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GOALKEEPER
​The goalkeeper is the custodian of the onion bag and last line of defence. When the efforts of his outfield team-mates have failed – and an attacker on the other team has the goal at their mercy – then it’s up to the man between the sticks to prevent the ball rustling in the back of the net like a freshly caught fish.
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Abbreviated as the GK in Football Manager, the goalie's traditional home is the penalty area and you would hope that he looks after his humble-abode like a king would with his castle, although some keepers stick exclusively to their six-yard box and others don’t even want to go that far, staying rooted on their line instead.
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In Football Manager the goalkeeper role is only available with a defend duty, which ensures that they largely stay at home in the box and this guide concentrates on exactly that – the goalkeeper's traditional role.
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The modern-day goalkeeper is expected to fulfil the roles of playmaker and sweeper as well as that of ball-handler (the white round one rather than his own - or anyone else's for that matter). These extra demands are covered by the sweeper keeper role.
“The Goalkeeper role focuses on protecting his goal and making saves from shots and crosses. He is the last line of defence and is relied upon to help the team keep clean sheets.”
“The Goalkeeper can distribute the ball in many ways. He can pass it short to his defenders, try to play out of defence, or he could play longer passes towards a target man or a wide player”.
(Football Manager description of the Goalkeeper role - descriptive content © Sports Interactive and SEGA)
Goalkeeper's area of responsibility
The goalkeeper’s distribution is covered elsewhere on this site (and elsewhere altogether if you can be bothered to use a search engine or ask around more). Consider this guide as a two-part series, where this opening part starts off with the attributes and tactics that can get the best out of your shot-stopper, while the second instalment concentrates on the basic tasks that the man between the posts has to carry out in order to keep the ball out the net. Without further ado, let’s get into it!
WHAT MAKES A GOOD GOALKEEPER?
​​​First off we need to know what we’re looking for when it comes to selecting or buying a goalkeeper. Whether you use the traditional role or whether you find that your best shot-stopper can also play a sweeping role, the attributes here represent a base set for anyone playing between the sticks.
Remember that these are only guidelines and you may have different ideas about what is considered essential, but these are the attributes I personally look for when picking who gets the gloves for the team.
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In the ideal world you want to have the rating for each key attribute to be the best in the league, but obviously and realistically this isn't possible; a more realistic aim is to be scoring at least average across the board in these attributes.
Key attributes​
These are the goalkeeper’s essential attributes and should be at least average for the standard of football that he’s playing at since these are the goalkeeper's basic ball-handling and shot-stopping attributes. Any weaknesses here and you may want to be frantically trawling the transfer market for a new shot-stopper.
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Important attributes
These attributes can become key depending on the strengths and weaknesses of your defenders as well as your team’s tactics. Generally it’s good to have these attributes scoring at least average but it isn’t necessarily the end of the world if these don’t.
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Useful attributes
These attributes are related to how the goalkeeper might use the ball. It isn't a requirement for the traditional goalkeeper to be good on the ball so these attributes are a bonus; they're nice to have.
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Goalkeeping
​Aerial Reach
Command Of Area
Communication
Eccentricity
First Touch
Handling
Kicking
One On Ones
Passing
Punching
Reflexes
Rushing Out
Throwing
Mental
Aggression
Anticipation
Bravery
Composure
Concentration
Decisions
Determination
Flair
Leadership
Off The Ball
Positioning
Teamwork
Vision
Work Rate
Physical
Acceleration
Agility
Balance
Jumping Reach
Natural Fitness
Pace
Stamina
Strength
HOW TO USE THE GOALKEEPER
You should consider the distance that’s going to be present between your goalkeeper and defence once your team has lost the ball and starts defending.
They may share different positions but the goalkeeper and defence should try and work together as one unit (within the larger overall team structure). With that in mind, the aim is to have the distance between both parties as close as practically possible to squeeze the space that's open to any through balls on the ground or balls over the top so that these threats can be covered effectively.
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Now we've already explained that the traditional goalkeeper doesn’t advance any further than the edge of his own penalty area (or at furthermost, the edge of the D attached to the outside of said box). Since standard goalkeepers generally stay inside their box, a high defensive line on its own will leave too much open land between defence and goalkeeper, unless you have a spare defender in the centre (with the legs of Road Runner) who can make up the ground. Having a covering centre-back is going to be more than useful for any defensive set-up more daring than that of a low-block.
A low block – which sees the defence sit on the edge of the goalkeeper’s box when defending, aided and abetted by a low defensive line – is obviously the best choice when it comes to goalkeeper-defence connection but it does require your keeper to have some inches (or centimetres) on them as well as the reach and ability to deal with the increased number of crosses and high balls that are likely to be thrown (or, more commonly, struck) into the box.
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Setting your defensive block to medium - or the mid-block - may be the happy medium at providing a balance between preventing the aerial assault of your box (that brings your possibly flappy, physically challenged and suspect keeper to the fore - not something you want) and still allowing your defenders to get back and cover those through balls and balls over the top.
With a mid-block, the defence say “no further” when they’ve reached the edge of their own third or the bottom of the middle-third depending on what way you see it.
Don’t forget that covering centre-back to plug the gap between goalkeeper and defence.
​Here's a good way of remembering where to place your defenders when defending and using the traditional goalkeeper:
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“Big and slow; deep and low”
“Shit in the air; get out of there”
GOALKEEPER INSTRUCTIONS
​As for the goalkeeper's individual instructions, it’s simply a case of complimenting his basic role. Simply ask them to ease off tackles (not that a goalkeeper should be tackling much anyway) and get them to clear the ball away when it comes anywhere near them by setting the passing to more direct and asking your keeper to take fewer risks with their passing (clearances are further encouraged by the defend duty).
When the goalkeeper has time on the ball (a precious commodity given by opponents that drop outside of the goalkeeper's own third and into the middle third to defend), they may wish to bring it down and under control before playing something just as forward-moving but more pin-point and aimed towards a winger or striker to start a counter-attack. A slower tempo encourages the keeper to take a touch or two before playing it.
Goalkeeper (Defend)
​Tackle harder
Ease off tackles
Shorter passing
More direct passing (passing directness slider)
Dribble less
Dribble more
Take more (passing) risks
Take fewer (passing) risks
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Unavailable
Not recommended
Recommended
Pre-set
​It should be said that having a sturdy defence (especially when it comes to the centre-backs) is going to provide a more robust defensive lock and key than simply relying on someone with a different coloured jersey to repel everything away. Still, every goalkeeper’s got to get down (or up) and dirty sometime and the next chapter - part two of this guide - deals with the necessary skills and responsibilities needed by the goalkeeper when called upon.
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