So, with the Euros heading our way faster than John Terry
towards a trophy he has contributed nothing towards, it is the duty of your
humble blogger to analyse the England squad that Hodgson has finalised this morning. I’ll start off today with the goalkeepers, and
work through the rest as the week goes on. I am only one man…
Goalkeepers:
Joe Hart
It is worrying to me that so much seems to depend on him
staying fit. The thing is, he isn’t that amazing. I’m not saying he’s a bad
goalkeeper, far from it. But his shot-stopping ability is far, far better than
his handling of crosses (in terms of a truly safe goalkeeper, England have never
replaced David Seaman). Hart is excellent, but his deficiencies under high
balls have been masked by the fact that he had the Premier League’s stingiest
defence ahead of him, including a rejuvenated Gael Clichy and Zabaleta as the
left and right full backs. He wasn’t facing the barrage in the league that he
will be at the Euros with the distinctly less-good Baines and Johnson occupying
those positions. However, he does seem to reassure the defence that plays in
front of him and one has the feeling that he is good enough to keep the number
one for the foreseeable future. And his shot-stopping ability is actually
excellent. Maybe I’m just being pessimistic.
Rob Green
He was decent against Norway at the weekend. The reaction to
his admittedly ill-timed mistake against the USA two-years ago was typically
hysterical and must have done wonderful things to his confidence. Again, he is
a decent shot-stopper but less than sure under high balls from out wide. Come
to think of it, that seems to be what separates the good goalies from the
great. You can count the number of current goalkeepers that are actually
confidence-inspiring when facing both shots and crosses on your fingers. Not a
disastrous back-up goalkeeper to have, but isn’t exactly going to inspire fear
in opposition strikers.
Jack Butland
Unsurprisingly, I have never seen this guy play, so I can’t
comment on his ability. What I can comment on is the indictment his call-up is
on the paucity of English goalkeeping talent. We have one goalkeeper who
arguably would not look out of place in the really great teams. Rob Green is a
decent deputy, as above. But the fact that the third choice goalkeeper is a
19-year old who has only ever played in League Two is, if you think about it,
astonishing. And this is not to put him down, if he’s the third-best available
then good luck to him, I’m sure he’ll go on to have a great career in the
Premier League. But that’s in the future…
Let’s compare to some of the other teams going to the Euros.
Spain will be taking along Casillas, Valdes and Reina (I assume). Three goalkeepers
who would start for the best teams in England (and I include Reina in that, who
I still think is in the Premier League’s top two goalkeepers. He’s their third
choice.) OK, England are not at Spain’s level, and if we compare all of our
players to their frankly ludicrous pool of talent we’ll be getting suicidal
pretty quickly. What about France, who are probably just about at our level, at
least defensively? Lloris, Mandanda and Carrasso. 2 excellent and one very
good. And, you’ll notice, none of them have only ever played in the fourth
division. Holland: Stekelenburg, Michel Vorm, Tim Krul. Russia: Akinfeev,
Malafeev, and (er) Anton Shunin, who admittedly I do not know about but plays
for Dinamo Moscow.
This has become a rant. The point I am essentially making is
that we appear very limited in terms of indigenous goalkeeping talent at the
moment. To be reduced to taking a 19-year old uncapped new kid, for the country
that has produced Banks, Shilton and Seaman, seems quite sad.
In fact, why not give Seaman a quick call? He played the
other day and looked just as good as the old days, until he was chipped by the lead guitarist off of Kasabian. But Seaman’s
never been lobbed in an important game for England...
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