The higher level you play, the less shots you get

which type of training belonged to which goalkeeper. That’s unacceptable at such a big club as FC Porto. I am going to teach them
the way we are working with the first team and that’s the basis to
work with youth goalkeepers. From the management I’ve got full
cooperation. The goalkeepers should be working in this style and
it’s my responsibility to manage this process.”
Wil Coort, goalkeeping
coach FC Porto:
Teacher
In The Netherlands Wil Coort was the goalkeeper coach at
FC Den Bosch for eight years followed by eight years at AFC
Ajax. Two years ago he wanted another challenge and chose
to move to FC Porto. This is his third year at FC Porto and his
aim this year is to put together a solid youth goalkeeping program. “Here they teach you to be a good reaction keeper. But
since Baia, around twenty years ago, a top class Portuguese
goalkeeper has not broken through.”
“For Many years I have learnt from Frans Hoek. That is a big advantage for me. For years I have been giving courses for Frans
Hoek and the KNVB (Dutch soccer association). I have learnt a lot
from this period. Besides that I was assisted by Vitor Baia, because my Portuguese is not that good, but also because it is
someone with a lot of earned respect. Baia is also positive about
my way of working and he also wants us to start working this way.
This is also a big advantage. I think it’s a big challenge for me to
manage this process.”
By: Paul van Veen
Basic technique
“I’ve started to name and discuss all the basic techniques of
goalkeeping: the pass, 1 vs 1 pressure, back pass and so on. I
presented my thoughts and what I think a goalkeeper should do
and how to react. I’ve also presented this to a couple of youth
goalkeepers and players. What became apparent during these
presentations is that youth goalkeepers have a lot of trouble with
these basis techniques, while they thought at FC Porto they had
really great finished goalkeepers. Now they realize that really wasn’t the case.”
Complete
“The higher level you play,
the less shots you get”
“After Co Adriaanse left there was a new trainer, but for me personally nothing changed. I spoke to the new trainer. I told him my
vision and my way of working and he thought that was a good
idea, so nothing really changed for me. His way of working obviously is different than what I was used to in The Netherlands, and
especially the way of thinking about soccer. In The Netherlands we
are used to playing offensive soccer, but in Portugal they have a
more defensive playing style. That was a big change, but for me
as a goalkeeper coach I got the space to work the way I wanted
to. Furthermore I often get the opportunity to do exercises with
players. During these exercises I can coach the goalkeepers in relation to the last line. Something I was always used to do.”
Space
“When I explained how I thought a goalkeeper should work, the
new head coach told me he never thought about goalkeepers that
way. I explained to him that a team like FC Porto, from the 30
matches they play, 26 of these matches are played on the opponents half. When you are that much stronger than your opponent
it’s self-evident you have a lot of space behind your defense. A
keeper like Helton can play this style very well. The new trainer
found this really interesting.”
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No. 24 December 2007/January 2008
Split up
“The first period for example I’ve got half an hour with the keepers. Whatever I did during this half hour, he didn’t interfere with
me at all. If the exercises during this time didn’t link to the rest of
the training we took that for granted. But with the start of the new
season it was different. At least once a week I want the group to
split up. I start working with one part of the group and the goalkeepers. This means we could also do exercises for the strikers.”
“It seems all those years they’ve educated goalkeepers to become line/react goalkeepers. The ‘normal’ coaches also saw
their goalkeepers were far from complete. Before the course the
coaches were very skeptical. A Dutch goalkeeper coach is going
to tell us what we’ve done wrong all these years. But that wasn’t
my intention at all and I explained that to them. I just wanted to
tell them about what I think of goalkeeping and about how a goalkeeper should function within a team at FC Porto. Because all
youth teams of FC Porto also play on the opponents half, they are
all much stronger then their rivals. This demands a different type
of goalkeeper than just a line goalkeeper.”
Management
“But I’ve also had to present this to the management team of FC
Porto. Because in Portugal not just the trainer decides which
player or goalkeeper will be bought. So if there’s a goalkeeper
who is about to transfer to Porto it should be a goalkeeper who
Youth
”But it doesn’t stop with the first team. I am going to educate
youth goalkeepers at FC Porto as well. Last summer I delivered a
course to several youth coaches from FC Porto. I’ve made a youth
plan, with which we will be working this season. This means that
every youth goalkeeper from the age of ten will be coached individually. The older they get, the more focused we will be coaching
the players.”
Type
”I started this because we had three different youth goalkeepers
coaches who all had their own style of working. They didn’t know
what each other what they were doing. They also didn’t know
No. 24 December 2007/January 2008
39
Type of players
”You have to deal with several kinds of players. A type like Adriano is not very fast, but you can pass him a ball which he can
hold. Quaresma and Tarik are fast wingers, a goalkeeper should
pass them the ball long. As a goalkeeper you should know the
specific qualities of the players in your team. You work with them
on a daily basis so you should know what their strong points and
what their weak points are. That is something essential to playing
soccer on this level.
Confidence
”There are still some situations where he isn’t 100% confidence
of himself. These situations are something we can only repeat in
train sessions. For example; Helton gets a ball from our right defender, he controls the ball with his left foot and passes to the
left defender. That is something what we can train individually.
The goalkeeper receives a ball and passes it with a certain speed
to the other side in a goal. After this you say: after receiving the
ball there is some kind of pressure which should increase the handling speed. You could place a player in between, the goalkeeper
should pass the ball over this player. Finally he should do this exercise under the highest pressure from the left and right side. “
Basis
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fits in with FC Porto. They should understand the thinking behind
it. They should not just get a goalkeeper because he played a
good match or tournament, this goalkeeper should also fit into
the club. After all it’s also for the interest of the club. If they still
want a new goalkeeper, fine, I will work with him. That’s up to
them, but now they know the consequences. But I really believe
they understand my vision.”
