Football fans are often accused of having a short memory and it’s never as short as when it comes goalkeepers. Never has the potential to go from hero to zero been more possible than when playing between the sticks. Not only are individual errors remembered for all time (Massimo Taibi, Rob Green, Paul Robinson, etc) but it takes an age for their good form to be recognised. Much like the defensive midfielders in the game they are often the unsung heroes of the team. They rarely grab the headlines and you’d struggle to find many people willing to buy a goalkeeper’s jersey given the choice. However that doesn’t make them any less important, keeping out goals is just as important as scoring them and there’s no substitute for a world-class goalie.
One way you can prove this is by the defensive records of the Premier League winning teams. People tend to forget the defensive side to title winning teams more often than they forget their scoring exploits but since 2000 the team that has conceded the least in the league has won the title seven times, the same amount of times as those teams that have scored the most. And whilst the defence obviously plays its part in that behind every good defence is a world-class keeper. In that period the goalkeepers behind those league titles have been Edwin van de Sar, Petr Cech, Jens Lehmann, Fabien Barthez and David Seaman. All national goalkeepers, all world-class players.
But what is even more interesting is that the defensive side to the game appears to be becoming more important than ever. If we compare the league winners since 2000 to those in the ten years previous then we can see a remarkable difference. In the decade before 2000 only two of the title winners had the best defensive record. All this denotes a huge change in tactics over the last two decades in England and as big a part as the defenders have to play the goalkeeper is vital to how they play.
Take Arsenal’s unbeaten season for example; yes they had a good defence but the authority with which Jens Lehmann organised the defence was vital. Similarly at Newcastle this season, their defence is far from world class but having Tim Krul behind them makes their job that much easier. Newcastle have only conceded fifteen goals so far this season, a record that only the Manchester clubs can better and a lot of the praise has been heading Collocini’s way but after watching Krul’s performances against Chelsea and current champions Man Utd can you really say that their position would be as healthy without the Dutchman. His performances throughout the season have been remarkable yet it has taken until now for pundits to pick up on it at all.
He must be doing something right as he’s now in the Holland national squad. Relatively young as a keeper, he has shown potential to be one of the top keepers. Injury permitted, there is no reason why he can’t get better.
The big clubs will come knocking if he can keep performing like this week in, week out. If the Newcastle broad have any ambition to achieve something nice, keeping players like Krul should be one of their priorities.
He’s never been unappreciated by Newcastle fans…maybe by the rest of the league but he was pushing for first team a year or two ago. We are actually fortunate that events like Shay Given leaving, relegation and Harper getting injured took place and gave him the chance to shine so young. He could be with club for years if we can keep hold of him.