'The Sonia Bompastor Files': The Endler Effect

A tactical breakdown of Christiane Endler's move to Lyon.

While this transfer is far from a ‘small event’, the effect Christiane Endler will have on Olympique Lyon’s season and future will be profound (or so we expect). Sonia Bompastor’s new era truly begins with an influx of four (three confirmed) signings at the Groupama Stadium.

This article is a first of a series titled ‘The Sonia Bompastor Files’ where I will document, break down and explain every transfer and their implication on this team that culminates into their final form as the Bompastor era is well and truly underway.

Expect pieces on Daniëlle van de Donk, Signe Bruun, and Perle Morroni in the coming weeks and before the window closes, a detailed preview of my thoughts on how the new team and system will look.

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The 2020/21 season will be remembered for quite a lot of events: Chelsea Women completing their back-to-back WSL title; Barcelona winning the treble, being the first team to have both their men’s and women’s side win the UEFA Champions League; and arguably the biggest news was that Paris Saint-Germain finally ended Olympique Lyon Feminin’s dominance in France, winning the Division 1 Feminine title.

What should have signalled an entering into a new era has turned into a mass exodus at the Stade Jean-Bouin. Irene Paredes is on the verge of a move to Barcelona while Formiga has returned to Brazil. Perle Morroni has been strongly linked with a move to Lyon, but the biggest news comes as Christiane Endler has decided to move on after four seasons at the Parisian club to their rivals Lyon.

News of a move to Lyon has been mooted for a while now with current number 1, Sarah Bouhaddi moving to OL Reign on loan for an initial six months. Endler comes in as a high-profile replacement and is recognised as the best goalkeeper in world football right now. The objective here is to give readers a tactical breakdown into what makes the Chilean such an unstoppable force.

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The sweeper keeper has been a much-favoured type in modern-day football as they’ve evolved with tactical shifts and trends. However, in women’s football, the phenomena haven’t exactly been seen in mass quantities so the ‘regular’ keeper is still the main choice. Endler, however, is one of the best goalkeepers in recent history in all categories.

Endler is an excellent shot-stopper with exceptional reflexes coupled with a solid positional sense that acts as the foundation to her saving ability. Many a time we’ll see Endler save shots that seem destined for the top corner or even make point-blank saves. At 5’9, she is particularly potent at set-pieces where she’s able to judge the trajectory of the ball and more often than not is at the right place at the right time. 

Her game is geared towards goal prevention, particularly in her positioning in these situations. Her strength lies in her shot-stopping from different ranges given her exceptional athleticism but at the core, it’s about her positioning. Her initial positioning to be able to shift her body across to make the save consistently is very good.

Playing for PSG meant she was behind two very capable central defenders who were excellent at reading the game which meant Endler wasn’t put in compromising situations all the time. The Chilean only conceded nine goals across the Division 1 Feminine and UEFA Women’s Champions League, which is a testament to both her defence but also her ability as a shot-stopper as the last line of defence.

While a goalkeeper’s heat map doesn’t extract much data, it still gives us an indication of the player’s general whereabouts and it’s clear here to see that Endler much prefers to sit back in her box than venture out. Compare this to Sarah Bouhaddi, who is frequently seen stepping up to offer her defenders a passing option and is much more comfortable in possession.

When she’s faced with 1 v 1 situations, Endler sets herself up very quickly based on the direction and position of the incoming attacker. Her intelligence in these situations is unlike most because she’s able to anticipate and influence the attacker’s choice. Let’s take the example from Paris Saint-Germain’s game against Barcelona. Asisat Oshoala gets on the end of a long ball into the final third where she manages to find herself in an advantageous position to score.

Endler’s position is on her six-yard line, where she slowly starts backing up and positioning herself. Notice how she doesn’t cover her near post but instead leans towards that side, knowing that Oshoala’s angle of attack means she’s likely to shoot across to the far post. Endler’s positioning means she’s partly expecting the striker to go where the goal is open. The incoming defender also puts her off, but the shot is taken to the far side which Endler can save with her feet without really having to move. 

Though this can be to her detriment because counter-attacking situations require goalkeepers to be vigilant and attack the ball if necessary when Endler instead prefers to sit back. We’ll compare her shots faced in counter-attacks versus positional attacks a little later.

The graphics below compare the shot locations (all competitions) from counter-attacks (L) and positional attacks ( R ) and it suggests that a higher percentage of her saved shots come within the box when given time to compose herself. 

Even if we look at this example taken from their league game against Olympique Lyon Feminin, Endler makes a superb last-minute save from Melvine Malard. This free kick comes into the far post which is headed by Wendie Renard and lands for Malard to volley. The forward has the goal at her mercy but Endler manages to prevent an almost certain goal with a super save. She closes the angle by pressing Malard and makes the goal a much smaller target. This limits the areas she can place the shot, which enables Endler to make a top save.

