Shay Given

Dodgykeeper

Commentators said during last nights match that Mancini reckons that Shay Given is the best keeper in England at the minute and in the top five in the world!

I would agree with the former but not the latter, what you think?

keane2097

Who's better than him?

kryogen

Boaz Myhill

Headshot

reina

folan

I dont know about this, van der Sar is still the best keeper in the premiership at the minute imho, but we seem to have forgotten how good he is because hes been out for so long. But look back at some of the saves hes had over the past few seasons and how well he marshalls his defence

Dodgykeeper

Casillas (Real Madrid)
Buffon (Juventas)
Cesar (Inter)
Valdes (Barca)
Akinfeev (CSKA Moscow)
Murphy (Ipswich)
Supple (St Brigids GAA)

eagle eye

Guillermo Ochoa is one of the top five keepers in the world, could even be the best. I do think Given is superb, he has been consistently a brilliant keeper at clubs with bad defenses. When City do get it together at the back and are a top four club he will be rated no.1 in England which is funny when you think about it, because those keepers with less to do get more credit.

SlickRic

folan wrote: »

I dont know about this, van der Sar is still the best keeper in the premiership at the minute imho, but we seem to have forgotten how good he is because hes been out for so long. But look back at some of the saves hes had over the past few seasons and how well he marshalls his defence

he is quality.

but he makes too many mistakes, and isn't the shot-stopper a few others are.

i'd rate Reina and Given above him.

Spiritoftheseventies

Dodgykeeper wrote: »

Casillas (Real Madrid)
Buffon (Juventas)
Cesar (Inter)
Valdes (Barca)
Akinfeev (CSKA Moscow)
Murphy (Ipswich)
Supple (St Brigids GAA)

Any reason for Supple being included in that list. Know he is Irish but its a bit of a strange claim to be including him on a list when he is relativel unproven at this level.

Xavi6

Can't kick, doesn't organise his defence and crap on crosses. Overrated completely purely because he's Irish. :pac:

Spiritoftheseventies

Another keeper i reckon that should be rated in england context is Joe Hart. Has been superb in last few matches.

Cool Running

Marco Tardelli reckons he is the second best in the world just behind Buffon. I would think the Casillias is also ahead of him.Its a shame he never went to a bigger club when he was younger but at least goalkeepers have a longer career and it looks city mean business so hopefully a few champions league campaigns for him.

Im not looking forward to the day Shay hangs up his gloves for Ireland, We have had one of the best keepers in the world for over a decade, not a lot of countries are that lucky

GavRedKing

Dodgykeeper wrote: »

Casillas (Real Madrid)
Buffon (Juventas)
Cesar (Inter)
Valdes (Barca)
Akinfeev (CSKA Moscow)
Murphy (Ipswich)
Supple (St Brigids GAA)

Id agree with you on the players in bold, but the others, im not so sure.

Valdes - very similar to Given in size and ability but I would rate Given as a better overall keeper and with more experience.

Akinfeev - Again, like Valdes IMO, very close to Given, i think Akinfeev is the only other keeper on that list that would give Given a run for his money.

Murphy - No, simple as.

Supple - Ha.

Reina - Definetly up there, not my favourite keeper in the EPL, but that doesnt mean he is one of the best, definetly in and around the top 5-7 in the world.

Cech - Has been suspect in the last season and half it can be argued but he has the ability no doubt, on his day a better keeper then Given.

Hart - Give him time, he will travel to world cup this year and its only a matter of time before hes England 1st choice.

Dublin_Gunner

Cool Running wrote: »

Im not looking forward to the day Shay hangs up his gloves for Ireland, We have had one of the best keepers in the world for over a decade, not a lot of countries are that lucky

Eh, for over 2 decades.

We had Bonner before him too...

givyjoe81

The Lyon and French number one, was awesome against Liverpool and Ireland. Cant think of his name.

Dodgykeeper

Sorry the Murphy and Supple ones were a joke, should have inserted the smilies as should Dublin_Gunner when referring to Packie Bonner as being one of the best keepers in the world, OK he had some great preformances on the big days but week in week out he was mediocre at best, and I know as had the displeasure to live in glasgow during the barren years!

Dublin_Gunner

givyjoe81 wrote: »

The Lyon and French number one, was awesome against Liverpool and Ireland. Cant think of his name.

Hugo Lloris. Excellent 'keeper, and still quite young (23).

