Best goalkeeper

Best goalkeeper

  • Casillas

    Votes: 7 14.9%
  • Buffon

    Votes: 24 51.1%
  • Cech

    Votes: 8 17.0%
  • Other

    Votes: 8 17.0%

  • Total voters
    47
5 vote of others and no one stated?

It is hard to see a name out with the others mentioned that have been consistent for the last 3 - 5 years.

How often do any one of these keepers make mistakes. James was one of the best shot stoppers in the Prem but still had a game boy moment every so often.

I would pick Buffon just for the fact I have loved to watch him for years.

I have never been a fan of Casillas for two reasons. 1 always thought that Canizares was the better keeper and 2. On CL weekly he described football as job his real passion was horses. Maybe a bit short-sighted on my part but to play for one of the biggest clubs in the world and take this outlook on your career just feels like you don't appreciate what you have.
 
Coupet.

I don't like him but I have to say he never makes mistakes and he has a great passing. He is always smiling and a great teammate and leader.

After comes Cech.
 
Coupet is one of the best, extremely athletic (even at 34) and obviously very experienced. Next season, he'll probably get to the magical 100th CL game which tells you, he certainly doesn't lack any experience at the highest level. He should've been one of the options rather than fall in the "other" category but then again, there's others too who deserve their name up there, like the legendary Edwin van der Sar among others...

But I'd have to say Buffon is the very best followed by Cech in 2nd place. I think Petr can one day become just as great as Gigi however. Because as great and world-class as he is already, I still think he'll get better and there is room for further development. Where as for Buffon, I think he's already in his peak and he can't possibly really get any more godly than he already is.

For me, Buffon is without a doubt a Goalkeeping GOD and the very best. And I've believed he was the very best for close to 3-4 years now (much before the 2006WC ever took place). If I had the opportunity to make a "Best-EVER-Football-Club" consisting a squad of 25 players (from many different decades and eras), he'd still make it in and would be one of the few to do so from this present era of football and footbalers.

Never seen a better goalie in life with my own two eyes. Of course some people can talk about classic greats like Yashin, but the truth is, I never got to see him myself and not many people still around here these days, have either. It's just from hearsay then, that I know he was great rather than personal consistent observation like it is the case with present goalkeepers. I'm not by the way AT ALL doubting Yashin or Pele or any past great players' quality. I'm just speaking the truth about what the case is and how few of us actually got to see them in action ourselves and even those who did, I doubt it was every week or on as consistent of a basis as today's football stars.

Where as with someone present like Buffon or Cech, some of us actually were watching them since they were very young yet mega-talented even at that age at Parma and Rennes and have been watching them more or less every week or so since, so we really know just how great they are and can judge with our own brains and eyes rather than relying on quotes and opinions from decades ago.
 
Last edited:
If I had the opportunity to make a "Best-EVER-Football-Club" consisting a squad of 25 players (from many different decades and eras), he'd still make it in and would be one of the few to do so from this present era of football and footbalers.

Never seen a better goalie in life with my own two eyes.

Out of interest and on the assumption that you would have 3 goalkeepers, would one of the other keepers be Peter Schmeichel?

It has to be!
:D ;)
 
gigi buffon enuff said, italian champion, loyal even through serie B and world champion something no other gk will ever achieve or do
 
Buffon, to me, is the Ruud van Nistelrooy of goalkeepers. Now many might not think that's a terrific compliment, but hear me out.

RVN is the only player that ever made me think, that was impossible! He generates power with almost no effort and the angles from which he scores goals can be jaw-dropping. I know Ronaldinho and folks have fancy moves, but RVN does stuff that makes you question the basic laws of physics.

Buffon has the same moments. He'll get to a ball and make you wonder whether your tv feed skipped a few frames - that's how agile he is. But again, he's also extremely smart, has great positioning and decision making. Most athletically strong goalies (e.g. Kameni, Espanyol) rely on that athleticism too much and end up being inconsistent.

Cech is awesomely talented in physical terms, and his intuition and reflexes are top notch already, but he does make the ocassional error. Once he becomes a completely impregnable machine, he'll be Buffon's equal. :)
 
Buffon. That guy is very consistent. He rarely makes mistakes and has been incredibly good for years, like PLF said. Also stayed loyal to Juve.

