The death of the long ball has often been pronounced as football has evolved in recent years.
Playing backwards has become the standard. Direct teams are the anomaly rather than the norm.
The logical tactical evolution thereafter was the rise of the high press, followed by attempts to deliberately entice the press to exploit space behind the opponents carrying out the pressing.
During that time, teams played shorter passes from the back. Goalkeepers no longer habitually launch long balls as far up the field as possible. Instead, they play a key role in the build-up phase of their team, a trend best illustrated by the decline of the long ball in Europe’s top leagues, especially the Premier League.
Goalkeepers in England’s top flight play fewer long balls. Since the start of the 2018/2019 Premier League season, the percentage of goalkeeper passes played long – defined as balls that travel a distance of at least 32 meters (35 yards) – has fallen year on year, from 69 percent to less than half in that season. period of six years.
The move towards playing shorter passes means that goalkeepers increasingly need to have different skills. Technical ability on the ball has become a necessity, so the focus is on developing goalkeepers who can handle pressure well with their feet.
This increased technical quality of goalkeepers and the rise of aggressive pressing has led to teams maximizing long passes to exploit spaces on the pitch.
“When you play teams against man against man, the free man is the ‘goalkeeper’,” said Pep Guardiola after Manchester City’s 3-0 away win against Burnley at the start of last season. “That’s why you should use this alternative.”
In the second half of that game, City took advantage of Burnley’s man-marking by isolating striker Erling Haaland and using goalkeeper Ederson to play long passes to him. Ederson completed 16 of his 28 long passes at Turf Moor on the night – his most in the Premier League since 2018/19 – and one of them led to the free-kick that saw City score their third goal.
Similarly, visitors Brentford tried to put City under man-to-man pressure in their Premier League match last month. Once again, the City players dropped deeper to drag the Brentford defenders out of position, creating space for Haaland to attack and for Ederson to make long passes.
In this example, Jack Grealish and Savinho withdraw to move their markers forward, Sepp van den Berg and Nathan Collins, isolating Haaland against Ethan Pinnock.
Once the City players lure the Brentford defenders higher up the pitch, Ederson plays a long ball towards Haaland, who beats Pinnock and scores the winner.
“If you isolate Haaland against a central defender, with the quality we have with Ederson and (back-up goalkeeper) Stefan Ortega, that is a weapon we have to utilize,” Guardiola said after City’s 2-1 win that day .
This season was the third in a row in which City used Ederson’s long balls towards Haaland to beat man-to-man pressing plans. Considering the qualities and profiles of the two players, it is a golden solution.
At the other end of Manchester, Guardiola’s United counterpart Erik ten Hag was never lucky enough to see Andre Onana’s long balls towards Diogo Dalot result in a goal.
Since the start of last season, goalkeeper Onana has been trying to find Dalot’s points behind the defense, whether the Portuguese full-back started from a narrow infield position or from a wider one.
The idea is to wait until Dalot has curved his run past the opponent’s backline before the goalkeeper plays the long ball into space as the other United players leave that area.
In the 2-1 home win against Brentford this month, Dalot sneaked behind Kevin Schade – after Marcus Rashford’s narrow positioning dragged Kristoffer Ajer onto the pitch – to attack the space behind the defence.
Onana times his long pass perfectly, with Dalot still on the side…
…but the full-back shoots straight at Mark Flokken.
Liverpool have also used the long-range distribution of their goalkeepers to execute a specific move.
Alisson and his back-up Caoimhin Kelleher have played long balls to Mohamed Salah to start an up-back-through passing pattern down their right wing.
Liverpool’s third goal in a 4-1 win against Sevilla in pre-season is an example of how the move works: Alisson goes straight towards Salah and Dominik Szoboszlai allows a third man to run into the space the Egyptian winger has vacated, yet before the match. the latter gets the ball back to Diogo Jota, who then finds the Hungarian midfielder’s point.
Salah has received 42 percent of completed long passes from Liverpool goalkeepers in the Premier League this season, a sharp increase from the previous six seasons. New head coach Arne Slot makes him a direct outlet.
It’s important to remember that this isn’t just a case of goalkeepers launching their kicks forward without aim. The idea is to have a specific routine that maximizes the chance of scoring a goal.
Arsenal’s David Raya has played 56 percent of his passes long in the Premier League so far this season; only the goalkeepers of Nottingham Forest, Everton and Wolverhampton Wanderers went directly more often. But Arsenal don’t throw the ball forward just for the sake of the ball. Raya’s long passes are mainly aimed at Kai Havertz near the right flank, while the other Arsenal players are in position to try to win the second ball next.
Since Raya and Havertz joined Arsenal in the summer of 2023, the German forward has received as many completed long passes from the Spanish goalkeeper as the rest of the team combined in the Premier League (102 out of 204). The next highest receivers on the list are Gabriel Jesus and Gabriel Martinelli, with just 17 each.
The evolution of football in recent years has turned goalkeepers’ long balls into a tool for attacking space and progressing on the pitch.
Greater emphasis on build-up play has favored technically sound goalkeepers, while also leading to the rise of aggressive pressing and higher defensive lines. Goalkeepers can target specific areas and teammates to bypass that pressure and attack the space that inevitably arises.
Numerically, goalkeepers’ long balls are in decline, but tactically they are more important than ever.
(Top photo: Alex Pantling/Getty Images)