Portsmouth-Keeper im Interview
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Daniel Bachmann, Alexander Manninger, Bobby Olejnik – Austrian goalkeepers have repeatedly made the leap to England in the past. Nicolas Schmid made the step into his “footballing dreamland” to second division promoted FC Portsmouth just a few months ago from Blau-Weiß Linz. The Linz native now sees the fact that the former LASK pupil ended up with his city rivals as a stroke of luck. At Transfermarkt, the 27-year-old talks about his beginnings on the English south coast and how he got there.
Schmid experienced a turbulent start at Portsmouth FC. A big mistake in his second game in the English Championship against Queens Park Rangers had put his team behind early on. “I wanted to clear the ball with my head, but as a goalkeeper you don’t have much header training and you saw the result in the situation,” explains the Austrian with a smile.
But instead of letting the mistake affect him, the 27-year-old improved from minute to minute. With important and spectacular saves, the goalkeeper kept the box clean after the mistake. In the end, Portsmouth won 2-1 thanks to Schmid’s strong performances. He says: “As a goalkeeper it is incredibly important that you re-evaluate every opponent’s attack. This means that after a mistake or a save, I start from scratch in my head. That’s why I didn’t take the mistake too seriously. Of course he annoyed me immensely, but there’s no point in focusing on the past. The victory was incredibly important for us because it meant we were able to celebrate our first win of the season. For me personally it was also nice because my family was visiting. Under these conditions you enjoy such success even more.”
With this, Schmid had also set an example. After all, he had previously replaced the previous number 1, Will Norris, as the regular keeper and so had to swim his way out first. “For me, the move was an absolute dream come true. In fact, I currently walk onto the pitch in every game, home or away, with a big smile because it’s so great to be able to play here in England.”
Nicolas Schmid from Linz has been playing for Portsmouth since this season
Schmid also learned within his first few weeks that things are tougher in English football. In the game against Cardiff City he was badly hit in the head and was substituted with a concussion. But the goalkeeper takes it calmly. “It’s part of the life of a goalkeeper that I have to take it sometimes. I love the goalkeeper position, but of course there’s a bit of craziness involved when you stand between the posts. The strikers in England are much more robust, stronger, they often move through and don’t slow down beforehand. I actually had more bruises and bruises in my first games than in the first games in Austria.”
Schmid on football in England: “no time to take a breather”
He also saw clear differences in the way football is played in England. “In the past it was always said that below the Premier League they only worked with long balls and that the football wasn’t attractive. Those times are over. A lot of things are solved in a playful way and also with extreme speed. You don’t have time to take a breather here. A lot of things happen in quick succession. The quality of the players is also very high.”
But it wasn’t just on this topic that Schmid was able to identify contrasts; there were also differences in terms of training design and pure goalkeeper training. The Linz native is particularly enthusiastic about goalkeeping coach Joe Prodomo. “I have been able to improve in many areas so far. There is also a great culture of feedback in Portsmouth. Our trainers explain to us in detail what they ask of us. The work here is very detailed. Every training session is recorded and discussed afterwards in the video analysis. We work very game-related, with many forms of play that are very close to the situations in a real game. A big change for me was that training involved a lot of physical work.”
In addition to basic things like good positional play, game structure or the ability to read a game, Schmid also includes in his repertoire the ability to remain calm in hectic situations – “even if in the end it’s simply about keeping the zero and Deflect balls. There are different goalkeeper characters, I belong more to the calm goalkeeper category. I think it’s important that I give my teammates security from behind with calm and inner composure. I think if I suddenly became a loud, playful goalkeeper, that wouldn’t suit me at all.”
Schmid cannot confirm the image of a goalkeeper as a lone fighter in team sports. “Of course it’s the goalkeeper’s burden that you’re on your own in the seconds or minutes after conceding a goal. It’s also a difficult situation, and not everyone can handle it or shake it off. Nevertheless, the goalkeeper position is an incredibly great position because in many cases you are responsible for the positive outcome of the game. For example, there are situations in which you simply make a normal save, but this save is decisive for your teammates and therefore for the entire team and ensures that the three points are secured.
Schmid on beginnings in Linz: Switching to blue and white “best decision”
Due to the many new impressions that the Linz native collects, he feels a little reminded of his early days as a young professional goalkeeper at LASK. At Linz he trained in the shadow of Pavao Pervan and Alexander Schlager, from whom he was able to learn a lot. However, due to the cemented positions, he decided to move to city rivals Blau-Weiß Linz in 2018. He played a total of 139 games there and achieved promotion to the Bundesliga with the Blue-Whites. “At first I was unsure whether switching to a direct city rival was the right step,” says Schmid. “Today I can say it was the best decision of my life. I had an incredibly great time at Blau-Weiß Linz. The absolute highlights were of course the promotion to the Bundesliga and staying in the league, which everyone thought we wouldn’t be able to achieve anyway.”
Although Schmid developed into one of the best goalkeepers in the league, he was still surprised by the request he received from Portsmouth FC in August. “If I’m honest, at first I thought the request from England came from a third or fourth division team. When the contract was actually in front of me, I was simply speechless with joy and euphoria. For me, England has always been the footballing dream country. As a child and teenager, I was a big David Beckham fan and tried out many of his hairstyles. I also always followed the Premier League. Being able to play against all the traditional English clubs now fills me with great pride.”
Although the great times of the south of England called Pompey, when the club played in the Premier League, were decades ago, the charm of the past days has not faded. Thousands of fans still make the pilgrimage to the home stadium, Fratton Park, which opened in 1898.
Promotion 2024: Fans of third division champions Portsmouth storm the field at Fratton Park
Schmid also liked the stadium. “For me, the stadium is quaint and iconic at the same time. I get absolute goosebumps every time the music stops playing right before kick-off and the whole stadium starts clapping. It’s so amazing and beautiful at the same time to see, feel and notice that 70, 80 percent of the fans are constantly singing and creating atmosphere during the game. At other clubs the support would be stopped if the games were bad or in a negative phase, but at Pompey the team is supported unconditionally and we as players can only be grateful for that.”
Schmid in Portsmouth: “Don’t want to use the word relegation battle”
After just a few days, Schmid found out how important the club is within the city of 215,000 residents. He was repeatedly approached on the street. Accordingly, the Austrian has already taken the fans to his heart. “In general, the club is supported by the entire city. No matter where you go, you see flags hanging. People walk around proudly wearing Portsmouth jerseys. When I’m out and about in the city or go to a restaurant, I’m now spoken to. You can tell that the club, the city and the fans are one big family,” said the Linz native.
Christmas will also be an adjustment for the goalkeeper this year: he has to play on Boxing Day. Portsmouth will face Watford FC on Boxing Day. “It will actually be an adjustment because in the past I have always been on holiday over Christmas. Nevertheless, I’m really looking forward to the game against Watford. My family will be here in England over Christmas. In 2017, as a football fan, I was in England over Christmas and watched a variety of games. If you had told me back then that in a few years you would be part of Boxing Day, I would have 100 percent told them the bird.”
Despite the many new impressions, there is no time to take a breather, because both the fans and the team are united by a common goal – staying in the league. Currently promoted Portsmouth are second to last in the table and are in the middle of a relegation battle. “I don’t want to use the word relegation battle because it’s still far too early in the season. Of course we started the season sub-optimally, but based on the last results you can see that we are a force to be reckoned with. The table also reflects it, everything is still extremely tight. If we continue to work as hard as we have been, we’ll get out of there quickly. I am absolutely convinced that we will stay in the league.”
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