Anyone remember his 112th minute save against Zidane in the WC final? It was a central header by Zidane but a bullet... and I was sure it was going in.
 
the most impressive thing about theese 3 players is that they all became great when they were still young, wich is really weird for a gk.
the gk is a very particular role, it's totally different from the others, and that's why many people, many football lovers (and many coaches too) still don't understand anything about goalkeeping :lol:
anyway usually goalkeepers reach their peak when they're 28, and it's a long road to get the necessary experience, the neccessary coolness, the necessary maturity, to handle this role.
today we often see some youngs gks who are use to make "theatrical" saves, they make ridiculuos jumps, even when they could reach the ball just staying where they are. Of course, most of us don't notice it, and we usually say "WOOOOOOAH! that's a great keeper!" :lol: no need to say they aren't great keepers at all, most of them aren't even decent usually, but u know, we're the "hype generation" so we always have to find some brand new heroes :mrgreen:

that's not what happened, talking about buffon, cech, casillas, coupet and peruzzi. they all were unbelievably cool and pragmatics since the were youngs. they never do (neither did, when they were youngs) useless, spectacular savings, they're not looking for photographers, they just fly when it's necessary. And this gives u the feeling they are ALWAYS IN THE RIGHT SPOT, they are always where they have to be, when the ball comes to them, and this is probably the best compliment u could do to a goalkeeper.

cech's only weak point are low balls. he has some problems in getting down quickly (afterall it's normal, as he's very tall). unless he will improve this, he won't be as good as buffon.

anyway honestly i find a bit unfair comparing theese guys to gigi. i mean buffon it's like valentino rossi, he's just on another planet, he's too great to become a "touchstone", and comparing him to coupet or cech or peruzzi it's really unfair for theese awesome goalkeepers.

btw, i can't see peruzzi in that list ..... this is a huge distraction ;)
 
Last edited:
lo zio - Marco Storari is the king of theatrical saves. Mitico MARCO!!!!!!

040928115418_9.jpg
 
lo zio - Marco Storari is the king of theatrical saves. Mitico MARCO!!!!!!

040928115418_9.jpg

yep. i'd say storari and boruc are the most spectacular "flying gks" in europe :mrgreen: ..... oh, wait, almost forgot to mention abondanzieri :lol:
nontheless storari and boruc still are decent goalkeepers.

@ PLF: Van der sar.... legendary? :shock:
 
Last edited:
It has to go between Cech and Buffon...personally i prefer Cech but this is very subjective...there are enough arguments to say that Buffon could be the best too...
To me Van Der Sar is very close to those two others...

A litle off-topic, best keeper ever...to me Banks, Yashin, Schmeichel or Southall...

Southall is my personal favourite...
 
It has to go between Cech and Buffon...personally i prefer Cech but this is very subjective...there are enough arguments to say that Buffon could be the best too...
To me Van Der Sar is very close to those two others...

A litle off-topic, best keeper ever...to me Banks, Yashin, Schmeichel or Southall...

Southall is my personal favourite...

no offence but cech justified that he will always be 2nd best to gigi at the wc wen the world champions beat the czechs 2-0
and dont u dare compare vds as a gk nearly as good as buffon, buffon wudnt let in 3 against milan.
there are no arguments that gigi could be the best - HE IS THE BEST! oh and so is chimenti :) ending oddo's 4 year penalty goalscoring run last season :D

best keeper ever - zoff he pisses on schmeichel,banks and southall, tho yashin its a bit more debatable
 
It's mostly the defence that's in front of you. Put Buffon at Watford and he would leak goals like crazy. Italian keepers always look good because Italian defences are so good.
 
It's mostly the defence that's in front of you. Put Buffon at Watford and he would leak goals like crazy. Italian keepers always look good because Italian defences are so good.

lets face it gigi was in serie B with a very mediocre defence having to play a full back at centre back for the majority of the season and still he proved to be the best. gigi at any club will be the best
 
against Serie B sides though

and serie B sides are no mickey mouse teams, when u consider the history most of them have, bologna,napoli,genoa,etc... and especially when they come up against juve, they will give it that extra 110% on paper it may be easy, but i doubt many of the bigger teams in the prem wud survive a season in the championship, when u consider the immense motivation that is needed for your bigger stars to fight, not just the quality on the pitch
 
I always say, watch the Czech Republic vs Ghana game from the World Cup. Cech was a one-man defence. The Ghanaians had so many opportunities AND good shots on goal. That's still the single best goalkeeping game I've seen. Not the best save, but the best overall game.

Even though he conceded, Cech saved his country from receiving an otherwise deserved grand ass-whooping.
 
It's mostly the defence that's in front of you. Put Buffon at Watford and he would leak goals like crazy. Italian keepers always look good because Italian defences are so good.

