Where have all the good goalkeepers gone?

Chelsea's Petr Cech has failed to reproduce his amazing form since his head injury in 2006

The so-called traditional ‘big four’ teams in the Premiership – Arsenal, Chelsea, Liverpool and Manchester United have all conceded more goals so far this season than at the same stage last year.

This statistic perhaps comes as no surprise when you consider those horror defensive moments from normally stalwart defences.

Take, for example, United’s Rio Ferdinand’s weak challenge on Liverpool striker Fernando Torres as he goes in on goal last Sunday or the freakish moment at the Stadium of Light with the much reported ‘beach ball incident’.

These incidents, along with Arsenal’s record Premiership goal tally for this stage in the season has made for an exciting watch but it begs the question,

What has happened to those top quality defenders and keepers that have made that top four so impenetrable in the past?

Let’s have a quick glance at the goalkeeping situation of the ‘Big Four’ so far this season:

• Arsenal’s goalkeeping situation, or lack thereof, is the most laughable. The Gunners have come to rely on a 21-year-old Italian, Vito Mannone, who after an impressive display at Craven Cottage in late September has kept the No 1 position despite some shaky performances thereafter.

Since Arsenal’s preferred No 1, Manuel Almunia was brought down with a rather convenient “chest infection” after a less than convincing start to the season he has been unable to wrestle back his first team place from the Italian rooky. Despite his horror moments, most notably at Old Trafford when he brought down Wayne Rooney in the penalty area, Almunia is the best experienced option the Gunners have and therefore the most reliable option in my opinion for the forthcoming game with old derby foes Tottenham Hotspur.

• Manchester United and Chelsea’s international goalkeepers, Edwin Van der Sar and Petr Cech respectively, are two very experienced goalkeepers and have a collection of European and home cups between them. But arguably neither of them have that invincibility that they once had.

Van der Sar was sidelined for two months at the start of the 2009/10 season with a broken finger and a flappable yet promising Ben Foster took his place.

Cech is yet to re-produce that form since his horrific head injury in 2006 that made him one of the contenders for best goalkeeper on the planet. A low point so far this season came with his sending off at Wigan Athletic after he brought down Wigan attacker Hugo Rodallega in the box - a game Chelsea went on to lose 3-1.

• Liverpool’s Pepe Reina is perhaps the only goalkeeper in the ‘Big Four’ so far immune from criticism. Apart from the beach ball incident, he continues to be reliable and alert and the way in which he ran the length of Anfield’s pitch last Sunday when the home side clinched their win against Manchester United, indicates his level of commitment to the team. If anything, the thirteen goals Liverpool have conceded so far would be in part down to the legendary, yet ageing legs of Jamie Carragher and the lack of a stable central defensive pairing.

Have Arsenal resurrected their title hopes in their win over Chelsea?

Robin van Persie’s two strikes in three minutes in the second half certainly will have boosted the young Arsenal side’s morale.

But the reality is, a team’s winning mentality should not just be seen against the top sides in the Premiership but in every single game they face.

Wins against ‘la crème de la crème’ of the league – Manchester United and Chelsea, are impressive, but the North London side have lost to more predictably easier opposition, like Premiership newcomers Hull and Stoke.

Why has Arsenal lost those games?

• Wrong mentality.

Manager Arsene Wenger summed this up in his post-match interview this afternoon:

"It’s part of the learning process…that you need to understand that in every
game you need to be in that kind of state of mind”.

Whether they always perform to the best of their ability is another matter but Chelsea, Manchester United and Liverpool will always play to win and be the best irrespective of how lowly the opposition maybe.

And that’s what it takes to win consecutive matches in the Premiership, something Arsenal have struggled to do this season.

Any team will always want to beat a top four side, claim that victory and slice of history. It seems West Ham’s goalkeeper Robert Green consistently plays the ‘game of his life’ against Arsenal every season because he wants to beat them, but it is also down to Arsenal’s attack to make life difficult for him.

• Arsenal lost a winner in Mathieu Flamini – who sadly departed on a free transfer to AC Milan over the summer.

The way Flamini prepared himself on the pitch before a game was quite telling of his committed approach. He would jump up and down on the spot and do windmills with his arms, revving himself up to be ‘the running man’ in the side.

Flamini would run at players, not allowing them any time on the ball, and would put in a challenge and break up play.

No other Arsenal player can really do that, and subsequently opposing midfielders float around and run through the midfield unchecked and expose Arsenal’s already vulnerable defence.

Flamini’s replacements - Denilson and Alexandre Song rarely put in an effective challenge.

• The loss of Belarusian midfielder Alexander Hleb to Barcelona has also affected the Gunners’s ability to retain the ball and start attacks.

Granted Hleb never scored goals like his replacement – Samir Nasri – but he got stuck in, could keep the ball for hours through his skill and trickery, and was far more consistent in his performances compared to the one-hit wonder Nasri is proving to be.

Arsene Wenger is unlikely to bolster his team’s title credentials with any purchases in January, believing to the end, in his youthful side.

But by then, the title is likely to be all but out of sight.

Should David Moyes and Everton break ties for a brighter future?

As Everton manager David Moyes appears to be getting ever closer to signing a new five-year contract, questions are being raised as to where he and currently 15th placed Everton are heading.

With consecutive top six finishes for the first time in the Premier League, there was confidence at the start of this season that Moyes could further build on that relative consistency.

Notable signings

Moyes’s most successful seasons with Everton have been largely due to some shrewd acquisitions. When they broke into the top four in the 2003/2004 season, Moyes replaced Wayne Rooney with James Beattie, and Mikel Arteta came in for the influential midfielder Thomas Gravesen.

Arguably Tim Cahill has been Moyes’ best deal to date, however, plucking him from Millwall for £1.5m. Cahill finished the season as top scorer for Everton.

Everton’s success has been largely dependent on these astute transfer dealings and breaking their club record spending on a player year on year.

Central midfielder Marouane Fellani from Standard Liege is Everton’s record-breaking signing for this season. He signed on deadline day, and so far his £15m transfer fee has not looked value for money.

Physical approach

It takes strong technical ability and physicality and occasionally a bit of luck, to break into the dominant ‘Top Four’ in the Premiership. Physical strength and commitment to the challenge, has long been recognised as Everton’s asset.

Everton beat Arsenal at home in their 2006/07 campaign through Andrew Johnson’s late goal largely through their robust approach and Arsenal’s profligacy in front of goal. Click here for a clip of the goal.

Everton had conceded 16 goals in their first eight games of the season prior to losing to Standard Liege midweek. Their characteristic closing down of players was absent.

Defensive frailties and a greater fluid partnership between Yakubu and Louis Saha will need to be rectified if they have any chance of challenging for a high league spot this season.

Aston Villa: An ideal model

Aston Villa currently lie fourth in the Premier League after six games played. Villa have physical presence all over the pitch in Nigel Reo-Coker, John Carew and Martin Laursen and scintillating pace and technical panache in Ashley Young, Gabriel Agbonlahor and James Milner.

Villa boast home grown talent in spades, and among them Gareth Barry was a firm target for multi-winning Champions League side Liverpool.

If Moyes wants to achieve sustainable success with Everton, it’s going to take some fresh development of ideas and talent such as Villa’s in order to compete.