European Goalkeepers?

Guy:Incognito

short and simple on ethis, what is it with european goalkeepers punching everything. They punch really easy to catch balls and its been going on for years, y?.anyone any opinions

Big Ears

I beleive it all started with the famous (well to some people it is ) Arconada . When Michelle Platini took a Free-kick against Spain in the final of Euro 84 ( it may not have been the final or 84 , but I wasnt born then so I dont know ) Platini shots was going right ino the bottom right corner , but the keeper got to it , but instead of palming it away he tried to catch the ball . the ball slipper under his arms somehow , and France ended up winning (note this was only the first goal in a 3-2 win ) .

I think from then on continental keepers were instructed to punch by their coaches , to prevent an Arconada .(this is only a theory I made up )

But the European goalkeepers arent the only ones , when u think about it only Northern European goalkeepers (UK , Ireland , Norway , Sweden , Denmark , Finland , not Iceland for some reason ) and United States goalkeepers catch the ball the majority of the time . The rest just punch .

mike65

I dunno why the punch action is so popular these days, it makes no good sence to keep the ball "live" if you can catch and smother.

Mike.

Big Ears

Originally posted by mike65
I dunno why the punch action is so popular these days, it makes no good sence to keep the ball "live" if you can catch and smother.

Mike.

counter attack maybe , that if your very good at punching.

Dewey

I wonder if it has anything to do with the fact that the silver ball for Euro 2004 is lighter and maybe they have been trying to catch the ball in traning but it not working so they punch it away, that is what i've come up with.

Big Ears

Well these same goalkeepers have been punching the ball for years , its not just now .

KdjaCL

Ball + Pro Footballer + Shot = 60mph plus

Lets see you catch it!!!!!
Also with the new lighter balls catching isnt an option the things move a lot, in the keepers best interest to punch it away.
For one if he tries to catch it and it drops it will drop in front of him, giving an eager striker a simple chance keeper is instantly flatfooted.
Secondly punching away gives defenders time to get their line sorted.
Thirdly there is no such thing as a keeper who is good on crosses they dont exist ,the ball is being aimed for you not to get it so keepers are strecthing so have to punch or the whole dropping thing happens.

Kdjac

Guy:Incognito

im not talking bout vicious shotss im talking bout easily catchable stuff that keepers in the premiership are catching week-in week out, the european keepers are punching, they also never catch crosses they just punch them.

Guy:Incognito

Originally posted by KdjaC

Thirdly there is no such thing as a keeper who is good on crosses they dont exist

course there is, a keeper whop isnt good on crosses is one that drops crosees that should be esy to catch or are close to the goal (inside the six yard box. As well as a keeper who comes for stupid things that are way to far out. Hence they are bad at catching crosses they should get or ones they should never be trying to get.

KdjaCL

There is no such thing as a decent keeper on crosses, every keeper is weak against a ball thats aimed for someone else.

I think you are listening to the BBC or Sky about the whole europens punching balls away.
How many keepers in Premiership are from ouside Irl/Uk???


kdjac

Guy:Incognito

its not a recent thing, its been like that for years. Kahn is a prime example of it. TBH i think they do it on certain shots to make it look better. A reasonabley well hit shot to one side at about waist high, within catching distance Kahn (and lots of others) will sping àt it with his fists rather than take a reasonably easy catch.

DEmeant0r

Maybe to get things more exciting, if things stay active it's far more entertaining for the crowd than to catch it.

damnyanks

If the goalie punches the ball properly it can go 25 - 35 yards out in some cases. Since this happens usually when opponents are attacking it is a great way for a quick counter.

It doesnt seem likely (Although possible) that goalies would do this to look better as there have been a good few real bloopers over time from punching to opponents or just into stupid areas etc. Also perhaps the ball has a influence on it. They brought the smaller lighter ones in last world cup? If so was all the punching still very common before that ?

Jivin Turkey

Originally posted by Stekelly
keepers in the premiership are catching week-in week out

Doesnt David James play in the premiership?

KdjaCL

Originally posted by Jivin Turkey
Doesnt David James play in the premiership?

Rolf.... good point.


kdjac

eirebhoy

Originally posted by KdjaC
There is no such thing as a decent keeper on crosses

Of course there is. A keeper that catches a high percentage of the ball he goes for is good at crosses, a keeper that drops a high precentage of them is bad.:)

mayordenis

to be honest someone like buffon could punch a ball out of his box all day long without errors, so i think obviuosly in the 90's it started to catch on as some of the better keepers at the time were punching and people learned from them.
its like when beckham hit the half way line shot we were all out trying to mangle our ankles in an unthinkable fashion.

thejollyrodger

continental sides are usually very technical about these matters... remember them doing something similar a few years ago that caused the same debaet.

Some of the balls coming into the box could be caught quite easily by the keeper, i cant see the reasoning in trying to catch it unless its very hard. Perhaps if they dropped it, it would make it easier for a striker to score.

But averaging up the number of times you may drop it to the number of times it may fall to a striker when the keeper punches it, I would favour the keeper catching it.

leeroybrown

I think it comes down to 'keeping things simple'. Goalkeeping coaches are probably instructing keepers (especially young ones) to punch hard through the ball unless it's an easy catch. That way theres less risk of indecisiveness when a ball that's awkward to catch and far easier to punch reaches the keeper.

I'd rather see the top keepers catch a lot more ball as a good catch and throw can spark a counter attack whereas even a solid two handed punch is less well directed and has a high chance of landing at the feet of an opposing player.