Goalkeeping: Dealing with back passes

For those of you, like me, who were actively playing before the back pass rule came in way back in 1992 will know what a luxury it was to be able to scoop the ball up from your defender if they were under pressure – us goalkeepers really weren’t ball players back then, our priority was mainly to spank the ball as far forwards as possible after receiving the pass!

Fortunately the game has changed, and I think the Back Pass Rule has been a change for the better, we have had to either adapt or die and notably many of the “senior” goalkeepers playing at that time of change struggled with the new rule and subsequently retired or slowly drifted out of selection.

I admit to originally being one of the goalkeepers who struggled to adjust, and without proper advice on dealing with a pass (it just never happened – in training I did not expect to be passed to, even if I was having a run out on pitch!) so I took the old trusted favourite of spanking the ball as far and as high as possible!

Was this beneficial to the team? No, but I did not realise any different as I was simply carrying on as before the rule change albeit with a new enforced change of technique! I carried on with this philosophy for years until I worked with my favourite ever Manager – a Brazilian ex-Pro who is now involved with the Cape Verde national team (so people have nice lives!)

Being a natural ball player, he encouraged his teams to “play” football and he wanted every player in his squad to be able to be comfortable and decisive on the ball. He was a fantastic coach and put player development above results. He was the type of coach who would spend hours after training with players on a one to one level. I cannot hold this man in any higher esteem than I do already.

Anyway I digress, but he taught me the merits of vision, and rightly acknowledged that I only receive the ball coming towards me so I should already know what options are available to me – I should be able to see all the pitch and space in the time the ball took to travel to me.

And boy was he right, no longer did I focus on the ball and getting all my weight through the clearance as instead my focus was “Can I play this first time to Player x?” or “Have I time to take a touch and build possession from the back?”. My game stepped up massively with this revelation and is something that I took into coaching.

I have had countless hours of heated discussions with Team Managers who only ever asked my goalkeepers to “Clear the bloody thing!”. I stayed true to the Brazilian ethics and actively worked with my goalkeepers to become players, play the ball short when necessary and to always show again for a return pass – we reaped both rewards and fans acclaim because of our idealogy, and even though the Gaffer may not have been too happy originally, he was soon won over by the decision making of my goalkeepers.

Football is about making the right decision at the right time, and by keeping possession allows your team “thinking time”. A long aimless hoof up field only alleviates the pressure momentarily, whereas a carefully selected slide pass to your full back forces movement of other players – movement which, if delivered correctly, can set your team up on the attack.

Be brave with passes, always be an option for the player on the ball and always know your options of distribution before you receive the ball – you’ll be surprised at just how easy football becomes when played the right way!