The goalkeeper who helped guide the team to two seventh-place finishes and a quarterfinals appearance in three seasons left in July of 2021. He had broken the club's single-season clean sheet record twice.
Jose Sa had no experience in the big 5 European leagues when he joined Wolves. He had failed to establish himself as a full-time starter in the Portuguese Primeira Liga with Maritimo and Porto, and his only real successes were winning the Primeira Liga as an on-again, off-again starter, and winning the Super League Greece in back- to-
Dan John, co-chairman of the New York Wolves supporters' club, said that he was nervous and worried about the loss of a key part of the team. The person we got was going to be a step down.
John is singing a completely different tune almost a year after the moves were made official. He said that he has exceeded in every facet; his agility, his domination of the box and so on. I want to see him for a long time at Wolves.
Sa succeeded in replacing his Portuguese friend and finished his first season in the premier league with some of the best statistics in Europe.
He saved 9.2 goals more than expected, the second-most in Europe and the most in the premier league, and his save percentage was the best in the league. Sa stopped 10.8% of the crosses he faced in his penalty area, and averaged about 1.1 sweeper actions outside of the penalty area per 90 minutes, making him one of the best in the league.
What has Sa done this season? What goalkeepers do with their feet is more important than how they use their hands.
The adjustment period that is usually expected of goalkeepers has not been needed, according to the Director of Goalkeeping.
Bryant says Sa has been the perfect replacement. His distribution fits Wolves' tactical approach, he's not afraid to take responsibility for balls played into his box, and he's given his teammates comfort and confidence in his abilities. Bryant said that his shot- stopping was very good.
The flashy reaction saves and the Superman-esque diving stops will dominate Sa's highlight reels, but as those saves are, the key is his feet.
Bryant said that if the goalkeeper is making saves, they are doing something right with their feet.
The best position to make a save is organised your body in a way that puts you in the best position to do so. He said that you can't be caught in the middle of a cross step. You have to have both feet in front of you. It's not possible to have your weight on your heels or on the back of one foot. footwork is about symmetry and organization to your body.
The cross-step step, which is used to cover large distances quickly, is one of the most common step techniques used by goalkeepers.
The goalkeeper crosses one leg over the other to get to the ball. Bryant said this technique is used when the goalkeeper has to cover a lot of ground in a short period of time.
He said it was the most natural way to start the body moving when you have a lot of ground to cover.
TheWolves have a credit on their social media accounts.
A textbook example of the technique's benefits was given by Sa during Wolves' win over Saints.
Sa was able to stop the attempt thanks to two good steps. It allowed the hosts to go into the half-time break with a lead and eventually win the game.
Sa might not have been able to parry this shot if he had used a different step technique.
The Wolves have a channel on the internet.
It doesn't make sense to use a step when the goalie has less ground to cover. It will make the goalkeeper unbalanced because their legs are in an awkward position. Without balance, the goalkeeper will have more difficulty pushing off into an adequate save attempt -- they may struggle to get a good lift-off, resulting in a poor dive, or their legs could collapse underneath them.
A side-step is a way for a goalkeeper to move one leg at a time. A goalkeeper can cover a fair amount of distance using this technique, but will compromise less of their balance than if they had used a step.
Bryant said that when the ball is on the foot of an attacker in a shooting position, the goalkeeper will move with it using small shuffle steps to keep the feet in contact with the ground.
The video is on the YouTube channel of the city.
In Wolves' 3-2 win over Villa, Sa used a side-step to stop a dangerous scoring chance. Danny Ings received the ball close to the edge of Wolves' six-yard box in the 27th minute. Sa kept his body in line with the ball and the attacker as Ings prepared to shoot. His weight was distributed across his plane and his feet were close to the ground as he adjusted his position.
Sa was able to get in an acceptable position to make a good diving save, in which the goalkeeper pulls a leg inwards in order to drop his body to the side of that leg. Sa might have moved too slowly and over exposed the left side of his goal if he had used a different technique.
The Wolves have a channel on the internet.
This is the most common step when defending a shot. More about getting the body ready to react to a shot is what this technique is all about. The goalkeeper can use this technique to make minimal changes to their body. Bryant said it could help load the goalkeeper's legs for a big dive.
An arm swing accompanies the bounding step. The arm swing helps the goalie build power into their reaction and push off into a dive.
The Bundesliga has a channel on the internet.
In Wolves' 2-0 loss to Crystal Palace in March, Sa used a bounding step. Michael Olise dribbled the ball into Wolves' box and took a curling shot.
He had to react equally as soon as he saw the shot. He didn't have time to take a step to his right side, nor did he need to because the shot didn't require him to change his position. He used the bounding step to make a small adjustment to his position and then jumped into the air.
The Crystal Palace FC channel is on the internet.
