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Diet/Nutrition

I try and watch what I eat as much as possible to maintain a certain weight, however lots of foods like pasta/potatoes/rice that people often recommend contain lots of carbohydrates, and they can put on weight, what’s your advice?

You do have to watch what you eat, personally I learned more later on in my career, what I found was that when your working hard you need the carbohydrates. As a goalkeeper it is a lot of short sharp blasts, it’s not like the outfielders who burn the carbs a lot more and a lot faster than us keepers would. I think the percentages alter slightly different for keepers 60/65 percent of a meal should be carbs, I would reduce that by about 10%, if he finds he’s putting weight on try and get some more protein on board. You are still going to need it but don’t eat as much keepers don’t need it in the quantities outfielders do.

Great question this one. You are all told as players what to eat, but keepers are different, if you can get hold of a nutritionist it would be worth a word and get him to watch what you do. I got told later in my career that I needed more protein. A keeper needs to be more explosive, the activity does not last as long and as a keeper we need a bit more bulk than an outfielder.

I understand it is important as a goalkeeper to eat the right things to maintain a good level of energy and strength, however I need some advice on what professional keepers eat during the week and things they avoid would be great?

It’s like I said getting a good balance is really important, look to get some carbs on board but try to also add protein, fish, chicken and rice are all good. Try and keep off the full fat foods.

Would you spend much time in the gym during pre-season and during the season?

Never at Bristol Rovers, at Palace I can count on one hand how many times I went in the gym, we used to do sit ups with the ball and press ups. At Leeds they were keen on us going in the gym, I’m a bit old fashioned I like to do sit up and press ups, the most I did in a gym was at Everton, I was trying to keep toned, coming up to 40 I needed to work on it a bit. I have always been naturally bulky so going to the gym was never a real issue for me.

Nigel in his days at Everton where he became a fans favorite.

When you went to Everton Richard Wright was the number one keeper at the time, what was he like to work with?

I worked really well with him, he was and still is a top keeper and kept me well on my toes, he needs to play now, I know he has been at West Ham for a while as number 2, I was glad he did well at Southampton. Richard is a great stopper and I am sure he was a big reason why they stayed up. It was a great move from Nigel Pearson to get Richard to the club at such a crucial time.

What was your favourite pre-season goalkeeping drill?

Pre-season was all about working on all aspects really and loads of repetition to perfect technique.

COACHING

Training - Can you recommend anything I can do as an individual. The team I play for does have a dedicated goalkeeper coach, however I do like to try and train as much on my own as possible be this taking a few balls to the field to practice my kicking. Can you suggest any individual practices to work on my conditioning in particular or any other topics i.e. handling/footwork?

It’s very difficult really, conditioning wise he can do some gym work not necessarily heavy weights but lighter with more reps this is what I did, good old fashioned press ups and sit ups, anything to keep you fit and strong and also for strength when your playing. Kicking is what springs to mind, but it is very difficult on your own. It’s great to hear people want to do extra work on their game.  I was very fortunate to be able to go training and work with a coach and a squad of players who were keeping you in action. When you’re doing it professionally its every day I never had to work on my own.

A thing that can be done on your own is to work on concentration and visual exercises, no matter who you are your mind can wonder, it was the same for me, at any level you play at, Premiership, Sunday league or a FA Cup semi-final it is easy to lose your concentration. I remember one time at Spurs, watching the game on the big screen, whislt playing and there was a 2 second delay on the screen, I was watching us having an attack then it breaking down then looking back at the game being played, obviously ahead of what I saw on the screen, then thinking wow that’s dangerous I shouldn’t be doing that.

It’s important not too switch off in a game which is easily done. It’s good to have a trigger, you must bring yourself back, that could be what it would feel like to let a goal in because you weren’t concentrating and what impact that would have on your team mates and supporters, that’s usually a good way of frightening yourself. Or you can think of something good you’ve done before that could also bring your concentration back.

The Ex England stopper speaks with great-save.com’s Martin Sanders

How do you break down your week working with the keepers at Bradford? Do you cover the four main topics shot stopping, back pass, distribution and crossing every week or is it specific to how the goalkeeper has performed on the previous match.

I am purely part-time at Bradford City I go in 2 days a week with the goalies. The kit man there used to be a keeper and would take training when I am not there. I liaise with him and see what they have been up to. He tends to do kicking drills and crossing drills which I can mix with him so we work on shot stopping and foot work.

I just go in as it help’s Bradford and the keepers, I love being around the lads to, for them financially they could not afford to pay a full-time keeper coach, so it suits both parties really. I want to spend time with my family, I did spend so much time away from home when I was playing, the kids are still young so it will be nice to watch the kids grow up, maybe as they get older I may do more coaching.

Goalkeeper coaching.

Does he cover the four main topics shot stopping, backpass, distribution and crossing everyweek or is it specific to how the goalkeeper has performed on the previous match?

We try and mix it up as much as we can, we try to work on every thing you can get as a keeper, we work on shots from angles as well as low shots. We do drills where it’s footwork then 4 low saves to the left, and then 4 low saves on the right, it’s a repetition it’s the same save just over and over again, you do this in a nice set up way, then try and do it in a goal where you get someone taking a touch and then a shot, you then have the goalkeeper moving into line so it has the realism with it, and then a case of the final bit the handling, pratising, then making sure your getting you feet in and being balanced before the ball / shot comes.

Regards to looking at mistakes from previous games I would look at something someone is struggling on, say one of the lads makes a mistake on a Saturday say he drops a cross, the worst thing you can do mentally is to make an issue out of it and go in on Monday morning and say lets go and work on some crosses. He then knows your working on it because he dropped one Saturday, best thing to do is work on it say a week later then it’s not related to him dropping a ball, a lot of people I think try and work on something that went wrong then react on it too soon when there mind is not in the right frame of mind. As a coach you need to try and think about how they think mentally after games. If I had made a mistake I would never want to work in it at that point, I thought it would be better if you work on it when your ready.

As a keeper what should I work on most during the pre-season weeks?

Getting fit is important, getting sharp again, making sure you’re fully focused, over the pre-season time you will end up doing a lot of repetition work, going over things time and time again. Look to work on all parts of your game.

With Many thanks to Paul and Mark at Selsport for getting us the chance to speak with Nigel.

To read part one of this feature and interview please click here

Next week i will be chatting with Premiership & Champion’s League Winners Manchester United’s very own Ben Foster about the Man United PreSeason so far.