Was searching for clean sheets for the current season and came upon this. List of Premier League goalkeepers with 100 or more clean sheets RankPlayerAppearancesClean sheetsAverageClub(s)Ref. 1 David James5721700.29Liverpool (72), Aston Villa (21), West Ham United (18), Manchester City (20), Portsmouth (39)[2] 2 Petr Čech3171560.49Chelsea (156)[3] 3 Mark Schwarzer5041490.41Middlesbrough (93), Fulham (56), Chelsea[4] 4 David Seaman3441420.41Arsenal (138)[5] 5 Nigel Martyn3721380.37Crystal Palace (25), Leeds United (82), Everton (31)[6] 6 Jose Reina2851340.47Liverpool (134)[7] = Edwin Van der Sar3141340.32Fulham (42), Manchester United (92)[8] 8 Brad Friedel4501320.29Liverpool (6), Blackburn Rovers (77), Aston Villa (35), Tottenham 11 Tim Howard3291110.34Manchester United (16), Everton (96)[12] [13] All the more impressive for the guys making it without the world class defense that the big CL clubs have. I know it's been debated before time and time again but Friedel has to be up there for 1 of the top 5-10 GK's in Premier League history. But what really brings that class level of goalkeeping that Yanks have had over the years, especially in England. Top talents like Keller, Friedel, Howard, Hahnemann (brought his team up from lower levels without breaking a stride) and now Guzan. With potential in guys like Cropper, Johnson and Hamid among a few. We all know how talented our guys are but what's stopping a CL side from picking up Guzan or in the past (Friedel)? Premier League is the ideal situation for them but is it language or $$$ or just the style of play that attracts them. The English note that our GK's are our best soccer export. How can we keep this pipeline going? Are the current young GK's (Cropper, Hamid, Johnson) as good as Keller/Friedel were at their age?
A big reason they go to the EPL is Italy, Spain and Germany don't struggle to produce top keepers like England does. As well as limits to foreign players in Italy (not sure about the other two but all 3 leagues like to keep their nationals at home). England likes to bring in talent. Language being the same and more money doesn't hurt. I too am surprised they haven't gotten a shot at larger clubs but I can see that changing soon. Work permits are definitely an issue tho other wise I think we'd see some of our young keepers moving on to Europe by now. However, with the mls trying to keep our best here idk if we see them move.
It should be noted that Keller spent much of his time in England (more than 250 games) at Millwall and Leicester. And I think most of those seasons weren't in the premier league. But he performed at a very high level for those clubs and was very popular. When comparing our current crop to Keller/Friedel, we have to remember that Friedel's club career didn't really get going until he was ~24ish at Galatasaray. Bill Hamid is still only 23 and Sean Johnson is still only 24. The best young keeper I've seen is US U20 Zach Steffen.
Really doubt he was close to 100 Premier League clean sheets, he played i'd guess about 200 PL games which is a lot, but even a top keeper at that level (which Keller was not) playing for a title contender (which keller never did) won't get that close to 100 clean sheets from 200 games. I saw Keller player for Millwall, in the 2nd tier and he was fantastic -he was consistently one of Millwall's most important players and consistently one of the best keepers in the league. In the Premiership though I would say he was somewhere between decent and average.
I do think Keller's reputation takes somewhat of a hit on these boards because in the US we saw none of his games for Millwall. He played over 200 games in all competitions for them at an extremely high level. And we must remember that he's one of the few USMNT players that have lifted one of the major trophies in England. He won the League Cup with Leicester, and made the final with them another year. Frankly, the best I ever saw Keller play was while he was at Rayo Vallecano. He absolutely stood on his head to keep that team from relegation in his first season. Utterly absurd. We've been so lucky to have a great succession of keepers in Friedel, Keller, and Howard. And we have Guzan ready to go for the 2018 cycle. Basically we need some of these younger guys to develop for the 2022 cycle. And you basically just need one or two from a pool of many to develop.
Any clips from his time at Millwall or articles/fan reviews of it? I agree with you about the younger guys. Though I wanna see a continued strong US GK contingent in the EPL for the coming decade. At least 3 GK's starting at any given time. Though is either Hamid or Sean Johnson prepared anytime soon for a chance in the EPL?
Even underrated Marcus Hahnemann spent 4 seasons in the EPL and if I remember correctly he was 1 of the best GK's in ENGLAND (statistically) during his first season with Wolverhampton. Not to mention how good he was in the Championship for so many years.
