Green the right man for Capello
Wednesday, 9 September 2009
England's goalkeeping spot is the subject of much discussion at the moment, with Robert Green apparently being in control of the number one shirt for this week's double-header against Slovenia and Croatia.
There is no doubt that Fabio Capello lacks a world class player in this position, but I will admit to being a little surprised at the level of buzz around it at the moment. For my money, Green is comfortably the best goalkeeper available to the England manager and I hope Capello has settled on him as first choice.
For me, the best alternative is one for the future rather than 2009. Manchester City 'keeper Joe Hart is on loan at dutty Birmingham City and while he's far from ready, his potential gives me confidence in our future between the pipes. Hart will grow quickly to command his penalty area and cut out the few mistakes he makes and will become a valuable asset for whichever club Al-Citeh are complacent enough to sell him to.
The other options really aren't of a high enough standard for a team harbouring hopes of a serious assault on the World Cup, no matter how ambitious. David James has, after a couple of excellent seasons at Portsmouth, been reprising his error-strewn form of old. He's not the Calamity James we all know and love, but I believe Green and Hart have now surpassed him when taking into account their ages.
It seems that Ben Foster is the pundits' choice to be James' natural successor, but I'm not convinced. He may (occasionally) play for Manchester United, but that doesn't hide the fact that he is yet to grow into the dominant goalkeeper we were all expecting him to. Don't get me wrong, Foster has all the right attributes. But the Old Trafford bench is no place to hone his skills.
Chris Kirkland is the man most often referred to as the goalie that got away, a man so injury prone that he has missed crucial international opportunities and had every good rub of form interrupted. Sad though it is, Kirkland's development has been hindered and in comparison to Green he lacks reliability.
Finally, we have the forgotten men of English goalkeeping, Paul Robinson and Scott Carson. Both have suffered from high-profile international errors, but while Robinson's career has recovered somewhat, Carson is lucky to be allowed anywhere near a goal. When a goalkeeper can be relied upon to concede from free kicks as regularly as Carson, it should be game over.
If I were Fabio Capello - and I'm not, despite being just as handsome - my England squads between now and June would include Green, Hart and Robinson, though there is plenty of value in having James around the camp and available in case of emergency.
What do you think? Which goalkeepers should Capello take to South Africa?
5 comments:
I might be biased as a West Ham fan, but I've long believed Green's the man that should be England's number 1.
It's said that he makes the occasional error which is true, but they certainly occur less frequently than those of his peers. In fact I'd go so far as to say that the current craving for a supposedly 'perfect goalkeeper' will ultimately end in tears as no such thing exists. Even if you go back to the so-called 'golden era' of Shilton and Clemence, you'll find the occasional clanger crops up now and then. England v Poland at Wembley in '73, anyone?
All round, Green's reliability and technical ability are very good and, I feel, perfectly justify his place in the starting XI.
Bring back Chris Woods!
Oh.
There is one other candidate that hasn't ruled himself out yet - Manuel Almunia... Now, accuse me of Arsenal bias if you like, but the fact is he's probably in the top quarter of all Premiership goalkeepers, has played at a high level (Champs League) for a number of years, plays week in-week out and does not fit into the category of "future". One drawback though might be his haircut, then again, that never affected David James being selected.
In my book Almunia is very, very good. Not English in the least but I really don't know how much or little I care about that.
Would definitely agree that Green is the one to go with, I've been consistently impressed with him for a number of years. He has his off moments, but then that's part and parcel of being an English goalkeeper it would seem.
The Joe Hart and Ben Foster situations just expose everything that is wrong with the big clubs buying up young talent to keep for their own futures. Foster at Watford was a joy to watch, really showing off his credentials as the last line of defence. While injury has of course added to his woes, his time warming the bench (if that) has done nothing but deplete his readiness. Hart was showing good signs at City but as soon as they opted for experience in Given, I felt it would be some years before we could consider him a serious contender for the National Team. This season he may get the chance to develop those crucial skills at Birmingham that I mentioned regarding Foster at Watford, but the chances of some morale-busting scorelines might even things out unfortunately.
Almunia is a fine keeper but I'm stuck in the belief that it would somehow be cheating to bring in a naturalised player. A rude thought as I'm an immigrant myself these days, but hard to shake when it comes to something so dear to my heart.
Robinson, James, Kirkland - their time, I believe, has passed. Give it a few years though and my top-tip-for-the-future is the relatively unknown Reading deputy, Ben Hamer. Got the golden glove in League 2 last season so surely he can only push on from there...
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