After a 4-0 drubbing, normally the goalkeeper would be under pressure, and feeling very sorry for themselves. Well not always. Frequently, the score line would have been much worse had it not been for the heroics of the goalkeeper.

In this post, we look in detail at the recent heroics of Lukas Fabianski against a rampant Liverpool. Often it looked like Fabianski versus Liverpool, with barely a teammate in sight.

Performances like this should remind young keepers that it’s a team game, and a drubbing could obscure a goalkeeping performance to be proud of.

In the recent EPL game between Liverpool and West Ham (nicknamed the “hammers”) keeper Fabianski was busy throughout the whole 90+mins, ,making save after save, and he was blameless for all the 4 goals the hosts scored.

in this post we’ll look at a couple of the saves which demonstrate some high skill techiniques, and are worth learning from. The video highlights at the end of the post shows all the saves he made.

Firstly let’s look at the reflex save he makes as the ball is played through and the striker Mané motions toward the ball to put the keeper off, but lets it go. Fabianski doesn’t take his eyes off the ball, and makes a smart reflex parry as the ball passes him, securing it at the second attempt.

 

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

The next save demonstrates how to move your feet quickly and maintain the best angle as the striker approaches.

IMG_0731
Liverpool work the ball to the right hand side
IMG_0732
And Fabianski sets himself for a shot
IMG_0735
With the striker clear a shot looks certain
IMG_0736
And Fabianski has the perfect angle to minimize sight of goal
IMG_0737
So the striker passes back to a colleague
IMG_0738
Who takes a snap shot
IMG_0739
But Fabianski has Re-set and is in the perfect position to block Salah’s shot

 

The final save is probably the best – from a wonderful free-kick, Fabianski moves sharp to his right to keep it out.

 

The full highlights are here,

and it’s easy to lose count how many saves he makes, but at 38seconds you’ll see the first amazing reflex save above, while the second, where he narrows the angle is at  1.15.

The takeaways from this post are;

just because you let a lot of goals in, and some may have been all your fault, does not mean you played badly in goal.

sometimes the score line hides a truly superb goalkeeping performance, as in this game.

Try to turn the negatives into positives – learn from each situation, even those where no goal resulted, and make yourself stronger.