Santi Cañizares launched the question. After the failure of Álex Remiro in the Basque derby that cost his team the draw, the former international goalkeeper gave his opinion on the matter first in ‘El match de Cope’ and then through a Twitter thread, considering that the goal of the Royal Society had been wrong when trying to clear Muniain’s lack of fists.
Cañizares also argued and put in the air the debate on the tendency that there is now to value goalkeepers more for their game with their feet than for their way of stopping.
Recently We explain how to more accurately measure the performance of a goalkeeper in terms of saves, but we leave other issues to be analyzed in the air, such as the game with the feet itself, something that we will address in due course. Another question is precisely the one that has to do with what Cañizares explains: the concept of catching the ball.
In this sense, we have used data from Opta to see which are the goalkeepers that catch the most balls of the five major leagues with at least 560 minutes played this season and have a clearer idea of their abilities so as not to generate second chances. Obviously, this is a first general assessment, since the most precise thing would be to analyze it in a more in-depth way: how are those shots that they catch, from what distance, how many they face, etc.
Considering all this, the goalkeeper who catches the most balls is not one of those we could have in mind. We talk about Etienne Green, Saint Etienne, with almost two per game (1.83).
The first of LaLiga occupies the third position. Is about Aitor Fernandez, with 1.90 per game. Paradoxically, the Levante goalkeeper is seeing this season how he receives many goals, but many are the product of shots that are difficult to face. He is the only one in the Spanish championship, together with Granada's Luis Maximiano, in the Top20.
Among the most renowned goalkeepers, Keylor Navas is ninth with 1.43 every 90 minutes. Neuer is eleventh (1.40), Oblak 25th (1.09), Ederson the 29th (1), Courtois the 40th (0.93), Alisson the 77th (0.44) or Ter Stegen the 85th (0.33). The last from this list of 92 goalkeepers is David De Gea, which barely catches 0.1 every 90 minutes.
Clearances
Catching balls is a complicated technique, but carrying it out avoids a possible second chance for the opponent. In any case, it is not always possible, so another action enters the scene that can also be very valid if it is carried out, within the possibilities, with success: clearance.
Goalkeepers They can clear to an area that does not have problems for their team or to areas where you may end up finishing off a second time, with all the risks that this entails. Therefore, we can also classify goalkeepers by these two types of clearances.
The goalkeeper who clears the most to safe areas of the major European leagues is Aaron Ramsdale, from Arsenal, with 3.14 per game. In this list he sneaks back on the podium Aitor Fernandez, that this time it's second, with 2.45. It is clear that we are facing a goalkeeper with the ability to not allow compromised second plays.
One more time, only two LaLiga goalkeepers in the top 20. Interestingly, the second of our championship is Remiro, which correctly clears 1.70 every 90 minutes.
Again, some of the most named goalkeepers are not among the best in this statistic, such as Oblak (47th), Courtois (48th). But in the Top20 we do find tres of the most important of the Premier: Alisson, Ederson or Mendy.
What about clearance to dangerous areas? Here the one that least allows is Oblak (0.09 per shock). Three from LaLiga take the podium because they follow the Atlético goalkeeper Remiro and Bono. Neuer and Ederson are in the Top10, while Ter Stegen is the 22nd (0.33) and Courtois is 43rd (0.55).
What is clear looking at the data is that, as Cañizares pointed out, there is a greater tendency to clear than to try to catch the ball. It can be seen by looking at the actions of each type of action by game. The factors can be several, such as the evolution in the way of teaching or the balls themselves. Be that as it may, the figure of the goalkeeper has changed over the years. Cañizares already know which type he likes the most. But for tastes, the colors.
