Putting Famous Goalkeeper MYTHS To The TEST

Today we're going to be putting famous goalkeeper mists to the test. The first one is the goalkeeper should never be beaten at the near post. So how we're going to be testing this is we've got five balls here, you're going to be shot at the near post, we're going to start in the middle, on the sign, yes. We're going to go to the near post, try and save five balls this side, five balls that side, see how many we can actually save. So in these situations I made sure with my positioning that I was still covering the far post as well as the near post. And of course I did know the ball was going to the near post because we had to to test the reality of this myth. And in my opinion there's just some shots you cannot save. There's some shots that not even the best goalkeepers can save. And of course we tested this myth on both the left and the right hand side. But these were the results. Out of 10 shots taken, five on each side, I made seven saves and three goals were scored. So myth one, goalkeeper should never be beaten at the near post. In my opinion, just not the case. So it's all about positioning with this and it's a great drill to do. Set up at the start, go to your short post, get in position. You have to make sure you're covering your near post as well as your far post. And in this drill, to bust the myth, of course we're shooting at the near post so we know that, but still it's great. So what you want to do when you're positioning for a shot coming in from an angle, make sure that you're in a position that you can get to the near post and you can also get the far post. So it's a great drill to start here, come over here and get set in your position to make sure you can cover both sides from the angle. All right, let's move on to the next myth. So the second myth we're going to be doing is putting Vaseline on the goalkeeper gloves. I've never done this before and it's the weirdest thing I've ever heard, but it might actually work. I don't know. I don't use anything for grip on my gloves. You guys know I use the Tizen goalkeeper gloves. So we're going to be using these, taking some shots in the hands. I know the grip is good with these and then after we'll put Vaseline on them and see if the grip is better or not. All right, let's go. First up was the normal goalkeeper gloves and of course these just felt like normal, normal gloves. They have good grip. I like using them. So that's actually all there's to it. Now it was time to rub the gloves in with Vaseline. I have to say while rubbing it in, I actually thought this might work and I'm going to have to check if this is actually legal. Can you do this in a football match? Honestly, they're quite sticky. Listen. So having taken a few shots in the hands, we decided to do a grip test where I would hold the ball out in front of me and angle it down until the ball fell. This way I could draw a line and see at which degree the ball would fall with both gloves. As you can see, using the normal goalkeeper gloves, the ball fell at an angle of 58 degrees. Using the Vaseline goalkeeper gloves, the ball fell at an angle of 83 degrees, which was stunning. So I think we can conclude putting Vaseline on your gloves does make them more grippy. So myth two, putting Vaseline on your goalkeeper gloves will improve the grip is true. But I decided to do some research and found the following. Law 4 states, there is no provision for the goalkeeper or any other player to wear artificial aids to enhance their ability to play. Therefore, tacky substances on the hands or sticky gloves are illegal equipment and if used, constitute unsupporting behavior for which a caution should be given. But I have to say, I know there's companies such as Glove Glue and others who make spray that does enhance your gloves as well and make them more sticky. So I'm not really sure what to think here. Is putting Vaseline on your gloves legal in a football game? Let me know down in the comments what you guys think. Now the next myth is a big one. You have to be tall to be a good goalkeeper. Now I've heard many people say you need to be at least 6 foot 2 or 6 foot 3 to be a good goalkeeper. So I decided to hop online and do some research. I found out that the average height of a professional goalkeeper is around 6 foot 3. Also looking at the World Cup of 2018, the average height of a goalkeeper was 6 foot 2 or 1 meter 89. The tallest goalkeeper being Thibaut Courtois coming in at a 6 foot 5. The shortest goalkeeper being Guillermo Ochoa and David Ospina coming in at 1 meter 83 or 6 feet. But in history there have been shorter goalkeepers that have made it to the professional level. I mean looking at Jorge Campos who's only 1 meter 70 tall and Rene Higuita who is only 1 meter 76 tall. Infamous for his scorpion kick and one of the most legendary goalkeepers of all time. So in conclusion I would say