The top 20 keepers in the Premier League last season – based on their ability to claim balls into the box…
Claiming crosses and balls into the box is such a vital part of a goalkeepers game. While sprawling saves often look fantastic for the cameras – it is a keeper’s ability to to claim or punch away deliveries that truly installs confidence in a defence.
Fanatix takes a look at 20 keepers in the country who played 15 matches or more, and ranking them on their ability to claim balls into the box.
The Top 20 keepers in the Premier League 2012/13: based on their ability to claim deliveries
1) Asmir Begovic – 100% success rate – 129 claims – 6 punches
2) Julio Cesar – 100% success rate – 83 claims – 23 punches
3) Adam Federici – 100% success rate – 69 claims – 20 punches
4) Rob Green – 100% success rate – 50 claims – 14 punches
5) John Ruddy – 100% success rate – 30 claims – 8 punches
6) Mark Schwarzer – 99% success rate – 165 claims – 24 punches
7) Simon Mignolet – 98% success rate – 128 claims – 39 punches
8) Hugo LLoris -98% success rate – 52 claims – 26 punches
9) Ben Foster – 98% success rate – 85 claims – 10 punches
10) Artur Boruc – 98% success rate – 44 claims – 7 punches
11) David De Gea – 97% success rate – 67 claims – 23 punches
12) Brad Guzan – 96% success rate – 121 claims 25 punches
13) Petr Cech – 96% success rate – 76 claims – 28 punches
14) Wojciech Szczesny – 96% success rate – 44 claims – 14 punches
15) Mark Bunn – 96% success rate – 53 claims – 11 punches
16) Tim Krul – 95% success rate – 83 claims – 21 punches
17) Joe Hart – 95% success rate – 60 claims – 23 punches
18) Ali Al Habsi – 93% success rate – 53 claims – 21 punches
19) Michel Vorm – 93% success rate – 83 claims – 12 punches
20) Pepe Reina – 86% success rate – 64 claims – 17 punches
Analysis:
– Liverpool’s Pepe Reina is no longer the keeper he once was. No wonder they are happy to send him out on loan, having spent £9m on Simon Mignolet, who successfully dealt with 99% of balls into the box last season. However, no keeper punches more than the Belgian, and this could cause unrest at Anfield.
-Stalwart Premier League keepers like Joe Hart, Tim Krul and Petr Cech couldn’t even make it into the top 10 of this list. Joe Hart’s poor season by his standards are confirmed by these statistics.
-Asmir Begovic’s form was extremely impressive. He claimed 129 balls, only punching six, and didn’t make a single mistake all season!
-Mark Schwarzer claimed more balls into the box than any other keeper last year with 165, and had a virtually perfect 99% success rate. Fulham will hope new signing Maarten Stekelenberg will be equally as solid.
-QPR used two different keepers during their terrible season, but neither Cesar or Green made a single mistake from a ball into the box.
-Artur Boruc, Hugo Lloris and Ali Al Habsi preferred to leave their defenders to deal with incoming deliveries, and only tried to claim roughly 50 balls each.
-David De Gea made it onto the Premier League’s team of the season thanks to his shot-stopping, because his ability to deal with balls into the box was bettered by ten other keepers.
Stats courtesy of Squawka.
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