Goalkeeper Watch Week Three – Three Points, Clean Sheet, Thank You Very Much

Goalkeepers are a funny bunch – often unnoticed, often underappreciated, and often misunderstood. Goalkeeper Watch shines the spotlight – good, or bad – on the men between the sticks.

In the third article of Goalkeeper Watch, the EFL and Premier League fixtures between Friday 27th and Monday 30th November are under the spotlight.

What does the perfect performance look like, for both players and fans? Ideals would likely differ between the two, but ultimately, a win makes a performance good to a certain extent.

Fans want to be entertained, and rightly so. However, one wouldn’t blame players for simply settling for a win and a solid, unspectacular performance to keep their names off the pundits’ blacklists for another week – especially goalkeepers.

As well all know, our friends in between the sticks can be heroes or villains – often the latter, but ultimately all goalkeepers know that they don’t necessarily have to pull off wonder save after wonder save to put in a ‘good performance’. For goalkeepers, unspectacular performances are essentially good performances, as it simply means that the other ten men (or women) on the field have the freedom to ‘do their thing’.

Unlike Wycombe and Brentford’s 0-0 stalemate at Adams Park just over a week ago, this week’s top shot-stopper did feature in a match with some goals – well, a goal.

Sam Johnstone spoke out about becoming a Premier League number one when West Brom were promoted from the Championship. It was a dream that Johnstone had held since his days as a youngster at Manchester United, working in the shadow of David De Gea and Edwin Van Der Sar.

Whilst at Man United, Johnstone was coached by some of the game’s most respected goalkeeping coaches. These included Eric Steele, Richard Hartis, and the man who arguably redesigned the image of modern goalkeeper coaching, Frans Hoek.

Johnstone made his mark in the Championship with Aston Villa in 2017/18. The Villains very nearly returned to the Premier League in Johnstone’s first season but lost to Fulham in the Play-Off Final that year. He joined the Baggies permanently in July 2018 and became a Premier League goalkeeper two years and 19 days later.

It has taken West Brom a little while to get going in the Premier League this season. It was matchday ten by the time Johnstone’s side recorded their first three points; a deflected Conor Gallagher strike was enough to earn the win against basement boys Sheffield United.

Johnstone, despite only having to make two ‘big saves’, was instrumental in the win.

Goalkeepers do a lot more than just make saves, and their actions both in and out of possession contribute to the team being an effective unit in defence and going forward.

Sam Johnstone may only have made two ‘game changing’ saves against the Blades, but he positively affected the game in a number of different ways.

Arguably, Johnstone is a goalkeeper who banks on his reactions and agility to help him make saves. He’s springy, quick across the goal, and brave. These sorts of goalkeepers may opt to hang back on crosses and use their reactions to make a save rather than coming to try and intercept the cross.

Sam Johnstone punches a cross away vs Sheffield United. Credit – Sheffield United FC

However, Johnstone was fantastic in dominating his area. He came to punch several crosses away in the latter stages of the game, successfully intercepting crosses late in the game, when you can’t afford to make a mistake, is impressive in itself. To come and punch away with such authority, technical precision and distance really made Johnstone stand out.

The West Brom goalkeeper’s stand out moment came early in the first half when he tipped a Sander Berge header over the bar. From a technical standpoint, Johnstone did all the right things. Whilst the save itself was perhaps sensationalised as it was definitely ‘one for the cameras’ (the header itself was ultimately fairly central), the skill needed to:

• Set fairly low, but to not let his hands drop below the knees.
• Not swing his arms back, which would cut vital reaction time.
• Use the top hand, which allows him to reach the header as it arches away towards the centre of the goal.

Johnstone tips a header over the bar. Credit – Sheffield United FC

Although the pre-save actions aren’t shown in the picture above, they were vital in allowing him to make the save.

Later in the game, Johnstone’s movement to retreat into the goal, shift his body weight forward in his set position, and ultimately take a definitive step into the save allowed him to make an excellent stop from an Oli McBurnie shot.

The striker-fired into Johnstone’s bottom right hand corner from a cutback, but was denied by the 27-year-old stopper.

Sam Johnstone may have had to wait longer than he’d have hoped to make his Premier League debut, especially after coming through the ranks at one of the world’s biggest team. Was it worth the wait? After some fantastic displays this year, that question probably answers itself.

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