GavRedKing

givyjoe81 wrote: »

The Lyon and French number one, was awesome against Liverpool and Ireland. Cant think of his name.

Forgot him, its Lloris, a very good keeper. Still young, has good potential.

Edit : Beaten to it ^

partyguinness

Dublin_Gunner wrote: »

Eh, for over 2 decades.

We had Bonner before him too...

Bonner, while he is dear to all our hearts and always will be, was not the best keeper..the wall in front of him hid a lot of his frailties..IMO...he made a lot of costly mistakes:-

1. Italy 1990..goal was a terrible parry..

2. England 1990....where the hell was he going for Linekar's goal..

3. Holland 1990...low shot across him...not good.

4. Away to Poland 1991..Ireland were 3-1 up and coasting...2 bad errors by Bonner meant Ireland drew 3-3 and cost a place at Euro 1992 which I will always maintain Ireland had a real chance of winning

5. Holland 1994 World Cup...dropping the shot by Wim Jonk...

6. USSR 1988....handled the ball outside the area earlier in the game...got very shakey after that and was slow to react to the equaliser which went through his legs...

Rekop dog

I'd have Cesar as my #1 thiis year.

Can't believe Wiese and Neuer haven't been mentioned- people should really brouden their footballing horizons before making daft comments about which keepers are in the top 5!

Given can't be there because of his lack of ability to command his area for crosses or corners!

Reganio 2

Rekop dog wrote: »

I'd have Cesar as my #1 thiis year.

Can't believe Wiese and Neuer haven't been mentioned- people should really brouden their footballing horizons before making daft comments about which keepers are in the top 5!

Given can't be there because of his lack of ability to command his area for crosses or corners!

I more amazed at the people including Victor Valdez, that's the Eamon Dunphy school of thought, I seen him once and he looked good. The man may not be the worst but no where near the best. Just cause the team wins a lot of games dosn't make their keeper good.

BaZmO*

It's hard to compare Keepers as you can't use stats like you'd use to compare strikers or midfielders etc. Must of the time a Keeper can only be as good as the defence in front of him when it comes to conceded. The best (and probably the only) way to compare Keepers is to compare the amount of mistakes they make in a game and in fairness Shay is fairly flawless when it comes to that.

SlickRic

givyjoe81 wrote: »

The Lyon and French number one, was awesome against Liverpool and Ireland. Cant think of his name.

Hugo Lloris.

and yes, he looks awesome.

Dodgykeeper

Reganio 2 wrote: »

I more amazed at the people including Victor Valdez, that's the Eamon Dunphy school of thought, I seen him once and he looked good. The man may not be the worst but no where near the best. Just cause the team wins a lot of games dosn't make their keeper good.

Eamon Dunphy School of thought? Can you explain what you mean by this?

Are you saying that you seen him once, Eamonn Dunphy seen him once or the ppl here who have rated him highly have seen him once, any one of these three scenarios is hardly true, the guy has made 240 + appearances for Barcelona!!

I personally think that Valdez is a great keeper and is unlucky that he has come at a time where Spain has Casillas (101) and Reina (19) to choose from!

Mitch Connor

Dodgykeeper wrote: »

Eamon Dunphy School of thought? Can you explain what you mean by this?

Are you saying that you seen him once, Eamonn Dunphy seen him once or the ppl here who have rated him highly have seen him once, any one of these three scenarios is hardly true, the guy has made 240 + appearances for Barcelona!!

I personally think that Valdez is a great keeper and is unlucky that he has come at a time where Spain has Casillas (101) and Reina (19) to choose from!

personally I think he is quite poor when looking at the standard of keepers at top clubs.

My mate from Barcelona reckons that he wouldn't be the Barcelona keeper if Casilas was not the Madrid keeper - Madrid have a home grown product in goal, so Barcelona should do to. When United were linked with him last summer, he was praying that Valdes would be on his way! Doesn't rate the guy at all.

kida

hes not even the best keeper city own

leninbenjamin

Dodgykeeper wrote: »

I personally think that Valdez is a great keeper and is unlucky that he has come at a time where Spain has Casillas (101) and Reina (19) to choose from!

He's come on in recent years, but I wouldn't rate much above an (in form) Aluminia to be blunt. Good shot stopper, little else.

lol at Wiese, Neuer, Lloris and Ochoa being mentioned as names to 'broaden horizons,' these guys are all FM legends, I think those that don't know them are as likely to have 'broad horizons' as those that do. In terms of their real life ability, I've seen little of them. Lloris looks to have serious promise but he lacks a little assurance and experience imo to be a serious contender at the moment.

