David James sensational

[Hauler]

David James is a great keeper. I get FSC and he looks like he is 27 if he didnt have the beard but I mean in his athletic ability and he is just amazing. He saves everything and I have to say that Portsmouth would be much lower in the rankings without him. Against Man U he had a great save at the end against Smith and saved the game. Also against Aston Villa that rocket that was struck right at him was saved Im amazed a bigger club doesnt have him. Although Portsmouth is prolly the best fit for him at his age and I think he can play till he is 40 honestly the man is a beast and all the luck with his career and grats on the record.

[Danners9]

He has tried it at bigger clubs and been sold because he is consistently inconsistent. He is called "Calamity James" for a reason you know.

He was with Liverpool and Aston Villa, and West Ham the year they got relegated before. He makes fantastic saves and then stupid errors. He has done the same at Portsmouth this season but the errors don't get highlighted - away to Blackburn for example, clattered with his defender and gifted them a goal.

When at West Ham he said he was too distracted to play, too busy thinking about how to get out of a level on Tomb Raider. Seriously.

For every fantastic save he makes he will make another just as fantastic error.

[pookspur]

there's no denying that he can be utterly brilliant when he's not being utter rubbish.

[Hauler]

Well he has been very solid this year and Im happy he has the record. Grats to him.

[Colm]

He played to many computer games during his time.

[Hauler]

He played to many computer games during his time.

Could be my dad.

[cdmphy]

Why the hell is this being posted on a Spurs board. Post this in Portsmouth's thread (sic). We have are own crap English keeper to worry about.

[JSpur]

Whilst Robinson hasn't been as good this year, I'd honestly rather have him than any other English keeper.

There are sporadic calls for Carson, Foster or James to be England's number 1, but they all make basic errors. For example, Foster allowing Robbo's punt to bounce over him and Carson was terrible this weekend against Blackburn. David James makes a lot of stupid errors. A specific one of the top of my head is Man U's goal in their 2-1 defeat this year. For a tall guy he is remarkably inept at dealing with crosses and he has that Barthez trait of thinking he can play football, which has been calamitous before.

Robbo's problem this season has been from long shots and he needs to improve there. I bet a disproportionately large amount of goals Spurs concede are from outside the area. But he is a good leader of the back 4, he has great reactions (e.g. Viduka save) and he is pretty good in the air. There does need to be better organisation of the defence for corners and free kicks though, but I don't think Robbo is at fault for that.

David James had his chance, with Liverpool and England, and he f*cked it up. In the away game at Denmark - where he was terrible - he admitted he hadn't bothered to warm up. I'm sorry, but when you're representing your country, that is not good enough and I hope he never plays for us again.

[Danners9]

Carson and Foster are quite similar and tough to judge.

Both are young, owned by big clubs but loaned out to struggling clubs. Both have also been in the England squad.

So do they look good because they have lots to do? They have lots to do because the team infront of them isn't up to it and they always have the get out of being the last man in a weak side, mistakes are rarely their fault (except the obvious examples recently!!).

Tough to judge. Both look to be decent, different story altogether when they go back to their parent clubs though!

[cdmphy]

Whilst Robinson hasn't been as good this year, I'd honestly rather have him than any other English keeper.


There's the problem. English goalkeepers aren't that good. The English produce marvelous midfielders, a plethora of them. They develop world class centerbacks like a fat kid develops type 2. But goalkeepering isn't a very good spot for you. Isn't it kind of telling that 4 of the 20 teams have American goalkeepers (and granted our foray into American keepers sucked), on teams doing well, while there are only 5 teams with English keepers including the bottom 3 (as of this writting).

Robinson's the best of the bunch, and a good keeper, but we want the great keeper he was two seasons past. Because that guy deserved to be called England's #1 without it sounding hollow. But if he isn't going to be that again then we shouldn't go with an English keeper per se.

[Danners9]

That's a misleading stat, while 3 the bottom 3 do have English keepers two of them are on loan from other clubs. Liverpool and Manchester United. They are there as part of the development and have kept their respective teams in the league for longer than they deserved!

I'm of the view that Italy and Scandinavia produces the best keepers. Either tactically, in the case of Italy, or physically with Scandinavia. I want a tall guy who is agile and can make saves like Buffon.

So that is.. er... Schmeichel. I guess. How's he doing? :D

[comme]

There's the problem. English goalkeepers aren't that good. The English produce marvelous midfielders, a plethora of them. They develop world class centerbacks like a fat kid develops type 2. But goalkeepering isn't a very good spot for you. Isn't it kind of telling that 4 of the 20 teams have American goalkeepers (and granted our foray into American keepers sucked), on teams doing well, while there are only 5 teams with English keepers including the bottom 3 (as of this writting).


