How I analyze goalkeepers for pro clubs with Role Continuity

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In 2022, I established my Role Continuity Evaluation System, on the basis that players should be assessed by the metrics and traits important to their specific role on the pitch. Through this understanding, players are then classified into what is now 20 different roles, and assessed accordingly to see how they stack up to other players fulfilling the same player type. Here is an explanation of my scouting & analysis system, why I’ve coined it ‘Role Continuity’, and how I use the system to analyze goalkeepers.

WHAT ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT, RHYS?

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Role Continuity might sound like a term from organizational psychology, but it’s actually taken from personality psychology. The theory is that personalities are formed not through the physical environments in which we live, but through the various roles we take up in society within our environments. The tasks that we do everyday become a major part of our identities, and even shape our personalities that we present to the world.

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Taking this over to a sporting context, the idea is that player traits, identities, and even “personalities” are formed through the roles they take up on the field of play for their teams. They develop those traits from being put into positions and roles to repeatedly harness them.

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Further, when assessing these players and their actions on a pitch, we should not do what the free statistical websites do (I love many of these sites, don’t get me wrong!). A goalkeeper should not be expected to perform the same actions as a defensive midfielder. Their performance in a match (or over the course of a season for that matter) should not be assessed in the same way as a striker. Instead, we should be assessing their metrics and performance based on what is actually important to them and their role.

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So how do we then put players in specific roles, when a player’s role might change over time?

Through ‘role continuity’. Through what roles they frequently adopt for their team over time. Since we have metrics that are important to each role, this can be assessed both through data, and the eye test. The goal is then to provide quality analysis and in-depth player assessments that adequately cover the vast array of different tasks that they are to fulfill within their job description. Those ‘job descriptions’ have been formed via what players in those roles have been asked to do over time, and their repeated perpetuation of reaching higher on certain statistics over others.

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In this series, I’ll be breaking down how I analyze and compare players within each of the twenty roles. First, I’ll start with the very back of the pitch, and discuss all the variables pertaining to goalkeepers.

HOW I ANALYZE/COMPARE GOALKEEPERS

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Goalkeepers are broken down into two categories:

The assumption is that all modern clubs want a keeper that is good with the ball at their feet, and frequently comes off their line to command their penalty area. The ideal keeper is a ‘Sweeper Keeper’, who is great at springing off their line to make last man-tackles, but equally great at playing passes and progressing the ball forward.

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Not all clubs have this player prototype. Some still have keepers that are simply best for what they do in between the posts, and lack that same cutting-edge confidence in coming off their line. It would be easy to say that this type of ‘Shot Stopper’ will eventually be fazed out. I don’t believe that to be the case. Keepers will continue to play well into their 30’s, and will be valued for their leadership and experience, even if they become more limited with age.

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However, what has changed will be the fact that when analyzing keepers, we’ll mostly be analyzing which keepers are best when it comes to all of those great ‘Sweeper Keeper’ traits. That includes:

• Distribution (e.g. playing short passes out from the back)
• Command (e.g. stopping crosses)
• Sweeping (e.g. success of defensive actions outside the penalty area).

But we won’t do away with shot-stopping and goal prevention in those equations. That fourth category still remains!

• Shot Stopping (e.g. save percentage and post-shot XG +/- …the fancy term for goal prevention based on xG).

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We don’t assess ‘Shot Stoppers’ differently to ‘Sweeper Keepers’. The metrics used are the same. We classify them differently for clubs to understand who might be a more limited player. But all metrics for analysis are the same regardless of whether they are limited to that David De Gea ‘Shot Stopper’ prototype, whether they’re involved in build-up like Andre Onana, or whether they spring off their line like Nick Pope as a traditional ‘Sweeper Keeper’.

We do this because…

1. The assumption is that modern clubs want a ‘Sweeper Keeper’. No club actively wants a keeper that just stays between the posts and stops shots; even if they might like a certain goalkeeper for their shot-stopping in spite of other limitations.
2. By using the same metrics, we can better pick out holes in a keeper’s game and why they might be limited to just being a ‘Shot Stopper’ as opposed to the multi-faceted player a club wants to have at their disposal.

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But in adding another layer to this equation, we also aim to establish some sense of how successful the player has been for their team in their league. Leagues are given a score based on difficulty of league and quality of the play. This feature was added to the system based on discussions with an analyst at a pro club in Canada. Thanks Liam!

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Success of the team is also measured by a variety of metrics, such as wins/losses, goals for/against (and xG-xGc), clean sheets, and league standing. This was added to the equation right from the start of establishing RCES, on the recognition that individual player statistics won’t always give the strongest sense of what players might actually be worth scouting (or praising), especially not first without utilizing the eye test.

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For example, despite being the perfect prototype on the ‘Sweeping’ front, Alisson Becker would have ranked 13th based solely on our ‘Sweeper Keeper’ data for Europe’s top five leagues in 2022-23. Adding in the team and league metrics put him up to 6th, which seems a better fit given that most would have considered the Brazilian one of the top goalkeepers in the world in 2022-23.

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From a scouting perspective, these scores demonstrate to pro clubs that players have accumulated success in a successful team, just like they’re aspiring to be.

If you’re interested in the specific metrics used for goalkeepers in our analyses/player comparisons, simply reach out. We work with pro clubs to establish comprehensive scouting databases based on their ideal prototypes for each role.

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CLUBS – SCOUTING DATABASES

We work with clubs through a linkage between data and video analysis, assessing potential prospects around the club’s specific principles of play and needs. In doing so, we create comprehensive databases that continuously allow clubs to identify players that suit their needs, and strategically plan for the future. To discuss what this would entail for your club, reach out.

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Now of course, data is not the end point. Players are then assessed through the eye test and video analysis, where player reports can be created for the club. This is the most essential phase of the scouting process. I’ll be providing a few articles about how I use Wyscout and their video clips for my analyses and player comparisons, and how I use the eye test to compare the exact same features I scan for in statistical analyses.

I’ll also be breaking down how I analyze players in all of my player roles in the next few weeks. In the meantime, you can check out a few examples of our ‘Role Continuity Evaluation System’ in action. Thanks for reading and see you soon!

-> Top 20 Sweeper Keepers – 2022-23
-> Canadian Premier League – Player Power Rankings
-> Explaining the Sweeper Keeper – Player Role Analysis

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