Top 5 Goalkeeper’s In The English Premier League
April 19, 2007
Yesterday afternoon I was chatting with Ahmed Bilal, (the soccer maestro behind SoccerLens.com) about whom we thought were the top 5 goalkeepers in the English Premier League this season. Well, it was not really a long drawn out discussion, Ahmed spat out his top 5 goalkeeper list in about 1 second which was extremely impressive. So, I thought it would be cool to put together a little goalkeeper repository, with some video footage and my comments about the following goalkeepers in the English Premier League, and why Ahmed & I think they are tops! In no particular order, here are the best of The Premiership…drum roll please:
1. Edwin van der Saar: This Dutch Maestro breathed a sigh of relief into not only my big brother Tom (who’s a raging Man United fan), but also Sir Alex Fergurson. At a time when The Red Devils were facing a disastrous goalkeeper conundrum, van der Saar has become a solid rock in between the sticks. I’ve admired his phenomenal goalkeeping ability and solid goalkeeping as a teenager, especially back in the Jari Litmanen days of Ajax in the 90′s. Van der Saar has been an uplifting feature of Manchester United, especially since the departure of Peter Schmeichel many moons ago.
Some of the best goalkeeper traits of Edwin van der Saar include:
- Awesome communication with his back line.
- Great timing & reflex.
- Brilliant understanding of angles.
Here is a video of van der Saar in some heroic action:
2. Jussi Jaaskelainen: What the? With a name like Jussi, we should be expecting some “juicy” saves and this Finn has done the hard yards on his journey to the English Premier League, but his performances for Bolton Wanderers have paid off in spades. With over 300 appearances under his belt, Jussi shows that patience and persistence can give a goalkeeper large dividends in the long-run, something every young goalkeeper should think about. Jussi displays some brilliant reflexes, with a knack for shutting down angles with the greatest of ease. Jussi is also not afraid of a little flight, in the following video you will see how he utilizes powerful momentum to attack the ball with deft-defying accuracy:
3. Petr Cech: I’m going to blaspheme here, but if God was a goalkeeper…then he would epitomise Petr Cech! Seriously, for any young goalkeeper who is aspiring to be great, take a note out of Cech’s performances in the English Premier League. Cech is well…of Czech origin and has scratched and clawed his way with great patience and diligence to be recognized as one of the best goalkeeper’s on the planet.
Chelsea boss Jose Mourinho considers him an “Untouchable”…no shade of gangsterism in that quote, indeed! Cech has awards and accolades aplenty, suffice to say that he deserves every one of them. I always state that “Luck Is Labours Reward” and Cech has shown that with his steady rise to goalkeeping glory. He ousted Carlo Cudicini when he signed with Chelsea, and Cudicni was considered at that time one of the best of the premiership. Petr Cech is so loved in fact, that a Brazilian band called Fresno created a song titled “Sonnet For Petr Cech”. Much of Cech’s brilliance revolves around great positioning and uncanny reflexes. Without further adieu, here is Petr Cech with some shot stopping madness:
4. Jens Lehmann: When Lehmann started at Schalke 04 in 1989, he let in 3 howlers and was subbed in the first half. Lehmann was so anguished by what happened he left the stadium and jumped on a tram home instead of riding the bus with histeam mates! To make matters worse, he moved onto AC Milan and was given the boot after just five matches. But testament to his character and inner drive, Lehmann soldiered on to help The Gunners to the 2003-04 English Premier League campaign. We need to note here that Lehmann replaced David Seaman which is no easy feat to live up to. All in all Lehmann is a testament to balls to the wall goalkeeping, with a wasabi-like temper and phenomenal courage in the air. Here is a tribute to Jens Lehmann:
5. Jose “Pepe” Reina: His dad is legendary spanish goalkeeper Miguel Reina Santos, so you have to fill the old man’s shoes, and Reina does it with Spabish flamboyance and tonnes of class. I’m also biased because I’m a Kop fan! Starting at Barcelona at just 18 years of age, Reina moved onto Villarreal CF taking them to the UEFA Champions League, before being swooped up by Liverpool. He matched the master Ray Clemence’s record for conceding the fewest goals within his first 50 matches, which is no easy feat. Although Reina has fumbled about and struggled with performance, he is an overall class act. His attributes include super sharp agility and phenomenal technique. Here Pepe at his finest, with some comments from his team mates:
Hope you enjoy, and it would be great to hear everyone’s feedback regarding who else should be added to the list!
