After Joe Hart's mammoth effort vs Borussia Dortmund in their UEFA Champions League clash, there was much discussion in the UK media as to whether that performance asserts that Joe Hart is the best keeper in the world. That brings an interesting debate, who is the best goalkeeper in the world and just how can one prove it?
I'l be looking at two groups of keepers, ten keepers who are commonly regarded as the best in the world and then five who are general outsiders to the claim, goalkeepers playing for less illustrious European sides and whose performances last season were at a high level. Here is the list of 'keepers:
Top 10: Iker Casillas, Joe Hart, Gianluigi Buffon, Manuel Neuer, Julio Cesar, Jose 'Pepe' Reina, David De Gea, Victor Valdes, Petr Cech, Hugo Lloris
Next Five: Marc-Andre Ter Stegen, Samir Handanovic, Roman Weidenfeller, Steve Mandanda, Diego Alves
*All statistics are from the 2011-12 season
Overall Club Performances:
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| (c) ESPN Soccernet |
1) Most of the goalkeepers in the 'Top 10' and 'Next Five' have a 'saves to shots' ratio of above 70% and under 80%, thereby showing that there is not much of a disparity between the top keepers in that category, only a couple of keepers show far greater quality than the rest.
2) Victor Valdes a very low saves ratio of 66% which is much lower than much of his biggest rivals. Along with Valdes, Julio Cesar, now at Queens Park Rangers, also posts a surprisingly low saves ratio, just one percent higher than Valdes. It can be said that Cesar's poor form was a reason behind his exit from the club and the Inter management replacing him with Samir Handanovic, who posted a much better saves ratio, along with making more saves.
3) Gianuigli Buffon, after having a tough last couple of years with Juventus, a couple of seasons after which many thought he no more held the title of the out and out best goalkeeper in Europe, was back to his very best last season with fantastic statistics all around, leading in two of the four categories; having the healthiest 'saves to shots' ratio (the only 'Top 10' goalkeeper to have more than 80% of his opponents shots on target) and the least goals conceded.
4) Among the five goalkeepers in the other list, the clear best performer last season was Borussia Monchengladbach's Marc-Andre Ter Stegen with a fantastic save percentage of 82%, only one percentage lower than the great Buffon. What's incredible to consider is that Ter Stegen is also the youngest player on the list with an age of 19 last season and that he was playing for a team which had only avoided relegation the season prior through a playoff.
European Competitions:
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| (c) ESPN Soccernet |
1) Chelsea FC pulled a surprised last season by winning the UCL and Petr Cech was considered to be a vital player that campaign. Besides his tournament winning performance in the penalty shootout in the final, the Czech keeper had a fantastic tournament posting the best saves percentage of 83% and also performing the most saves, much higher than the rest of his contemporaries in the top ten.
2) Valencia's Diego Alves had the most saves overall, an astonishing 65 in just 12 matches while posting a very impressive save percentage of 79%. Considered to be one of the best shot stoppers in the La Liga, those statistics show that his reputation is not far from the truth.
3) One goalkeeper whose reputation of being a world class keeper seems to be beyond reality is Barcelona's Victor Valdes, having already shown above that his overall stats are much poor than one would think, it can be seen that his performances in European competitions are much to blame. Having had the least shots on target faced, Valdes still managed to concede more goals than some of the other goalkeepers having played similar matches, his poor saves percentage of 50% says much about why that is.
4) Though his overall statistics do not suggest that he is out and out the best goalkeeper in the world, we can see why Iker Casillas still holds that reputation based on his statistics in European competitions, arguably matches were held in the highest regard when opinions of players are made. Though his overall save percentage is 73%, Casillas' percentage jumps up to 80% in Europe's biggest competition, the 3rd highest of the competition behind Petr Cech and Steve Mandanda.
5) Borussia Dortmund had a terrible return to the Champions League last season and much of the blame for that failure was put on their defense, though it is generally considered a very strong component of their arsenal. Their defence underperformed, and so did Roman Weidenfeller. Amongst the other five goalkeepers mentioned, Weidenfeller posts the lowest saves ratio, that too by a considerable margin. No matter what competition is being played, a save percentage of 40% is far too low for a goalkeeper.
