After any unforced error, goalkeepers can receive a barrage of abuse on social media.
Whether you’re a man or woman between the sticks,
you’re likely to receive negative comments at some point in your career.
But if you are a high-profile woman who plays in goal, it can – and has often been - particularly
bad. For a long time, goalkeeping errors have been used to undermine the women’s game and the
athletes who play it. But at Euro 2022, not many people are talking about the keepers.
And that’s largely because they’ve been very good.
“We are seeing the best level of goalkeeping that we ever have,” former England keeper Rachel
Brown-Finnis told The Athletic. “There have been times in previous tournaments where a goalkeeper
has been a weak point and teams will recognise that and use it to their advantage, but there
hasn’t been a goalkeeper in this tournament so far that’s looked vulnerable or been a weak point.
Brown-Finnis picks out the German ‘keeper, Merle Frohms.
“She’s come in with a handful of caps and (some)
of the saves she made against Spain were outstanding — the height of athleticism.”
One Frohms save in particular left everyone at the Brentford Community Stadium astonished.
Germany were 2-0 up with 20 minutes to go in the group stage as Spain looked for a
way back into the game. A ball over the top from Barcelona midfielder Patricia
Guijarro and a perfectly timed run by Mariona Caldentey broke through the German back line,
only for Frohms – who plays for Wolfsburg – to throw out
a glove and deflect a powerfully struck shot over the crossbar.
There was another brilliant moment earlier that day, during the meeting
between Denmark and Finland in Milton Keynes.
Denmark were holding on for a 1-0 win, when – in stoppage time - Finland substitute Jenny
Danielsson rifled a shot towards the top right corner that looked like a certain equaliser.
But Lene Christensen leapt towards it, tipping the ball around the post with startling agility.
It was another remarkable save to add to an already
bulging playlist of top saves in this European Championship.
Finland exited the competition in the group stage, but their goalkeeper also produced
outstanding moments before their departure – and also produced her best against Spain.
When Laia Aleixandri headed an Ona Batlle cross down and towards goal, Tinja-Riikka Korpela pulled
off an outstanding stop as she shuffled across her line to get a hand to it at full stretch.
“What you want to see in any goalkeeper is them moving their feet quickly,
looking agile; then they can make excellent, technical saves,” says Brown-Finnis,
who is covering the tournament as a co-commentator for the BBC. “If an error happens,
it’s because of either a poor technique or poor decision. And we’re seeing very few of those.”
So, why the improvement?
Early, specialist training is a factor, she says,
pointing out that England’s Mary Earps, Hannah Hampton and Ellie Roebuck have all
had goalkeeper coaching since a very young age and have played in England’s under-15s and under-17s.
“They’ve had regular professional goalkeeping coaches pretty much since they decided they
wanted to be goalkeepers. That’s fantastic. That’s where we always wanted the game to be.”
“Goalkeepers have been an afterthought in some respects and when you look at past
championship-winning teams in the Women’s Super League, the likes of Chelsea and Arsenal, one of
their strongest parts of who they are is because of their last line of defence; their goalkeepers.
“People are starting to recognise and realise that goalkeepers win titles. With that,
there’s been a bigger focus on coaching keepers, improving them and getting the best out of them.”
Earps’ performances, in particular, impressed Brown-Finnis. Even though the Manchester
United goalkeeper had few saves to make during the 8-0 dismantling of Norway in Brighton on Monday,
she had to stay switched on throughout as the goals flowed at the other end of the pitch.
“The mindset of a top-level goalkeeper is something that a lot of people probably
haven’t considered. It’s very different to that of outfielders,” Brown-Finnis says.
“Being the last line of defence is one aspect. Another is we have to stay concentrated all game,
every game, whether you’ve been peppered (with shots) or whether you’ve got nothing
to do. That’s a really strong performance quality in a goalkeeper. You are born with
some of those qualities but concentration is one of the things you work on relentlessly.
But another factor in the overall performance of goalkeepers at
this tournament, and perhaps a legacy of that earlier, more specialised training,
has been the quality of the keepers’ footwork and their ability to cover their goals and
their penalty boxes and reach shots which might have previously been out of reach.
“You can’t get away from the fact that the average (women’s) goalkeeper size
is probably about 5ft 9in (175cm), which is very different to men’s goalkeeping,
and yet the size of the goal is the same. We are trained in a different way
because of that,” the former Liverpool, Everton and Arsenal keeper explains.
“What you have to do is work your feet quicker, to cover the full goal. It’s not
about relying on size. You work relentlessly on agility, on power, so that you can cover
the goal and you just see those saves being made in a slightly different way.”
And anybody who has watched this tournament will have noticed that.
“Ultimately, those saves are being made,
those crosses are being collected. Goalkeepers are dominating their areas.”
Yes, the women’s game has always had goalkeepers capable of making
excellent saves, but the regularity seems to have greatly increased.
The level of analysis has also intensified and that’s been another contributing factor.
“It’s important having the expertise around you to be able to analyse your game:
how did you make that save? Looking at your movement, where your bodyweight was centred,
being in exactly the right place at exactly the right time to push off,” Brown-Finnis says.
“What we’re seeing is the result of the level of detail coaches and players are getting into. The
finer details are things you want to get absolutely spot-on.”