Great list. But I would argue for two additions: Shay Given and Brad Friedel!
Definitely Shay & Friedel.
it seems you have just plucked the 1st choice goalkeepers out of the top 5 sides ( normally ) in the premiership . the only goalkeepers out of that bunch that deserved to be reconised in a top 5 list are jussi and petr . Arnt you forgetting the great form of other goalkeepers in the preiership , ben foster , daivd james , paddy kenny , scott carson plus fridel n given named above to name a few. Just because they dont play for the big teams dosent mean thery are no good .
LOL…great response Daniel! Without a doubt, Friedel is one of my all time favorites…but David James? I think I just typed away so much that I forgot about the other guys! Great feedback nonetheless.
My personal top 5 in order are
Cech
Jaaskelainen
Foster
Sorenson
James
No shay given?? i agree with u all those goalkeepers are great but try put any of them in front of the newcastle defence wit titus bramble der…the true sign of a great goalkeeper is one who can win u games and save u points how many match winning saves has cech made chelseas fence is class…newcastle wud b in the 1st division if it wer not for the mighty given
john i reckon this top five is pretty spot on, except i think id swap reina and jaaskelainen.
Yeah you guys are right, Reina was a bit dodgy on some occassions, Jussi I was never too sure of, but Given I think is a super goalkeeper, I should have put Shay in the list!
how can u say tht shay has been the best this year cus he has been out for most of it lol :S
Hey Daniel,
I think that the list respnates the best of the premiership, not just this season, but over the past few season. But it is a good call!
J.
never rated david james before he came to pompey but he is top class, comes for everything never stays on his line and bottles a cross he catches alot more then he drops. shay given is brilliant.
sorry was supposed to say david james never bottles crosses
Cech is no doubt the best but was unlucky with his injury. But van der Saar has been lucky this season, of course he was pretty good as well. I wouldn’t rate James as any top keepers, as he makes some really silly mistakes a lot of the time, which costs his team games.
Pepe reina is the best goalkeeper in the premiership. On his first season he beat the liverpool clean sheet record and had the most clean sheets in the premiership.The second season he had the most clean sheets in the premiership. During his time he has won us the FA cup and he got us to the champions league final.
Good call Edmunds, I cant wait to see him in action against Milan in the morning, hopefully it will not be schlock, like the FA Cup!
i agree whith all your choices but i am a goalkeeper and personally i would swap Jaiskallienen with Ben Foster or Brad Friedel
Yes, Ben Foster’s name comes up a lot, so i’ll probably do my own post on him.
The best keepers in the EPL currently have to be Cech, James, Reina, Howard & van der Sar.
what the fuck u all talking about motherfuckers buffon is the best keeper in the fuckin world, cech, reina, are shit. oh and by the way who kick van der sar out of juventus buffon assholes so fuck all of you.
So. I think buffon i the best anhow, i think best in EPL is Cech, Jasskeleinen, Van Der Saar, James, Given
given, cech , reina are the best, robinson is cack
Manuel Alumnia is the best
Based on abilities and attributes, I agree with your list- though not in the same order.
In terms of performance- what has actually been achieved- Pepe is hands down nr. 1.
He’s got both hands on the Premier League Golden Gloves award for two years running now, won Liverpool the FA Cup, took them to the CL final, broke records since his arrival and- bar the very few occasions- during his dip at the start of 2006,his been solid, organises his defence extremely well, makes good, simple saves when called upon. He doesn’t try to be spectacular and has arguably the best distribution in the prem at the moment and his only 25.
No one has mentioned Anti Niemi!!! Personally i think he’s a brilliant keeper, its just a shame he plays for a team as shit as fulham.
top five
1 Cech
2 Jasskeleinen
3 Freidel
4 Green
5 Gordon(give him a better defense and he will prove it)
You really shouldn’t be giving Van Der Sar,No.1,He’s too old and if you really see him play he’s rather crap.
My top 3 in order are :
Pet’r Cech
Jussi Jaiskallienen
David James
I feel Van Der Sar and Reina are immensly overrated…. Van Der Sar has been extremely lucky this season,Cech has been unlucky thanks to his head injury,Reina not shown too much class..
Забавная идея. Интересно сколько время на это потрачено?
Vandersar is one of the best keeper in the world, apart from premier league alone.when we are talking about the next to him, so we can be refer to cech, reina, and others. Say’s SUNKY.
What about Joe hart, Shay given and Howard