As football has evolved over the past few years, the death of the long ball has been proclaimed time and time again.
Playing from the back has become standard. Direct teams are the anomaly, not the norm.
The logical tactical evolution from then on was the rise of the high-pressing press, and then the deliberate inducement of the press to exploit the space behind opposition players.
During that time, the team has been running short passes out of the backfield. Goalkeepers are no longer used to firing long balls as far as possible. Instead, they play a key role in the build-up phase of a team, a trend best reflected in the decline of long balls in Europe’s top leagues, particularly the Premier League.
Goalkeepers in England’s top flight are playing long balls less and less. Since the start of the 2018-19 Premier League season, the percentage of long balls played by goalkeepers (defined as the ball traveling a distance of at least 32m (35 yards)) has dropped year on year, from 69% to less than half.
The development of short passing means that “goalkeepers increasingly need to have different skills”. Technical ability with the ball has become a requirement, so there is a focus on developing goalkeepers who excel with their feet under pressure.
The improvement in the technical quality of goalkeepers and the rise of offensive pressing have led to teams maximizing the use of long passes to exploit the space in the frontcourt.
“When you play one-on-one, the free agent is the ‘keeper,'” Guardiola said after City’s 3-0 win away to Burnley at the start of last season. “That’s why you have to use this substitution. plan.”
In the second half of that game, City took advantage of Burnley’s man-marking tactics, isolating forward Erling Haaland and allowing goalkeeper Ederson to play long balls to him. On the night, Ederson completed 16 of his 28 long passes at Turf Moor, his highest number in the Premier League since the 2018-19 season, one of which he fired straight into a free kick to set up City’s third Goal.
Likewise, visiting team Brentford tried to press Manchester City one-on-one in last month’s Premier League match. Manchester City players dropped back again, dragging Brentford’s defender out of position, creating space for Haaland’s attack and Ederson’s long pass.
In this example, Jack Grealish and Savinho retreat to move their markers Sepp van den Berg and Nathan Collins forward and isolate Haaland against Ethan Pinnock.
As City players attracted Brentford defenders up front, Ederson played a long pass to Haaland, who beat Pinnock to score the winning goal.
“When you isolate Haaland to a centre-back, with the quality of Ederson and (back-up goalkeeper) Stefan Ortega, that’s a weapon we have to exploit,” City won 2-1 that day. Guardiola later said.
This is the third consecutive season that Manchester City has used Ederson’s long pass to Haaland to defeat the man-marking press. Considering the quality and profiles of both players, this is a golden solution.
On the other side of Manchester, Guardiola’s United counterpart Erik ten Hag was never lucky enough to see Andre Onana score from a long pass into Diogo Dalot.
Since the start of last season, goalkeeper Onana has struggled to find Dalot’s runs in behind the defence, whether the Portuguese full-back starts from a narrow infield position or a wider position.
The idea is to wait until Lott’s run gets past the opposition backline, and then the goalkeeper sends a long ball into space while other United players leave the area.
In the 2-1 home win over Brentford this month, Dalot snuck past Kevin Sands after Marcus Rashford’s narrow position dragged Christopher Ajer infield. Behind Germany, attack the space outside the defense line.
Onana timed his long pass perfectly and Dalot was still there…
…But the fullback fired straight at Mark Flecken.
Liverpool also use the long range distribution of their goalkeeper to execute specific actions.
Alisson and his replacement Kelleher have been playing long balls to Mohamed Salah to start a passing pattern down the right wing.
Liverpool’s third goal in their 4-1 pre-season win over Sevilla was an example of this move: Alisson ran straight at Salah, while Dominic Szoboszlai Running as third man into the space vacated by the Egyptian winger, even before the game started.
In the Premier League this season, among the Liverpool goalkeepers’ long pass completion rate, Salah’s reception rate was 42%, which was significantly higher than the previous six seasons. New head coach Arne Slaughter is turning him into an immediate outlet.
It’s important to remember that this isn’t just a case of the goalkeeper kicking the ball forward without any purpose. The idea is to develop a specific routine that maximizes the chances of scoring a goal.
Arsenal’s David Raya has hit 56% of his long balls in the Premier League so far this season, with only Nottingham Forest, Everton and Wolves goalkeepers passing direct balls more often. But Arsenal didn’t just push forward for the ball. Raya’s long pass was mainly aimed at Kai Havertz near the right sideline, while other Arsenal players tried to win the second ball.
Since Raya and Kai Havertz joined Arsenal in the summer of 2023, the German striker has received as many long passes from the Spanish goalkeeper as the rest of the team in the Premier League combined (102 out of 204). The next-highest receivers on the roster are Gabriel Jesus and Gabriel Martinelli with just 17 carries each.
The development of football in recent years has turned the goalkeeper’s long ball into a tool for attacking space and moving forward.
A greater emphasis on playmaking favored skilled goalkeepers, while also leading to the rise of aggressive pressing and taller defensive lines. Goalkeepers can target specific areas and teammates to bypass pressure and attack the space it inevitably creates.
In terms of numbers, the number of long balls played by goalkeepers is declining, but tactically they are more important than ever.
(Top photo: Alex Pantlin/Getty Images)