Surprised at Cesar being mentioned. He's a good keeper, but i wouldn't have put him anywhere near the likes of Buffon and Casillas.

givyjoe81

leninbenjamin wrote: »

Lloris looks to have serious promise but he lacks a little assurance and experience imo to be a serious contender at the moment.

.

To be fair the only thing he lacks is experience, oodles of assurance which he demonstrated recently. Id wage after World Cup people will be choosing between him and Buffon for world # 1.

noodler

Dublin_Gunner wrote: »

Hugo Lloris. Excellent 'keeper, and still quite young (23).

I.hate.him.

Johner

Xavi6 wrote: »

Can't kick, doesn't organise his defence and crap on crosses. Overrated completely purely because he's Irish. :pac:

I know you aren't being serious, but I don't get why people knock his kicking I've never seen anything wrong with it apart from the odd mistake but who doesn't make the odd mistake? As for not organizing a defense how would people know that?

The thing about Given is that he doesn't come often enough for high balls, he mostly tends to wait on his line and deal with the aftermath, but he can afford to do this as he is a world class shot stopper but obviously sometimes it goes wrong but all in all it works for him because of his shot stopping abilities.

In Given the Republic of Ireland and Man City have one of the best keepers in the EPL and the world, I don't think there is any doubt about that.

gustavo

gavredking wrote: »

Id agree with you on the players in bold, but the others, im not so sure.

Valdes - very similar to Given in size and ability but I would rate Given as a better overall keeper and with more experience.
.

Given hasn't played in 2 Champions League winning and multiple league winning teams though

Tusky

I think Reina is now a definite contender for best keeper in the league. His punching has improved a lot this year and he looks confident coming for crosses and catching the ball. Hes as good a shot stopper as anyone and his kicking is unrivaled. He is also amazing at saving penalties, and acts like a sweeper, being extremely quick to come off his line and snuff out danger.

Rekop dog

BaZmO* wrote: »

The best (and probably the only) way to compare Keepers is to compare the amount of mistakes they make in a game and in fairness Shay is fairly flawless when it comes to that.

Wrong! The amount of mistakes a keeper makes is directly proportional to the amount of risks a keeper takes in a match in order to take the pressure off the defence! Shay Given is a very low risk goalkeeper, in a sense that he never attempts to come off his line to catch crosses, which when done right is by far best way to defend most corners free kicks ect...

So he may not be directly at fault for a goal but his inaction is far worse IMO than a keeper who comes out all the time and maybe fumbles 1/50 catches but is made a laughing stock for that one drop!

Ush1

If you are talking about organising the defence, Lloris is no better than Given.

dsmythy

Well let's put it this way. City could buy any 'keeper in the world but seem happy to stick with Given. Speaking of which i wonder if Reina would jump ship for Champions League football if it came to it!

Mr Alan

Tusky wrote: »

I think Reina is now a definite contender for best keeper in the league. His punching has improved a lot this year and he looks confident coming for crosses and catching the ball. Hes as good a shot stopper as anyone and his kicking is unrivaled. He is also amazing at saving penalties, and acts like a sweeper, being extremely quick to come off his line and snuff out danger.

Agreed.

Reina is the best in the PL imo.

re:Valdes, i really don't rate him too much either. decent, but no more than that.

aidan24326

Given is a brilliant shot-stopper but I'd agree with those who say that he isn't the greatest on crosses, and doesn't dominate his area enough. Still a top class keeper though and we're lucky to have him. Were he English he would be their number 1 goalkeeper without any question.

As much as Casillas is also a brillaint shot-stopper, he's no genius on crosses either. Petr Cech at one time was probably the best in the business but he's nowhere near as good now, definitely lost confidence. And he has always had a world-class defence in front of him too which obviously helps.

tomred1

Its amazing the amount of praise/attention he is recieving at City, he has always been that good and over the last few season he has been the best in the league. Haven't seen much Italian/Spanish football to compare him to the others.

The_Kew_Tour

Christ what does a keeper have to do to get praise.

Every keeper I have seen has faults including the best in the business at the moment.

I think Given is right up there, if yu were to point out his faults you also have look at other keepers faults and the so called best have there few too.

Given is one the best simple as that. Christ if Buffon or Casilas was Irish we be saying the same thing.

