City’s Ed boy has the world at his feet...
In part three of our special report on Ederson, Simon Bajkowski examines the devastating passing qualities that separate the keeper from the rest
IF any teams sensed weakness and pressed Ederson, they would find out very quickly what he is the best in the world at.
Sean Dyche famously lamented it was like playing against Ronald Koeman in goal and Ederson quickly became a topic of discussions between coaches at other Premier League clubs – even when he wasn’t playing.
The consensus was that he is good enough to start in midfield for any club outside the top six, with staff at at least one club reckoning he was better than all of their options in that position.
Andrew Hughes became a coach at the end of his playing career and was part of David Wagner’s staff at Huddersfield that was on the wrong end of an Ederson assist in 2018 as Sergio Aguero latched on to his goalkick and lashed the ball home.
“We knew that if we press some keepers that weren’t comfortable with backpasses they would kick it long or kick it out, but with that man he was a real key part of the prematch prep,” he told M.E.N Sport.
“You would focus a lot on him because he is the one that dictates the pace, he is the one that can start attacks that lead to goals. It’s not an accident, it is a talent and it is something that he and City have worked on.
“The guy can hit a 90-yard ball onto a stamp.
“As one player presses the goalkeeper that obviously makes one player spare so ultimately Ederson is able to find that spare player – he is that good.”
“Do you sit and play a deep block? How can you play a deep block against City because the only way you’re going to get out of it is if you have a plan?
“His passing, his calmness, his relationship with his back three or two or five, you can see he’s got a wonderful relationship and he just knows where to play and the manager works on different match plans for every game – that’s why he is the world’s best.”
The plan that Huddersfield used was sound, even if it did not save them a hiding. Real Madrid used a similar tactic in the recent Champions League game and had success with it (albeit not the game), restricting the keeper to long passes that mostly gave possession to white shirts on a night where City fell well below their usual share of control of the ball.
Sheffield United, where Hughes is currently Under-23s manager, also fared well in two league matches with containment tactics this season. It is not a surprise that the Blades under Chris Wilder and Alan Knill – who Hughes cannot speak highly enough of – were declared as a team his twotime Premier League winners could improve by watching.
There is also a suggestion that Ederson’s eagerness to rush out of his goal could be exploited. He has conceded goals at Anfield and Old Trafford by getting stranded in such a way – and was sent off at Wolves this season after flying out of his goal and bringing down the attacker.
As Frans Hoek, a godfather of goalkeeping, summarises: “I’ve never seen a goalkeeper under pressure do what Ederson does – the quality, the calmness, finding solutions and the build-up – and he is probably the best in the world at that. Defensively, there are better goalkeepers.”
However, City’s mastery of possession means that Ederson doesn’t have to be the best defensive goalkeeper in the world (and that is not
to say that side of his game is not world-class), while looking beyond isolated examples his distribution is still superior to anyone else in the league.
He has become such a dominant figure that his reputation with opposition players and coaches precedes him and gives him an advantage before a ball has been kicked.
“You always have goalkeepers that have had good distribution – people like Pepe Reina was excellent in setting off quick attacks further up the pitch, Kasper Schmeichel kicks the ball a mile to set off different attacks up the pitch – but you can equate it to having a set of golf clubs,” said David Preece, a former goalkeeperturned-pundit currently coaching at Ostersunds.
“Some keepers have two three or four golf clubs in their bag but Ederson has everything.
“He can take advantage of any situation simply because of how calm he is.
“I’ve been lucky enough to see him in training and it is difficult to see any kind of emotion at all when he is playing because he has such a poker face where nothing fazes him at all. Ideally you don’t want somebody looking to nutmeg strikers on your own goalline but across a season you’re going to be put in situations where you’re under severe pressure. If someone has any kind of anxiety or stress inside them then they’re more likely to give the ball away.
“It’s about being in control of the game, if you’re hitting balls up the halfway line that end up being 50/50 balls between you and the opposition you’re leaving half of it to chance, but if you try to keep possession like city and Ederson do you’re loading things in your favour.”