Schmeichel Meets Shilton, Part One: Physical Challenges, Goalkeeping Changes & Outfield Attributes
While Shilton is the Three Lions’ all-time leading appearance maker with 125 caps to his name, Schmeichel is now firmly in Foxes legend territory having played over 300 times for the Football Club, including on 200 occasions in the Premier League.
The Denmark international, a Premier League winner in 2016, sat down with former City ‘keeper Shilton earlier this week, sparking a thorough conversation about all things goalkeeping.
In the first instalment of Schmeichel Meets Shilton, the duo converse about rule changes that have affected goalkeeping, pre-season techniques, revolutionary training sessions, the need to possess an outfield player’s characteristics and dealing with physical challenges among other topics.
On staying home…
Peter Shilton: “I’m obviously in isolation at the moment, but trying to make the best of it. I’m sure Kasper is doing the same, although it’s probably more difficult for Kasper because he’s got to keep himself fit and keep his mind right as well. It’s probably harder for him than it is for me."
Kasper Schmeichel: “It’s been okay to be fair. It’s strange, obviously, but I’m not going to complain. It’s given me a completely new experience in life that I’ve never tried before. I don’t think I’ve ever been home for this period of time. [I’ve been] chasing after the kids, keeping busy to be honest. Probably busier than when we do training with all this home schooling, but no, it’s been a different experience and I’m just trying to embrace it and get the best out of it. [I’m] keeping fit on the bike and gym-based fitness, but I live in an apartment, so there’s not a garden I can go and play football in, so that makes it a bit difficult. [I’m] staying fit on all the gym stuff, so yes, I’m just trying to stay active. Running around after two kids all day, that’ll keep most people active!”
On pre-season running…
Peter Shilton: “I’ve managed to do a run every week, or just over every week because we have an area where it’s very isolated, so I manage to get up and tick over. I probably do more running now than I did when I was in goal, Kasper! We didn’t like running, did we? Especially pre-season cross-country that we used to do. You don’t do that these days.”
Kasper Schmeichel: “At the start of my career I did, when we had Kevin Keegan as manager and Stuart Pearce [at Manchester City]. We would do running. To be honest, I actually really enjoy running. I always have done, but it’s just not beneficial for my back and my knees and all that kind of thing. I stick to the bike, that’s my preferred method of torture!”
Peter Shilton: “We used to go up to Bradgate Park. It’s a beautiful place to go, but it’s quite hilly and there’s a lot of bracken and deer there. We used to do our first week’s training up there – cross-country in the morning, and training in the afternoon. Being a ‘keeper, it wasn’t the ideal thing! It was always a challenge to do the running. I was always glad when it was over, but I tried to do my best. I wouldn’t say I’m a natural long-distance runner. I’ve probably got better as I’ve got older, to be fair.”
On Belvoir Drive’s development…
Peter Shilton: “Belvoir Drive, that was still our training ground, but we used to go in a different entrance, and it was just like nearly two pitches. We had a wooden hut up there, and of course, the rest of it, they bought so many sports grounds around the area now, and this was before the new training area they’ve got being built. We used to have to actually get changed at the ground. Imagine this, Kasper, [we’d] go up in our cars, and train at Belvoir Drive, and get in our cars. The goalmouths were so muddy, we had one-and-a-half pitches to use throughout the season, so it used to be so wet and muddy after training. You used to have to get in your car. I used to be freezing, absolutely freezing.”
Kasper Schmeichel: “I remember those days! When I joined the Club, that’s exactly what we were doing. Because Belvoir Drive was being redeveloped, we were changing in portacabins at Belvoir Drive, either there or getting changed at the stadium, and then driving to one of the university’s cricket pitches and training on there. My first couple of months at Leicester, honestly, the pitches, because obviously it was summer, and it had been a really hot summer and there was no watering facilities, the pitches were bone dry and all that. Also, obviously, when I played for Bury and those times early in my career down the lower leagues, we were training on Goshen Park up in Bury where you had to get the old black bin liners put in the car so you didn’t get your car dirty from diving around!”
