This is my first article on this website.
I am a regular on espnstar.com for all my soccer info. A few days back there was an article saying Pepe Reina won the "Barclays Premier League's Golden Gloves" award for the third season in succession!!!
The article can be found at: http://www.espnstar.com/epl/newsdetails.cmd?id=7041712
I was angry that as a self-considered football fanatic, I didn't know what criterion are applied for the EPL Golden Gloves Award. And I guess you will be as surprised as I was.
It is decided by the number of clean sheets kept in the season. Now Pepe Reina has kept 18 clean sheets out of 38 this season, which is no mean feat, by any stretch of imagination.
But then isn't this a contribution of the defence as well. I mean clean sheets are kept as much by the defence as by the keeper. Also Pepe Reina has been a shadow of his self from the previous season. Uncharacteristic flapping ate corners, rashly coming out from his line when not needed are things that come to my mind at once.
On the contrary, David "Calamity" James has been superb all season in spite of injuries and a defence not even comparable to Reina's solid "Liverpool" defence. You must be thinking by now that I am a Pompey fan (actually I am a Chelsea fan).
Cech and Van der Sar didn't do badly last season. Anyone who saw the Champions League semi final between Liverpool and Chelsea would have no doubt about who the better keeper was. Also other keepers like Joe Hart and Chris Kirkland are enjoying the form of their life and have been making fantastic saves even when their defence exposes them.
Pepe Reina hasn't actually had much to save really.
Then a few days later I read about the Zamora trophy. Its awarded for the keeper in the La Liga who concedes minimum number of goals all season. Of course, you must play a few minimum matches to be eligible for the award. In my opinion this makes a far better and fair criterion for the best keeper award.
Again you may argue that still the defence plays an important part but still number of goals conceded seems a much better yardstick than number of clean sheets. And Casillas has deservedly won that trophy this year.
Let me know what you people think. Do you feel that number of clean sheets is a better yardstick than number of goals conceded?
And should the quality of a defence be taken into consideration when judging a keeper?
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5 months ago
This award was to keep the Liverpool fans hitched to ESPN for another season........David James deserved it more than anyone else....Van Der Sar came a close second....
from 5 months ago
nice one man...
yeah...David James has been a revelation this season....And he just lost it to Pepe Reina by 1 clean sheet...although he has been injured now :(
5 months ago
It could also be decided on the number of saves made in a season...but all these selections either favour a keeper at a great side or a keeper at a poor side. No easy way of doing it really.
To give it to a flapping goalie though is a bit silly.
5 months ago
For me it is between David James and Robert Green. Both have been brilliant this season and in my opinion have won more points themselves for their teams than any other premier league goalkeeper this season.
5 months ago
"I am a regular on espnstar.com for all my soccer info."
i wouldn't want that fact known if i were you if that's were you get all your footy info, mate.
kiran
from 5 months ago
Point noted.Although I am a person with limited internet access and unlimited interest in sports.so www.espnstar.com provides me a one-stop solution for all soccer news.And can u suggest me some other sites for soccer info especially EPL.I tried goal.com and uefa.com but somehow didnt find it worthwhile
from 5 months ago
Try skysports.com/football... or Teamtalk.com...
from 4 months ago
best info for footie:soccernet,timesonline,vitalfootball,guardianUnlimited and google:P.
also avoid sun,mirror and tribalfootball like plague.
and its not soccer its football.
5 months ago
Lets change the criteria all together, how about we give it to the keeper who cleans the bottom of his boots the most by slamming them against his posts before he takes a goal kick at an away ground during the month of December!
Stop your whining! The manager of the year award goes to the manager who wins the premiership, maybe not the best manager (taking club finances, squad, league position etc etc). The golden boot is given to the striker who scores the most goals, regardless if he takes penalties, free-kicks for his team (how many of Ronaldo's goals this season have been from 12 yds with a dead ball & only the keeper to beat?)
Pepe Reina is a good keeper and has kept the most clean sheets this season, and last season, and the season before. He had a dodgy spell and has his weakness, but name me one keeper who doesn't?
I agree that James and Green have had exceptional seasons (can't agree about the CL Semi, Cech made some good saves but was clearly the busier of the two keepers at Anfield and talk me through the Babel goal!)
The criteria is there, we can't go changing it every time someone doesn't agree with the winner!
from 5 months ago
hey ryan...point noted...
but if i ask you 2 name the top-keepers in EPL this season where would you rank Reina
Surely below James and Van Der Sar
And i also rate Pepe higly but its just that maybe EPL should change the criteria as in the La Liga which seem to be fairer to me atleast
And as for the CL semis, Cech singlehandedly kept Chelsea in the game in both the legs.On the other hand, Pepe was beaten at his near post by Drogba.Also Diaby beat him at his near post in CL.I guess you can expect Pepe to save atleast one or two of those attempts.
And as for the Babel goal, that was an absolute howler and Cech has been brilliant and also error-prone all season.But overall in CL semis Cech did far better than Reina .
5 months ago
In my view, Joe Hart has had the best season out of all the keepers...
5 months ago
It always has, and always will, be decided on clean sheets. Get over it.
Reina has his bad moments (like any other keeper, eg 'best in the world' Cech's howlers vs Arsenal & Bolton), but he is still a top keeper, whether you like it or not.
from 5 months ago
Spot on mate....
5 months ago
just wanted to say chelsea doest have supporters outside the U.K just glory hunters......and pepe rules!
4 months ago
Nah sorry people but the award is for the keeper who has kept the most clean sheets. Not for the keeper who has made the most saves this season or the keeper has the best shot to save ratio or anything like that. So on that basis Reina deserves the award. People can't see what a great keeper Reina truly is because of our mean defence. If you put David James behind our back four then we could concede a lot more goals. Especially considering that for England he plays behind some of the best defender in the world and still manages to look like a fish out of water. Its ironic beacuse I share the same name as the guy I'm critising and I currently live in Portsmouth but thats just the way it is?!
2 months ago
Liverpools defence was all over the place last season. We lost Agger for the whole season and until we bought Skrtel in January we only had Jamie Carragher and an aging Sami Hyypia as our centre backs! We had to play Jack Hobbs and sometimes even Arbeloa at centre back! If you add to this the absolutely terrible season that John Arne Riise had its clear that Reina had a brilliant season apart from the Man U game and is fully deserving of the Golden Gloves.
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