Annoys me when people who have clearly never trained or even bothered to do research on this talk about it. Its like when he was being criticised for making saves with his feet, like how dare he stop the ball going in with anything but his hands.
Or even worse is the ongoing backhanded compliment version of that criticism. I heard it again today, I think in some highlights of the Everton game. 'It doesn't matter what part of the body you use to save it, as long as you keep it out' after a very smart stop with the foot at the near post from close range. As if a save with your foot is somehow shameful and needs to be justified!
The only thing worse than that is the perennial 'he's even saved it with the wrong hand' moronism. Actual former professional footballers (although never a keeper, unsurprisingly) continue to be seemingly unable to understand that if a keeper dives to save a shot heading for the top corner, by the time he reaches the ball he will be almost parallel to the ground, and underneath the ball. So the 'far hand' is actually the near hand. It's so fecking straightforward...
And the arrogance of pointing it out too, as if some bit-part CB from the 80s has noticed that the world-class goalkeeper - who spends every day of his life training to be as absolutely perfect a keeper as possible, with all the very best experts coaching him - doesn't actually know how to make saves.
1
He saved our arses big time today. Well worth his pay cheque this week.
