Julio Cesar Triple Save

Julio Cesar is one of the many, many goalkeepers linked with the impending vacancy at Man Utd. He didn’t do his case much harm pulling off an excellent triple save against Roma over the weekend. I’ve written about him before praising his athleticism and without a shadow of a doubt, he’s world class in this respect, but one concern is his reliance on parrying the ball rather than catching it. As impressive as this clip is, it could have all been avoided if he held on the relatively straightforward initial effort.

Goalkeeper World Rankings

Goalkeeper World Rankings
Jan. 27th 2011

Current (Former)
1. (1) Iker Casillas (Real Madrid and Spain)
2. (2) Petr Cech (Chelsea and Czech Rep.)
3. (3) Gigi Buffon (Juventus and Italy)
4. (4) Edwin Van Der Sar (Man Utd)
5. (5) Pepe Reina (Liverpool and Spain)
6. (6) Victor Valdes (Barcelona and Spain)
7. (8) Hugo Lloris (Lyon and France)
8. (9) Joe Hart (Man City and England)
9. (10) David de Gea (Atletico Madrid)
10. (-) Manuel Neuer (Schalke and Germany)

“31st in the world my ass.”

These rankings are my opinion.
Unabashed, possibly biased and undoubtedly debatable opinion.
There’s not much in the way of statistics, data analysis or science.
It’s nothing more than my gut feeling after watching mountains of football and paying nerd-like attention to the goalkeepers. I fully acknowledge they’re flawed, open to discussion and quite possibly wrong.

They’re still not the worst goalkeeper rankings I’ve seen. In my own slightly biased opinion.
That honour goes to Castrol World Rankings. They were brought to my attention this week and after deciding the overall rankings weren’t completely laughable i.e. Lucas Leiva isn’t at the top with Emile Heskey pushing him close, I checked out how they rated the world’s goalkeepers. ‘Bizarrely’ is the short answer.

Now everyone is entitled to an opinion, but if it’s so wrong it’s borderline gibberish just don’t bother. Daniel Aranzubia is a good pro, but rarely in his career has he looked like one of the world’s elite. Maybe being exposed to those fumes all day long is affecting the people at Castrol. Likewise Mariano Andjuar (3rd best in the world apparently) has impressed me on occasion, but his lack of consistency over a long period of time rules him out as one of the world’s best. Here’s certainly one of the top keepers in Serie A but gone are the days when that honour automatically qualifies you as one of the word’s best. With Curci, Storari and Sorrentino to also feature towards the top of the list all of a sudden you’ve got 5 Serie A goalies in the top 11, a figure which is wrong by in the region of 4 to 5. Other major queries I’d have would be:

Julio Cesar at the top is just wrong. Ceasr is an excellent goalkeeper, but at no point in the last year, month or even week has he been better than the likes of Iker Casillas, Petr Cech, Edwin van der Sar etc.
Craig Gordon at 7 – he’s playing very well, but it’s only been for a few months. Needs to have done it for a longer period of time to be that high on my list.
Cesar Sanchez at 12 – I’m not even convinced he’s the best goalkeeper at Valencia.
Marcus Hanneham at 17 – this makes him better than Petr Cech, Joe Hart and Heurelho Gomes. Again, he’s probably not even the best keeper at Wolves.
Petr Cech the 20th best goalkeeper on the planet? Which planet? He’s one of the top two on earth.
Finally – Iker Casillas at 31 in the list of keepers and 145th best player in the world overall?? Ok, now you’re just coming out with utter garbage to get attention – it’s the Sepp Blatter approach.

I didn’t actually get around to compiling my best goalkeeper of the year list last month, but regular readers will know how highly I rate Iker Casillas. It probably sounds a bit like man-crush. He should have been a genuine contender for the Ballon d’Or rather than the obligatry afterthought he appeared to be. He has carried his World Cup excellence back to Real Madrid and his crucial saves have facilitated a smooth transition to the Mourinho era at the Bernabau. One negative was the amount of picking the ball out of the net he had to do against Barcelona, but it was Barcelona at their rampant finest and concrete wall would have struggled to keep them at bay for 90 minutes. He was the best goalkeeper in December and of the Ministry’s Goalkeeper of 2010.

The rehabilitation of Peter Cech is complete. Not only has he returned to the heights of earlier in his career, but he has exceeded them. He is wiser with experience and combined with his supreme reflexes, agility and bravery he is awesome. With Chelsea struggling, there’s not much positive comment about any members of the team, but Cech has been simply outstanding. He’s a joy to watch and regardless of what happens with the Blues season, if he maintains his current levels he deserves to be considered for all end of season awards, not just the ones for goalkeepers. Reina maintains the good form that has kept Liverpool out of some serious trouble whilst Van der Sar still looks perfectly comfortable at the highest level of the game. The Dutchman’s retirement will be a huge loss to United and the fact that goalkeeping coach, Eric Steele was only half-jokingly asked by a BBC interviewer if he could convince Van der Sar to change his mind and stay for another year reflects how well he’s still playing having reached the big 40.