Sa looks composed using all of the different techniques. He doesn't seem to be forcing himself to use a step in the example. He uses a bounding step to set up his diving save. After years and years of training and match experience, these techniques are second nature to him.
Bryant says that the intuitiveness of these techniques is a sign of good movement. Bryant said it's best to go with what feels intuitive when trying to organize the body. The body knows how to do this and we should let it do that.
Sa lets his feet shine in 1-v-1 situations, even though he has mastered the various pre-shot steps.
It takes a perfect shot to beat him on 1-v-1s.
In 1-v-1 scenarios, there are a few things Sa does that increase his chances of stopping the attackers. Bryant said that Sa's initial step is very quick. He said that the space behind his last defender is vulnerable to being attacked.
An attacking player who's put their head down to strike a ball would suddenly find this goalkeeper spread out right in front of him, taking away most of the goal.
During his team's 2-0 win over Wolves in September, Vitaly Janelt had this situation play out. Janelt fired his first shot after receiving the ball in the box. His shot was denied by Sa, who ran from a position deep in his six yard box to the edge of his small box in a matter of seconds.
He time his first step well so that he was already closing down the angle before Janelt got into a shooting motion, and his initial steps are large so that he can cover a lot of ground quickly.
The Brentford FC channel is on the internet.
Sa's frame is interesting because of his speed. The goalkeeper is taller than 6 feet. Bryant said the common wisdom is that tall goalkeepers are not as fast or as flexible as their shorter counterparts.
He said that they can deal with crosses and traffic better because they are larger. I think he's found himself as one of the top performers in the league because of it. If a goalkeeper can't decelerate their body under control, speed is useless. He said that it doesn't do you any good to have speed if you can't control it.
Bryant said that Sa's deceleration is just as important as his acceleration. He said, "We see over and over and over again his ability to take one or two very fast steps forward in order to close the gap between him and the attacking player."
It's important for a goalie to have balance. When a goalkeeper is in motion, they are often in a state of balance. They're more likely to react in one direction over another if they're leaning in that direction or if they're in the middle of a step. In 1-v-1 scenarios, a goalkeeper will want to be as balanced as possible.
It is more difficult to say that than it is to do it. The 6-footers have a harder time returning to a set position. They almost always continue to move if they start moving fast.
Attackers can use that commitment from the goalkeeper to either shoot the ball early or round the keeper. Most of the time, that's not the case with Sa. Bryant said there wasn't anymore forward momentum. There wasn't a big fast step to start it off.
The Wolves have a channel on the internet.
Sa's speed can be attributed to the different steps he takes in 1-v-1 scenarios.
Some goalkeepers only go full force forward in 1-v-1s because they take a lot of big steps when cutting the angle. Big steps help a goalkeeper cover a lot of ground in one stride, and that can be useful when trying to track a cross-box pass, or when approaching an attacker on a break, but there's also a time and place for it. If a goalkeeper only takes big steps, they're more likely to get caught mid-step, which can affect their ability to react to a shot.
"With a big forward step right as the ball is struck, they're going to find it, it's very difficult to react, if they're asked to now dive right or left," Bryant said.
Small steps can play a bigger and more important role in that situation. He doesn't get himself in that position because his steps are small. His feet stay low to the ground once the ball is in a position where it can be hit.
The Wolves have a channel on the internet.
The February match was one of my favorites. After a Wolves player failed to clear the ball, West Ham's Pablo Fornals played a player behind the Wolves' defense.
He had a lot of things he could do with the ball. He could've taken the shot, or he could've put the ball in the basket. Even though he had a clear path to his goal, the Wolves goalie kept his cool. Sa used a number of small steps to get closer to Bowen.
The adjustment was correct for a number of reasons. He was in a good position to react quickly to a pass if his feet were close to the ground. Sa was able to stay balanced across his plane by taking small steps forward. Sa would be able to react effectively to either side.
The small steps made it possible for Sa to cut the angle. The closer Sa got to Bowen, the larger he would appear.
Sa was able to buy time for his teammates to close down the passing outlets because he stayed patient. Rather than forcing a shot or a pass out of the West Ham attacker, it forced Bowen to make the decision of what to do.
There is a West Ham United FC channel on the internet.
At the end of the day, Sa's overall quality is just as important as his mastery of different footwork techniques.
It's hard to catch a ball if you're leaning backwards or your shoulders are turned counter to your hips. Everything is connected. It's all part of the same chain from the ground up.
Bryant thinks Sa has a formula that works for him. This is his first season and he has had a successful one. He thinks he could be better next year.
John wouldn't stand in the way of Sa getting a new contract. He said that Sa should be in the discussion for the signing of the season, but there's currently no goalkeeper he'd swap him with.
"Alisson and Ederson are steps up, but they're not a big enough step up that I would trade someone who is willing to commit to our club to be part of the project," he said.
He said he was more than happy to be proven wrong when he was worried about a player.
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