Exclusive interview ‘Goalkeeper is the toughest position on the pitch. You now must be much more proactive’

Hahead of Bournemouth’s Cup tie, Asmir Begovic reflects on how life between the sticks has become highly complicated

Asmir Begovic is talking about the art of goalkeeping, how it has changed and where it goes next. There is forensic detail about starting positions, “imperfect saves” and that muchdebated issue of playing the ball out from the back.

“When you have the ball at your feet more, you are affecting the game a lot more positively,” he explains. “There is no point just having possession, you have to do it with a purpose. There are different ways: spreading the pitch, making sure you are trying to isolate players. People from the outside looking in think any slight mistake is going to cost you, but you have to manage the risk.”

It is unusual to hear a footballer offer such insights into their craft but goalkeepers, as the saying goes, are different – and Begovic is more different than most. In the last year alone, he has experienced football in all its different hues – from a loan spell at the eastern outpost of Qarabag in Azerbaijan, to the European powerhouse of AC Milan where he helped mentor Gianluigi Donnarumma and, now, the more homespun charms of the Championship and Bournemouth, where he is preparing for today’s FA

Cup quarter-final against Southampton.

Begovic is 33 and well-placed to judge how goalkeeping has changed. It is certainly difficult to argue that any other position has been so transformed since the Bosnian emerged at Portsmouth,

Safe hands: Asmir Begovic is back at Bournemouth after his AC Milan loan

or with Begovic’s assertion that being a goalkeeper is the “toughest and most underappreciated position on the pitch”.

“When I started, there was no talk of distribution,” Begovic explains. “You literally punted the ball out of your hands, and went and protected your goal. But with new managers, new ideas, new rules, the game has evolved, and you have to adjust and think of everything: the supporting distances between you and the back line, in play, in possession and what different possession types there are – whether it’s with your feet or your hands.

“The pace of the game is incredible now – the speed of players, the power of the shots. Now goalkeepers start by thinking: how can I be more proactive in the game? How can I do it with my starting position? You decrease the space between you and your back line. You are very much involved now because if teams play a higher line, it means you are higher, which means you are a little more at risk.”

What that means, Begovic argues, is that goalkeepers have to accept the way they make saves is now very different. He cites the example of Liverpool’s recent Champions League win over RB Leipzig. “There was so much pressing that it leaves the goalkeeper all over the place, and that means you are making a lot of imperfect saves because you are in imperfect positions. You have to think a lot, which is why it takes more out of a goalkeeper mentally than it does physically.”

What does he mean by an “imperfect save”? “If I was able to set my feet before I faced most shots and saw them cleanly, then I would have a lot more chance of saving them,” Begovic explains. “But if something happens quickly, transitions happen, you are pressed and the ball gets lost, you have to try and set yourself a bit earlier, which maybe leaves a bit more space somewhere else. Your balance isn’t right, and you are making saves in any way, shape or form to try and keep the ball out of the net.”

Ederson edges it because he can pretty much pick out any kind of pass. He’s not afraid to hit 70, 80 yards. It’s about using the whole pitch.

Kasper Schmeichel. He has a very sound technique – using the Danish “cupping” technique. Most goalkeepers learn to “scoop”, whereas he goes from the side, closing his arms and keeping the ball closer to chest.

Alphonse Areola is lightning fast and makes some really good saves. I have enjoyed watching him, and making the odd mistake has been part of his development.

Begovic has made a transition of another kind – returning to Bournemouth, regaining the No 1 spot and trying to “push this team back into the Premier League”.

That is where his focus lies, although he naturally also looks back fondly on his time in Milan.

“The likes of Paolo Maldini, Zvonimir Boban, Ricky Massara asking me to come there – wow.

“I knew Milan was a giant of the game, but to go there and to see what it means to the club, to the city, to the country and around the world blew me away.”

There were talks about Begovic staying. “But, obviously, the clubs couldn’t come to an agreement,” he explains. “I took it as a nice thing that they wanted me back, but Bournemouth wanted me back also and that’s where I was contracted, so that’s where my mind shifted very quickly.”

Facing Southampton for a place in the FA Cup semi-finals for the first time in Bournemouth’s history brings back a famous memory – when Begovic scored against them in a Premier League match as he cleared the ball from his own penalty area for Stoke in 2013.

Just 12 seconds had elapsed and the goal made the

as the longest scored, at 100.5 yards – although it was recently beaten by the Newport County goalkeeper Tom King (105 yards).

“It still gets brought up,” Begovic says, admitting he “did not know what to do with myself ” when the ball bounced over Artur Boruc and

Gigi play the very highest level for 20-plus years is incredible. It his mental strength. He has continued to get better, with that desire to win.

Manuel Neuer. I hear him talk all the time, he’s the captain and always seems to be involved in games.

Gianluigi Donnarumma. He has a big presence, a big voice, he’s big physically – 6ft 5in – a great specimen. He creates an aura around himself. into the net. “I hit it, it bounced, and then it’s like ‘woah, it’s in!’ It wasn’t like ‘this has a chance’ or anything … It was strange.

“You don’t like seeing another goalkeeper on the end of that,” he says. “It was obviously a tricky moment and one that was talked about for the wrong reasons for him. I felt quite bad. But it’s also a special memory and one I wish I could have enjoyed a bit more at the time, because I never pictured it that way. Maybe you dream of scoring a lastminute winner, but this was a different way of scoring a goal!”

So, will goalscoring ever be another skill a keeper has to master? “No, I don’t think so, although Ederson has been a shout to take penalties, so maybe that is the way forward!”