Goalkeeper Watch Week Eight – That Friday Night at 19…

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 FA Cup fixtures between Friday 8th and Monday 11th December are under the spotlight.

What does a typical Friday night at 19 look like? Most likely, it’s something along the lines of heading out to town with your friends, having one (or more) too many drinks, hopelessly flirting with somebody way, way out of your league, before heading home after hours via the kebab shop.

That might be a slightly unfair representation of all 19 year olds, but the point is illustrated nonetheless.

At 19, most people are in either  their first or second year at university, forging their way into the working world, or for some, living at home with mum and dad. Not many 19 year olds are making their professional footballing debuts, and even fewer are doing it against six time European champions and current Premier League holders Liverpool. It’s even rarer to be making said debut with…a bunch of other 18- and 19-year olds.

Aston Villa’s youthful starting line-up against Liverpool for their historic FA Cup third round tie consisted of eleven young men all born in or after 1999. The youngest was Ben Chrisene, born on 12th January 2004, and the oldest Callum Miles Rowe, born on 2nd September 1999. Whilst most of Villa’s starting eleven were of English nationality, three players were from the continent – one Spanish, one from the Netherlands, and one Hungarian.

Week eight’s (literary) trophy recipient is the third in that list.

With the exception of goal scorer Louie Barry, Ákos Onódi was Aston Villa’s man of the match against Liverpool.

Onódi, 19, was actually on trial with Liverpool in 2017 at the age of 16. He didn’t secure a contract with the Reds, but succeeded at the second attempt with Villa a year later. Prior to starting against the likes of Mohamed Salah, Sadio Mane, Tiago Alcantara and others of this calibre, Onódi had only made seven appearances in the U23 Premier League 2 and a further two appearances in the EFL Trophy.

Onódi’s statistics for the Villa youth teams aren’t particularly impressive, although he did win U18 Premier League save of the season for the 2018/19 campaign. And, it wasn’t as if, respectfully, Onódi was necessarily the next ‘big thing’ in goalkeeping, unlike young shot stoppers such as Reading’s Coniah Boyce-Clarke, Manchester City’s James Trafford, or Stoke’s Josef Bursik, amongst others in England’s youth leagues.

However, Onódi now holds a one up on all of the aforementioned names: a professional appearance, on live television, against England’s best team (currently, at least). And boy, did Onódi make the most of his chance.

A mature head on young shoulders…and three eye-catching saves.

When Sadio Mane headed Liverpool in front inside five minutes at Villa Park, most thought it would prove to be a long old evening for the Villa youngsters – nobody more so than Onódi. However, Villa’s fighting spirit was commendable, and Onódi himself played a key role in keeping the score line down. Regardless of the score, the below save from the Hungarian stopper will live with him forever.

Behind the fantastic double save were two key factors; an exemplary set position, and excellent positioning. Onódi’s bodyweight is forward, arms not too high, and he’s square to the attacker. His positioning was deep enough to allow himself time to react to the shot, and this allows him to get a small step in towards the ball – we can see that at 1.04, his hand makes contact with the ball with his body slightly angled forwards.

The second save is lucky to a certain extent (the ball could have very easily deflected the other way into the back of the net), but it’s what Onódi does to put himself in a position to ‘get lucky’ that is truly impressive. He doesn’t dwell on the initial save, gets up and immediately moves towards the shot. His eyes follow the ball all the way onto Mane’s foot, and the following spread save is simply sublime.

In goalkeeping, it’s the finest details that separate fingertip saves from goals. Things such as turning your head before your shoulders, making sure you’re leaning slightly forward in your set position, and moving effectively across the goal are practically unnoticeable to the non-goalkeeping eye.

But, for those who have played between the sticks, it’s simply part and parcel of a very complicated position.

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