Marukomu, u made a good point. a keeper can take advantage of a good defence. But u can also individually consider a gk and estimate his ability by looking at his movements, at his timing in rushing out, at his reflexes, at his ability to decide (in less than 1 second) how he has to react (by rushing out, puching the ball, trying to keep it with open hands...), and at his ability to guide the defence (wich is probably the most important ability for a keeper).

just to make an example, milan's defence this year wasn't so bad. they had a lot of injuried players, but still the defensive line did a good job, considering the whole season (their only big problem is that they always try a zone coverage on free kicks and corners, wich is a very dangerous move, imo).
nontheless, even if the defence made a good job, Dida didn't look good at all. So, as u can see, u can evaluate a keeper's performances and realize he's not good even if his defence is good ;)

moreover, if ours defences are so good, it's also coz of our goalkeepers ability. in fact, the keeper is the only one who has always a perfect vision of the defensive line up. a good keeper has to dialogue with his defenders, has to guide them,to regulate the cbs positioning, calling them back, when they're leaving some holes and this, as i said before, is one of the most important duties of a good keeper.

but the real reason of our great tradition of keepers aren't our defences. the reason why we had the greatest school of keepers (i'm saying "had" coz now italy lost this "supremacy") was our goalkeepers preparation. we had the greatest "gk coaches" (till 5 years ago). our general quality level, talking about gk coaches was the highest, but, most of all, we had 8 coaches, 8 "teachers" who became legends here in italy (they're even more famous than our team coaches). those 8 teachers trained, cultivated all the best goalkeeper italy "produced" in the last 30 years. they were our real treasure.

today all of them (well, almost all) retired from their activity (or died) and it's something really impressive to see how the general quality level of our goalkeepers collapsed as soon as they retired. our new generation of goalkeepers trainers suddenly isn't of the same level of the previous, and the results are clearly visible.
till 10 years ago 99% of our clubs had italian goalkeepers, while today the situation is pretty different. and also the standard quality of our keepers went down. Of course we still have some champions, but this is just due to the natural talent of some great players, like buffon, amelia, peruzzi, curci, alfonso, etc...
if u don't look at theese highly talented guys, and just consider the general medium level of our keepers, u'll realize that today the italian school is not so better than the english, spanish, french or german one.
 
Lo zio, in my country we also had some of the best goal keepers of the world: Piot (our best ever from the 70's), Pfaff, Munaron, Bodart, Preudhomme,...

No way Zoff was the best goal keeper ever, far from it..it isn't even the best Italian GK ever: Zenga, Buffon, Toldo and Albertosi are better...
 
Lo zio, in my country we also had some of the best goal keepers of the world: Piot (our best ever from the 70's), Pfaff, Munaron, Bodart, Preudhomme,...

No way Zoff was the best goal keeper ever, far from it..it isn't even the best Italian GK ever: Zenga, Buffon, Toldo and Albertosi are better...

maybe u won't believe me mate, but when i was typing my previous post i was just thinking to write about the great belgian school to make a comparison...... but in the end i forgot it :mrgreen:

preudhomme is the perfect example of a gk with a great ability to guide his defence... one of my favourites gks ever ;)

talking about zoff's supremacy in italy, mate, i got to disagree with u. Albertosi and buffon are very close to him, but he's still the best. talking about zenga and toldo, honestly mate, they're (were) both very good keepers, but they are (were) far from being great champions, like albertosi, zoff and buffon :)
 
Last edited:
One thing I always notice when watching Buffon is his complete confidence on the ball. Cech is also incredible, but I never see the same level of confidence Buffon has.
 
For me it has to be, Boruc, Cech....:D


Also Love wachin this guy in action, Rogério Ceni , Reminds me of José Luis Félix Chilavert, With his fab freekicks and Pens, Not beats a top keeper that bags a few goals.....:applause:
 
One thing I always notice when watching Buffon is his complete confidence on the ball. Cech is also incredible, but I never see the same level of confidence Buffon has.

haha and this is comming from one who supports a team with dida, and even despite the fact im a juventino even i fear for milanista's and dida.
 
I always say, watch the Czech Republic vs Ghana game from the World Cup. Cech was a one-man defence. The Ghanaians had so many opportunities AND good shots on goal. That's still the single best goalkeeping game I've seen. Not the best save, but the best overall game.

Even though he conceded, Cech saved his country from receiving an otherwise deserved grand ass-whooping.


or u cud watch italia vs czech rep where materazzi scored and inzaghi took it round the so called best gk in the world :lmao: in italy lower team gks even have ease handling inzaghi
 
haha and this is comming from one who supports a team with dida, and even despite the fact im a juventino even i fear for milanista's and dida.

Mate, Dida hasn't been himself in the last few years. But I always have a bit of faith in him. Since we renewed his contract, I hope the Dida of 2004 will return. He was almost invincible that year. Now hes a liability but has shown his moments this year.
 
Back
Top Bottom