Having long been the forgotten element of football coaching sessions, goalkeepers are now having more and more thought and consideration into their position specific training. Whereas previously the goalkeeper’s training revolved around saving shots from the outfield players and not much more, nowadays there is a lot more dedicated training to the individual elements that make a good goalkeeper. This in turn has lead to the production and invention of a number of goalkeeper training aids. Here at GK1 we talk about those that are available on the market and what they do.

RESPONSEBALL™ is a uniquely designed ball which has been designed to give a football unpredictable flight, bounce and movement. The ball, nicknamed ‘the ball with the bumps’ is a specially adapted football featuring a number of cone shaped bumps to the surface of the ball thus giving it an unpredictable rolling style meaning a goalkeeper has to be fully aware of any unexpected movements. It is especially useful for improving a goalkeeper’s movement, their reactions and their ability to deal with a back pass. This product is unique in that it is equally beneficial for both professional and amateur goalies alike and recently was names as ‘THE STAR OF THE SHOW’ at this year’s Grass Roots Football Show at the NEC in Birmingham.

Looking from the other side of the fence there has been a piece technology developed which imitates ‘the perfect goalkeeper’. This silhouette of a goalkeeper is programmed to two cameras set behind the goalkeeper and behind the penalty taker. I 3D image is then used to find the position of the ball before the ‘keeper’ is launched from its base to save the ball. ‘RoboKeeper is a machine better than every goalkeeper in the Bundesliga and as fast as any formula 1 car.’

The machine takes approximately 1/50 of a second to track the flight of the ball and is therefore almost impossible to beat from the penalty spot. RoboKeeper covers all of the goal and the only shots which stand a chance of bettering the robotic ‘keeper are those hit right into the corner with plenty of power. The invention has been used as a fun game at a number of events but also has practical applications in terms of improving a professional player’s penalty taking ability.

Some say it’s an art, others insist it’s a precise discipline. Either way, GK1 looks at the evidence to see if there really is an indispensible guide to saving a spot kick.

The casino barons of Las Vegas couldn’t get away with loading the dice against you as much as this!   For heaven’s sake, he’s only 12 yards away!  No defenders to worry about, time on his side and just you, with a hope and the occasional prayer to stop what four times out of five, is the inevitable…a goal.

The boffins working on behalf of the penalty takers reckon they’ve devised the perfect penalty: one which no keeper, however agile, however focused, however lucky, doesn’t have the proverbial ‘cat in hell’s chance’ of saving!

All it takes is a run up of 5 or 6 paces, approaching the ball at an angle of 20 to 30 degress, kicking it at 65 mph, crossing the line 50 cms below crossbar and inside the post, is unstoppable!

Well, with all due respect,  GK1 scoffs at the theory of a perfect penalty!  Our research has gathered together the thoughts of some of the finest scientific, psychological and good old fashioned footballing brains to give you the optimum chance to become this weekend’s penalty hero!

1. Seeing Red

Since the late 1890’s, when keepers first wore a different coloured-jersey, green has been the predominant colour of choice. But latest research from the University of Chichester confirms green is the least successful colour to wear and actually red should be the ‘must have’ colour in every goalkeepers’ wardrobe this Autumn.

Award-winning psychologist, Dr Iain Greenlees found that ‘keepers in green saved one in four spot kicks compared to the ones in red who saved almost half!

His studies noted that red is seen as a signal of danger in the natural world and therefore penalty takers notice the goalkeeper more easily. It encourages a natural fear of failure and makes the ‘keeper look bigger in the goal than he would wearing a different colour.

He used 40 football players and asked them to take 10 penalties against a ‘keeper wearing red and then had the same ‘keeper change his shirt to a coloured one. After all the penalties had been taken he saw that only 54% of penalties were scored against the keeper in red as opposed to 69%, 72% and 75% against ‘keepers wearing yellow, blue and green shirts respectively. Considering only 20% of all penalties are saved in professional football this increase in save percentage by wearing red is certainly not to be sniffed at. But, red is not a colour commonly worn by goalkeepers in England. In fact in the Premier League this season no goalkeeper will wear red.

