Understanding The Back Pass
A recent hot topic around the Premier League that doesn’t have to do with Jose Mourinho losing his job is about passing back to the keeper.
If you watched Liverpool vs Leicester City then you saw a back pass from Liverpool Defender Virgil van Dijk to the Keeper Allison. The first thing you’ll notice is how bad the pass was.
Liverpool had possession just inside their half, with Leicester pressuring heavily. This forced Gomez, the other Liverpool center back, to make a good play and get the ball to Jordan Henderson. Henderson, also being rushed, played a bad pass to van Dijk. The most expensive defender in the world was then able to get the ball down and settle, turning towards his own goal, however, the Leicester attackers continued their press forcing van Dijk to play the ball back to Allison.
The pass was not good, it sent Allison away from his goal in order to stop it from going out for a corner. Now, everyone knows that Allison is a keeper who likes to play with his feet, and as far as keepers go he has pretty good skills in that area. This was on display in the previous Liverpool game against Brighton, when Allison received a back pass with an attacker pressing. Instead of booting the ball downfield, or even simply changing the direction of the ball, Allison played a nice little chip to himself and was able to get out of danger.
Even then, the pass was right to him and he was able to run on to the ball.
This has brought up a lot of discussion on two things. Should keepers be so keen to play the ball with their feet? And, should field players be utilizing their keeper so much in the first place?
I’ll answer this fairly easily, yes. This is even more important for top teams who face a resistant defense.
When teams like Manchester City and Liverpool play lower level teams they are often faced with an organized defense which isn’t likely to break out of that shell. The “good” team in this scenario then has to try to break them down, which can be difficult for even the best team.
One way to do this is slowly drawing out the defense. The other team will keep pressuring, thinking they have a chance to win the ball. Then, the ball can be sent back to the goalie who can spread the ball to attacking players ready to create a quick chance.
That’s just one scenario. The larger point is, should it be acceptable for top goalkeepers to have such poor foot skill that we don’t even want our defenders passing the ball backward?
