Goalkeepers are now the key players in every EPL team

Goalkeepers are becoming the single most important players on the pitch in meeting the modern-day needs of Premier League managers.

They are instrumental in how their teams play — the one who kickstarts the masterplan to move the ball from back to front, along the carpet, and through each compartment of the team. Manchester City’s Ederson is the ultimate man for this, and Arsenal are still deciding if David Raya or Aaron Ramsdale is best for the job.

But this tactic is not only reserved for those at the top of the table. It is happening at the bottom, too, with Bournemouth’s Neto and Burnley’s James Trafford trying to develop play from their own six-yard line.

I agree this approach is the best way forward. Playing out from the back draws the opposition on and, once you beat their press, you have more space higher up the pitch in which your attackers can do damage.

But it only works if your goalkeeper has variation to his passing and plenty of solutions from team-mates when in possession. In the case of Ederson, he can send passes long and like an arrow, behind the opposition’s defence, centrally into Erling Haaland, or gift the ball to his nearest defender.

The problem for Trafford, despite being a student of the Manchester City academy, is Burnley’s defenders are passing the ball back to him and he is inviting the opposition to close him down before he releases. There are a multitude of factors involved here — the timing of the midfielders’ movement into a pocket of space is key to give the goalkeeper an option in central positions, for example — and it strikes me that this is an area in which Burnley must improve.

Last Saturday, we saw how self-destructive this tactic can be if not applied effectively. Burnley’s 3-0 defeat