On revolutionising goalkeeping sessions…
Peter Shilton: “When I started out, we didn’t have any goalkeeping coaches. Basically, goalkeepers used to train with the squad, and we’d do the running, we’d do everything. Then, if you were lucky, once a week you’d have a bit of shooting practice for about 20 minutes, but most ‘keepers used to have to stay behind and try and get two or three lads to stop and give you a bit of shooting practice. Without blowing my own trumpet, when I joined the Club, I quite quickly went to the manager, Matt Gillies, and said: ‘Look I think the goalkeepers need to go for at least half an hour on their own and do a little work on their own because it’s so specialised’. That’s what we did, and we gradually built it up that some days, we’d train on our own all through the session. That’s how it evolved from when we started. Also, we had to devise our own training exercises. I tended to break it down from just shooting and crossing, which is what ‘keepers did. Some ‘keepers at clubs in those days probably did five minutes a week. I broke it down into quick reactions, footwork, all different things, punching, and trying to practice every aspect. That was the start of it, really, I think.”
On the position’s change since Schmeichel’s debut…
Kasper Schmeichel: “When I started out, when I made my debut for Darlington and played for Bury and these teams in League 2, the pitches, they were just mud. They were as bobbly as anything, so playing out from the back was never, ever heard of. Basically, it was shell it as far as you possibly can and if possible, get it into the corners. Kick for touch, kick for throw-ins, those kinds of things, you know? Obviously, the game has changed. It depends what manager you play for. With Brendan [Rodgers] now, it’s very much with my feet and it’s a way that I’ve always played through my international career, so it’s been great having to play that style in the Premier League and kind of build it up from the back. Definitely, when I was young, I spent basically the whole session, I had Tim Flowers as my coach at Manchester City, I spent basically the whole session with him and if I was lucky, there would be shooting with the first team or there would be something where you could be cannon fodder. Then, that was it, but everything was kind of us on our own, whereas now, it’s changed so much that we have to be outfielders before we’re goalkeepers. You’re probably looking at 80-20 in outfield favour. Unless we go out early, which we do a lot of the times with Mike [Stowell], we’ll go out half-an-hour before the outfielders, which means we can get probably 45 to 50 minutes work on goalkeeping in, but then we join in with the outfield sessions now where we’re doing possession and passing drills. All those kinds of things to make sure we can play out exactly like outfielders and also give the outfielders confidence in the fact that they can give us the ball and we can deal with it. That was something that I was always taught from a young age – to train with the outfielders and make sure that they know they can do that. A lot of the time, when you’re a young goalkeeper, you’re a bit of a spare part, because everything is geared towards the no.1 goalkeeper who’s going to play at the weekend, and obviously the reserve goalkeeper who’s going to have to back him up. When you’re third, fourth or fifth choice, a lot of the time you’re a spare part, so I always asked to go outfield. So, I was always an end man or a spare man in a game, or something, wherever I needed to be just to get that kind of feel of the ball.”
On rule changes during Shilton’s playing days…
Peter Shilton: “It’s funny, Kasper, you say that, because although football’s changed, I remember in my early days, they brought in rules. Goalkeepers, when I first started, used to run around the penalty spots bouncing the ball. When they’re winning 1-0, but then they brought in what’s called a ‘six-second rule’, where you had to get rid of the ball in six seconds, and then a ‘four-step rule’. Then, of course, the opposition used to stand right in front of you and sometimes I’d have to throw it into touch just to get rid of it because they used to give a free-kick in the six-yard box.”
On having an outfield player’s attributes…
Peter Shilton: “I remember when I was with the England squad in the days where I think it was more relaxed and you trained, and players got to know each other. You used to have a practice match but it was like a fun game and I always remember me and Ray Clemence used to play centre-forward together in the practice match, but it was a way of enjoying yourself. All goalkeepers feel like they can play a bit but these days you’re quite right, it’s just changed completely the other way. It’s so important from a manager’s point of view that goalkeepers can play with the ball. I can see to a certain degree the benefit of that, but I still think sometimes a long ball as I’ve seen you do on many occasions, I think your kicking is probably one of the best in the Premier League and they’ve actually scored goals from your kick out. That’s a great asset to have but it has changed completely from when I was playing. I’d just more or less finished when the back-pass rule came in and it was very difficult to get used to that. But now I think it’s gone on to another stage further, you’ve actually got to be able to really be an outfield player. It’s a big part of goalkeeping, but I think goalkeeping, basically in my eyes as a goalkeeper, is about keeping that ball out of the net. If you can give the extra bit of distribution, then great, that’s an added thing to the team. But it is basically about keeping the ball out of the net.”
