- Aug 27, 2013
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Defender absolutely to blame for the goal - horrendous touch that led to the shot.It really bugs me when people say that if a keeper is beaten at his near post he's at fault for the goal. It's absolute rubbish which is perpetuated by lazy commentators who have no experience or understanding of playing in goal.
Lloris was completely blameless for the goal tonight and if anyone made a mistake it was the defender and his shocking attempt to play the ball.
That said, Lloris should not have been beaten to the near post on this shot. Generally speaking, Keeper has responsibility for near post, while defenders help out on covering the far post shots - which the defender generally did in this case - despite giving up the ball, there was no clean angle to the far post.
The shot in this case did take a deflection - which is always tough to adjust for - but it came off the defender's inside leg - meaning it made the angle of the slight slightly wider (as opposed to narrower towards the post), and in reality had little bearing on the shot location.
Its a goal. Its not a howler, and I don't think I would even classify it as a mistake. Its just a shot that Lloris should be saving - his reflexes are not what they used to be, and he will have to continue to adjust his positioning to accommodate - he either takes a step closer to the ball or a step closer to his near post.