Elfvendal believes knowledge enhancement across the game is key to growing interest in goalkeeping - and that data can help do that.
Sweden Goalkeeper Coach and UEFA Goalkeeper Consultant Maths Elfvendal explains how he uses goalkeeper data in on-pitch contexts to better inform discussions around goalkeeping.
Since Maths Elfvendal last spoke to Goalkeeper.com in 2022, the Swedish National Team goalkeeper coach has enjoyed a unique journey spanning data science, with international sporting bodies, and with the game’s greatest goalkeepers.
Now joining as the first Head of the Goalkeeper.com Advisory Board alongside his role leading the development and performance of his country’s national team number ones, Elfvendal sees an opportunity to not only advance the utility of goalkeeper data science in an elite environment, but increase interest in, and knowledge of, goalkeeping across the world. The Goalkeeper.com Advisory Board consists of a group of goalkeeping experts from around the world collaborating with Goalkeeper.com with the goal of ensuring a thriving future for goalkeepers together.
“The knowledge that, together, we can put out there will hopefully inspire more people to dig into the goalkeeping world over the long term”, said Elfvendal, speaking to Goalkeeper.com from the Swedish National Team camp in late March.
“I also hope this partnership will help goalkeepers be judged more fairly”, explained the Swede. Whilst media scrutiny and a lack of informed commentary may manifest at the top levels of the game, he admits the image that this forms puts goalkeepers at all levels under pressure.
“Often, the goalkeeper is doing everything that they can in a positive war, and they get criticised regardless. It’s really important that young goalkeepers want to be in the position; at the moment I see young goalkeepers afraid of being mocked or making a mistake. Something close to my heart is making sure the 11 year olds out there can have a fun time, enjoy the game, and not feel fear playing the game.”
Advancing the circulation of knowledge about goalkeeping is at the root of improving the narrative around goalkeepers. “We need to work on the whole spectrum” the Swede admits. “Everyone needs to work their bit in this case, and I see my role in this to push this knowledge to its limits a bit. There are lots of people I meet in the game who are coaches or analysts and haven’t really taken much interest in goalkeeping before, but once general education on the position increases, I think that’s going to raise the interest for everyone.”
“Once I started using more advanced Goalkeeper.com data, these coaches and analysts began to ask new questions that signalled a greater interest. Once we start to give them the knowledge, they’re really interested in it. Many can say, okay, good save. And many can say, okay, he needs to save that, but the perspective is short term which means actions can’t be put in a longer-term context. Now, we can begin to answer questions that affect the season as a whole; every goalkeeper who plays a season will concede goals, and now it’s more about conceding fewer goals, than just making that one extra save which before we could only isolate in that single context.”
For all his on-pitch expertise, Elfvendal believes that knowledge enhancement is just as important for the goalkeeper coaches in the classroom as well as on the grass. The Swede has spent many hours behind the computer, analysing, studying, and quantifying goalkeeping. “What does the goalkeeper coach need to become a better coach, improve their own theoretical knowledge, and how to move that onto the pitch?” he asks. “That is where some of the most important work is being done”
The human element of goalkeeping is what makes the position spectacular. In this sense it’s undoubtedly an art. At the same time, quantification - viewing goalkeeping through a scientific lens - helps clubs, coaches, and goalkeepers themselves plan, prepare, and make more qualified decisions that don’t rely on a sole opinion. Data is there to supplement, inform, and support the work being done on the grass. It doesn’t mean that goalkeeping must become ‘objective’, but working towards greater objectivity is undeniably beneficial for helping goalkeepers and their clubs greatly improve their chances of making the right decisions, more often.
Efvendal recognises this, and believes that a great benefit comes in the fact alone that new information allows for new perspectives, and to “push the limits” of our understanding of goalkeeping.
“ You can do the same things in different ways. Not all goalkeepers look exactly the same. You can sort out situations in different ways. If you’re very good at reactions, maybe you can step back and react some more. And if you’re big and you can and and close down you can block more.
“But importantly, we can get very close to objectivity with this data. I think we can be very close to understanding goalkeeping in general from this perspective. In the next 10, 15 years, we won’t always be able to say X is indisputably better than Y because goalkeeper A looks like this, and goalkeeper B looks like this, and goalkeeper A maybe is also younger or older, male or female. But the thing I enjoy the most is to push the limits a bit more. We have this information, what can this mean?”
“Can we find out some new information that, again, helps the goalkeepers on the pitch? And I think the best part about my job is to be the link between the knowledge and the pitch.
Elfvendal has seen the best of both worlds. “At the beginning of my career, in club football, I was just working really, really hard, putting in the hours, doing 15, 20, sessions a week, more sometimes, four or five sessions a day for a long time just to bring in this kind of knowledge.
“For another part of my career, I more or less worked every day in a data company. But always trying to think, how can these two merge together in the best worlds? It doesn’t mean that the goalkeeper feels during a training session like he is just looking at zeros and ones flying all over the place. It means I am trying to make it easier for the goalkeepers to understand the importance of different positions, actions, and be able to give them better information when they ask me what I think about certain situations.”
The human dynamic once again can’t be lost. “Again, you need to speak the goalkeeping language on the pitch, because otherwise I think you feel disconnected,” says Elfvendal.
