Friday, 22 November 2024

    Top 10 podcast - Premier League goalkeepers

    Clean sheets are crucial and there have been plenty of match-saving goalkeepers to have played in the Premier League - but who is the greatest?

    That was the subject discussed by Gary Lineker, Alan Shearer and Ian Wright on the latest edition of the Match of The Day: Top 10 podcast and we want you to get involved by ranking your favourites from a shortlist drawn up by the Match of the Day commentary team.

    To hear the MOTD team's final selections - recorded during a debate held in Lineker's kitchen, before the coronavirus outbreak in the UK - make sure you listen to the podcast on BBC Sounds.

    And at the bottom of the page have a go at ranking the 10 players yourself.

    How to judge the Premier League's greatest goalkeeper?

    Goalkeepers in the past had to be good with only their hands, keeping the ball out of the net, but there is a growing emphasise on outfield skills too.

    "The goalkeeping position has evolved massively," says Lineker. "They have become more part of the football team because they have to play with their feet."

    Shearer said: "When we started out, the goalkeeper had to keep the ball out of the goal, that was his job. Now he has got to be able to play."

    Asked if he studied goalkeepers before going into games, Wright said: "Definitely. For example, I knew former Coventry goalkeeper Steve Ogrizovic always liked to pat the ball down and then catch it so any shot that went in he used to do that. Anything that was coming in, I would just go in for."

    Alisson

    Alisson                                                                                         Since the start of last season, Alisson has conceded a goal on average every 156 minutes (33 goals conceded in 5155 minutes) - the best ratio among keepers to have played more than one game in the competition during this period

    Premier League appearances: 58

    Clean sheets: 31

    Lineker: "He has been unbelievably good for Liverpool, has made a massive difference to their team and transformed things for the team. He is a goalkeeper that exhumes calmness which is very important."

    Shearer: "Alisson and Virgil an Dijk have been the game changers for Liverpool. On the pitch, they are the ones that have made the difference."

    Petr Cech

    Petr Cech
    Cech has kept more clean sheets than any other keeper in Premier League history

    Premier League appearances: 443

    Clean sheets: 202

    Lineker: "Cech kept clean sheets in nearly half of the Premier League games he played in. He won four Golden Gloves, four Premier League titles, the Champions League, five FA Cups, three League Cups, the Europa League and was the Czech footballer of the year nine times.

    David de Gea
    David de Gea                  
    De Gea made 14 saves against Arsenal in December 2017 - no keeper has made more in a single Premier League game since 2003-04

    Premier League appearances: 304

    Clean sheets: 108

    Shearer: "When he first came to England he was open to a lot of criticism because he not that big, he had not bulked up and made too many mistakes. Then he went through that period where he was fantastic and made some incredible saves. At the moment, he is making too many mistakes and goalkeepers are often judged on how many mistakes they make."

    Wright: "The period that Manchester United have been through over the last three or four years, I do not know where they would be without him."

    Lineker: "Some of the saves he has made have been extraordinary."

    Ederson
    Ederson
    Ederson has kept more clean sheets than any other keeper since his Premier League debut for Manchester City and provided two assists in all competitions

    Premier League appearances: 99

    Clean sheets: 45

    Wright: "He has been amazing for Manchester City. Not only has he won trophies, he is one of the goalkeepers that has changed the position for the way keepers have to be now."

    Shearer: "Some of the passes this guy comes out with, he is better than some of the players I have played with."

    Wright: "When he was younger, Ederson played left-back, you could easily see him playing left centre-half now with the way he pings the ball about. He has great footballing ability."

    Shay Given
    Shay Given
    Given played in 19 different Premier League seasons - a record for a keeper in the competition

    Premier League appearances: 451

    Clean sheets: 113

    Wright: "Given was a good shot-stopper and had athletic ability, but he was somebody I fancied it against."

    Shearer: "He wasn't great at kicking, which is a huge part of the game now, but he worked hard and was a brilliant professional."

     

    David James
    David James
    James has saved more penalties (13) than any other keeper in Premier League history

    Premier League appearances: 572

    Clean sheets: 169

    Shearer: "He made hundreds of appearances and had great longevity. To be around for that amount of time, you have to be a good goalkeeper."

    Jens Lehmann
    Jens Lehmann
    Lehmann holds the longest player unbeaten run from the start of a Premier League career (47)

    Premier League appearances: 148

    Clean sheets: 54

    Wright: "He was one of the leaders in the dressing room. He had a bit of something (an edge) about him but also a mistake in him, maybe someone you couldn't trust one million percent."

    Peter Schmeichel
    Peter Schmeichel
    Schmeichel is one of only five keepers to score in the Premier League, netting for Aston Villa against Everton in October 2001

    Premier League appearances: 310

    Clean sheets: 128

    Lineker: "He was the best goalkeeper I played against in my time, a phenomenal goalkeeper and made the 'starfish' save. What an unbelievable career."

    Wright: "I only scored against Schmeichel in friendlies. He was the only goalkeeper I thought about before I went into a game because he was so good. I genuinely hated him as a goalkeeper. I knew how good he was and how it was to score against him. Christopher Wreh scored against Schmeichel - people don't even know who he is - and I didn't manage to do it."

    David Seaman

     

    David Seaman
    Seaman made more appearances in all competitions (564) than any other keeper in Arsenal's history

    Premier League appearances: 340

    Clean sheets: 140

    Lineker: "He is the most laid back goalkeeper I have met in my life. He made one of the best saves ever from me, I was three yards out and the ball came across and bang, hit it, but he just came across from nowhere and it was unbelievable. You would never congratulate the goalkeeper after, it was sickening but he deserved credit after that one, my god what a save."

    Wright: "From the time he came into the dressing room, Seaman was so calm and he made the rest feel that way. Him being in goal on a daily basis, telling me where to go, when a goalkeeper will close in with a bad touch, I know I would not have scored as many goals as I did without playing with a keeper of that calibre."

    Edwin van der Sar
    Edwin van der Sar
    Van der Sar holds the record for the most consecutive clean sheets in Premier League history, achieving 14 between November 2008 and February 2009

    Premier League appearances: 313

    Clean sheets: 132

    Lineker: "Van der Sar shows you the importance of a good goalkeeper in the modern game because Manchester United took a long time to replace Schmeichel."

    Shearer: "We keep going on about Alisson and Ederson and how they have changed goalkeeping, Van der Sar could play, no doubt. He could pass a ball."

    Wright: "1,311 minutes without conceding a goal, a world record."

    SOURCE: BBC

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