Mamelodi Sundowns: Empowering the goalkeeper in build-up and ball progression – scout report

Like plenty of those who’ll read this, without a doubt, I’ve dabbled in a bit of the game ‘Football Manager’ from time to time. Something I often tried to end up with was a team that dominated the ball and the role of the goalkeeper was one part of this that was always fun to experiment with.

I loved trying to get the goalkeeper as involved as possible in the early possession phases. There are, of course, apparent risks involved with this — if you lose the ball deep, your goal is essentially empty — and you need a ‘keeper who’s very comfortable with the ball at his feet to play in this way, but this also yields plenty of clear benefits such as a +1 advantage in the first line of possession which can then, as a knock-on effect, create more numerical superiorities further upfield than would otherwise be possible.

This is definitely easier to play around with when you’re playing a simulation rather than an actual high-stakes competitive football match because of the strategy’s risky nature. However, we are seeing the role of the goalkeeper evolve rapidly and teams are starting to get this player more and more involved in the possession phases. One team that provides a great example of how to use the goalkeeper aggressively in the build-up and ball progression — and how it can yield notable benefits — are Mamelodi Sundowns of the South African Premier Soccer League (PSL).

We published an extensive full-team scout report article on Mamelodi Sundowns back in our March 2022 edition of the Total Football Analysis magazine titled: ‘Mamelodi Sundowns: South Africa’s most dominant team’ in which their use of the goalkeeper was touched on but not drilled into in significant detail. The time has come for greater analysis of this aspect of ‘The Brazilians’ (Sundowns’ affectionate nickname) strategy.

This tactical analysis and team-focused scout report looks at Mamelodi Sundowns strategy and tactics while exploring their brave and exciting use of the goalkeeper in possession. We’ll also compare Sundowns’ approach with some other teams who use their goalkeeper in a similarly compelling way in possession to further explore how this approach can work.

Escaping pressure from deep

Our first section in this scout report focuses on how The Brazilians’ goalkeeper helps his side to escape pressure from deep via his and the team’s willingness to have the goalkeeper involved on the ball.

Firstly, let’s take figures 1-2 as an example. Mamelodi Sundowns have kept an average of 62.6% possession in the South African PSL this season — just under 7% more than second-placed Orlando Pirates with 55.9%. The possession-dominant side like to build out from the back via short passes and forge a clear, controlled path through the field laden with calculated forward passes — they don’t rush their ball progression.

As a result, they can end up in a situation like the one we see in figure 1 where the opposition — in this case, Al Hilal Club — have denied them clear opportunities to progress forward and forced their build-up into limbo.

Wi