It's either Friedel, Keller, or Howard.............and there's absolutely no right answer. It could easily be that in 10 years we'll be able to look at Howard's accomplishments in more of a historical context. On three occasions Tim Howard has finished in the top 10 in the IFFHS Worldwide Goalkeeper of the Year rankings (2003, 2009, and 2010). That's not some pro-US soccer organization. He's now played over 300 games for ManU and Everton. And he's not showing signs of slowing down. Tim Howard will hold the record for most wins by a USMNT goalkeeper within the next two or three games. He's only one behind Keller right now. I mean............that list by the original poster isn't a fluke. I think that we as USMNT fans really take Tim Howard for granted. Most likely we've had really top-notch goalkeeper on the USMNT since the early 90's.
Trying to pick the best of that 3. By what criteria? NT or club performance or Both? All 3 have Man of the Match performances in the WORLD CUP ( Korea in 2002, Italy in 2006, England in 2010). Howard has played for 1 of the biggest teams in the world. Keller has played in the 3 best leagues in the world. Friedel has racked up loads of goalkeeping stats/records for multiple clubs in England. I'd say the best is Friedel but like you said, Howard might eventually outrank him in 5 years (provided a solid to Fantastic performance in Brazil and several more spectacular seasons at Everton)
I mean within the context of the league: he was average as a starting PL keeper and though he had a few moments never really went much higher than that.
It's a debate that will never end. Friedel arguably was the most talented, while Keller had the more impactful USMNT career. Meanwhile Howard will pass both of them in many USMNT statistics (caps, wins, etc.) and when his career is over we'll be able to put him in a One record that's gonna be tough for Howard to reach is career shutouts for the USMNT: Keller 47 (102 caps) Howard 33 (96 caps) Meola 32 (100 caps) Friedel 24 (82 caps) Guzan 12 (24 caps) And Meola is pretty darn underappreciated since he didn't play at the highest levels in Europe.
In a way Howard's games with the NT he featured against bigger name opponents. Not as many minnows as the NT might have played in the past. That being said I imagine the defense that Keller might have played behind may not be as strong as some of the defensive lineups that Howard has played with. Friedel might have had this all wrapped up had he played for a CL club after his early success with Blackburn (he was with Liverpool I know but no idea they were in the CL during his time). Though his retirement from the NT is probably what prolonged his career. I mean how else could a 41 year old be a starting keeper at a CL worthy club in England. But Howard, he was a starter at Man United. That is just a WINNER in itself. If say he has a great WC performance (2 cleansheets, excellent saves) he might just have it. He'll deserve it considering the opponents he will face. No walk in the park for him or Guzan. I'm too young to remember Meola and his performances. I guess I'm too hung up on the "played well in Europe" to judge MLS keepers without bias.
Watched Howard's performance against Chelsea. He's massively underrated. Maybe it's cause he's at Everton and while they're a big club, they're not a CL club. Haven't even been in the Europa League for a few years now. But he really is pretty damn great. Has his weaknesses and blunders every now and then, but he's always on form for them except for that bad period he had with them last season. I really can see him keeping his starting position at Everton for another 3 years with no direct competition.
Howard is not by any means Underrated here on BS, if anything he is overrated a lot. The Goal Keeper who is underrated is Brad Guzan not Tim Howard.
I disagree. There were many people in this forum who were calling for Guzan to start over Howard during the hex. There still are in fact...
Underrated here and still to a degree in England, but it's understandable as he plays in Everton. Much better for Everton than Mignolet has been for Liverpool this season, though Mignolet only joined 6 months ago so still some getting used to his defense.
Exactly. A few bad months for Everton and people didn't just wanna give Guzan a chance, they wanted to annoint him as no.1 going forward.
You can not always be on form and have occasional blunders and exclude bad periods. The goal he allowed was more bad than how collectively good his saves were vs Chelsea, imo. Dude basically batted the ball into the net. Still a good goalkeeper and I'm fine with him starting in WC but his weaknesses are apparent. ...until Guzan started playing bad, yes.
Been a long time. The last few seasons at Everton, Howard lost his way and Guzan became a bit of a running joke. But considering their legacies at their club especially for Howard. Our boys did quite well for themselves. I would have liked to see more outside of the PL (maybe Serie A or Ligue 1 for example).