Best Goalkeeper

[AnfieldEd]

BTW Reina wasn't a "homer" pick I consider him amongst the top 5 GK's in the world.

There is no one in england better than him, only Casillas is better than him in Spain and if you need proof look to the current and past Spanish manager who together over the past 50 games have lost 1? so I take their judgement a lot more solidly than people who only know Reina when he was a teenager at Barca at plunged into the deep end. So as I say those 2 consider Reina as the clear No.2 for Spain.
In serie A only Buffon and Cesar could be argued as better - no one else in that league that can be compared to Reina, Frey is the best of the rest in serie a.
The germans don't have great Gk's now. Kahn was world class, Lehmann was solid enough but those days long gone.

So you may think it is a homer pick, as a lot of you do, but I did try and look at it from a different point of view, alongside watching these keepers for years and those 5 are my top 5.

Certainly if we sold Reina tomorrow I'd only class Cesar and Akinfeev (maybe Jaaskelainen) as keepers I'd settle for as a same level or above replacement, not considering Buffon due to age here.

 

[antonnn]

Personally I class Valdes and Frey in the same bracket as Reina, the tier below the the top 3, but I think Frey is better and Valdes is about equal. Out of all the keepers over the years, I think Valdes and Cesar are the 2 who've improved the most. Valdes used to be crapola but now he's a very good keeper, gone are the days when I could pay out on him constantly and it actually was the truth.

 

[Sallou]

BTW Reina wasn't a "homer" pick I consider him amongst the top 5 GK's in the world.

There is no one in england better than him

I think Shay Given is the best keeper in England at the moment. But I think Pepe Reina is the best attacking goalkeeper in the world.

 

[Jesse1509]

Obviously Casillas. His reflexes are simply unmatched.

 

[Moe]

Buffon for sure. Not taking anything away from Casillas but Ive been watching Seria a in the last couple of years and Buffon is simply the best.. Casillas can be blamed for a fair amount of the goals he concedes but people often don't notice

 

[Cule Angles]

Pinto.

 

[Valon]

Pinto.

I concur.

 

[Benzema10]

LOL, valdes in this list....-.-"

hmmm, what about young goalkeepers ? ^^

 

[La Furia]

Pinto.

Without a doubt!

 

[Valon]

LOL, valdes in this list....-.-"

hmmm, what about young goalkeepers ? ^^

Hmm, well if we count 23 as young then definitely Akinfeev with Lloris trailing him but I don't know how Lloris is doing lately as I don't watch much of Ligue 1.

 

[Cule Angles]

LOL, valdes in this list....-.-"

hmmm, what about young goalkeepers ? ^^

One of the most successful goalkeepers in Europe within a team which doesn't dedicate a huge amount of importance to defence. Two zamoras, two CLs, three ligas. I'm not for a minute suggesting he's as good as Buffon or Casillas but he's certainly a worthy competitor against the Van der Sar of 2009 and post-Hunt Cech.

 

[Psychaz]

no way Casillas is number 1 for me, he is world class no doubt, but alot of saves are just down to bad positioning, Buffon is number 1 for me, he just there all the time in the right place and he is consistent.

 

[Metaphysical]

reina is a good goalie. close to great, but not quite. he's certainly no better than valdés.

his stats are phenomenal, but they are distorted by the fact that liverpool play a very cowardly defensive brand of football. when they actually opened up during last season's run-in goals started going in freely.

iker is a freakin' magician when it comes to stopping shots. in that area he is unmatched by anyone possibly ever aside from yashin. but he is extremely weak on crosses and set-pieces. I know madrid have a completely wank defensive commitment but that doesn't force iker to be consistently caught out on crosses.

julio cesar has like 8/10 on every possible attribute you could want a goalie to have. he's the next van der sar in that regard. cech was similar to this 'til hunt kneed him in the head. now he's not quite as good. they're both top-notch keepers though.

buffon, however, is 9 or 10/10 for every attribute. he is the best in the world and has been for a very, very, very long time. he will probably continue to be as good right through to his retirement. when you consider that he also has to contend with serious injuries it simply makes his magnificence all the more... magnificent.

he's nowhere near as headline-grabbing as iker. but that's exactly why he's a better goalkeeper. he orchestrates his defence and deals with problems before they reach him. and that's why it's always him and iker talked about as the best in the world. iker for the spectacular, buffon for the solidity.

 

[Jordzibob]

Iker Casillas is the best keeper in the world for me without a shadow of a doubt. While Cesar and Buffon are both fantastic, and before there was Kahn (who in his prime I would consider as good as Casillas) you have to consider what Casillas does for Madrid, he's literally like another line of defence-if Casillas was injured Madrid would be absolutely fucked because they simply rely on him, he performs miracle saves week in week out and although you could argue his ability is only put on show because they have such an unbalanced team, the fact that he saves that unbalanced team week on week on week just proves how good he is, really he is phenomenal, and one of the few Madrid players I like.

 

[Aasim]

reina is a good goalie. close to great, but not quite. he's certainly no better than valdés.

his stats are phenomenal, but they are distorted by the fact that liverpool play a very cowardly defensive brand of football. when they actually opened up during last season's run-in goals started going in freely.

iker is a freakin' magician when it comes to stopping shots. in that area he is unmatched by anyone possibly ever aside from yashin. but he is extremely weak on crosses and set-pieces. I know madrid have a completely wank defensive commitment but that doesn't force iker to be consistently caught out on crosses.

julio cesar has like 8/10 on every possible attribute you could want a goalie to have. he's the next van der sar in that regard. cech was similar to this 'til hunt kneed him in the head. now he's not quite as good. they're both top-notch keepers though.

buffon, however, is 9 or 10/10 for every attribute. he is the best in the world and has been for a very, very, very long time. he will probably continue to be as good right through to his retirement. when you consider that he also has to contend with serious injuries it simply makes his magnificence all the more... magnificent.

he's nowhere near as headline-grabbing as iker. but that's exactly why he's a better goalkeeper. he orchestrates his defence and deals with problems before they reach him. and that's why it's always him and iker talked about as the best in the world. iker for the spectacular, buffon for the solidity.

Nice post Metz. I agree on everything.

Jordzi you make some good points aswell, but as Meta said Casillas is decent on crosses. If he could improve that area of his game out, he would be the best but he just doesn't make his presence know when a corner is swinging in.