Goalkeepers are constantly being told to “Communicate” or “Talk” to the players but what do you say?
I have come to the conclusion that a goalkeeper does not talk for one of three reasons.
- Lack of confidence in their ability
- Wanting peer acceptance and not wanting to upset players by yelling at them
- Not knowing what to say and when to say it.
For the sake of this article, I will be concentrating on a small part of the third reason goalkeepers do not talk – Not knowing what to say and when to say it.
There are plenty of times in which a goalkeeper needs to communicate. They are;
- When the ball is behind the defense
- When the defender is 1v1 with the attacker
- Free kicks
- Corners and long throws
- Balls out wide
- When distributing
- When the team needs leadership
See below for the four stages of communication when the defender is 1v1 with the striker.
I created this flowchart to help goalkeepers to have a systematic approach to their communication.
See also another post on communication and goalkeeping volcabluary
The power of good communication