It's hard to imagine at this stage now Manchester City are in the semi-finals of two competitions, are favourites to clinch the Premier League again and haven't tasted defeat in 15 matches but 2023 didn't start all too well.
It's hardly surprising in hindsight given so many players took time to get back to their best following an emotionally and physically draining World Cup, but City struggled to find any sort of rhythm or consistency once domestic football resumed. Just when it seemed a run was about to get going, there would be a frustrating draw or an unexpected defeat. It's only in the current unbeaten run, which began on February 12, that the Blues have managed to win more than three games in a row.
Plenty of players came in for criticism during that fallow period but none more so than Ederson, who surprisingly found plenty of supporters turning against him. It wasn't just the odd contrarian deliberately trying to stand out with their unique opinions, either, as a sizeable portion of supporters began to issue concerns with the goalkeeper.
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A lot of the flak was based around a stat that Ederson had conceded the first shot on target he had faced in four consecutive games. While that's obviously not ideal, it did ignore the context of those goals (a penalty, a back-post tap-in, and two one-on-ones) and appeared to be a panicked overreaction as City continued to flounder. As though the Brazilian was being offered up as the scapegoat.
There was more credence to the point that Ederson didn't have the best save percentage, especially when compared to rival goalkeepers, but it's long been established that there is much more to his game than saves. City's No.31 has been integral to how City play for years thanks to his ability to play high out of the box and his control of the ball. It's little wonder Guardiola described him as a 'perfect' goalkeeper.
But even still, there is always room to improve and Ederson appears to have worked on a specific side of his game that was receiving heavy criticism. How he deals with those one-on-one scenarios. Ederson is programmed to be quick off his line but sometimes when a player is bearing down on goal that isn't the best approach as it gives the advancing attacker much more room to aim for.
Given his proactive nature, Ederson used to repeatedly rush out and be caught exposed far from his goal, either resulting in a near-miss or ruthless punishment. But in recent matches, he has shown much more restraint, discipline and patience, which has saved City.
In three of City's last four games, he has had to deal with one-on-ones and each of them ended without a goal being scored. He was aided by Kamaldeen Sulemana's awkward touch against Southampton as he got down low to pat the ball away but against Leicester and Bayern Munich, he stared down the forward and made sure they didn't convert.
It could be argued that James Maddison and Leroy Sane both should have scored their glorious chances as they were clear through on goal under no pressure but Ederson made the chances much harder than they could have been. Instead of charging out and leaving the goal open, he held his nerve, stood tall and gradually tightened the angle of the shot before making his move to save at the last moment. Maddison hit his effort straight at him while Sane could only flick his wide of the post.
Both chances came at crucial moments of matches in which City were under heavy pressure. Had they gone in, the results could have been very different, but Ederson ensured they didn't. It's been a massive and helpful improvement for City. It's not to say Ederson will never or should never come high off his line again, that would be ridiculous, but it's not always the right way to go.
Earlier this month he vowed never to change his 'crazy' style. "I always put myself into it with everything that I have, even if I have to break every bone in my body, I will do it," he told Sky Sports. "I think sometimes to be a goalkeeper you need to be a bit crazy. But you cannot be scared of coming out and stopping those kind of plays."
Yet, Ederson has clearly enhanced his decision-making when facing risky scenarios in recent weeks and it's serving City well as they hunt for the treble. There's certainly no one criticising him now.
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