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For many, this seems to be the most lonely job of football – the third-choice goalkeeper who never plays.
They train with the first team and go to matches, knowing that they will play only in case of a crisis.
Some have played a role in most of their careers. Others are doing it in the last years before retirement.
Former England goaltender Rob Green explains what the life of a third-choice goalkeeper in a Premier League club really looks like.
At no time did I say "how much?" – Green joins Chelsea
"It's not something I've planned to do when I left saying" oh yeah I'd like to be a third-choice goaltender "- but your situation changes as your advance career. "
Green joined Chelsea in July 2018 at the age of 38 with a one-year contract after leaving Huddersfield – where he was also third-choice – at the end of the 2017-18 season.
He has not played a game of this campaign, with the most expensive goalkeeper of the world, Kepa Arrizabalaga, first choice and Willy Caballero preferred when the Spaniard is absent.
"My involvement has not been as important as I would have liked, but it has been spelled out early on.If everyone stays fit, that's the role I'm playing. I have, "says Green, 39 years old now.
"I can not really complain when it's exactly how that happened."
For Green, money has "never been a factor" in his decision to join Chelsea.
"Someone contacted me at the beginning of the season and asked me if you wanted to sign for Chelsea?" Green says. "Not at a time, I said" how much? "
"You want to get paid – it's your job." It's as if someone else is standing in an office .This helps to feed your family, but at some point this has not been a motivator. "
Green, who has already played in the top rankings for the Norwich Rangers, West Ham and Queens Park, said he had joined Chelsea for "making the football experience at the top of the Premier League" .
"You look at it and you think" what excites you, "" he says. "I have learned a lot this season.
"It's the first time in my career that I have not looked at 40 points and thought" fortunately, we managed that. "Seeing how players evolve has been a real insight."
& # 39; Train, it's peppery at 39 & # 39;
Tactical work, claiming to be Saturday's opponent and keeping morale high is part of Green's role in Chelsea.
Unlike first-clbad goalkeepers in the Premier League, he spent most of his career as number one and started the 2010 World Cup as England's first-choice goalkeeper.
Although he does not play, he trains alongside Kepa and Caballero every day, but acknowledges that the situation is different than that of his first choice.
"There is a lot of tactical work before games, so generally on Thursday and Friday, I train more often as an opponent than the Chelsea goalkeeper," he said.
"It's a big difference – the motivation for the Saturday match is not there.
"Ultimately, you rely on yourself to find tools that will keep you motivated and fit, rather than using external factors such as games."
He adds: "What they do not want is to worry about the mental state of a guy who is not going to play and to wonder if he will throw his toys into the landau.
"If you can drag people around, it's more of a role than physically on the ground.
"Physically, it's always difficult.You are on the ground every day.It's a seven day week.It's not like I was 21. J & # 39; I'm 39 years old and I'm getting peppered more and more, it's always a demanding role. "
"I find a cup of tea and I'm going to sit at the rostrum & # 39;
The biggest difference is without a doubt a matchday.
Green is part of Chelsea's first division, consisting of 25 men, and goes to "every game".
"I go to all the meetings, I do all the pre-match, I warm up and help in any way possible, that it's about picking up bullets, to save shots or to cross bullets, "he says.
"Then, when the players are ready to enter the field, you change and more often, at the games outside, I find a cup of tea and I install in the stand."
But there is no question of sitting and relaxing. Green says that looking from the stands gives him a "different perspective" compared to the coaches on the sideline and that he will refer to the post-match badysis.
"You see things that people in the canoe and the players in the field can not see," he says.
"It's been a very long time since I'm playing football and I know a lot, so if I have an opinion and I do not say it, it's a bit of a loss. give an opinion while I am here. "
So, is all that enough to make him feel like part of the Chelsea team?
"In a literal sense, you're there as much as everyone else, but in fact no," he says. "You do not get the same motivation.There is not the same climax at the end of the week.
"There is not the same physical or mental commitment.
"You are disappointed when the team loses and rejoices when it wins, but it's not you. It's something you're part of but it's not you who are saving the shot."
"Bringing my son to Wembley and Stamford Bridge was special"
Overall, Green 's time in Chelsea included both positive and negative personal aspects, but he added that other benefits were "incredible".
"Thinking back now, it has been an amazing experience for me and my son," he says.
"Football came into his life at the age of six or seven and he was upset about it, and for his father, being part of it in Chelsea is incredible.
"From a personal point of view, I will probably think about being able to take my son to Wembley and Stamford Bridge to see a club like Chelsea as something special for me.
"It will be a part of my career that I will come back with frustration, I do not think so.
"This has given me opportunities for the future and has also provided pleasure to other people."
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