Away!!!

[Millsy_Yiddo]

Quite often a player may need to leave a cross/corner as it would go out for a free kick. Clearing may be more dangerous than leaving - hence why a call has to be made every time. If someone (usually the keeper) calls every time, players build trust in their calls.

Again, the call 'away' milliseconds previous to the player actually heading or leaving the ball can't have any impact on their decision purely because there wouldn't be enough time to process the information before actually heading (or leaving) the ball. Really what I'm saying is, you can shout away all you want but at that level it really doesn't influence the player's decision. If the ball should be cleared, they will clear it 99.9% of the time whether a call is there or not. Equally, if the ball should be left they will leave it 99.9% of the time. Unless the call comes literally as it's leaving the crossing players boot which is not going to happen, it's pointless.

Don't get me wrong, I'm all for communication, it's one of (if not) the most important part of football. One of the best managers I ever had used to do an exercise with us where we weren't allowed to speak at all during a small sided game. It illustrated the importance brilliantly as it was almost impossible to get any kind of flow going. But in this case, from playing myself in front of goalkeepers who constantly scream away at the top of their voice when you're trying to concentrate on doing what you were going to do in the first place, I know it's a massive pain in the ****.

That is just my personal opinion though, maybe Dawson etc like it. Personally I think all a keeper should be calling is whether or not they are coming to collect the ball and instructions to organise the defence.