After a long spell out injured and an unseemly argument with the Juventus manager who suggested his reinstatement to the first team wasn’t a mere formality, Gigi Buffon has returned to action. Eyebrows were raised when he maintained his heady place in the rankings, but it’s unfair to demote someone due to injury. Sitting on the bench because you’re getting paid truckloads of money is a different matter …

That brings me on to Shay Given. I’ve been a huge fan of Given for many years, but the lack of activity in the transfer window does not paint him in the most ambitious of lights. Of course I understand that a football career is short and players need to feather their nests for a long period of earning a mere fraction of their professional days, but would the Irishman really be on the receiving end of a self-inflicted financial knee-capping if he moved to another Premier League club or major European league? Having such talent yet watching on from the bench isn’t right and Man City’s number two needs to play to prove he’s still one of the world’s best. Sporadic Europa League and international games are a start, but he should have bigger ambitions than that. Given isn’t suddenly a bad goalkeeper, we just haven’t seen enough of him. Joe Hart has been making mistakes of late and Roberto Mancini should give him a quick taste of the bench. It may not be a long term arrangement. The type of errors seem to come from complacency and a reminder that he’s not undroppable, wouldn’t be a bad idea. Hart is still a top quality keeper, but maybe we shouldn’t tell him quite so often.

Given has been dropped from the top 10 for Manuel Neuer. Ironically he hasn’t been playing a great deal lately either, but that’s got more to do with the Bundesliga winter break than anything else. His form has been crucial in Schalke’s recent surge from relegation candidates to European contenders.

Do you think any other goalkeepers deserve to be included? Leave your suggestions, abuse or praise in the comments section.

Goalkeeper Howler (Eduardo)

The always excellent Soccerway.com credits Alexis Sanchez with the assist for Antonio Natale’s goal in Udinese’s win away to Genoa. Of course technically that’s correct, but sadly Genoa goalkeeper Eduardo had a lot more to do with it. His attempts to play sweeper went badly awry and allowed the Zebra’s marksman one of the simpler goals in his career.

Has anyone spotted any other moments a keeper would rather forget lately?

Julio Cesar To Manchester United?

With all it’s expanded waistlines, depleted bank balances and overwhelming gloom, January wasn’t one of our favourite months anyway, but it’s transformation into the season of the unfounded transfer rumour has knocked it down a further peg or two. It’s now our 14th most popular month behind Quintilis and Movember.

If January wasn’t already bad enough with speculation about possible January transfer moves, speculation regarding possible summer moves make it even more dreary. Sadly they’re also impossible to ignore and with word coming from informed Old Trafford sources that Van der Sar and Kuszczak will be allowed leave for retirement and a bench that needs warming elsewhere respectively, Manchester United are in the hunt for a new keeper. He may have been told otherwise just as he signed his contract with the club, but Anders Lindegaard will not be the first choice in the United goal for the foreseeable future. That leaves us wondering who will be brought in to replace the excellent Van der Sar. David de Gea and Manuel Neuer were both spoken as potential signings for the Red Devils, but they’ll be expensive and outside the age profile of keepers Fergie has tended to bring into the club. He tends to value experience and on the occasions when he has needed a first choice keeper, has generally gone for players in their late twenties and older with a good deal of first team and international football behind them. Judging by the commencement of clumsy flirting during the week, Julio Cesar is the surprise name to have emerged in pole position.

It’s a surprise for several reason. He wears a snood for starters. It says something about Fergie’s mellowing attitude that this isn’t already a major stumbling block. It’s also strange because a lot of people’s most vivid memory of Cesar will be of his horribly misguided attempts to clear a Netherlands’ cross at the World Cup this summer. The error – along with the error of both taking Felipe Melo to South Africa and then playing him – were in large part responsible for the Brazilian’s surprise early exit from the tournament. But that error must be forgiven because in that season alone, Cesar had already worked wonders for Inter Milan. The idea that he’s some continental style keeper who’s overly fond of the punch and less keen on the physical just isn’t accurate when it comes to the Brazilian.

Cesar has outstanding reflexes and excellent agility. At times his ability to catapult his body across the goal to get a hand to a shot seemingly on an express route to the top corner would suggest his legs are packed with high power springs. There’s an explosiveness to his dives that sees him get across to shots you would have thought were beyond [the much celebrated save from Messi is a prime example]

One off-shoot of his tremendous reactions is an ability to adjust and make saves by whatever means possible. In general is technique is sound, but he’s also very capable of doing the unorthodox and finding some limb to get in the way of a scuffed shot or an attempt that may have taken a deflection. It’s instinctive and uncommon, but for whatever reason he has the happy knack of throwing something at the ball to keep it out. As a bonus, he’s also surprisingly good with the ball at his feet – some may say better than Michael Carrick. It may seem like a triviality right now, but there will be times when the ability to create a yard or two of space to clear the ball will come in helpful. He’s also brave and commands his penalty area well. Contrary to the evidence of the World Cup, collecting crosses isn’t normally a huge issue for him and if he’s capable of doing it in Serie A, there’s no reason to think he can’t do it in England. Another positive is work-rate. Throughout his career in Serie A and with the Samba Boys, he hasn’t always been top of the pecking order, but invariably, he seems to do the work required to break into the first team. He did it to become Inter’s first choice and leap-frogged a whole host of his compatriots to become Brazil’s number one. Attitude does not seem to be a problem.

