Canterbury starting to wobble?

With Canterbury doing a lot worse than they have been so far so so in the new season, Kindler might be in a spot of goalie hell (in terms of those nightmare goals that won't get of your head), if things don't improve over the course of the next few weeks. Unfortunately it's part and parcel of representative hockey at this level, and without having seen the game in person, I can't really discuss the technical analysis of where things caused goals to be conceded. But the goals against doesn't look great from any angle right now sadly.

East Grinstead play a very hit and run, always attacking style of hockey where they will always over run teams that cannot keep the pace defensively or held their shape in a disciplined fashion as they lose focus or self confidence and belief in tying things up again. When faced with this kind of threat, a time needs to either look to slow down the pace of the game, or go on the counter attack. If a team holds the shape properly, then it can be counteracted, just look what Wigan did against a now free flowing Tottenham last season, Everton also. If these can of defensive breakdowns are becoming more regular within a game, then the goalkeeper needs to adapt as a sweeper to come out and challenge more to help out in these situations, in order to eliminate goal scoring chances rather than letting themselves be faced with such precise shots. Just look at what Lloris is able to do right now in terms of shutting down attacks, against Cardiff especially. Sorry about the future reference, but it's a useful analogy!

In these kinds of games, the goalkeeper is essentially holding back the tide. This is the kind of game that the goalkeeper has to forget about losing and focus on reducing the deficit. I.e. making sure the game doesn't get out of hand. Just look at how well Guzan played for Villa, enough to get called into the USA squad as a result. And if the team don't put it behind them quickly and recently mentally and just focus on the game in hand, things honestly don't look good. This is the same team that pretty much just missed out . Where others have reinforced , Canterbury perhaps have not got that option. But their strength is that they play as a team rather than a band of mercenaries or individuals (read Man City of last season!) and should stick to their strengths to get back points in a league that is now stronger than it was last season. They need to get back that strong start if they want to sort things out.

I'd back Kindler to sort things out and reright the ship given his internal balance (sports psych wise) and the maturity that he can bring to his game. It's what Stubbings struggled with so greatly, who has gone off the . As soon as a goalie has a confidence collapse in the span of the game, the more they feel useful or too overly self critical, the more these beliefs play out as they lose the grip on their confidence and thus playing abilities within the game and it just becomes a self fulfilling prophecy. There is also a huge amount of psychology relating to sport and this is a case in point of where it affects anyone's performance. Hopefully Canterbury will refind that spark and self belief, as I'm sure they can (no such thing as can't, no point dwelling on negativity, it's just deconstructive not good for anyone!), otherwise they're going to need , before the management, coach and team lose confidence in whoever it is between the pipes. Goalkeeping is about confidence: the confidence to get to free balls under pressure or fear of injury, the confidence to play well in tough games or against the league leaders and so on. But if a team wants to do well, they need to trust that their goalkeeper has their back. If they don't, the team mojo goes adrift.

Ironically Cowling whose main elite skill is his mental strength has left for work reasons, playing at Havant where he is instigating a turnaround, so he's not there to be put in to stop the rot for now. So Kindler and Canterbury really need to just refocus and act as if nothing has happened. Refind that confidence and get on with the task at hand, without fearing relegation, otherwise they're going to struggle, and the club might end up being a goalie graveyard like Surbiton was before Kettle came in and shored things up at the back.