Quote Originally Posted by McNamara That Ghost... View Post
Well we could go really deep with this I suppose. Perhaps Reina had seen RVP take one far post and assume that's what he would try again, in fact, I wonder if RVP thought about it. It does seem like he adjusts to it, having watched the slo-mo replay.

And Syn, well you've just proven my point. If a striker goes far post because the keeper is near post and I suppose you consider that to be the accepted fact of what players do on the volley, then it'd make sense in theory for Reina to not be touch tight to the nearpost, for a cross ball volley on to somebody's leftfoot and it would've meant Reina had the right angle to the push the ball out of danger (if RVP had gone where I guess most would think he would). It's cat and mouse between goalkeepers and strikers and Reina lost out. He got it right for the save to deny Theo's deflected shot by having his legs free but it's all marginal.
I don't even think Reina would be thinking about it this much. Perhaps he should and he'd be a better goalkeeper.

I don't see a 'game theory' type aspect to this. It's not a penalty shoot-out. No guesswork needs to take place. You set yourself at the near post, if he makes an Everton-esque volley, you hold your hands up and say 'fair enough". Why don't you say 'fair enough' (if you're a goalkeeper) to Van Persie's volley that went near post - because it's more difficult to hit it far post than near post. As a goalkeeper your job is to make it as difficult as possible to score - and that's why you're supposed to cover your near post.