“That’s the beauty of this as well. All goalkeepers are a bit different, and we are trying to find a good relationship with everyone. Some parts of my job as well is to have a coffee with them to say, what do you think about the session today? Okay, cool. Did you understand this? Okay, what do you think about your decision making in these kinds of situations? How do you feel about coming up to block there compared to waiting and reacting?”
Crucially, advanced goalkeeper analytics allow goalkeeper coaches like Elfvendal to end the isolation of the goalkeeper; to integrate them into the wider picture of the outfield unit.
“Now we work with defenders and strikers together, to work on the same topic throughout the whole session together with the team. I’m very privileged to work with such a professional coaching staff, which has helped me to develop as well, because they have that extra knowledge about the outfield players. I’m trying to get that, and I have extra knowledge about goalkeeping. That’s how we work together in a good way.”
Whilst the right goalkeeper data can be transformative for a department, coaches, and goalkeepers, its usage does require a learning process for all those parties. More traditional practitioners have rued the use of data overruling subjective opinion. Context is key in these situations, especially when transferring such insights to the on-pitch environment. What the goalkeeper sees is different to what the camera sees, and Elfvendal has rightly commented on the need to find the harmony of both worlds.
The Swedish coach has experienced situations in which goalkeepers needed more time to come round to understanding the benefits of quantifying performance. He makes an excellent point on the acquisition of knowledge - is it not important to have as much information and knowledge at hand, to make the most informed decisions?
“I see my role as needing to get all the knowledge and information I can”. The human element never dissipates. “It’s my job to then sort out what is significant for me, what is significant for the coaching staff, and what is significant for the goalkeepers?”
Elfvendal admits that there have been occasions where his goalkeepers haven’t immediately been receptive to the usage of data in their game.
“A couple of years ago when Goalkeeper.com was starting to speak about the different blocks from different angles, when we should stay and when we should go, I had one goalkeeper who said to me ‘Nah, that’s not my kind of thing you know?’”
Opening a dialogue was important. “I asked, okay, how come? And he said, I don’t really think that is the best for me. Okay, then, let’s try it out. He didn’t really engage in any kind of blocking situations, usually only staying and reacting or trying to smother. I set up a selection of different simulated drills on these principles which demonstrated that he had no reaction time in certain cases. Then I put my iPad behind the ball and started to video record every one of these shots.
“We talked through every save and what was going on, how he felt in each situation. He felt certain things were difficult, and I explained that was part of development. We carried on and he started to transfer these principles into games.
“The important thing was he didn’t really need to understand the expected goal values. He needed to see how he could save more shots. That’s the way I presented the data, and from there he was happy to improve. As I said before, all the knowledge is there, and my job is to transfer that to make it easier for the goalkeeper, not make it more complex and more difficult.”
The improvements in understanding that looking at goalkeeping through a data-shaped lens have proven benefits at the elite levels. As Elfvendal explained, however, a key part of his motivation to work with Goalkeeper.com is to enhance general interest in and knowledge of the position. That’s work that spans the whole pyramid, so how do coaches and goalkeepers who don’t have the need to undertake or access to the top UEFA qualifications assimilate these principles into developing at the grassroots and youth levels?
“That’s a great question” admits the Swedish coach.
“In these situations, I tell the goalkeeper coach or the goalkeeper or the goalkeeper’s parents, or whoever helps the goalkeeper, to watch game situations and try and replicate them. That principle doesn’t change for a professional as it does for a six year old; they also have opponents, and they have teammates, and they play in match environments against other players.
“Even if not using the data, you can use the principles and perspectives the data brings. Again, asking those questions. Sometimes I can help my brother’s kids. They’re young but they also enjoy goalkeeping, and we can help them by saying okay, in this situation, either I can score, or I can pass to my brother and he can score. What do you think about this? I ask them to explain what they’re thinking relative to different situations. On a low level, that’s more or less what I do now with the Swedish first team. A high level of game representation is the best learning method.
Letting goalkeepers get used to making their own decisions based on their observation remains important regardless. “Do you really need to tell the goalkeeper which side you’re starting on, because then if they know, they will start the action before you shoot. And in many cases, you don’t want them to do that in the game, because you want them to read how you come to the ball and how the foot is moving, and when can I start to dive to the left or right? Just a small, small change will help the goalkeeper to work on the whole action, to scan the information, to start to think about the information, and then start to act.”
“But, of course, to get more people into goalkeeping, it has to be fun”, Elfvendal recognises.
“I do the same at the highest level, try to make it fun. Because the more fun you have, the more you like to do it. And I’m 100% sure you will learn from that as well.”
From the youngest ages to the biggest stages, Maths Elfvendal's vast experience, with the support of the Swedish FA, will bring another rounded and informed perspective to help Goalkeeper.com help more goalkeepers in the coming years.
“I think the Swedish FA are in a very cool position right now. I think we’re taking steps and decisions on the right way to be innovative and try to find out the next edge. And in this case, it’s collaboration here with you guys to use the world leading data. We’ve got to see goalkeeper studies improving the whole game - the goalkeeping and the offensive game too and the Goalkeeper.com data helps us do that.
“I think we’ll find that Swedish goalkeepers are going to be taking much better decisions in how much they will find a balance between defending the space and protecting the goal. I’m working very hard to create the knowledge within the game. There are lots of very solid goalkeepers in the world, and I think they can become even better. Hopefully I can help the Swedish goalkeepers to do that.”
