Goalkeeping expert analyses whether Vicario was actually at fault against Everton
John Harrison, the head of data science at goalkeeper.com, has insisted that Guglielmo Vicario did nothing wrong for Jarrad Brathwaite’s late equaliser on Saturday. Vicario...
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John Harrison, the head of data science at goalkeeper.com, has insisted that Guglielmo Vicario did nothing wrong for Jarrad Brathwaite’s late equaliser on Saturday.
Vicario has been nearly flawless for his first six months at Tottenham since arriving from Empoli in the summer, with several pundits even nominating him as the goalkeeper in their Premier League Team of the Season so far (Sky Sports).
However, over the last few weeks, some chinks in the Italian armour are seemingly starting to be exposed, namely his ability to deal with set prices.
No one exploited that potential weakness in the 27-year-old’s game better than Everton, with Sean Dyche’s men making it difficult for the Tottenham number one to come out of his line during free-kicks and corners by putting bodies around him.
Vicario came in from criticism for his part in both of the Toffees’ goals, which came from set-piece situations, with the likes of Peter Crouch and Joe Cole questioning his ability to come out of line and deal with crosses (TNT Sports 1 (3/2/24).
Did Vicario make a mistake in Everton’s equaliser?
The Athletic have now done a deep dive on how Vicario is coping with set-pieces and the things that the Tottenham man might be doing wrong.
They also spoke to Harrison, who made it clear that the former Empoli man did exactly what he was supposed to for Everton’s second goal, explaining that Cristian Romero’s flick-on put the goalkeeper in no man’s land.
The goalkeeping expert told the publication: “The decision not to come first of all is a fine one, and then Vicario does what you’re taught to do as a goalkeeper and maximise your reaction time for headers by getting tight to your line because headers are slower than foot shots and if you position yourself too far off your line, you can give the attacking player a much easier finish.
“After Romero’s header, it becomes a race between him and Branthwaite and he just loses out. If he was that tight to his line and the cross had gone straight to Branthwaite without the Romero intervention, then it would be a really bad mistake on his part.”
Spurs Web Opinion
While Harrison might be right with respect to Branthwaite’s goal, I do not think one can defend Vicario’s part in Everton’s opener. I personally did not think it was a foul on the Italian and felt he should have been stronger in that situation.
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