myth number three. You have to be tall to be a good goalkeeper. No, but it definitely does help. Next myth we're going to be doing. Should you use your top hand or your bottom hand when going for a high save? So how we're going to be testing this is we have a goalkeeper drill. Ball on a cone right here as you saw. We're going to stand in the goal, punch the ball away and you're going to get a high ball. We're going to do a couple saves with the bottom hand, a couple saves with the top hand and see which is best. Let's go. For the first few saves I limited myself to only using my bottom hand. I was able to pull off some great saves but I quickly came to the conclusion that if the ball went straight into the top corner I just couldn't reach it with my bottom hand. That was a bottom hand. I definitely felt like the one I didn't have was too high for this hand and I think if I would have gone with this one with the top hand I would have had it. Now moving on to the top hand and do a couple saves with that one. Limiting myself to only using my top hand was kind of weird. Balls that were shot at waist height were very difficult for me to grab with the top hand. But on the other hand, balls that were shot a bit higher up were easier for me to grab with the top hand which is obvious of course. Then one of the weirdest things happened. I kind of shot the ball and hit the crossbar and somehow the ball ended up straight in my hands. This has never happened to me before. Like what are the odds of this even happening? Oh, let's get back to the myth. My preference is because my right hand is dominant when I go for a high save on the left side I tend to go with my right hand and what I've always been taught is for a low save or a mid-high save you go with your left or your bottom hand. For a higher save, you use your top hand because you can get higher, right? What I think we can conclude here is first of all, just save the ball. You know, if you go with top hand or bottom hand you got to save the ball. It doesn't matter how you do it as long as you get it out of the goal. I would recommend and what I do if the ball is low, go with your low hand. If it's high enough, go with your top hand. Go what you're comfortable with and just use that. Just make sure you make a save. That's the most important. So the discussion top hand, bottom hand, blah, blah, blah doesn't matter. Just make the save. That's the most important, right? Okay, let's go on. Next myth we're going to be testing is should you go with your feet or with your hands? This is something that goalkeeper trainers have always told me. Go with your hands as much as you can but often you can't go with your hands and you have to use your feet as well. You have to use everything of your body you can to make the save. So we're going to do a couple one-on-one situations five of which I'm going to use my feet and five of which I'm going to use my hands and let's see which is better. Let's go. So I noticed straight away only using my feet to block a 1v1 save was going to be quite difficult but it actually did work out quite well. Putting the one knee down and making my feet and legs as big as possible definitely helped out. And out of the five 1v1s we did I was able to make three saves. Now being able to use my hands I felt like I was able to make myself a lot bigger and close down the angle a lot better. This time out of the five 1v1s I made four saves and conceded one goal. So eventually using only my feet I made three saves and conceded two goals and using my hands I made four saves and conceded one goal. So myth number five foot saves versus hand saves. I think use both as much as you can just close down the angle and make yourself as big as possible and do everything you need to make the save. All right so foot save versus hand save in all honesty I think this is the same as top or bottom hand as long as you make the save use your feet and your hands make yourself as big as possible. I'll show you guys a little in-game clip of me in a good 1v1 save here. I saved it with my feet because I closed the distance between me and the attacker and then eventually I used my feet. So here's the opposite team good one touch passing here comes the through ball and I'm already closing down the angle and boom there you go. I closed down the angle so he had to make the decision to shoot in one go and I'm close enough so that he barely has anywhere to go and I'm able to pull off the 1v1 save. That's the most important thing is the positioning. You get yourself in front of the ball as close as you can close down the angle make the save with your feet or your hands you know whatever works best for you. That was it for this video if you guys did enjoy don't forget to leave a like and subscribe. If you have any other goalkeeper myths put a comment down below and we'll test them in the next video. See you guys in the next one.