The Unique Role of a Goalkeeper: An Interview with Anthony Moris, Union Saint-Gilloise’s Experienced Goalkeeper

At 33 years old, with more than 300 professional matches under his belt, Anthony Moris is one of the most experienced goalkeepers in Belgian football. The Luxembourg international and goalkeeper for Union Saint-Gilloise lifts a corner of the veil on the way he sees his role and his rituals.

Anthony, goalkeeper, was it immediately obvious?

”From the beginning, I took this position. My two brothers being much older, we put the ‘little’ in the goal. Michel Preud’homme was my idol; I had his signed Benfica jersey. The guardian spirit has never left me. My Sunday favorite was diving in the mud. I hit hard with my left; so, as long as I could stop the balls and take the free kicks, I was happy. I heard the parents complaining: ‘He hits too hard.’ But I didn’t shoot them anymore after ten years, at Standard.”

gull

If goalkeepers No. 1 and No. 2 give each other crappy balls, it can quickly tense up the situation.

It’s a unique position in this sport.

”The others tell us that we don’t run. I tell them that maybe I run less but that they don’t get hits at 100 km/hour. I have seen this position evolve over the years. The basis is to create a close-knit group since there are three or four of us working all year round. In Mechelen, Philippe Vande Walle repeated that the goalkeepers form a group within the group. Competition is there but must be healthy. If numbers one and two give each other crap (sic) balls in training, it can quickly tense up the situation. Honestly, with the exception of Colin Coosemans in Mechelen who had a hard time not playing, I always found myself in respectful groups.”

Have you ever regretted not being an outfield player?

”I didn’t choose goalkeeper to attract the spotlight but for the sense of responsibility. If I make a mistake, I have to take responsibility. I like the leadership aspect of the position. So, no, I never regretted it. My family, maybe a little more; my wife will stress more than me and feel the pressure of a stadium. She said to our son, ‘You’ll never be a guardian, will you!’ (laughs)”

gull

Jean-François Gillet taught me a lot, particularly about invisible training.

Who taught you the most?

”As teammate, Jean-François Gillet. He arrives in Mechelen having played 500 matches in Italy and shows a lot of professionalism. He knew he wasn’t ready, told me that he was going to eat his bad, be criticized and then that it would be better afterwards. And that’s what happened. I learned a lot about invisible training from him: diet, sleep, etc. He gave me an image that I still use: ‘I go onto the field with my beer and my cigarette; I place them next to the post and tell them, see you later; then I take them back after the match.’ It was his way of taking the pressure off. As coach, it’s Laurent Deraedt, who knew me at Virton and with whom we had a great relationship until the Union (Editor’s note: which he left with Mazzù in 2022). He knew how to make me work a lot, which is what I need, by varying the exercises.”

Things didn’t go so well with Logan Bailly…

”Everyone has their own method but I was less familiar with it. I was happy that the Union gave him a chance but he relied a lot on what he had known in his career. The club decided to stop during the season and had its reasons. His absence from training the day before the European quarter-final (Editor’s note: against Leverkusen) obviously left an impression.”

Anthony Moris, Union goalkeeper, recounts in a book: “I wondered how I was going to do with 670 euros net per month…”

Do you know what you have in common with Fabien Barthez?

”Our left foot is the strongest?”

Yes, while being right-handed. Where does this particularity come from?

”I don’t know, actually. I do everything with my right hand but I quickly switched to my left foot. I was always impressed by (Boubacar) Copa who replayed his goal kicks with the right but volleyed with the left.”

The warm-up is also the subject of a very specific ritual, for Moris.

Your pre-match preparation is very precise, meticulous even, right?

”We are the first to go on the pitch for the warm-up because we will come back down earlier than the others. I have my tradition: an hour before the match, I go to the bathroom where I stay for six minutes; then I go to get dressed and six minutes later I go out. So 48 minutes before kick-off, I start my warm-up. Always the same, to go up a little in the towers. 22 minutes before kick-off, I return to the locker room first, because we need more time to prepare and then because it is a special moment with my coach who gives me a speech. Before kickoff, I always wink at the camera for my grandmother and my daughter. And then I go to the goal, I touch the slat and I look at the sky, thinking of my wife and our two children, on whom I impose a lot of sacrifices.”

gull

I always wear the same underwear for training the day before the match.

