Round seven of
the A-League has come and gone, but the most pleasing thing for me is the three
Alex Tobin awards points that Ante Covic (Western Sydney Wanderers) secured
helping his side grab a very impressive win away to the Perth Glory. Covic is known
as one of the most competitive keepers in the league, and one that never gives
up a goal cheaply. On Sunday he showed his worth by putting on a wonderful
display of clean sheet goalkeeping. His acrobatic save from a powerful Billy Mehmet shot in the second half was the save of
the round in my opinion. His third clean of the season was made more special by
having to shut down the strong attacking Glory side after losing Youssouf Hersi
in the 38th minute red card for lashing out at Michael Jamieson
after a strong challenge.
The disappointing
aspect of the weekend was the serious injury to Newcastle Jet’s keeper Mark
Birighitti who collided heavily with Wellington
striker Jeremy Brokie in the second half of the 3-0 loss at Hunter Stadium.
Short term contract Matt Nash was called into action as replacement Ben Kennedy
is still recovering from knee surgery. It does highlight how tough the role of
keeper can be and Birighitti’s courage can never be called to question. The
injury comes at a terrible time for the young 23 year old, who had been in
promising form for the club, but now looks set to spend between eight to six
weeks on the sidelines nursing a fractured cheekbone.
Adelaide United’s
Eugene Galekovic continues to play a vital role in his club continuing to
retain top position on the A-League ladder. His impressive stats tally show
that he has only conceded four goals for his 630 minutes on the park thus far.
He now sits with Central Coast Mariners’ Matt Ryan on four clean sheets for the
season. It’s looking like the battle for the Sheridan clean sheets could go right down to
wire this year. It could be only coincidence but the clean sheet stats do seem
to correlate with the ladder as Adelaide and Central Coast have far superior goal differences
to their rivals.
To the EPL and three
games over the weekend had clean sheets pop up in the stats sheets. Pepe
Reina’s return to the Liverpool starting side helped cement their worrying defensive
line, however the Red’s dominance in attack made Pepe’s night far easier then Wigan’s Ali Al Habsi who found himself at the mercy of Luis
Suárez and Raheem Sterling. After last week’s positive performance against
Manchester United, Aston Villa’s Brad Guzan’s confidence took a huge beating at
the expense of a Manchester
City five goal effort at
Etihad Stadium. The loss moves Villa back onto the relegation tightrope of
uncertainty.
The EPL
goalkeeper of the week must go to Norwich
City’s John Ruddy who showed Roy
Hodgson his worth to the England
squad after keeping a clean sheet against Manchester United. As the EPL stats
states they have gone 333 minutes without leaking a goal showing that there is real
belief emerging in the back four. It must be a worrying sign for Joe Hart as he
continues to look over his shoulder after some indifferent performances of late
for England.
John Ruddy, Jussi Jaaskelainen and Asmir Begovic continue to lead in the clean
sheet department, but it is Chelsea’s
Petr Cech who is setting the standard to which other keepers should follow. His
performance in a losing side against Juventus this morning was nothing short of
brilliant. He was very unlucky that two goals came from awkward deflections,
but his sharpness and decision making cannot be questioned.
The keeping clanger
of the week is awarded to Newcastle’s
Tim Krul. His side is having a poor season to date, but his poor clearance to
the awaiting feet of Pablo Hernandez ensured that his perfect cross to Michu delivered
the perfect punishment. Krul had nowhere to hide and his side also had to
contend with a jeers of a very unhappy St James’ Park home crowd.
The talk still
surrounds whether David Beckham will sign with the A-League as his MLS career
comes to a close. I’m just throwing out there for discussion but in my humble opinion
I feel the A-League needs to change it strategy of chasing marquee strikers and
go after a keeper of note! Perhaps bring in Mark Schwarzer, Shay Given or
Andreas Isaksson to give the fans what they really want….Clean Sheets!
I leave you with
my goalkeeper quote of the week from arguably one of the best keepers in world
football…And also one of the finest proponents to ever lather his locks with brylcreem
and tie on a headband (Gianluigi Buffon). One of my personal favourites;
“You score goals as a kid then you grow up stupid and become a goalkeeper.”
Gianluigi
Buffon (Italy
and Juventus goalkeeper)
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