Be sure to let Shilton, Banks, Clemence, Swift, Seaman et al know that we don't produce good keepers.

Historically only Italy and possibly Germany can match England as a production line for keepers.

[Hauler]

Whilst Robinson hasn't been as good this year, I'd honestly rather have him than any other English keeper.

I never made this thread to say robbo sucked it is a great accomplishment and it should be known. Sorry I upset you guys.

[cdmphy]

Be sure to let Shilton, Banks, Clemence, Swift, Seaman et al know that we don't produce good keepers.

Historically only Italy and possibly Germany can match England as a production line for keepers.

I'm not concerned with "historically" in this case. It is a recent trend but other than Watson, it doesn't look likely to end soon.

And it's not a misleading number as someone mentioned. A misleading number is that Czech goalkeepers are unbeatable, because the cohort is 1 (maybe 1.5 if we include Cerny's 2 games).

So basically we have one guy, who isn't his best but could have two 5th place finishes in two years.

We have a guy with a record that is dubious at best, who is on his 100th midtable team.

And we have 3 kids (4 if we include Kirkland), who can only get a game for completely crap teams, essentially Championship sides.

I'm not saying we give up on Robbo, he has the ability. But if we do, I don't want to hear the England's #1 chant again in my life.

[Danners9]

And it's not a misleading number as someone mentioned. A misleading number is that Czech goalkeepers are unbeatable, because the cohort is 1 (maybe 1.5 if we include Cerny's 2 games).



That makes no sense. Has anyone said Czechs are unbeatable? they have 1 top class keeper and 1 ok keeper (Cerny), plus some young ones like Lastuvka who is/was at Fulham. Reserve at Fulham.

England has old keepers and young, inexperienced keepers. Robinson is the only one in the middle. Yet you're judging these 19/20 yr olds based on their team mates but Robinson on his own performances. Consistency please!

Robinson has made plenty of errors because of the defending around him, stop the long range shot or clear properly and he doesn't make the mistake. Foster has made some lovely individual errors, as has Carson, in recent weeks but mostly they are the fallguy for a poor overall side.

Foster and Carson are England squad members, owned by top 3 sides, on loan to bottom three sides. How is that a fair way to judge them? If they weren't on loan you could say England has 3 keepers in the top 5 teams. But they would be on the bench, least this way they are seeing football the hard way - like Robinson did when he ousted Martyn at Leeds and tried to save them from relegation while numpties like Michael Duberry floundered infront of him.

So in short, i think you're wrong for judging Carson and Foster so harshly. Liverpool/Man Utd wouldn't have bought them and sent them out to prepare for first team action if they weren't going to be good enough. They would have loaned them out, then sold them like Tim Howard and Chris 'made of glass' Kirkland.

[DigitalTron]

David James is a classic case of someone having all the tools except the mind. Athletically he's elite, no doubt about it. When his head is in the right place he looks absolutely fantastic. The problem is that his confidence level fades in and out and when it's low he is prone to making terrible mistakes. Then, he simply mis-reads/mis-judges situations some times, particularly when under pressure or during big games, and completely flakes out allowing very soft goals.

At the end of the day, he has a higher standard of consistency to hit before he gains the trust of most coaches. If he had the head, he'd be better than Cech.

Robinson is the opposite. Robbo is slow but rarely makes a mental mistake, very steady, solid if unspectacular distribution (don't tell that to Ben Foster though), plays with solid positioning and is big enough to stop most shots that aren't precise.

To me, Ben Foster is the one that shows the most potential. He's still young and makes too many mistakes, but he has better athletic ability than Robbo and looks like he may progress past Robbo at some point in the future ... but not yet.

Carson and Green aren't good enough and have injury concerns. Most teams--especially National Teams--want someone that's steady and dependable in goal. National Teams don't get enough practice time to shuffle goalkeepers and have them comfortable with their back lines.

-Digital

[Danners9]

Carson and Green aren't good enough and have injury concerns. Most teams--especially National Teams--want someone that's steady and dependable in goal. National Teams don't get enough practice time to shuffle goalkeepers and have them comfortable with their back lines.

Injury concerns?

The only injury i've known Green to have was that ruptured groin in an England B game, a freak injury. A serious one but he's back from that now, and has been all season.

Do you really mean Carson and Green? Kirkland is the real Mr Fitness.

[sendorange]

Robbo's distribution is the best in the league from a keeper, nobody has such a strong and accurate kicking game - and that's not including the freak goal.