Goalkeeper Talk

David James England career in jeopardy

Frustration isn’t a strong enough word for how Portsmouth’s David James must be feeling about the proposed loan move to Stoke City falling through. The 2 clubs could not reach an agreement regarding the England keeper’s wages.

With a possible bench position for James whilst still at Portsmouth, this may affect Capello’s choice of England number one, who may seek a more ‘match fit’ goalkeeper.

Stoke City will also see this as a headache. Their keeper Thomas Sorensen is well known for his reluctance to work with managers, spiting his old manager Martin O’Neil, and this hasn’t stopped since. In my opinion, if you keep losing your first team position club after club, sometimes you have to ask yourself, is it me?

Good luck to James. I hope it works out well for him.

A cocky goalkeeper is a great keeper

First of all, I use the word cocky as an attention grabber. I don’t mean it in the negative sense. Replace it with confidence if you like

Some of the best goalkeepers I’ve watched in action are confident and sure of themselves. How do you become a ‘cocky keeper’?

• Understand that your box is YOUR area, nobody elses. You have been chosen to be the keeper because you are the best.
• Stand tall and realise that you have the skills to be able to save most shots, and the ones you don’t? pfft, so be it. Every GREAT has made more mistakes than you combined!
• Realise that confidence is WITHIN. It doesn’t go up and down like a roller-coaster. True confidence stays with you, regardless if you’ve saved a penalty or been nutmegged. You can be sad and STILL confident, angry and STILL confident. Confidence is a constant, regardless of what happens on the pitch.

I suggest you watch some of the best goalkeepers in the world during their warm up. Notice their body language. They are in the ZONE. It is their time. This attitude emanates throughout the whole 90 minutes.

Still don’t believe me?

Ask yourself this question. What would happen if your goalkeeper WASN’T owning his box? What would happen if he lost his confidence level? He wouldn’t be performing 100%, and thus, would never reach the highest level in his professional football career.

It’s time for you keepers to grow a pair and realise how effing good you are!