Similarly Joe Hart has been on the form of his life this season. Manchester City’s defensive record is the best in the league so far this year but player for player their defenders are not the best in the league. What makes them so effective? Joe Hart. Before Szczesny Arsenal were enjoying a torrid time defensively in domestic competitions and as much as that was down to their style of play it was also down to their goalkeeper.
Their defenders during this time were actually very good (Toure, Gallas, Vermaelen, Clichy, Sagna) but the lack of confidence that they played with was born out of a mistrust of the abilities of Fabianski and Almunia. Similarly Ledley King recently spoke about how although Parker is getting most of the credit for his defensive work at Spurs new keeper Brad Friedel has done wonders for the team. King championed both his calming presence and his experience as vital factors is Tottenham’s defensive stability this season.
It’s not just at the top of the table either where it counts. Does anyone really think that Wigan would have stayed up last year had it not been for the season-long heroics of Ali Al Habsi who, game after game, made vital contributions to the cause; far more than Wigan’s strikers did arguably.
Goalie will always be the position that no kid wants to play in the park, and who’d blame them, but that doesn’t mean we should go through life ignoring their applaudable exploits and scrutinising every mistake they make. Hart, Krul and Szczesny are proving themselves to be three of the best young keepers in world football at the moment, perhaps it’s about time fans started to take notice.
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Written by Hamish Mackay for FootballFanCast.com
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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.