So much has been debated, documented, lauded etc in the goalkeeping spectrum about the much trending football skills of two of Brazilians current best goalkeepers, Alisson Becker who plays for Liverpool FC and Ederson Moraes, playing for the current English Premier League Champions Manchester City FC. They’ve unequivocally taken the art of Goalkeeping to new levels of entertainment and opulence. Social media platforms has been kicked into overdrive regarding the skill sets of these two young prominent goalkeepers, as both are in the running for the honours of being the 2018/2019 EPL Champions.

Liverpool FC has come a long way in resolving the goalkeeping position in the squad, having to deal with the mediocrity services (..at best ) of the Belgian goalkeeper Simon Mignolet who was a 9 Million Pound snap in 2013 and the less than mediocrity services of the back up German goalkeeper Loris Karius, who was signed up in 2016 for 4.75 Million Pounds and handed the number one Jersey. Simon Mignolet was rarely consistent with performance and Loris Karius had a horrible time addressing his lack of confidence throughout his spell, and that was painfully evident in last season’s 2017/2018 UEFA Champions League Final, the biggest game in over a decade since Liverpool ironically won in 2005. Liverpool FC knew it was time to get a quality goalkeeper, and they came to a mind boggling 56 Million Pound deal with Roma FC for Alisson Becker (.. in effect it takes more than 40 million pounds to purchase more than mediocrity!). Alisson Becker is a confident shot stopper but what magnifies his qualities is his ability to read and dictate the game from the back with exceptional footwork distribution skills. The confidence of being in possession with the ball at his feet is by far his most noteworthy trait. This is why Liverpool FC paid such a high price for him and with that much needed inclusion in the squad, now they are currently leading the EPL and favourites to be crowned 2018/2019 champions. In Liverpool FCs case, it can be argued that such a high price has been paid for the value of Confidence for success to materialise and it must be emphasized that that IS what Liverpool FC paid for, nothing more nothing less.

On the other spectrum, Manchester City FC has had the success of what the value of Confidence entails. When the manager Josep Guardiola took charge of the club in 2016, he knew exactly what to do in building a winning squad and the first thing he did was to get a quality goalkeeper to replace then Englands number one Joe Hart ( due to his apparent inability to play a sweeper-keeper role 🤔 ) even though he was part of the EPL championship winning squad two previous seasons before. It is of my opinion that its his (Joe Hart) steadily declining form leading to and during the the UEFA Euro 2016 competition, played a major part to his demise. The Chilean goalkeeper Claudio Bravo temporarily took over the reigns as number one before the arrival of Ederson Moraes in 2017 for a then record fee of 35 Million Pounds. What was Manchester City FC paying for? His calm, confident and impeccable footwork and distribution skills that many professional outfield players of any level would dream to possess. His shot stopping abilities is on par with any professional but that isn’t what the manager was looking for. His philosophy was to start an effective attack to obliterate opponents, it must start from the back and this is where the goalkeeper is pivotal for its effectiveness. This philosophy undoubtedly won Manchester City FC the 2017/2018 EPL championship and this was Edersons debut season. This season has been more of his prowess in his footwork skills than other areas of his goalkeeping skills ( mainly because playing in a well drilled team raises confidence to express oneself ). On the other had, Alisson Becker is on his way to emulate his countryman in winning this year’s EPL championship in his debut season for Liverpool FC ( .. a prediction that is of most certainty! ).

So now we come to the inevitable question.. who is the better goalkeeper? From the numerous debates on the social media platforms that I’ve been following this has been a hot topic and I’ve come to realise that it all boils down to individual preferences, rather than a certainty of an unanimous decision. The most intriguing fact is that traditional goalkeeping skills seldom comes into the picture when individuals presents their case on why one is the better goalkeeper. The Liverpool FC manager Jürgen Klopp will claim he’s got the best goalkeeper in the world for obvious reasons likewise Josep Guardiola of Manchester City FC will say the same. The Manager Tite of the Brazilian National Football team, under the guidance of Goalkeeping coach the legendary Cláudio Taffarel would pick Alisson over Ederson all day long, based mainly on shot stopping abilities. Both sets of fans ( Liverpool FC and Manchester City FC ) will claim similar stance in favour of their respective man and for the rest of the football fans, pundits, experts and so on will go solely on preference. As a traditional “old school” goalkeeper, I couldn’t tell which one is better due to the fact that they are –

• Still at the early stages of their careers

• Overhyped due to their high price tag creating the illusion of Top Quality.

• Still in competition among better shotstoppers in various clubs in Europe and beyond

One might argue on the last point that the best players get snapped up by the best leagues in the world, which inevitably is the case but these players need to be discovered and in many cases the potential world beaters get discovered. There are still very good goalkeepers out there who are ready to be discovered but haven’t got the opportunity or outlet to showcase their talents. Likewise majority of the top flight goalkeepers in various top clubs in Europe will have preferences and opinions on who’s the better or in extreme cases the best out there. Jan Oblak, Marc Andŕe ter Stegen, Gianluigi Buffon, Manuel Neuer, David De Gea, Keylor Navas and the rest of the bunch will have different opinions, to which some will rightly put themselves ahead of them.

I am from a generation of goalkeepers that recognises the importance of Character which is the epitome of one’s game. The modern game has slowly ebbed away that vital trait due to the grotesque increase in the valuation of professional footballers, athletes in general. Unfortunately that’s the evolution of the game and there’s nothing to slow the process. Is this good for the development of the game one may ask? .. Well I hope it is because with the amount of money in circulation, more than enough is in place for organisations like Ultimate Keeper to discover new, raw and ambitious talent!…

You Are The Ultimate Keeper Of Your Destiny.. ULTIMATE KEEPER