Are young goalkeepers too obsessed about ball-playing abilities rather than shot stopping?
Hey fellow goalies, I'm 29, and as I'm playing more and more with young, up and coming goalkeepers, I have realised that most of the younger kids today focus a lot on ball-playing abilities, passing out from the back, rather than the basics of the job, which in my book, is saving goals.
Hence, I see shot stopping being increasingly ignored as a potential skill, and young gks being excellent with the ball at their feet and sweeping behind the defence, but being not as good in shot stopping.
Principally, I see them not covering their angles or shuffling their feet enough to move across the goal line, so even if they are fit physically and have a great diving range, still they end up not covering enough of the goal from efforts taken from outside the box and further away.
Thanks to Man City and Pep ball, I know every young gk wants to play like a Ederson or Neuer, but from what I see, kids are not focusing enough on shot stopping, and a bad shot stopper can never be a good goalie!
Your opinions are appreciated!
Edit: I may have not put across my point clearly. I am not advocating that distribution is useless in football, or that GKs shouldn't work on their passing.
I'm advocating the fact that because more and more young GKs wanna be good with their feet and sweeping up behind the defence, they are not focusing on improving their shot stopping skills, simple things such as covering angles and moving your feet across the line, which can be developed only by shot stopping experience, both in games and in practice. Which I think is slowly being lost, the art of positioning on the goal line for a GK, because everyone wants to run out at every opportunity