In the past, I’ve done a piece on my favourite position on a football pitch. The beauty of the CB. It is a position I fell in love with at an early age. There was something about playing in the heart of the defence. Where you would get to bark out orders across the back four, slide tackle, get called up for corners… it was/is an important role for ANY team. However, there is another position that I have a romance with. It really is the most important position on a football pitch. Goalkeepers…
Goalkeepers have become quite a loquacious topic recently. A host of them have lost form in some way or other. More often it is silly mistakes, poor distribution and more importantly poor positioning that are costing their respective clubs valuable points in different leagues across different continents.
At a glance over the top five leagues around Europe (yes there are other leagues besides Spain and England) there isn’t really a goalkeeper out there to stick his hand up and claim the title as “The best one out there”.
Looking at the current league leaders in Spain, England, Germany, Italy and Holland… the goalkeepers have come under some harsh criticism for their recent performances. To be fair, Neuer at Bayern Munich seems to be the only player to not be as heavily criticised as Valdes and De Gea, even Polish number 2 Tyton of PSV seems to be having more gaffs than great’s this season. This got me thinking about goalkeepers from my generation…
Which goalkeepers would make my top five…. So I spent seven minutes making me a mean instant cup of coffee and came out with:
PotzCorner’s Top Five Goalkeepers of my Generation! (Catchy)
5. Bruce Grobbelaar
To appease my fellow Liverpool FC fans, I thought we would kick off with Brucie. Having the pleasure of meeting him on no more than four occasions, one thing stood out the most with every meeting…. Bruce Grobbelaar was an absolute nutcase. This was the man who started dancing in goal during a (then) European Cup penalty shootout. The same man who grabbed a corner flag and donned sunglasses to illustrate a referee had got a call completely wrong… the very same goalkeeper who shoved Steve McManaman in the face after conceding a goal against Everton… yet, he was vital to Liverpool in 80’s. He had it all as a goalkeeper. Strength, courage, agility and excellent positioning.
4. Michel Preud’homme
Michel Preud’homme is probably one of my favourite Goalkeepers that I’ve ever had the pleasure of watching. I first saw him in action for Belgium at the ’94 World Cup in the USA. A gifted goalkeeper with reflexes so great, that cat’s all over the world felt worthless. He was the first Goalkeeper to win the Yashin (goalkeeper of the tournament at the world cup) award. But it was his achievements with Mechelen that deserves the greatest mention… in one season Mechelen went on to win the Belgian Cup, Cup winner’s cup and the European Super cup. Add to that the two world cups he participated in, it’s a pretty impressive career.
3. Oliver Khan
Oliver Khan is one of the all-time greats of in my opinion. A giant of a man and one of the most successful goalkeepers of all time, never mind my generation. Amazingly, he is still the only goalkeeper EVER to win a Goldenball award at the world cup. There are so many titles and awards that it would be pointless to mention them all. In fariness… he wasn’t the best looking person. His facial expressions resembles that of a Pitbull dog about to go to war!
2. Gianluigi “Gigi” Buffon
Still plying his trade for “The Old Lady” in the Serie A. He has been a loyal servant to the club through all the ups and downs that Juventus has had to endure over the last decade. Week after week, game after game, Buffon has been a stalwart for Juventus. In recent seasons he has been plagued by injury… I assume this is due to his age. His most recent European performance against Celtic proves that he is still very much the number one goalkeeper in Italy.
1. Peter Schmeichel
There is nothing to say about him… see the video… that is all!
I’ve missed out quite a few players… most notably… the flying Dutchman. Apologies to all Juve, Fulham and Dutch fans about that.
I would be keen to hear your thoughts on your top five.
Follow me on twitter @Potz56
Clemence, Grobbelaar, Reina, Westerveld & James (on his good days)
Perhaps Casillas is missing