Originally Posted by
tommy_c12000
Good point and made many times by observers. Case in point was goal 5 last night. Attributed to his late conversion to a keeper at 15. I was cringing at the time, but this got me thinking.
There’s no doubt about his long- and medium-range shot stopping ability. It’s very impressive.
Is it such a bad thing to instinctively lead with legs at close range? Yes, by convention one expects the keepers to spread their legs somewhat, make themselves big and spread their arms. This is the orthodox training and expectation. But spreading your legs completely has advantages:
1. Wider “wing” span - more chance of saving the placed corner shots
2. Lower to the ground to reduce the nutmeg finish so many strikers thrive on. Reviewing the replay of 5th goal last night, I don’t believe a nutmeg was possible. This is anatomically not possible if you lead properly with the arms unless you work at a circus.
Yes, the arms give you a wider range in the “up down” plane. But is there evidence that convention is better than the way of Caomhin is doing it at close range? This surely has been studied before? He’s 6 years training as a goalkeeper (vast majority at Liverpool), you’d imagine that this would have been stamped out of him by now if it was a hard no in his future.
Maybe I’m making an interesting talking point, or maybe it’s this wine talking at my Christmas party. What do people think?
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