Tendency To Punch

Clearly Jens Lehman is not the second best keeper in the world at the minute, but somewhat surprisingly, he is up there amongst them. I generally show favouritism to 'keepers of the Lehman style. You want a angry angry nut job with a huge ego and an inability to grasp his own flaws in goal. Tendency to punch was all ways my favourite champ man attribute, and everyone loves the element of gloriousness that Oliver Kahn brought to any match. Tendency to punch: One Million.

But my point is this, no-one seems so have come along to replace these past greats. Ie. These guys:

Casillas is the best in the world, of that there can be no doubt, and I would shove Julio Cesar in 2nd place. Buffon and Frey are top notch also, but after that it thins out a little. This weeks Champions League ties should contain some of the best keepers around, but Lehman will be there, warming up for his 40th birthday celebrations no doubt, as will a 77 year old Van Der Saar for a team that has genuine hopes of winning the whole shebang. Aged keepers seem pretty common. Buffon, despite his skills, is getting on a bit.

The new behatted Peter Cech has become hilariously gaffe prone, no one seems certain about Victor Valdes' capabilities and we all know about Dida by now, even if he is super on form at the minute. But there is a group of nearly there guys at a lot of the continents slightly less prestigious teams. Hugo Lloris was in TOTT, yeah, he is that good kids. Then there is Manuel Neuer at Schalke and Micheal Rensing at Bayern who seem promising, but are yet to do something truly rad like there Mannschaft predecessors.

Whilst Sergio Romero looks exactly as an Argentine 'keeper should, and could well be the star of the world cup, at the moment he is plying his trade for AZ Alkmaar, the dutch upstarts not managed my Big Steve. Heading to the east of the continent there is future Ben Foster-keeper-out-of-first-eleven-er Igor Akinfeyev, muchos highly rated by many, and a Radetto top for the top Samir Handanovic at Udinese. One of those boyos will be at the world cup.

So yeah, there are a few gudduns out there, but I grew up with a smorgasboard of goalkeeping talent; 19 year old Casillas, Toldo, Buffon, Perruzzi, Kahn, Chilavert, Schmiechel, Van Der Saar, Seaman, Barthez, Taffarel, Roa...

Now I list them, christ that is a eccentric bunch.

So anyway, let us take a moment to reflect on the decline of exuberent goalkeeping. It seems like the African Cup of Nations is the last bastion of the 'Keeper madness. Maybee it is in the African air. Hope so, it would bring some intrigue to the world cup for sure.

Team of The Time #2

That's right kids. Team of the time is back careering into the blogosphere like a tubby South American, shortly to Klinsmann it up on some sodden turf:

1. Hugo Lloris - That's right Liverpool fans. He was on fire no? Liverpool-Lyon was a great game for so many reasons, the top notch keeping at both ends being one of them. The only difference is old Hugo was on the winning team and should be plying his trade in the knockout rounds now. Oh Snap.

2.Aleksandr Ryazantsev - Who? Sheesh, the guy that scored the super screamer against Barca. My Lord what a goal. You have got to admire a man who turns up at Camp Nou and thinks ''Check this Catalans'' and proceeds to launch it from miles out. The finest goal ever to come out of Tartarstan.

3. Sean St Ledger - Going for the outside picks at the minute, but his diving header in the Italy Ireland match was sublime. For sure the most composed and solid diving header I have seen in months. And he plays for Borough you say? Hmmmm. Well, it is that kind of stepping up to the occasion that could see Irish eyes smiling in November (Cliche fives).

4. Andrea Pirlo - So everyone new AC Meelan are aged and creaking, and that Pirlos knees having seized permenantly into imovable blocks. I may have to rethink my calls for a
reshuffle of the Azzurri if Pirlo gets back in the groove, something which based on the sublime goal he put past Madrid to take the lead for the 2nd time. There was just nothing on, so he unleashed a screamer. It is like Pirlo '05 that we all know and love is back again

5. Ivan Klasnic - And so, due to More Than being complete dicks about insurance, we come to a pick from a recent game. I like Klasnic I do. He plays for Bolton, showing he is all about the football, so much so that he plays for Bolton, when he could be making a living on the banks of the med. Respect for that. Even more respect for scoring a goal like 3 minutes after being passed out on the floor. Woot.