Nine years ago Pep Guardiola arrived in the Premier League ready to bend the English public’s view of goalkeeping towards him. Manchester City had Joe Hart between the sticks, but England’s top choice couldn’t play with his feet. He would have to go.
Guardiola had been adapting the principles he brought from Barcelona and Bayern Munich long before this summer. It is hard to imagine that the man who first arrived at the Etihad had a vision to one day play with four center backs across his defense, or deploy an attack whose governing philosophy might just be “whenever Erling Haaland’s not on screen, all the other characters should be asking, ‘where’s Haaland?’.” That is not a criticism. Guardiola’s insistence on innovating from on high is what makes him one of the greatest managers ever.
Guardiola’s quest for improvement has brought him back to where he began. After several niggly seasons where often success seemed to occur despite Ederson, who was rarely more than two or three off-color games from the bench, City have overhauled their goalkeeping department. The greatest ball-playing goalkeeper of his generation is bound for Galatasaray, his replacements being two of the outstanding shot-stoppers of last season.
Of course Gianluigi Donnarumma, closing in on a move to City after they swooped into his contract standoff with Paris Saint-Germain, has been one of the best at keeping the ball out of the net for a while now. The 26-year-old was struggling in the early months of last season, but, not for the first time in his career, timed his form to a tee.
In the Champions League the Italian international was outstanding, arguably the reason why Paris Saint-Germain held off Arsenal in the semifinals, and in every year of the competition in which he has played he has conceded fewer goals than the post-shot xG value of the shots he has faced. As a pure shot stopper Donnarumma exists alongside the likes of Thibaut Courtois and Jan Oblak as one of the best in the business.
TruMedia
What Donnarumma is not is a goalkeeper who looks at ease with the ball at his feet. Even the very best have moments like the Italian did in the 2022 Champions League, handing the ball and the tie to Real Madrid’s Karim Benzema, but Donnarumma looks ill at ease when the ball goes back to him. Given the possession dominant team he plays in, he touches the ball far more infrequently than most goalkeepers would, averaging over 20 percent fewer touches per 90 minutes than the man he replaces. No matter how much Guardiola works on Donnarumma’s technique, he won’t be getting a goalkeeper who can ping a 60-yard ball onto a striker’s run like Ederson could.
Nor can James Trafford, who would be entitled to feel a little miffed that his grand homecoming from Burnley to claim the City No.1 shirt could well end with him warming the bench behind a Yashin Trophy winner. Trafford would feel he earned a big gig after a stunning season in the Championship, his 29 clean sheets in 45 games and 12.48 goals prevented inarguably a vital factor in promotion for Scott Parker’s side. Again City were signing a shot-stopper first, one who already has made a high-profile blunder with the ball at his feet.
Swinging towards a shot-stopper reflects wider changes in what Guardiola seems to want from City. This has been a more transitional team, one less intent on pursuing control for control’s sake. If that is the long term version and City games are going to become more open, they are going to need a high-grade shot stopper for all the chances they give up. Then again two decades of Guardiola in management suggest this is a man who will ultimately want control above all else. If that proves to be the case then City may well have made the wrong choice between the sticks.
Add Comment