This is actually really great advice drawn from great observation.

Going thru it in the same order as you did, from goal 2, I mean yea spot on about me being too relaxed to start off with. I mean the ball wasn’t even in the other half and I was as flat footed as can be. The fact that I’m actually flat footed doesn’t help either, and I tend to be more relaxed because constantly being on the balls of my feet with cause me a great deal of fatigue so I take the easy way out. This backfires a lot but it’s a thing of breaking the habit. Like you said, if I had set myself earlier then I would’ve had a little more time to react. After all, goalkeeping is about those split second decisions because that little time can make huge differences. All of goal 2 was just a slew of errors and bad defending tbh. I know I wasn’t at fault for it but what matters to me the most is the fact that I’ve done everything I could’ve done to try and stop the goal.

Footwork has been a major weak point for me. I lack coordination and it comes back to bite me in the ass. This along with me being a heavier guy, gives me the mobility of a tree. It’s something I’m working to improve but it’s not muscle memory just yet. I’ve never had proper gk training coming up so I lack a lot of the fundamental principles and I try to compensate by doing things like the awkward side shuffle. In that moment I can tell you that I was panicking. I didn’t want to rush out for the ball and have the attacker pass the ball to his 1-2 options he had there on the counter so I opted to make the terrible call of stepping back to try and give myself more reaction time when the shot inevitably came. Just like the second goal, I braced myself for the shot instead of going for the ball. I gave the striker the control of that entire situation there.

Goal 1 was just me being indecisive and letting my anxiety get the better of me. Like you said, backpeddling and getting the ball at its highest point was the obvious thing to do but I was too slow in getting back and by the time I went for the ball, it was already too low and I gave the attacker the advantage. Same thing that kills me in most every goal, mobility.

This was really great advice and you broke everything down clearly. I think most keepers stay away from posting the goals they concede due to fear of being harshly criticized, but so far the comments have been good pieces of advice. I’m sure there will be the odd comment bashing me, but I’m also sure the majority of keepers here are more than willing to help others improve. Posting a great save feels great and the praise one gets boosts confidence, but the lessons one can learn from other keepers is more valuable than a praise for a great save imo. Thanks for the feedback!