Lyon have excellent defenders in Wendie Renard, Kadeisha Buchanan, and Griedge M’Bock which will help alleviate some of the pressure. At PSG, she was called into action a lot more and became a real presence as the last line of defence, whereas at Lyon, this wasn’t the case for Bouhaddi. On average, PSG faced 4.47 shots against per 90 minutes while Lyon only averaged 3.31, so clearly, Endler played a massive role in keeping clean sheets. This, if anything, gives Lyon an enhanced level of protection given her skillset.

Certain metrics are better assessors than others, but what’s important is that she’s kept 19 clean sheets, conceding just 0.17 goals per 90 minutes. Her Expected Goals Against (xGA) per 90 minutes is 0.32, indicating she’s keeping out a higher volume and better quality of shots. Endler’s most impressive statistic is her prevented goals of 3.36, with PSG conceding four goals. She ranks fifth in the league for prevented goals and sixth in the per 90 stat. In comparison to her previous season, she registered 1.46 prevented goals against 47 shots and kept five clean sheets, all in the league.

The numbers improved significantly but it’s important to preface these statistics with the number of shots faced in the 2020/21 season. Endler faced 36 shots in Division 1 Feminine, so these numbers are against a lower volume of shots, making those numbers very impressive given how much concentration is required. 

If we look at this below graph (created by the wonderful Maram AlBaharna aka Maram per ninety) looks at the conceded goals per 90 versus shots against per 90 and it’s clear to see that Endler concedes a low frequency of shots against a low frequency of goals conceded. What this means is that Endler may not face too many shots but when she does, they are being dealt with. This is also reflected in her shot save percentage of 88.89%.

This level of focus and positioning is also translated to set-pieces where she’s been able to successfully defend these situations. This becomes a very important aspect to look at given how every team use set-pieces differently and being able to read the situation is crucial. Endler is excellent in this regard especially when it comes to direct free kicks. The Chilean’s athleticism and reflexes are again what gives her this ability to save.

But as we know, Endler’s playstyle is heavily predicated on her reactiveness. Even at set-pieces, we’ve seen her mainly sit on her line and not make many exits from her line. You could argue it’s been a successful way of playing because they’ve conceded very few goals this season, but against the top sides, she’ll need to be more active. Just like the Malard save from earlier, you can see her trying to reduce the space available for her to shoot but Endler doesn’t come off her line.

She ranks 13th (D1) and 16th (UWCL) in leaving line per 90 minutes which supports the notion we’ve talked about. This is not criticism levelled at her, but rather a potential area that teams could exploit. Endler’s preference to stay on her line in most situations gives her the time to adjust and position herself, but she will need to improve and rather look to be more confident in collecting crosses and indirect free kick crosses.

Here, Barcelona looked to get in several crosses against Paris Saint-Germain and tried to test Endler’s reactiveness and entice her to come off her line. An early cross from Aitana Bonmati forces Endler to come off her line. Though there seems to be a lack of communication between Irene Paredes and Endler, the Chilean misjudges the cross that allows Jenni Hermoso her shot on goal. 

At this next set-piece example, she fumbles the cross and spills it. Opposition teams are likely to apply pressure on the goalkeeper during set-pieces to try and create a goal-scoring opportunity. For a player of Endler’s height, she should be attempting more claims from corners and crosses.

From a distribution perspective, most goalkeepers are inclined to play a more direct style with short passes as a safe option if a team uses ball-playing central defenders. Endler is very much in this category as most of her passes are short but she does have a tendency to go long when put under pressure. Not the best with the ball at her feet, she’s more comfortable in recycling possession through safe passing options to either Pauline Dudek or Paredes. Renard and Buchanan are excellent ball-players which means she will not have any extra need to have to play intricate, playmaking passes. Her numbers are quite high in this aspect with 4.12 long passes (72.7% accuracy rate) and 20.25 short passes (97.6% accuracy rate).

If there’s an evolution that needs to occur, it’s in her distribution. Modern goalkeepers are moving towards becoming core playmakers and acting as an extra player in the build-up which has affected the way teams play. A prime example of this is how Arsenal use Manuela Zingsberger and Lydia Williams for their ball-playing abilities during build-up.

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Endler is the first player of many to come in at Lyon to start the new revolution after a relatively disastrous 2020/21 season. The confirmations of Van de Donk, Signe Bruun, and Perle Morroni is a welcome addition to the team that needed an injection of creativity and pace. With a couple more signings rumoured, including ‘the most significant transfer’ in Lyon history, there is a sense of excitement and intrigue back at the club. With Sonia Bompastor at the helm, there is a case for optimism that the new era can finally begin as they have left the previous one.

Photo by David Ramos - FIFA/FIFA via Getty Images