We also always see you getting on the pitch by making two small hops on your left foot.

“The first time I played again after tearing the cruciate ligaments in my left knee, I went up like that, to say: ‘Now this injury is over.’ It stayed. I do it every time I cross an outside line of the field actually, even in training. The guards are very superstitious. Before having children, I was manic, borderline unbearable. That said, preparation for my match starts three days before. For example, I use a cryotherapy machine for my knee for an hour every evening. I’m a wine lover and I allow myself a glass with dinner three days before the game, more after. That evening, I can eat a dish that’s a little “dirtier”… within a certain limit. The day before the match, I always have a cryotherapy session in a center and, in the evening, we eat pasta at home. My wife, being of Italian origin, always has ideas for variety. I must say that I am lucky that she cooks well. The day before the match, I put on the same underwear to train… So, they have to be washed. It’s lots of little things that allow me to already be in my game.”

gull

The Union bus changed its route on the day of the last game of last season, and we lost.

Have you ever forgotten something on a game day?

”I always brush my teeth at the hotel where we are dressed for the pre-match. Sometimes people wonder what I do. One day, before a match in Charleroi, I saw that I didn’t have my kit… so my father-in-law had to travel from Liège to Charleroi to bring it to me. I even watch the bus route. Last season, before the match against Standard, he changed his route. I wasn’t feeling well… and we lost 4-2. This marks me. And for the very last match against Bruges (Editor’s note: where the Union missed the title), our supporters had prepared a tifo in the street, which was good but we had to change route… and we lost.

On the occasion of the release of his book, Anthony Moris met the readers of La DH: “If he had remained Belgian, he would be number 2 of the Devils”

Don’t give up your number 49?

”In Mechelen, 1 and 16 were taken as well as 17, our lucky number with my wife; so, I opted for 49, the year my father was born and I haven’t changed. But I wear number 1 in the selection.”

gull

I am one of the last to play with gloves reinforced with bars.

Gloves are an essential tool for goalkeepers. How are yours?

”Our gloves are not linked to the club’s equipment supplier. I have a personal sponsor, Real, who gives me very good quality gloves. Sometimes supporters ask me for them and I explain that I don’t change every match, I don’t want to exaggerate. Over a season, I use around thirty pairs. The skins are getting thinner and thinner, to have a better ‘grip’ as the balls evolve – the Kipsta ball is actually a disaster. Two days before a match, for the match preparation session, I train precisely with the pair I am going to play with. I am one of the last goalkeepers in Belgium to still use a glove reinforced with metal bars which prevent the fingers from turning over.”

If Moris is married, he takes off his wedding ring to play, in case he hurts his finger. ©JC Guillaume

How has your game evolved with the arrival of Blessin?

”I had more freedom with Karel (Geraerts). Here, the coach wants everyone to be in place before I give the ball; everything is very coordinated and precise in what he asks. Maybe one day I will concede a goal on a bad restart but we have to see what that brings too.”

gull

After a mistake like in Liverpool, I say to myself: ‘It’s done, we can’t go back.’

How do we manage the moment following a ball, like in Liverpool?

”I always say to myself: ‘It’s done, we can’t go back, there’s still one match to play and we’ll laugh about it afterwards.’ I’m self-deprecating, I’m ready to laugh about it. To err is human, even if that of the goalkeeper is obviously very exposed. And then I learn from each mistake: next time, I will position myself differently. Having a clear number 1 status makes it less complicated. It’s harder to live with at the time for a Dupé who makes a mistake against Kortrijk and loses his place for Schmeichel the following week.”

Anthony Moris frustrated despite Union victory: “The pitch was deplorable, it’s not normal at this level”
2023-12-14 05:37:00
#Anthony #Moris #recounts #guardian #rituals #Pasta #wine #cryotherapy #underwear #bus #journey #superstitious