’m not just talking about the 2 penalty kick sequences. In those two back to back shots though what allows DeGea to essentially beat the striker twice is his composure. You can see it in his face he’s super calm when the shot comes in each time. Arguably the second save is better than the first. After this save though, later in the game he just becomes undone emotionally. That’s a testament to how things are at United right now. However, we’ll explore that side in the error article for this week!
The penalty kicks are mirror images of each other. DeGea does a couple of movements that we can take as potential fake outs things like that. But, In reality he’s signaling where he eventually does dive both times. The penalty taker the first time around wants to look at him to see if he’s going to move. DeGea stands his ground and the striker just hits a poor shot. The second time around he doesn’t look at him at all, and he still puts in a very poor effort. Even though keeping your composure does not guarantee anything it’s usually one of the best ways to save a penalty kick. If you do, you force the taker to feel like they have to hit a good shot to get it past you. There’s no exact science for this, but DeGea’s method was pretty good.
2. Jordan Pickford vs ManCity – Perfect 1v1
I really thought long and hard about putting this one at the top of the list of Best Saves Premier League Goalkeepers this week. Again, it’s one of those saves that could be a little hard to put on a poster. However, on the technical side of things it’s harder to do a lot of times because winning a 1v1 like this requires perfect timing. Also, I was very much a fan of how he’s able to make himself really big, stretching his arms out without losing total control of his body. That’s down to obviously great body control, but awesome leg strength to be able to react to the ball after he’s made the initial save. He keeps his concentration on the ball even though the Man City player is taking a major dive.
In a topic that’s a bit unrelated, Man City players flopped all game long. Much more so than I’ve ever seen anyone in the Premier League for a while! In this particular as I mentioned I believe it adds to the difficulty level of Pickford’s save. More than one goalkeeper would’ve stopped the play to try and start arguing about that flop. He kept his focus, and did what is sometimes really hard to do in these situations which is literally to find the ball. He located the ball, kept it safe and lived to fight another day. Man City just proved too much for Everton this weekend.
1 Best Saves Premier League Goalkeepers Matchday 12 – Fabianski vs Wolves
When you see this type of save you should realize why footwork is so important. When the ball is on the left side of the box from Fabianski’s perspective I don’t love that he stands straight up and kind of breathes some relief. If the cross would’ve come in at that point he could’ve found himself in trouble. However, he regains his composure and puts himself in perfect position. When the shot comes in he takes the superbly critical extra step, and then he just lets himself go. These types of saves are so awesome because you have to fly and find the ball. You’re kind of off script in many ways. Ultimately you find yourself kind of diving backwards which is something that you typically don’t want to do. That’s the only thing that you can do in this situation though.
He’s taking small steps forward in the box. He knows that what he’s trying to do is somewhat close off the shooting angle. The thing about this save is that it’s hard to be able to train your goalkeepers to be able to make them. You really don’t want to mimic this type of motion in a training exercise. You’d be putting too much at risk. Again though, that’s the beauty of it for an experienced goalkeeper. Fabianski knows it’s time to fly and hope for the best. Luckily for him that’s pretty much what happened.
