Out of the frying pan…

17th February 2018. 1029 days ago. This was the last time I played a competitive game of 11-a-side football before deciding to call time on it all. Since then, I’ve got a few charity games, the “Portman Cup” (a pay-to-play game held at Ipswich Town) and a whole load of small-sided football on my “CV” to talk about, but nothing with any real purpose or meaning behind it.

This weekend I was asked to deputise for the reserve side of the team I’ve been coaching with over the last few months, after a number of injuries and other availability issues meant they were without a goalkeeper for their Suffolk Primary Cup tie against AFC Kesgrave Reserves.

Unfortunately we lost the game 4-1, which was especially frustrating given that our hosts were yet to win a game so far this season and we had already beaten them once this campaign, back in September.

First half

After nearly 3 years out, I was always expecting to be rusty, but conceding a poor goal early on did not help ease the nerves. Coaching the basic skills of goalkeeping is one thing, but it seems that putting them into practice yourself is quite another. A driven low shot from the edge of box skidded across the wet and muddy ground before ricocheting off my gloves and into the net. As a coach observing this goal, I would’ve wanted to see my keeper get himself set for the shot earlier and ensure that he got his whole body behind it when making the save – my body shape in this instance was awkward, which no doubt played a big part to me failing to keep hold of the ball. It’s easy to blame the conditions, but there’s much more value in taking an objective look at the situation and saying to yourself “how could I have done better”.

The second goal came from a corner. A bit of a physical mismatch in the box meant that our opponents big central midfielder was easily able to beat his man in the air to win what was essentially a free header, which the player on the far post was unable to keep out of the net. Again, stepping outside of the situation for a moment, I would want my keeper to ensure he is happy with the marking in his penalty area and to spot any potential issues like this before the ball comes in to avoid this situation. This scenario is all about taking control of your penalty box and being in command.

The third came from a fantastic gut-busting run down the right wing from the opposition midfielder, followed by a pinpoint low cross towards the penalty spot for an approaching teammate to place, first time, into the net. Not too much I could do about this one as it was a particularly nice move.

Second half

We went in at half time 3-0 down and looking like our cup journey was over already. We’d failed to create any real chances of note and had struggled to keep hold of possession in the midfield, with myself and the defence being the busiest players on the pitch by some distance – I reckon about 80% of the play had taken place in our half of the pitch during the first half.

Things went from bad to worse within the opening minute of the second period. Again, our opponents broke down their right wing and fed a low ball across the 6 yard line. This time, my first instinct was to try and stop a carbon copy of the third goal, so I left my line to try and cut out the low ball, but was unable to get any convincing contact on it and once more it fell to the striker in front of a now empty goal. I believe I made the right decision in attempting to cut out the ball, it was reachable, but I certainly needed to do so with more conviction. This goal was preventable.

Thankfully, that was it in terms of conceding and in the second half, as a team, we began to play some much better football, creating a few notable chances and eventually being rewarded with a goal back after capitalising on a defensive error at the other end.

I remained busy throughout the rest of the game, being required to make a number of low saves to both sides – some of which were more convincing than others, but most importantly keeping the ball out of the net.

Summary

In what were pretty disgusting, muddy, wet and windy conditions, the weather certainly did not help matters easier – I’d much rather have made my “comeback” on a sunny afternoon in August, but there you go!

I was always going to struggle to get up to tempo quickly. After such a long time out, and having not played in any capacity since the very start of 2020 I’m not surprised that a few mistakes crept in. From a personal perspective, I certainly feel like a grew in confidence as the game progressed, but all-in-all I’m not overly pleased with my performance – thankfully, this was very much a one-off appearance for me and I much prefer the coaching side of the game these days!

I wanted to write this post as I feel that analysing and critiquing my own performance will benefit my coaching, in that it will allow me to keep in touch with what the keepers’ I work with go through on a weekly basis. In the few months I’ve been doing this, one thing I have learnt is that running through a set of drills and routines from a notebook is one thing, but understanding how these can be used by the goalkeeper in a match situation and learning what actually benefits them in this respect is quite another. By being thrust into their shoes (or gloves) for a day, I feel like I’m now better suited to do this than perhaps I was a week ago, so I am grateful for the opportunity and, despite my overall disappointment, glad I gave it another go.

So it’s back to the coaching for me on Wednesday night and I think what I might do is plan a session around my experience in this game, looking at the key moments that unfolded, how I personally dealt with them, how the other keeper perhaps would have dealt with them and then how we should deal with them in future. I think this might be a useful excercise which could offer some real benefits, so I’ll be interested to see how it goes down. I’ve still got a lot to learn when it comes to my coaching, but I firmly believe that trying out new ideas and approaches regularly is the best way to improve, so I’m certainly keen to give it a go.

“Catch” you soon!