Sadly, having worn red winning the World Cup back in 1966, it’s likely to be a long time before England’s GK1 wears red!

2. Stand Off-Centre

In theory it makes no sense…but every keeper’s tried a version of this at one time or another. Researchers in Hong Kong learnt that if a ‘keeper stands a small distance closer to one post than the other it may not be obvious to the kicker but subconsciously the penalty taker knows which side has a larger target area and will tend to shoot that way. Armed with this information the ‘keeper is in a stronger position to dive to the larger area and can increase his chance of saving the kick.

Researchers found that by moving just 10cm towards one side of the goal and making one side of the goal 3% bigger, the goalkeeper can increase his chance of saving the penalty by as much as 15% even before the kicker begins his run up.

3. What to Watch For

Away from Far Eastern philosophies into the football-mad city of Liverpool – and no surprise their boffins have had little better to do than spend valuable hours researching football!  But Mark Williams, from the John Moores University believes he’s stumbled upon a treasure trove for keepers in need of all the help they can get.

He reckons in the time between the award of the penalty to the spot kick taking place, there’s a gold mine of information to be gleaned to help predict where a penalty taker will shoot.

He saw how more experienced goalkeepers considered such elements as his standing leg, kicking leg and hips for the opponent.

He believes by looking at the ‘shape’ a player adopted before taking the penalty the ‘keeper can stop penalty saving from being a lottery.

“From the point of view of the player taking the penalty the optimal position for the standing foot is facing directly down the middle of the goal,” said Professor Williams.

” When the goalkeeper saw the penalty takers foot face towards the left or right hand side of the goal it allowed the ‘keeper the necessary information to predict where the penalty would be taken. Standing foot points left, penalty going to the left; standing foot points right penalty goes to the right hand side of the goal.”

The research was backed up with the help of the nation’s most successful penalty taker, Matt Le Tissier, who converted a staggering 49 of the 50 penalties he took.

“My approach to penalties was always the same. Pick my favourite spot and focus on the strike of the ball. I never thought I was giving away any clues to the ‘keeper but it looks like I was wrong!’

Psychologist Peter Naish agrees that the signs are there if you look closely enough.

“Penalty takers mention not thinking too deeply, yet trying to fool the goalkeeper,” he said.

“We do many things on two levels, such as thinking where to put the ball (or where to fake it), but not thinking about what the feet, legs and body will do to achieve it.”

So, the more the pressure, the more likely they are to disguise where they’re planning to aim?

“The more we practise, the more our actions become automatic skills,” explains Peter.

“They become unconscious memories of how to react.  These memories take over when thinking fails, such as in front of 80,000 fans.”

4. Increase their Anxiety Levels.

No one’s expecting you to save the penalty, so why worry?  The stress and the strain are all on the shoulders of the taker. For decades now, keepers have employed less than gentlemanly time-wasting techniques. Few have done so more successfully than ol’ spaghetti legs” himself, Bruce Grobelaar.

Researchers at Exeter University believe his crazy antics in Liverpool’s 1984 European Cup final victory against AS Roma are the perfect example of how to become ‘a threat’ to someone with plenty on their plate already. Frankly, the last thing they need, is you showing off!

“The research shows that we focus on things in the environment that we find threatening,” said psychologist Greg Wood, who led the study at the University’s School of Sport and Health Sciences.

“In a penalty kicking competition the only thing that threatens success is the goalkeeper, so we monitor his movements.”

The research proved that if a kicker’s eyes are drawn to the goalkeeper, he tends to shoot in that direction and overcoming this tendency was significantly harder when penalty takers were under pressure, or in a “threat condition”.

