Wall or nothing?
A goalie’s chance of saving a free kick IS reduced by defenders protecting them, according to psychologists
PLAYERS forming a wall could actually make scoring a goal from a free kick easier.
A study of football tactics has shown it cuts reaction times to the point where it becomes a disadvantage.
Researchers calculated there were 13 per cent fewer saves when there was a wall in place.
It delays the goalkeeper’s movements by almost a tenth of a second – enough to cost a goal.
In most cases it resulted in more mistakes, say Northern Irish psychologists.
Co- author Professor Cathy Craig said: “In a nutshell, placing a defensive wall could actually result in the goalkeeper conceding more goals.” The goalie’s hands were nearly two inches away from the ball, on average, when there was a line of players.
The results published in the journal PLOS One are based on virtual reality experiments involving 25 participants in their 20s and 30s – 10 of whom were skilled goalkeepers. The phenomenon applied to both groups – including those who had only ever played in outfield positions.
Co- author Dr Joost Dessing said: “While the defensive wall strategy is effective in some cases, the wall frequently obstructs the goalkeeper’s initial view of the moving ball. Alt hough the negative effects of this obstruction have been assumed by experts, they have not been scientifically quantified until now.
“Our study shows when the view of the ball is initially obstructed, goalkeepers wait longer before starting to move, which leaves them less time to make that all important save.”
State- of- the- art technology called INCISIV enabled the Queen’s University Belfast team to carefully control the ball flight and the position of other players.
It presented the same free kick with and without a defensive wall of players to directly measure its effect on the decisions a goalkeeper makes.
The delay in response led to spatial errors of between more than half an inch to 1.8in.