Just because he is Irish does not mean straight away he average.

Le King

This would be my top 10 (excluding John O'Shea): :pac:


1. Buffon
2. Casillas
3. Julio Cesar
4. Lloris
5. Reina
6. Neuer
7. Given
8. Van Der Sar
9. Valdes
10. Akinfeev/Palop/Frey

Slash/ED

Reganio 2 wrote: »

I more amazed at the people including Victor Valdez, that's the Eamon Dunphy school of thought, I seen him once and he looked good. The man may not be the worst but no where near the best. Just cause the team wins a lot of games dosn't make their keeper good.

Valdes is a young keeper who has been consistently excellent for the last two seasons, alot of people even argue he's been better than Casillias since Pep took over Barcelona. Alot of people still think he's error prone because he was in his youth but apart from a couple of weeks during this season he's been pretty consistent in every aspect of his play during that time. Given the choice, I'd take Valdes over Given, just, both are very good though and in the category just behind the elite bracket of very few keepers. Both are excellent shot stoppers, but Valdes is more commanding of his area and younger, he also plays behind a well organised defence and he has to take some credit for that. He has improved immensely over the last couple of years. I'd have been happy to see the back of him at one stage but not now. He was absolutely superb during the treble year, making crucial saves and being very consistent.

The person who thinks barca only play him in some moronic attempt to 'keep up' with Real is pretty daft, by the way.

dannydiamond

Pepe Reina is the best keeper in the Premier league at the moment and it isn't even all that close.

noodler

gustavo wrote: »

Given hasn't played in 2 Champions League winning and multiple league winning teams though

Ryan Giggs hasn't played in a world cup with Wales.

FlawedGenius

kida wrote: »

hes not even the best keeper city own

Whos better than him at City then?:rolleyes:Ridiculous post without backing it up unless your joking.

If Given was English, hed certainly be the best keeper in England and probably the world! Id say Given is slightly behind Casillas and Buffon only because theyve played in more world cups, euros, champions league and bigger games in general and had the chance to prove it at the top level. Buffon and Casillas would never been as busy as Given was in goal for Ireland and Newcastle, thus more chance of conceding goals.
Andy Gray had Friedel in team of the decade which was a bit of a disgrace tbh. City could have bought any keeper really and bought Given. Hes by far the best keeper in the Premiership and if he had of been at a bigger club earlier in his career he could of had a serious shout as best keeper in the world.

Rekop dog

GerCPM wrote: »

Whos better than him at City then?:rolleyes:Ridiculous post without backing it up unless your joking.

If Given was English, hed certainly be the best keeper in England and probably the world! Id say Given is slightly behind Casillas and Buffon only because theyve played in more world cups, euros, champions league and bigger games in general and had the chance to prove it at the top level. Buffon and Casillas would never been as busy as Given was in goal for Ireland and Newcastle, thus more chance of conceding goals.
Andy Gray had Friedel in team of the decade which was a bit of a disgrace tbh. City could have bought any keeper really and bought Given. Hes by far the best keeper in the Premiership and if he had of been at a bigger club earlier in his career he could of had a serious shout as best keeper in the world.

I'm guessing he meant Hart

Keano

Rekop dog wrote: »

I'm guessing he meant Hart

I'd say ye would be right. Hart has only really showed what he has to offer since moving to Birmingham.

Glico Man

Osu wrote: »

This would be my top 10 (excluding John O'Shea): :pac:


1. Buffon
2. Casillas
3. Julio Cesar
4. Lloris
5. Reina
6. Neuer
7. Given
8. Van Der Sar
9. Valdes
10. Akinfeev/Palop/Frey

I would include Leverkusen's keeper Rene Adler in that list. Brilliant keeper

ziggy

This post has been deleted.

I'd have Given and Riena as the two best keepers in the EPL.

Two fantastic keepers, not much between them tbh.

Prufrock

I'd say Given is the best keeper in the PL.

Also I'd say hes better than Julio Cesar.

magma69

eagle eye wrote: »

Guillermo Ochoa is one of the top five keepers in the world, could even be the best. I do think Given is superb, he has been consistently a brilliant keeper at clubs with bad defenses. When City do get it together at the back and are a top four club he will be rated no.1 in England which is funny when you think about it, because those keepers with less to do get more credit.

How many times have you seen Ochoa play? You probably would never have heard of the guy were it not for Football Manager. Seriously like. He plays in the Mexican league ffs!