by RoyalBlue »
24 Dec 2008 11:49
Hoop Blah RoyalBlue Had he got closer to Bent I suspect it would have been easier to have got the ball over him with a header.
How would it have been easier to head the ball over him if he was closer to him?
He'd then have to head it almost straight up in the air, making it a lot harder for the ball to move forwards towards the goal.
But once he'd got the ball over him he wouldn't have needed to have relied on the ball's momentum to carry it forwards towards the goal! He would have run past Federici (who wouldn't have been able to turn quick enough and therefore could only have prevented a goal by pulling him back in return for a penalty and red card) and just slotted it home.
Still maintain that given the play immediately preceding the moment, Federici was positioned where most other keepers would have been. Turned out to be perfect positioning because he prevented the goal!
Mind you, it's easy to be an expert on the sidelines. It's for that reason that the goalkeeping 'school' my kids attend periodically run coaching sessions during which parents, team managers, etc. are invited to join in. They reckon that once the touchline experts get to see what it's really like to be a keeper they tend to be a little less vocal in their criticism!
Stranded RoyalBlue papereyes Wait a second, Bent's effort at the end?
Wasn't that quite good positioning on his part, giving Bent very little to aim for?
I would have said so, yes. It would have needed a very neat headed finish under pressure to have beaten him from there and if it had beaten him it would have beaten most other keepers who, as I said earlier, would have been in a very similar position. Had he got closer to Bent I suspect it would have been easier to have got the ball over him with a header.
Thought he also closed down the angle very well when Jerome had a chance right at the end, giving him almost nothing to aim at.
Yes, I was surprised the commentator didn't give him more credit for that at the time. Perfect positioning, made himself big (and he's pretty big anyway) and didn't make it easy for Jerome by committing too early. I doubt Jerome got to see much of the goal at all.