We had some nasty weather in plenty of these games in the Premier League this week. That’s potentially something that we’re going to have to expect moving forward at least for a couple of months. It was amazing to me though that none of the Goalkeeper errors Premier League players made this week were due to the weather. In fact, this is going to be the first time in the entire history of these lists where we have a non goalkeeper making the main mistake. The reason why a play like this makes the list is because as a goalkeeper you have to say something when you see a player about to make a massive blunder. It’s a team game. What you do without the ball is also important.
With the weather being the way that it was it’s really incredible that I had a tough time finding mistakes this week. I do believe that speaks to the level of goalkeeping that we see every week in the Premier League. I’ve talked about this before. Even lower level teams in the league seem to feature capable goalkeepers at the very least. Yes, there are some guys that are less consistent than we want them to be. If you don’t like the guy who plays between the sticks for your team it’s understandable. Just know that you could have it much worse. Just take a peek at LaLiga, and you’ll find some guys that make you wonder how they got so far! In any case, here’s the goalkeeper errors Premier League goalkeepers made this week!
5. Martin Dúbravka vs Arsenal – Yes Professionals Do Get Scared
This play could’ve ended up really badly, and I’m not talking about ending in a goal. Which, obviously that’s what ended up happening anyway. In these plays though as a goalkeeper you could be better off trying to affect the ball or better yet compete for the ball with the striker just as the pass arrives. What allows the Arsenal player to make the final touch into the net is the fact that Martin Dúbravka stops. If he keeps going we could have a collision, and we could see a PK. There are a lot of things that could’ve happened. The way I see it he played it as safe as he could. The result was a goal. Honestly if you’re in Sunday league play that could be the best way to play these moments.
When you’re in the Premier League playing Arsenal going in with a bit more force may have been the right call. The way I see it Martin Dúbravka got cold feet, he got scared of the collision. These are the moments where it’s really hard to be a goalkeeper. Your rational decision-making is going to tell you to stop and avoid the collision. If he goes maybe one step further he’s able to make a play on the ball. It maybe hits him in the face or something. Again, it’s a hard play. Still, I get the sense that he could’ve done more.
4. Daniel Bachmann vs Leicester City – Go All The Way
As I mentioned in the opening paragraph, the weather got really bad for some of the games. You can make the argument that this was the game where things got worse! Surprisingly though none of the errors that we found in this game came at the time of the massive snow storm. Watford though really made an effort to help their opponents out in this game. This play is very similar to the one that we just talked about. There is a reason why this error is ahead on the list compared to the last one. It’s not because this error leads up to another Watford error. Although that was convenient.
The goalkeeper doesn’t just take a long time to come out. He does so rather slowly. Vardy is seeing that the keeper is going to come out, and that small chip takes him out of the play. If he comes out faster does that mean that he won’t concede the goal. Not necessarily, but in some of these plays the best thing that you can hope for is to make the striker as uncomfortable as you can. With a player of Vardy’s caliber this was just too easy. He spots the goalkeeper coming out, he lofts the ball with a lot of time to spare, and he celebrates the goal. Granted by this point Daniel Bachmann was potentially frozen in place. So we can’t be that harsh with him. The weather in that game was insanely bad.
3. Watford Defense Error vs Leicester City – You Need To Talk
Goalkeeper coaches spend quite a bit of time on different commands that they want their goalkeepers to dish out. It’s a good idea to keep things short and simple when you’re trying to communicate with defenders. In this particular situation you have to realize though what your defender wants to do and just yell at him at the top of your lungs not to do it. I recognize that this wasn’t necessarily a Daniel Bachmann error. Therefore, I don’t credit him with it in the title. Goalkeepers need to help defenders locate attacking players on the field. That being said, sometimes certain defenders are beyond help. This is one of those plays that just isn’t worth the risk. Why even bother trying it? Don’t get cute.
Daniel Bachmann just lifts his hands up saying what are you doing at the end of this play. As a goalkeeper all you can really do is try your best to communicate better as I mentioned. To be honest though there are just moments when you can’t overcome teammate errors. We’re going to get a chance to see another one of those coming up here shortly.
2. Mendy vs Manchester United – So Lucky It Wasn’t A Goal
There’s a saying in Latin America that roughly translated from Spanish would say, “If you’re not lucky you can’t be a goalkeeper”. For me Mendy is one of the luckiest goalkeepers in the world. I’m not trying to say this to undermine his body of work. On the contrary he’s been one of those goalkeepers who has had to take a long route to get to where he is today. That being said every time that he touches the ball with his feet I cringe. The passes are not crisp and not always on target. Yet, I’ve never seen a major error that he’s had when trying to play the ball with his feet. If you look at some of the plays that he’s involved in you can’t deny luck’s got something to do with it.
He’s playing a bit risky to begin with. The defender wants no part in bailing him out, so he gives the ball back to him. It’s not like the Manchester United player tried to hide to be able to jump in front of the pass and intercept it. He just puts the ball right where the United player is. This creates what could be a 2 on 1 with two United players for one defender. Then the Mendy luck comes into play. The attacker just inexplicably wants to make an awesome play lobbing the ball over Mendy for the goal. That went about as well as you could’ve expected. This could be out of the list because it wasn’t a goal. It was so bad though, that I had to find a spot for it.
Goalkeeper Errors Premier League Matchday 13 – Error Of The Week
1. Jorginho vs Manchester United – Yeah I Know He’s Not A Goalkeeper
This play was so bad, and quite frankly there were a limited amount of errors by the goalkeeper this week. So, I thought it would be the perfect week to put a field player at number one. What’s amazing here is that he’s having trouble getting control of the ball way before he makes the pass. Which is ok, it happens to the best of us. In that position he has all of the time in the world to be able to regroup and just kick the ball into the stands. The brazilian-Italian player though still feels that he’s got it in him to be able to make a fancy play. So he decides to play the ball back to Mendy. At some point you have to have the awareness to hit the abort button.
There’s really nothing that Mendy can do here. Other than go up to Jorginho and lift him up. This is one of those plays where you know that there is no one else to blame but you on the pitch. This isn’t even like the Watford play. Where we could make the argument that there needs to be better communication between the defender and the goalkeeper. This is just a case of a field player totally screwing up. Mendy puts in a valiant effort to try and save the shot. It just wasn’t to be. Just on Chelsea errors alone United should’ve won that game.