The major concern is handling. That’s not to say he’s got bad ball handling skills, it’s just we don’t see them often enough. His saves can be breath-taking, but what stands out is a reluctance to hang on to the ball. I’m not expecting him to cling on to every single shot, but there are times when he parries a ball out for a corner when catching it wasn’t out of the question. Of course the main task is to keep the ball out, but in the Premier League in particular, there are plenty of teams that can hurt you from corners and you wouldn’t want to be giving them too many opportunities to test a United defence that has struggled at times this season. If he doesn’t give away a corner, then the chances are the ball is back out in open play and that presents it’s own obvious problems. To succeed in the Premier League, catching the ball more often will be essential. He can certainly do it, it’s a matter of doing it more often. The press will jump on him if they sense he’s another stereotypically ‘continental’ lightweight keeper and as much as I disagree with the classification, that won’t stop the label being applied. This has the potential to undermine both his confidence personally and the confidence of his team-mates. He’s also likely to be expensive. His contract is said to run until 2014 and being just 31 is expected to have the guts of a decade’s worth of football ahead of him. He won’t come cheap, but Fergie will be tempted to spend the money on this proven performer.

Goalkeeper World Rankings

The Ministry’s Top Ten Goalkeepers In The World

Current (Former)
1. (1) Iker Casillas (Real Madrid and Spain)
2. (2) Petr Cech (Chelsea and Czech Rep.)
3. (3) Gigi Buffon (Juventus and Italy)
4. (4) Edwin Van Der Sar (Man Utd)
5. (5) Pepe Reina (Liverpool and Spain)
6. (7) Victor Valdes (Barcelona and Spain)
7. (6) Shay Given (Man City and Ireland)
8. (8) Hugo Lloris (Lyon and France)
9. (9) Joe Hart (Man City and England)
10. (-) David de Gea (Atletico Madrid)

For yet another month, there can be little debate about Iker Casillas at the top of our Goalkeeper World Rankings. Critics may point to a costly error at the San Siro that handed AC Milan a goal, but on that occasion, it was a handling error accentuated by over-aggression and over confidence. Anticipating a cross along the six yard box, he took a step off his line, only to be left virtually stranded as the pass was skewed towards goal. His other performances in the last month were largely flawless however and he has plenty going for him in the pro column. Not for the first time, it’s the quality of his saves rather than overwhelming quantity that makes him so impressive. With Real’s new Galacticos routinely dismantling opponents, his involvement is kept to a minimum, but time over time throughout November he came up trumps for his team when called upon. His concentration is supreme and a great addition to his obvious athleticism. His performance could be the decisive factor in the first Clasico of the season on Monday,

Chelsea’s swift reversal of fortune has been dramatic, but the sudden glut of balls Petr Cech is now picking out of his net are no reflection on his performances. Throughout the crisis, he has remained firm and in actual fact minimized the impact of the faltering defence in front of him.

In an interesting twitter exchange with Shaka Hislop, we learned the former Newcastle and West Ham goalkeeper thinks our #3, Gigi Buffon is “well past his best”. It seems a harsh assessment for a players we haven’t seen since the World Cup in June, but clearly there’s something in the Italians game that Hislop has identified as being a concern. By his own admission, the Trinidad and Tobago international said he felt a deterioration in his own performance at around the age of 36 or 37 whilst he was still at Upton Park. Although it feels like he’s been around since the advent of the wheel, Buffon doesn’t turn 33 until next January. That would give a few more years in his relative prime to defy the predictions of Hislop. For the time being at least, we’re giving him the benefit of the doubt and leaving him largely untouched in the World Rankings until he eventually returns from injury.

Elsewhere on the list, there is little change. Pepe Reina is performing well behind a misfiring Liverpool team and something similar can be said of the 40 year old Edwin van der Sar. Shay Given continues to slide based almost solely on his inability to usurp Joe Hart in the Man City team. Hart is doing little wrong and with Mancini struggling to keep fans onside, he may just stick with the residual benefit that comes from sticking with the Englishman.

David de Gea makes his first appearance on the World Rankings list after another strong month, taking the Spanish representation to 4. Atletico Madrid are being their typically inconsistent selves, but were it not for his performances, they’d be simply be their atypical woeful selves. As we’ve said many times in the past, De Gea looks to have the complete package and one thing that’s stood out over the last few games is his desire to take command in his penalty area. It’s standard for most experienced keepers, but for man who only a few weeks ago left his teenage years, it’s impressive. Igor Akineev is the goalie to drop out of the Top 10. A few weeks ago we expressed concern about his handling and over reliance on punching when Ireland hosted Russia in a Euro 2012 qualifier and our follow up scouting missions of CSKA Moscow games found this to be the norm rather than the exception. It’s probably rather telling that speculation linking him with a move to Europe’s top clubs has died down in recent months.

The keeper of the month award goes to Casillas with Cech and De Gea occupying the places. He’ll no doubt be delighted.