Vicario reveals why he is not too bothered about clean sheets at Tottenham
Guglielmo Vicario has said that he does not measure himself based on the number of clean sheets he has over the season, insisting that he is far more concerned about whether he can help Tottenham win matches.
Vicario faced a major challenge when he joined Spurs from Empoli last summer, with the goalkeeper having to adapt from playing for a defensively-minded, low-block side to one which plays a high line and takes risks at the back.
The 27-year-old looked quite comfortable in Ange Postecoglou’s system from day one, making excellent use of possession to help the side play out from the back while also coming up with crucial saves when opposition sides got in behind through counter-attacks.
The Italian insisted that he is focused on improving every aspect of his game and helping the team win matches rather than on metrics such as clean sheets or the number of shots saved.
When asked about having just seven clean sheets to his name this season, he told Football.London: “I don’t think you have to measure goalkeepers or human beings by goalscoring or clean sheets or number of saves. I really don’t care about that. I’m just trying to be better tomorrow than what I am today.
“So I’m just trying to focus on that and being a good footballer and a good human being. I just wanted to improve my performance and focus on what the manager asks of us. Trying to play our football is tough. It’s tough football but I really love this style of football. The way we want to play suits us. It’s very tough but it’s also very exciting.
“So I don’t really care about clean sheets. I’m happy if the team wins and of course, if I can not concede a lot of goals it’s better for me but it’s important to be better than what we were yesterday. It’s just that.”
Vicario wants to improve at set-pieces with Tottenham
Vicario’s handling of set-pieces is something that has come under the microscope in the second half of the campaign, with opposition teams clearly targeting the Tottenham number one. The Spurs star acknowledged that it is an area of his game where he has to improve.
When asked about his handling of set-pieces, the goalkeeper responded: “It’s part of the challenge. It’s a different culture, different football. In Italy, it’s completely different [how they deal with challenges on the goalkeeper]. Maybe I didn’t want to waste time adapting but sometimes you have to be really honest with yourself and say ‘ok, maybe I need just a bit of time just to know how these sorts of tactics and especially set pieces work.
“It’s just a bit of time of adaptation. Of course, conceding from set-pieces is a part of football but we don’t have to be worried, maybe just don’t accept some situations, you know? Maybe it’s trying to win the first contact, don’t accept a block and try to win the ball back. I think it’s all about trying to adapt myself in certain situations.”
Spurs Web Opinion
While one can certainly argue that Vicario has not been protected as much as he should have been by the officials, it is good to hear that he is focused on where he can improve to address the situation rather than having a victim’s mindset.
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