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Interesting last night to see two different approaches to high saves. In left image Steffan goes with his top (opposite) hand to make a high diving save while Henderson goes with his bottom (near) hand in a similar situation although the ball is nearer & save slightly easier
Is one technique better? Well anything below top 3rd of the goal the bottom hand is optimal as it gives greater horizontal coverage & therefore allows greater goal coverage. However for higher shots, especially diving saves near crossbar/top corner, top hand is usually optimal
For a visual comparison, see the 2 saves below from De Gea, who is right hand dominant, diving left he goes with his top hand, however to the right he goes bottom hand, presumably because he isn't comfortable making top hand saves with his weaker hand
We can see from the 2 images that the top hand allows De Gea to reach higher in his goal, making top corner saves easier. There are a number of reasons for this. 1st the top hand allows for a higher vertical reach.
It also doesn't have to fight gravity & ensures the force of the hand is travelling in the same direction as the rest of the body. This makes getting off the ground & accelerating into the air/across goal easier. It also allows more force to be applied to the ball
Going bottom hand requires De Gea to jump off his right foot & reach with right hand. This is a hard skill & makes it harder to get high off the ground (look how much higher his feet are top hand compared to bottom). It therefore requires excellent athleticism & power to execute
Going bottom hand also means the keepers chest/shoulders turn back towards goal, which again makes applying force onto the ball difficult as the weight of the diving hand is travelling back towards goal. We see this in the image of Casillas below.
To get around this keepers often need to flick their wrist to make the save, although it is hard to get significant distance into such a save. Back to Henderson it got me thinking, does he ever make top hand saves. I went through all saves/goals conceded to Jan 2019
The verdict. No top hand saves. He often gets away with not needing to use a top hand save due to good positioning and incredibly strong wrists/hands (as seen yesterday). But it does mean his technique is often sub optimal with him turning in the air to face his own goal
There actually weren't too many occasions when he was beaten by high shots. There were 3 rockets he didn't dive for, I think partly due to his issues accelerating high into the air.
Then there was this one, where if he could go with the top hand he probably has a chance to save it, although it is still a very difficult save to make:
The issue with top hand saves is that it's a tough skill to learn. At this stage in his career Henderson is unlikely to develop the technique. He is an excellent shot stopper for low/mid height shots but he is unlikely to ever be an elite shot stopper of shots near the top corner
