Neutral vs Square Stance on Crosses

VIDEO BREAKDOWN: Square Stance vs. Neutral Stance on Crosses CLIP 1: In this clip we see the goalkeeper completely squaring his shoulders to the ball. From this distance, I believe that you should be in a neutral stance because: 1. You are on your near post and need to see what’s going on at the far post 2. There’s a higher probability that the ball can be served over your head 3. You have a lot of ground to cover if it does in fact go over your head. I believe that if he were in a more neutral position, he would have been able to cross step across the goal, cover more ground and tip the ball out for either a corner or out of danger. CLIP 2: The ball is served from a similar position like in clip 1. However, Newton is in a neutral stance. Although the ball does not loop the same as in clip one, it is important to note how Newton’s Neutral Stance allows him to cover so much ground back across the goal & this allows him to get set in a much more advantageous position to make a save. ANALYSIS: In my opinion, when the ball is being crossed in, from the distance of the 18-yard box to the corner flag, I teach my goalkeepers to stand in a neutral stance; this way they can cover more ground with a cross step if the ball is being served to the far post. However, a square stance is OK the closer they come in. From the 18yrd box to the 6yrd box, there is now less of a chance that they will beat you over the top and you can now cut off short crosses with greater ease. -----------------------------------------------------------------------