Four years
“Within the education it should also improve, off course. After
Baia nobody had been educated here. If you can educate a new
goalkeeper every four years, you should always have three goalkeepers for the first team. Of course there will always be times
where you have problems, but then you always have the option to
buy a new goalkeeper. This is also the challenge for me and why I
went back to FC Porto. Of course you have your responsibility
working with the first team, but I also wanted to develop the youth
department of FC Porto, work in which I have full freedom now.”
Principles
”Despite the fact we have a new trainer with a different playing
style the principles for the goalkeepers remain the same. We still
play most of the time on the opponents half and perhaps there
are fewer situations where the ball falls behind our defense because we play with one additional player in the defense, but still a
goalkeeper has to intervene. Perhaps it’s now two instead of four
times per match, but the situation remains the same. So the way
you work as a goalkeeper coach doesn’t have to change. For a
goalkeeper it means you have to be even sharper in those one or
two situations per match where you must intervene.”
Less
“The higher level you play, the less shots you get as a goalkeeper.
If you see what Helton has to do in some matches it is really incredible. Sometimes it’s absolutely nothing. I analyse every
match with our three other goalkeepers using sportvas, an
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No. 24 December 2007/January 2008
analyse system. So I can see exactly how many balls Helton has
got in ball possession, opponent ball possession, transition and
set plays. Usually it’s around three or four back passes from defenders, three or four actions and that’s about it. And that’s not
just one match, it happens on a daily basis. Because there are,
with all due respect, several very weak teams that adhere to a defensive playing style, it’s really incredible. Sometimes they play
with eight players just outside their own penalty area. That was
also the problem when Adriaanse coached here, because you can
handle an offensive and dominant playing style, but defending is
something that the Portuguese are really good at. Adriaanse
showed how to play these kinds of matches, something they still
talk about here with a lot of respect.”
“This season a talented teenager has come through our youth.
With him I am going to work on the basics. Playing 1 to 1, the
depth, but also of course the playing along part.
He is a good line goalkeeper but it isn’t a finished goalkeeper.
The basics I want to train with him and players but there are also
a lot of points where we can work individually on. Besides that we
also have a 31-year old goalkeeper. I told him I will try to make
him a completely different goalkeeper. You are who you are, but
we will work on things that are relatively easy to learn such as 1
to 1, kicking (left and right foot) and his positional game. I am not
going to tell him when to kick the ball left of right. Once he got
this under control the two years which are left of his contract will
be over. He has to make sure that when the team needs his qualities he’s there to help the team.
Concentration
“Important for a goalkeeper at FC Porto is concentration. But concentration is something difficult to coach. The only thing I can do
when I see a goalkeeper loses his concentration is talking about
it. What exercise should you do to improve concentration? Goalkeepers who have not seen one ball for 60 minutes and then suddenly a shot at goal? So the only thing you can do is talk about it.
The advantage for me is I can view all footage using the analyse
system and discuss this with the goalkeepers. But often you cannot observe when a goalkeeper is losing concentration. That’s
why it’s so important to make sure you have goalkeepers with as
much as quality as you can get.”
Playing along
”I have worked with Helton for two years now. We have been busy
particularly with the playing along part, so what to do with back
passes and finding the answer the moment your team is in trouble.
In these kinds of situations you should know to who you should
pass the ball. At every training session we were practicing kicking
the ball with the left and right foot. To develop the handling speed
in these situations I want to train with players, because that’s the
only way to make Helton even better. So what is the best way to
reach the players and how should you pass the ball to them?”
Intensive
“The first half year Helton played here, he was second choice
after Baia. Especially during this period we were able to train with
him intensively, because you can let people think about certain
things. When someone plays, you should not let them think too
much, because then he might be too late in certain moments in
the match. But with Helton I was able to work this way. In the beginning he had a lot of problems with that, because he wasn’t
used to work this way. But Baia supported me also, in my way of
working he recognized Frans Hoek at FC Barcelona. After a year
Helton said: in the beginning you drove me crazy, but now I’m glad
you trained me this way, because after all it left him a selection to
the national Brazilian team.”
Complex
“This year is going to be a complex year. With Helton I have to
make some next steps, with the youth goalkeeper I have to start
at the basis and finally I have to make sure the experienced goalkeeper stays focused and motivated. That means a lot of different things during the training sessions, but on the other hand
that’s just my challenge.”
No. 24 December 2007/January 2008
41
Wil Coort (1)
Organization
K1
- the coach passes the ball to K1
- K1 passes the ball directly inside foot through the air into the area of K2
- K2 has to handle the ball before it has reached the ground and without leaving his area
- K1 passes to K1 with his right foot and to K3 with his left foot
- After 10 balls change position.
Details
12 meter
K2
- The size of the field depends on the quality of the goalkeepers and can be
made bigger or smaller
K3
10 meter
Wil Coort (2)
Organization
- K1 passes to K2 with his left or right foot
- K2 controls the ball and tries to kick or throw the ball over K3
- K3 runs backwards to save the ball
- Position of K3 depends on his qualities (length, jumping power, technique,
etc.). Position between the 11 and 16 meter.
- After 6 balls change position
K3
Details
K1
K2
K1
- K3 must control the area behind him
Wil Coort (3)
Organization
K2
- Coach passes the ball to K2, who controls the ball and passes the ball over
the goalpost to K3
- From the moment the coach passes the ball to K2, K1 start pressuring K2
- After 8 balls change position
- Now from the other side
K1
K3
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No. 24 December 2007/January 2008