In an in-depth interview with the Evening Standard, Petr Cech has paid tribute to Christophe Lollichon, the goalkeeping coach who has inspired his attitude towards constant self-improvement.
Revealing a few of the unique training methods he’s used to hone his handling skills over the course of the last 16 years, the Premier League’s newly crowned clean sheet record holder spoke in glowing terms about his longstanding relationship with the Chelsea coach.
“If you’re a professional goalkeeper for 20 years and somebody keeps shooting the ball at you, after a while, just catching it from 15 yards will not make you progress,” said Cech.
“You don’t go any further than just catching the ball from that distance. So you have to find a way of making that exercise more complicated so you know your brain will switch on and go further than this.
“This is the way he [Lollichon] works. We try to catch different shape balls, bigger balls or smaller ones because then you need to adapt your hand-eye coordination every time. Suddenly your brain starts working again.
“You can use colours. Imagine you saving the ball but at the same time a card is held up. You save the ball and shout the colour — you are concentrating on more things. That makes your peripheral vision better as well. Your brain is working much more than just with a simple catch.
“He is always searching for new things to bring it further, to be more efficient and try to make things happen for a goalkeeper to progress even at the highest level. I keep using a table tennis robot which shoots ping-pong balls out. You have to catch it with one hand so it gives you a completely different hand-eye coordination. Then, when you have both hands facing one football, everything becomes easier.”
Arsenal were linked with a move for Lollichon when they completed the signing of Cech in the summer, but nothing came of the rumour.
Earlier this season it was claimed the Frenchman, who has been part of the Stamford Bridge setup since 2007, had crossed Thibaut Courtois with his methods. The ‘palpable discord’ between the pair has since, according to The Times, been resolved.
Petr is training himself to percieve the world as Mr. Mesut does naturally.
I see Petr here for the next 20 years. He retires, then goes on to be our goalkeeping coach. Legend.
I’ve no idea what a table tennis robot is but I want one.
Like a dalek but trying to wipe out the human race by firing ping-pong balls.
All hail Lollichon!
Lollichon – sign da ting
Such a consummate professional! An awesome human being he is.
Cech’s mate
The interview seems to have been arranged with the specific intent of publicising Lollichon & putting pressure on Arsenal to hire him, no?