Then there is the myth that Karius is poor on crosses and Butland is good on them. Butland has dropped the ball 4 times as much when dealing with crosses this season. Even allowing for the fact he has played twice as many minutes, that is still a worrying amount. In terms of average number of crosses their teams face per game, Karius sits on 14 per game, Butland 22 per game. However, Karius comes office his line for 14.3% of the crosses into the box he faces. Butland just 5,8% of them. He also catches more crosses per 90 than him at 0,53 vs 0,39 per game - which hopefully kills the myth that he punches the ball too much also. It won't of course. But we can but hope.
I looked at Alisson out of curiosity. His numbers are 0 drops from crosses, but he only comes off his line for 6% of them. Which indicates he is reluctant to come off his line for crosses but when he does, he nails it. He makes 0,44 catches per 90. Better than Butland, not as high as Karius though.
Thought I would look at a few other Premier League keepers.
De Gea comes for 4,5% of the crosses he faces. Has dropped the ball 4 times, missed it completely twice, and catches the ball 0,36 times per game. But he is a great shot stopper, so that's ignored. As well as the fact that maybe he wouldn't need to save so many close range shots if he actually could come off his line to deal with crosses.
Ederson comes for 13,5% of the crosses he faces. Has dropped the ball 4 times also, missed it completely once. Catches the ball 0,43 times per game.
Cech comes for 12,76% of the crosses he faces. Has dropped the ball twice, missed is completely 3 times. Catches the ball 0,91 times per game.
Courtois comes for 7,41% of the crosses faced. Has dropped twice and missed the ball once. Catches 0,71 times per 90.
Pickford comes for 8,8% of the crosses faced. Has dropped the ball 10 (FUCKING TEN!) times. Catches 0,47 per 90.
Begovic comes for 9% of the crosses faced. Dropped the ball 4 times. Missed it 4 times. Catches 0,82 times per 90.
Lloris comes for 0,95% of the crosses faced. Hasn't dropped any but has missed it 3 times. Catches 0,51 times per 90.