Reflection and review could be the key ingredients to optimising goalkeeper mentality.
In modern football, the demands on goalkeepers are arguably higher than at any other point in the history of the game. With the evolving nature of the role meaning goalkeepers are more involved than ever, having the right mentality is essential.
AS Monaco goalkeeper coach Frederic De Boever has a unique insight into the demands on goalkeepers at the top level. After working his way up to one of the most famous clubs in Europe from the amateur game, De Boever understands how to build a strong mentality in goalkeepers at all levels.
He recently spoke to Goalkeeper.com to give an insight into the fundamentals needed to optimise goalkeeper mentality through his elite approach. At a core, De Boever believes that preparation, reflection, and open-mindedness are the ingredients that cultivate the right environment to keep goalkeepers’ minds in the strongest and most positive place. Each of these can be shaped via conversation and review.
The Frenchman affirms that mental strength and resilience are the foundations of a strong goalkeeper. But to reach the top, goalkeepers must make the step from being reactive to pro-active. As part of this, goalkeepers must move from being ‘two-dimensional’ to ‘three-dimensional’ in their approach. He explains: “For us, 2D dominance is everything to defend the goal. So it's a surface. I defend the surface, 2D. Shot stopping, 1v1s, et cetera.
“If we talk 3D, then of course you defend the 2D, you defend your goal, but at the same time you defend the space, you help your teammates, you go for crosses, you go for through balls, you create a certain action radius in front of your goal.”
The goalkeeper thus steps up to becoming an active part of the defensive structure, rather than merely the last line of defence.
Game intelligence is another important pillar of De Boever’s philosophy, with players now forced to make more decisions than ever in possession. In De Boever’s experience, being open to learning is essential in developing this intelligence, which should be imparted into young players early through training and, crucially, through video analysis.
He continued: “On the pitch, people who are open-minded, people who learn fast, are for me also the ones who are really game intelligent because they recognise things really fast and then can adapt really fast.
“For me game intelligence is not only about your decision making, but also game reading. And game reading is even more important than decision making. Why? Because if you don't judge the situation well, automatically your decision making will be poor.”
De Boever continued: “You can implement this in training sessions. On the training pitch, first, you encourage positive decision making amongst three or four goalkeepers in small areas. You then scale to go to small-sided games, and then you integrate it in integrated exercises with the team.”
But it is the reflection and review process that is equally as important as exposing goalkeepers to making decisions on the pitch. Seeing is believing, as they say, so to foster this open-mindedness and approach to learning, De Boever believes “using video is crucial to creating intelligent goalkeepers”.
“Use of video, professional, non-professional, youth or seniors, is so beneficial. Every game that my goalkeepers play, I always have the feedback ready the day after the game. And sometimes it's 30-40 minutes of conversation, about 90 minutes of football.”
De Boever believes that delivering this feedback one-on-one is crucial to allow a conversation to occur, which is impossible in a group scenario. He added: “I don't include the other goalkeepers in one individual’s analysis.
“A one-on-one conversation is a conversation. If you bring in the three or four other goalkeepers, it becomes a monologue instead of a conversation because nobody will talk or nobody will express his opinion.
“I always do it the day after a game. That way the information is still fresh. You can talk with them. You can communicate. You can give a lot of theory; you can give a lot of feedback if you use video.
“If they are open-minded and they have a really fast learning curve and if you use that video properly, you create a really intelligent goalkeeper because they recognise it. They can equate the feeling in the game with what they see on video. The conversation becomes ‘I was already in that situation. What am I going to do differently next time?’”
Mistakes are inevitable, but, as a goalkeeper, they can be more consequential than in other positions. According to De Boever, recognising the mistake and having an honest conversation about why it occurred is a crucial part of an elite mentality.
He explained: “You have to accept and they have to realise that making mistakes is a part of the game. What I do with all goalkeepers is just be honest.
“The pillars are really important and help to make correct judgments about where it went wrong. Is it about positioning? Is it about game reading? Is it about the decision making or is it your technical execution?
“These are the four pillars where someone can make a mistake. And by making a mistake in your execution, that doesn't mean that your decision making was wrong. Your game reading - fantastic, you saw what early cross it would have been, you saw the danger, the potential danger.
“You took a good decision to adapt your position, you took a good decision to attack this ball, but it slipped away and maybe the thumbs were not behind the ball or misjudged the bounce, okay, part of life.
“But in the four pillars - three were amazing. And the fourth one, okay, recognise it, accept it. And we're going to work on it, my friend, and we're going to continue. I think that kind of recognition is an important one. Don't hide mistakes. I don't think it helps.”
Having experienced the full range of the footballing pyramid, De Boever is uniquely positioned to speak about what sets the very best goalkeepers apart. For him, there can be no doubt about the importance of mentality. He said: “I am 100% convinced that mentality and personality are huge for a goalkeeper. Winning mentality for sure is one but also training mentality. Most of the goalkeepers that I worked with in the past, realised that they have to work during the week to achieve that success in the match.
“They work because they know they will be punished by making one mistake.”
No goalkeeper at any level is perfect and, as De Boever explains, mistakes are inevitable. But by embracing the fundamental principles of his approach to elite mentality, goalkeepers at all levels of the game will benefit.