Kasper Schmeichel: “I think nowadays it really comes down to what the manager wants because, you take Burnley for example, [they’re] very successful in what they do, you don’t see them wanting to pass out from the back. So, you look at us and the way we want to play and obviously it’s always with risk when you play out from the back but it’s a calculated risk and you have to accept and the crowd has to accept the risk vs. reward is why we’re doing it. We’ve assessed that the reward is bigger by doing it this way, because otherwise you saw under Claude [Puel] a lot of the time, he asked me a lot of the time to kick to Chilly (Ben Chilwell), for example, but he didn’t exactly want me to kick to Chilly, he always used to say he would rather kick to touch, like kick it out of play, instead of a centre-half coming and heading it straight back at us and putting us under pressure. So, it very much depends on the manager and what he’s asking you to do. You’re exactly right, the back-pass rule, in I think was it ’92 or ’93, was really what set this trend of really changing goalkeeping because I think as far as I’m aware the six-second rule still applies but no one really enforces it.”
On being positive with your kicking…
Peter Shilton said: “There’s a lot of possession. Sometimes I’ve seen games, there’s 10 passes around at the back and really the team hasn’t moved 20 yards. I think that’s part of the modern game. I mean I always remember when Bobby Robson, you know Sir Bobby, the great manager who had eight years with me at England, he always said: ‘Look. Look forward first and square and back is your last option, and always try and play forward if you can’. Obviously if it’s not on and you’re going to give the ball away or it’s a dodgy ball, then you square, and you look back, but he wanted the ball being played as forward as often. And that was his attitude towards football, you know, being positive and getting on the attack as early as you can, sometimes you can’t.”
Kasper Schmeichel: “It is one of those situations you still as a ‘keeper have to play with that balance of risk and I was always taught exactly what you’re saying. Minimal risk if in doubt hit row Z. That was what I was always taught but again it comes down to what managers are looking for from you because when you play with that risk. Brendan’s very much like Sir Bobby in that sense where you know if you can do it in one, do it in one. We don’t have to have 10 passes to get there, if we can do it quick, do it quick and I think you see a lot of the time with for example lots of Jamie’s (Jamie Vardy) goals, they are balls that are hit early, but again managers want different things and sometimes you get yourself into a situation where you think you’ll get out of it with a Cruyff turn or something like that and then you find out you can’t…”
On dealing with physical challenges…
Peter Shilton: “I think modern day ‘keepers have it easy when it comes to physical challenges, especially when I first started in those days. You used to get hell knocked out of you. I remember when I used to play at Newcastle they had a partnership of Wyn Davies and Pop Robson, one tall man, one smaller man, because obviously there was a lot more longer balls, and it was always wet and windy up at St. James’ Park as it was called in those days and there weren’t the big stands. It was quite open, so the wind swirled around, and I bet your life the first thing that happened they got the ball and put the ball into the box from the halfway line, I knew what was going to happen. Wyn Davies was going to come in and knock three bells out of me and I’ll end up on the floor, and even the referees used to laugh. They’d give a foul or whatever. I always used to think he was about 6ft 5ins, and then I met a few years later when I finished playing at a golf tournament and he was only about 5ft 10ins! But at the time he looked like a giant. They used to have a lot of big centre-forwards who were very physical, which I don’t think that happens [nowadays], which to be fair from a goalkeeping point of view I think that’s good.”
Kasper Schmeichel: “Yes, you are completely right. In the Premier League that very rarely happens anymore. What I will say is I was probably 40 seconds into my league debut at Darlington. We were playing against Peterborough and it was 40 seconds in and they got a wide free-kick. The ball gets swung in, what was I, 17 years-old? And the next thing I knew I was in the back of the net because Ben Futcher, a 6ft 6ins centre-half had just thought: ‘Here you go young goalkeeper, let’s see what he’s got’. So, I’ve come out, I’ve punched it, got a good punch on it and next thing I know I’ve just got smashed and to be fair that happened so much in my early years. God, what is it, 16/17 years ago, so a lot has changed and I do remember the smaller stadiums in the lower leagues where you’re getting up in the morning and you’re looking at the wind conditions because obviously there’s no stands to take the wind and you’re looking at rain because obviously the pitch is going to be horrendous, so I remember those days really well where you were getting smashed from pillar to post!”
Part two of Schmeichel Meets Shilton will be released on LCFC TV later this week.