{"id":1209,"date":"2020-08-12T04:53:43","date_gmt":"2020-08-12T03:53:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/?p=1209"},"modified":"2020-08-17T01:00:29","modified_gmt":"2020-08-17T00:00:29","slug":"squad-review-1-goalkeepers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/?p=1209","title":{"rendered":"Squad review 1 – Goalkeepers"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"
Our dynamic duo. Rivals and friends. From Pintrest.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

There\u2019s been much discussion lately over the use of scouts,\ndata analysis and dare I mention them, agents as the best way to assess players\nand transfer targets.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When it comes to goalkeepers, most people will point\nimmediately to the number of clean sheets achieved over a season and as a\nkeeper advances in years, even over a career. This seemed to happen a lot in\nthe case of Peter Cech, but does it really have any meaning? Cech began his\nPremier League career under the correctly despised Mourinho, behind the meanest\ndefence of the day. He later played for Arsene Wenger who had a somewhat more\nrelaxed attitude to protecting the goal – and as a consequence, the keeper\nfound himself somewhat more exposed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Did that mean he was a worse keeper at Arsenal? How much did\nage and slowing reactions have to do with it? How long did it take him to adapt\nto the different landmarks and metrics at the Emirates compared to the years\ngetting tuned in to Stamford Bridge?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Thus, goalkeeping stats need to be carefully considered when assessing a keeper – and there is no shortage of them. It is hard to make comparisons for this season – Bernd Leno played a chunk more than the first half of the season behind Unai Emery\u2019s chaotic and ever changing rear-guard and as we know, was replaced of necessity by Emiliano Martinez following a serious knee injury in the Cup tie at Brighton. Martinez has enjoyed the relative luxury of a more stable selection and formation (and organised!) in front of him, but Dixon, Keown, Adams and Winterburn it was not!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I have condensed the stats down to the following for those\nwho like them: <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n  \n <\/td> Bernd Leno<\/strong> <\/td> Emi Martinez<\/strong> <\/td><\/tr>
Age<\/strong><\/td>\n 27\n <\/td>\n 27\n <\/td><\/tr>
Height (cm)<\/strong><\/td>\n 190\n <\/td>\n 193\n <\/td><\/tr>
Weight (kg)<\/strong><\/td>\n 79\n <\/td>\n 85\n <\/td><\/tr>
<\/td><\/tr>
Premier League<\/strong> Starts<\/strong><\/td>\n 30\n <\/td>\n 8\n <\/td><\/tr>
Premier League<\/strong> Minutes<\/strong><\/td>\n 2,649\n <\/td>\n 771\n <\/td><\/tr>
\n  \n <\/td><\/tr>
Goals Against<\/strong><\/td>\n 39\n <\/td>\n 9\n <\/td><\/tr>
Goals Conceded\/90 Minutes<\/strong><\/td>\n 1.33\n <\/td>\n 1.05\n <\/td><\/tr>
\n  \n <\/td><\/tr>
Shots Against<\/strong><\/td>\n 147\n <\/td>\n 42\n <\/td><\/tr>
Saves<\/strong><\/td>\n 110\n <\/td>\n 33\n <\/td><\/tr>
Saves %<\/strong><\/td>\n 0.776\n <\/td>\n 0.810\n <\/td><\/tr>
\n  \n <\/td><\/tr>
Clean<\/strong> Sheets<\/strong><\/td>\n 7\n <\/td>\n 3\n <\/td><\/tr>
% Clean Sheets<\/strong><\/td>\n 23.3\n <\/td>\n 37.5\n <\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Stats for the various cup games compare similarly but I will\nnot torture you with more figures – especially considering all the variables\ninvolved.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So, what does it all mean? All the figures point to Martinez actually being slightly better than Leno all round. However, Leno\u2019s figures were achieved over many more matches, so does that mean he is more consistent than Martinez? That has to be a matter of conjecture and debate, so I guess as more of a \u201cscout\u201d than a statistician, it comes down to gut feeling – what you like – what you see…<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I think we have two truly excellent goalkeepers, both of\nwhom have performed miracles behind some frequently woeful defending. Overall,\nI feel that Martinez just gives us that little bit extra in terms of height,\naerial dominance and reach – he is a \u201cunit\u201d not to be messed with when the\nlikes of Burnley, Sheffield United and Watford are on the lookout for\n\u201ccojones\u201d. Both are brilliant shot stoppers and very good with their feet,\nwhich is very important in a modern keeper. My gut feeling is that I am just\nthat tiny bit more confident with Martinez in goal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I truly hope the club can hang on to both of them although\nneither is now going to be content sitting on the bench as a Number Two. If the\nclub (not the owner!) has to raise money by selling one, who would you choose\nto sell? <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I would hate to make the choice but would go with \u201cgut\nfeeling\u201d – both mine and Martinez\u2019s, who burst into tears twice, trying to\nexplain what winning the FA Cup with The Arsenal meant to him after ten years\nand six loan spells, honing his trade around the leagues.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Martinez will do for me, although we cannot forget that it\nwas largely Bernd Leno who got us to that Final (and kept us in the top half of\nthe league table by saving points whilst every opponent was being given\ninnumerable opportunities to score).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Super seasons for both of them but sometimes life, football\nand choices are tough. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Footnote: The decision about which of these \u2018keepers is\nfirst choice and the inevitable corollary of which will be sold, will be\npostponed for at least 6 months with the bad news that Bernd Leno\u2019s previously\ndislocated knee did not stand up to his return to training before the FA Cup\nFinal. Moreover, he requires further medical input. Our thoughts are with Bernd\nfor a full and speedy recovery from this set-back. Bernd probably feels that\nGuendouzi didn\u2019t squeeze hard enough! There have also been reports that the\nclub is looking to sign a back-up for Martinez for the start of the new season.\nFinally, after many years of febrile anticipation, we may sign the long-awaited\nShay Given!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

There\u2019s been much discussion lately over the use of scouts, data analysis and dare I mention them, agents as the best way to assess players and transfer targets. When it comes to goalkeepers, most people will point immediately to the number of clean sheets achieved over a season and as a keeper advances in years, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":15,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[2,10],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1209"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/15"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1209"}],"version-history":[{"count":11,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1209\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1240,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1209\/revisions\/1240"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1209"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1209"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1209"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}