Feyenoord goalkeeper coach Nieminen talks through the key transfers between the training ground and matchday.
Goalkeepers are often put under the spotlight more than most on match day, but Jyri Nieminen, First Team Goalkeeper Coach at Feyenoord and First National Team Goalkeeper Coach for Finland, offers an insight into the work done in training before and after games to benefit the men between the sticks.
“I don’t need a weekly structure that repeats,” Nieminen tells Goalkeeper.com. “I really try not to get locked into routines. I also don't want goalkeepers to get too comfortable through the training routines, but I always need to have the long-term periodisation in my control.”
“I want to keep challenging the goalkeepers in multiple ways, so they really have to be ready for everything every day. It's my responsibility to make sure that physically it's the right day, that the cognitive load fits, but that they can come in every day thinking 'I have to be a complete goalkeeper every day.”
Preparation for matches will vary depending on the opposition, but Nieminen insists that it “still doesn't mean that it's only opponent preparation.” He continues: “It's more like the training content is inspired by the opponent analysis. And still, the main goal and the main idea behind every training session is to simply get better and develop.”
Before matches, Nieminen will use what he calls a “match scenario”, to create an idea of what the opposition could do without knowing exactly how they will do it. Offering the example of a team that likes to attack down the left, he explains: “It's a very open scenario, so that's why I might put myself to be that left winger, so that without telling the goalkeepers, I can manipulate the training environment.
“They have their own perception of what's happening and how they adjust their actions, and I try not to tell them to 'do this, do that', but rather I try to create the environment they have to interpret and then ultimately survive in and be successful in."
One of the reasons Nieminen states that the pre-match sessions are “inspired” by what could happen is that they are not solely catered towards that match, as he is “always aiming for development.” He continues: “No matter if you’re playing tomorrow and you have to be fresh for the game - and hopefully the training is always preparing you in the best possible way for the game - for me, it's equally important that everybody is benefiting from the training.
“The goalkeeper who is not playing can maybe do a little bit more. The goalkeeper who might be going with the U21s can do a little bit more. In the picture of the whole week, I try to make sure that I can supplement all the keepers with individual work, maybe extra work with the team collective. They might also work on a different type of exercise. I need to stay in the loop in the longer run. If they are missing something, if they are even doing an overload of something, I always have to make sure that every individual is getting the best possible portion for their own development.”
He also adds that every single goalkeeper is always important as “it’s the goalkeepers who are creating the environment” by “having the roles as a striker, having the roles as a defender in the exercises, and they really do it for each other.”
After games, they will work on a “match picture”, using exact things that happened in a match, having reviewed and analysed any incidents “as soon as possible” with the right timing.
“All the goalkeepers that I've worked with throughout my career, they need it, they want it. They're like, 'Can we do it?' and they want to go into the smallest details,” Nieminen says about the analysis stage. “They want to have every single action analysed, and that's really amazing. That's exactly where we go. We want to develop, we cannot waste one day, we cannot waste one action, because one action is so, so, so important.”
He continues: “I always try to bring those elements looking back to training, no matter if it went really well, but especially if it was something that was problematic. That's a great inspiration and motivation for all the keepers to repeat that complex situation.”
Nieminen offers an insight into the level of detail that can go into this work. “For example, an opponent coming from the left side against our unorganised defence, where the goalkeeper is thinking that it's going to be an early cross and decides to stay in a front post area for the interception, but the defender might be covering that front post area,” he begins.
“He should see that the defender is covering the first area, and the player on the back post is completely free. So now the goalkeeper reads the situation, maybe a little bit wrongly, since the defender is there blocking the front area. So now I could expect the goalkeeper to shift his positioning already a little bit towards the back post, show that he has a better chance to intercept it, or if the ball arrives to the striker in the back post, he can be there already.”
He continues: “Now we review that situation, and usually high-level goalkeepers can already tell me 'I realised the involvement of the defender too late,' for example. I want to know exactly what they saw, and they are honest, because they want to get better. Then I might introduce the same situation for the other keepers as well, since we've got to train that scenario, and we already know that it's going to be beneficial for everybody to be on the right spot.”
For the final stage, he explains: “Then we go to the training field and have the situation that sometimes the defender is there, sometimes the defender is not there, sometimes the player at the front post has the advantage, sometimes it's clear that it's going to come to the back post, so they have to keep making these decisions all the time. Now the message is that in this situation you have to position yourself a little bit more on the back post. It doesn't mean that now, in training, we always go more to the back post. We have the decision-making scenario.”
Nieminen adds that when he is conducting this type of training, the goalkeeper has to recognise what the ideal scenario is technically, tactically and in terms of decision-making while “understanding that the ideal is never happening and effectiveness is most important”.
He offers the example of positioning. “The goalkeeper has the wrong positioning in the situation, but it's not over if the ball is not in the net, so you have to keep going. I have to help them feel as comfortable as possible in very uncomfortable situations. So, for example, he wants to anticipate the pass, there is never a pass, 'I'm caught in the middle but no problem. Now I'm in the wrong spot. No problem, I remain calm. I can still deal with it.'”
He continues: “This is happening in the game all the time, where you end up in a position that is not optimal, and I think this is so important to bring to training - still knowing that the optimal positioning or solution would have been something, but because of the continuity of the game things happen and you have to keep going. You have to deal with it, and you have to stay composed even though it's difficult.”
He also looks to create added complexity to shot-stopping by introducing scenarios like a defender blocking the ball and the second ball going to the striker. All of this is designed to make the situation uncomfortable for the goalkeepers, especially as they will need to quickly recover whenever they concede.
Another area of importance for Nieminen is “having the whole picture in the mind, what has led up to the situation and the continuation of the situation. I think as a coach, you have to be super demanding to yourself that you have all these things in your mind.”
Amid all of this, there will be “day-to-day checks” for the goalkeepers. “I have to be professional enough to change in relation to the limitations or even the load,” Nieminen says, ensuring that while all of the lessons are learned to develop moving forward, his goalkeepers are able to translate that work in training to the pitch.
