How MK Dons’ Goalkeeper Contributes to their Buildup Phase
MK Dons, coached by Russell Martin, although currently at 14th place in England’s League One, the third division, have been doing some interesting stuff this season, especially with how they incorporate their goalkeeper into the buildup phase. In this piece I break down how they do it.
To start with, two quick facts:
- MK Dons’s goalkeeper Andy Fisher and his backup Lee Nicholls are the top 2 for most passes per 90 among goalkeepers in England’s top 4 divisions (with at least 8 matches started this season).
- Fisher and Nicholls are also top 2 for most received passes per 90.
Here’s a graph to illustrate the comparison above:
The two are clearly outliers in the country regarding their involvement in open play. Nicholls stands alone at the top, but he has played only 14 matches, compared to Fisher’s 35. And below, another graph including goalkeepers from the other top European Leagues (Bundesliga, La Liga, Ligue 1 and Serie A):
This time there are a few players closer to the top, and Arminia Bielefeld’s Santiago Ortega Moreno is in fact ahead of Fisher, but the trend remains. And it’s quite impressive, as MK Dons display some distinctly above average goalkeeper involvement when in possession. Although this seems to be a pattern with whoever plays, this piece is going to focus only on Andy Fisher, the starter.
So, onto the game itself. MK Dons usually play with a back three and start their buildup phase with the right and left centre-backs wide, while the central man moves to the left and Andy Fisher slides into his right:
MK Dons take this shape as soon as they have the ball in their defensive third, be it from goal kicks, recycling possession or after recovering it, as shown in these few clips from their last match:
And on Andy’s heatmap:
This is what Fred Jähnke described in this excellent article as the false 1 position:
“A goalkeeper with a position either higher up or more to either side of the pitch than usual (when team is in possession of the ball) in a space that’s been vacated by another player.”
I fully recommend reading the whole piece, but regarding the reasons to use the false 1 :
“The reason to use the goalkeeper in possession is of course to have 11 players against the oppositions 10 players since their goalkeeper can’t/doesn’t leave the goal to mark a player (maybe that’s what the ‘false 1’ 2.0 could be).
But the reason for using the false 1 is to make it even harder for the opposition by giving more space to the goalkeeper. Vacating more space for the goalkeeper and having more players in front of the ball makes it harder for the opposition to press the GK without leaving a free man behind.
It allows the team to overload the centre without sacrificing another task like width in the first line. This makes it easier to find a free man in the centre or force the opposition to narrow their press and play around.”
Indeed, his positioning allows for a smoother buildup. Boosted by Andy’s technical prowess (who beside being very comfortable on the ball, is also comfortable under pressure and using his weaker foot, the left one, which he is quite good at) MK Dons can start their play from the back with relative ease, normally enjoying numerical superiority and space to progress. Thus getting the ball to more advanced zones without much trouble, even when under pressure. Fisher plays a wide range of passes, with quality it must be said, first-time or not, at times connecting with the centre-backs, or occasionally with wing-backs dropping back, at others looking for long passes to the wings or to the centre-forward:
His long passes deserve praise, but what’s most impressive is his forward ground passing. Contrary to most goalkeepers who tend to limit themselves to more conservative passes, Andy frequently finds passes to the midfielders ahead of him, progressing the ball well, breaking lines and taking a few opponents out. Also creating connections to engage the third man. He enjoys both the vision to spot the passes and the quality to execute them:
In this regard he is also an outlier in the top 4 English leagues. Fisher is the second goalkeeper with most forward passes per 90, only behind his colleague Lee Nicholls, doing so with very good accuracy:
When there’s space ahead of him, Andy carries the ball forward and frequently gets outside the box. However, he normally does not move too far, stopping a few metres ahead of the box and not getting into the middle third. He usually does not go further than the position in the frame below:
It can happen though, as shown in this amazing frame:
As for his positioning when the ball is in the middle, or attacking, third, it’s hard to check through video broadcasts. But, even though this does not seem to be his most common positioning, normally staying closer to his goal, in the frame below, you can see how advanced and wide he is, again ready to be a passing option in the right side of the defense.
But again, although it happens at times, it’s not so frequent, as he tends to stay a bit deeper. Still, Fisher is always a passing option and often receives direct passes from the middle of the pitch to help recycle possession.
Still only 23, Andy Fisher is excelling as a ball-playing goalkeeper in a quite fascinating context and standing out as one of the goalkeepers most involved in open play in the continent. It’s very pleasant to watch and he and coach Russell Martin surely deserve a lot of praise for taking this step forward.
For quite some time I’ve longed for some coaches going utterly bold/inventive and fully incorporating their keepers into open play, like them joining the defensive line and contributing to the offside trap, joining midfield for some advantages or something like that, basically seeing them truly become an eleventh outfield player. I know it may sound far-fetched, and MK Dons aren’t exactly doing it, although they are much bolder than most, but in the last decade we’ve seen a huge evolution of the goalkeeping role. And recently Pep Guardiola himself said something really interesting:
“I believe that soccer evolution will appear once the goalkeeper gets involved in the offensive play. I believe we will evolve to have this player. Build up phase is simple: I as a coach, as more players bring nearer to ball, the easiest. But then once you have broken the first lines, you don’t have these players up there to create superiority. I mean, if you are having the ball here, is to get the superiority on the further zones to harm the opponent. If you bring all the players nearer, is ok but then you can’t harm. You have the ball during initial phase for once your midfielder receives the ball, they can have advantage with the 10, wingers, full backs, to harm there. Hence, if you want to maintain this damage, without bringing the further players the goalkeeper will help and allow to be done. But, of course, he has to have the skills, and be aware that you can use goalkeeper in the first actions but you can’t use him always as a CB. Because, if you lose the ball, they can score from midfield. You can do the first action, the second one, but then the goalkeeper has to come back to his position. I believe that the coach who has the courage to develop this will be the one to attack better in confined spaces.”
Considering Pep is quite the innovator and has Ederson in his squad, he may as well be this courageous man himself. So, yeah, I believe we are on our way to it. And well, if I become a coach you can expect something of the sort.
Anyway, Russell Martin’s MK Dons are surely one of the most interesting sides to watch this season, and there’s much more to them than what was shown here (i.e. being the team with most ball possession in England’s top 4 leagues and among the ones with most touches in the penalty area), so I do recommend checking them out.
Lucas Barth // barthlucast@gmail.com