And as Grobbelaar appeared to know instinctively, goalkeepers can make themselves more likely to attract the kicker’s gaze by appearing larger than life or clowning around.

The same tactic was used to good effect by a later Liverpool goalkeeper, Jerzy Dudek who copied Grobbelaar’s spaghetti legs routine and saved two penalties in the 2005 Champions League final against AC Milan to win the match.

“During a highly stressful situation, we are more likely to be distracted by any threatening stimuli and focus on them rather than the task in hand,” said Greg.

” So, when a penalty taker is about to start his run up naturally he will focus on the goalkeeper than spaces all around him. This disrupts the aiming of the shot and increases the likelihood of subsequently hitting the shot towards the goalkeeper, making it easier to save.’

This school of thought is echoed by football watchers and supporters. They all say ‘pick a spot, stick to it and ignore the ‘keeper.’ So there is another piece of information a ‘keeper might be able to pick up on, the attackers eyes, is he looking one way? Can you distract him? If you can get him to focus on you and not his spot then there is a greater chance he will take a penalty which can be saved.

More interestingly, keepers can learn a great deal from the advice given to penalty takers by sports psychologists.

“I would tell penalty takers to pretend you are in a practice match, look at where you are going to hit the ball and aim it there. Totally ignore the goalkeeper. Even if he knows where the ball is going he is not going to get to it if it is well placed.”   Sound advice – but perhaps the key indicator to keepers that distraction, showing off, waving your arms, knees, legs, frankly anything you can get your hands on, will increase your chances of success.

5:  Forget the rest…and ask the best.

All fine in practice, you may say. But these academics would have you believe that penalty saving is not a complex art,  merely a simple science?

But a PhD can’t give you any idea of what it’s like for keepers at the highest level waiting for the ref’s whislte to blow.

One man who would, however is the Premier League’s most successful penalty saver, Mark Crossley. Having faced 14 penalties, he saved 8; a save percentage of 57%. The average in the Premier League is 28%.

“I like to know who my opponents’ penalty taker is before a match. I always look at which side he put his last one and whether he favours that side or likes to vary it, in which case it becomes a guessing game,” reveals Mark.

“I don’t think there’s a system of ‘reading the eyes’ so always just concentrate on the ball on the run-up.

“Always trust your instincts. If I’m facing a right-footed player I usually go to my left and the opposite if it’s a left-footer. If I get the instinct to go the other way, however, then I’ll go with it.

“I know it sounds obvious, but always make sure you dive. In the past I’ve been tempted to stand up straight and hope it gets blasted down the middle. I tried it once when Leicester City’s Matt Elliott was going through a phase of just smashing them. When he placed it past me, I wished I’d at least dived. That way, even if it does go down the middle, it could still hit your legs.

“You have to face the fact that some players are virtually impossible to save, so it’s just trusting to luck. Eric Cantona was like that. He used to wait for you to dive before he took it. I’ve been told he used to practise it in training. He would wait until the last second before he struck it and was so good that he could change his mind at the last minute if he needed to.

“You have to remember that the pressure is on the penalty taker, rather than you. You can try and add to that pressure by delaying the penalty as long as possible. I’m not sure how well it works because you do still need to have a bit of luck.

6: There’s only one safe bet!

The best news of all it that , thankfully your opponent rarely produces the perfect penalty.  And armed with GK1’s research, we hope you’ll be saving even more penalties this season!  The academics certainly think so.  Surely, if a ‘keeper wears red, stands to one side, waves his arms, watches your eyes and notices your standing foot pointing in one direction then it must be impossible to score a penalty isn’t it?

We’d all love to be able to guarantee success. There’s “lies, damned lies and statictics”, but as we all know, there’s only one safe bet when it comes down to penalties and that’s when the Germans are playing, they’re 100 per cent likely to win.

Colour of Goalkeeper’s Top

Goals Conceded

Red                 Yellow             Green              Blue

54%                 69%                 75%                 72%