As football has evolved over the past few years, the demise of the long ball has been a frequent occurrence.
Playing from behind has become the norm. Direct teams are an anomaly, not the norm.
The next logical tactical development was the emergence of high pressure, followed by deliberate attempts to lure the press into exploiting the space behind the pressing opposition player.
During that time, teams have been playing shorter passes from the back. Goalkeepers no longer habitually throw long balls as far up the pitch as possible. Instead, they play a key role in the team’s development phase, a trend best exemplified by the decline of the long ball in Europe’s top leagues, particularly the Premier League.
Goalkeepers in England’s top division are using long balls less frequently. Since the start of the 2018-19 Premier League season, the proportion of goalkeeper passes played for long periods of time, defined as balls that travel at least 32 meters (35 yards), has been decreasing each year, falling from 69% to less than half over that period. A period of 6 years.
The move towards shorter passes means that ‘keepers are increasingly being asked to have different skills. As technical ability to handle the ball becomes essential, we are focusing on developing goalkeepers who are good with their feet under pressure.
The improved technical level of goalkeepers and increased offensive pressure have led teams to maximize long passes to exploit the space above them.
“When it comes to team-to-man matches, man-free is the keeper,” said manager Pep Guardiola after Manchester City’s 3-0 away win over Burnley early last season. “That’s why we need to use this alternative.”
In the second half of the game, City took advantage of Burnley’s man-marking by isolating striker Erling Haaland and using goalkeeper Ederson to deliver a long pass to him. Ederson completed 16 of his 28 long passes at Turf Moor on the night. This is their highest performance in the Premier League since 2018-19. One of those shots resulted in a free kick, giving City their third goal.
Likewise, visitors Brentford tried to pressure City man-to-man in a Premier League match last month. Once again, City players dropped deeper to force the Brentford defenders out of position, creating space for Haaland to attack and Ederson to deliver long passes.
In this example, Jack Grealish and Savinho fall back to move their marker forward, while Sepp van den Berg and Nathan Collins isolate Haaland from Ethan Pinnock.
Once City players lured the Brentford defenders higher up the pitch, Ederson struck a long ball towards Haaland, who beat Pinnock to score the winner.
“Against central defenders of the quality of Ederson and (back-up goalkeeper) Stefan Ortega, when you isolate Haaland, that’s a weapon we have to utilize,” Guardiola said after City won 2-1 that day.
This was the third successive season in which City have broken up their man-to-man pressing scheme by using Ederson’s long balls on Haaland. Considering the quality and profile of both players, it is a golden solution.
At the other end of Manchester, Guardiola’s United counterpart Erik ten Hag was unlucky enough to see Andre Onana’s long ball destined for Diogo Dalot turn into a goal.
Since the start of last season, ‘keeper Onana has been trying to find goals behind Dalot’s defense, whether the Portuguese full-back starts from a narrow infield position or a wider position.
The idea is for the goalkeeper to wait for Dalot to make his run across the opposition defensive line before sending a long ball into space with other United players leaving the area.
In the 2-1 home win over Brentford this month, Dalot attacked space beyond the defense by sneaking in behind Kevin Shade after Marcus Rashford’s tight positioning had drawn Christopher Ajer infield.
Onana recorded the long pass perfectly, and Dalot was still intact…
…but the fullback fires straight at Mark Flekken.
Liverpool have also exploited the goalkeeper’s long-distance distribution to execute certain moves.
Alisson and his back-up Caoimhin Kelleher played a long ball to Mohamed Salah to start a pattern of up-back through passes on the right wing.
Liverpool’s third goal in a 4-1 win over Sevilla in pre-season is an example of how this move works. Alisson heads straight for Salah and Dominic Szoboszlai slots the third goal into space vacated by the Egyptian winger. The latter played the ball back to Diogo Jota, who found the Hungarian midfielder to score.
Salah has recorded a success rate of 42% of the Liverpool goalkeeper’s long passes in the Premier League this season, a significant increase compared to the previous six seasons. New manager Arne Slot is giving him a direct exit.
It is important to remember that this is not just a case of the goalkeeper kicking forward aimlessly. The goal is to have a specific routine that maximizes your chances of scoring.
Arsenal’s David Raya has completed 56% of his passes over long stretches in the Premier League so far this season. Only goalkeepers from Nottingham Forest, Everton and Wolverhampton Wanderers made direct passes more often. But Arsenal don’t focus the ball forward just to win the ball. Raya’s long pass was mainly aimed at Kai Havertz near the right touchline, with other Arsenal players in position to try and win the second ball.
Since Raya and Havertz joined Arsenal in the summer of 2023, the German striker has received as many long passes completed by Spanish goalkeepers (102 out of 204) as the rest of his Premier League teammates combined. The next highest receivers on the list are Gabriel Jesus and Gabriel Martinelli, who each have just 17.
The evolution of football in recent years has transformed goalkeepers’ long balls into tools for attacking space and advancing up the pitch.
The emphasis on build-up play has led to an increase in attacking pressing and a higher defensive line, while favoring technically sound ‘keepers. Goalkeepers can target specific areas and teammates to divert pressure and attack the spaces that inevitably create.
Numerically, the ‘keeper’s long balls are decreasing, but tactically they are more important than ever.
(Top photo: Alex Pantling/Getty Images)