Domestic Perfomances:
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| (c) ESPN Soccernet |
1) David De Gea, the young Spanish goalkeeper signed by Manchester United to replace Edwin Van Der Sar was considered by much of the English media in his first season. Much of the criticism came with regards to his weak physique and thus his lack of aerial prowess. That being said, it can be seen that while De Gea might have been weak at catching aerial balls, his ability as a shot stopper can not be denied. De Gea's save percentage of 78% in the Premier League is the highest amongst the Premier League goalkeepers looked at in his article and his total saves are also higher than his competitors, though he played the least matches. That not only shows his great shot stopping ability, but also United's considerable defensive weaknesses last season.
2) Another Premier League player's whose statistics pop up upon viewing are those of Chelsea's Petr Cech. Though he enjoyed a fantastic Champions League, as stated above, his performances in the league left a bit to be desired. While his save percentage in the UCL was above 80% (83), his percentage drops not only below 80% but to lower than 70% as well, a misely 68%. If people are wondering why Cech's overall statistics are so much higher than his club performances, it should be noted that alongside having a healthy saves percentage in the UCL, his save percentage in domestic cup competitions is even higher at 85%.
Other Statistics (only domestic leagues):
While a goalkeeper's main job is obviously to save shots, the evolution of football, especially that of keeping possession, means that sometimes having a goalkeeper with passing abilities can create an extra dimension in attack, and defense. Let's have a look at a few select statistics that will look at an oft ignored aspect of goalkeeping:
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| (c) Whoscored.com |
1) One of Joe Hart's weaknesses has always been his lack of kicking ability and that is very much emphasized in his passing statistics as he poses the worst overall pass completion and long ball pass completion (along with a very high ratio of long balls). Some might say that it could be down to the overall tactics of his side, but Manchester City averaged the least long passes in the league, along with the most short passes per game. Juventus and Barcelona, like Manchester City, rank as having the highest short passes per game statistics and lie in the bottom three for long balls per game, yet their keepers (Gianluigi Buffon and Victor Valdes, respectively) display far greater passing statistics, thereby further illustrating Hart's distributional weaknesses.
2) It is surprising to see that rather than Victor Valdes, Gianluifi Buffon has the best pass completion percentage. Much of the reason for that is down to his far superior long ball success percentage, when compared with Valdes. I tell tale that while Buffon's shot stopping abilities have never been in doubt, his distribution is also of the highest quality.
3) While Buffon might be the best goalkeeper in the world, Marc-Andre Ter Stegen looks like being the future best goalkeeper. After posting fantastic shot stopping statistics, Ter Stegen display's his all-round quality with even more impressive passing statistics. While his overall passes attempted figure is astonishing, whats more impressive is his pass completion rate after considering his percentage of long balls. The only two goalkeepers in the list who've had better pass completion, Buffon and Valdes, both have a long ball percentage in the thirties, meaning that many of their passes are low risk short passes, while Ter Stegen still manages a very high pass completion of 75% with a long ball ratio of close to 60% (not surprising since Borussia Monchengladbach completed the second most long balls in the Bundesliga, along with the second most short passes).
Conclusion:
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| Are these two the best keepers in the world? |
Some might say that there is little surprise in seeing that Buffon out performed the rest of his competitors last season, but surely no one could've predicted who would be closest to the Italian legend. Iker Casillas, Joe Hart, Manuel Neuer and Petr Cech were all left in the wake of the 19-year old Marc-Andre Ter Stegen. After making a brisk start to his professional career at the tail end of the 2010-11 season, Ter Stegen set his name amongst the stars of the German Bundesliga with his performances in the 2011-12 season, earning himself a call up to the German national team in the wake of the European Championships. While it is certainly naive to name Ter Stegen as the second best goalkeeper in the world on the basis of one professional season, it does seem as if the likes of Neuer, Hart and Casillas have a bit of catching up to do with Buffon's performances last season.
That is not to say that those players did not have good seasons, certainly with Hart posting a save ratio in the high seventies, Neuer having the joint most clean sheets and Casillas showing stellar performances in the UEFA Champions League, but there are quite a few big names who disappointed. None more so than Barcelona's Victor Valdes. A player who has been in the shadow of Iker Casillas in the Spanish National Team, his displays last season would not have helped his case (however slim they already are) to overthrow his Real Madrid rival as he only saved half of the shots he faced in the biggest competition in Europe.
One thing that should be mentioned though is that there are no statistics available for errors made by goalkeepers. Making costly errors has been a criticism leveled at some of the players in the list but due to the lack of evidence, we would have to take a neutral stand in that regards.
*Shots and Save statistics courtesy of ESPN Soccernet
*Other statistics courtesy of www.whoscored.com
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