Peter Schmeichel v Newcastle — when a keeper is a difference between triumph and humiliation

harms

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Watching us losing to Brentford in such manner, conceding 4 goals before the half time, made me think of something. De Gea made a couple of horrible mistakes and after the game took all the blame on himself. I doubt that it's completely fair as the entire team was useless, but it did made me think of the games where keepers really made the difference — like the better version of De Gea v Arsenal, for example or the last CL final.

The Athletic recently published their Golden Games series — 50 articles on 50 best individual performances in Premier League's history. The pick for the #1 spot was pleasantly surprising, considering the usual bias towards attackers — it was Peter Schmeichel v Newcastle from the 1995/96 season. The one when we were trailing behind Keegan's (I would love it if we beat them) boys by 12 points before executing the most miraculous comeback and somehow winning the league. The head to head fixture in March was crucial — Newcastle had the chance of finishing us off, basically ending the title race here and there.

So I've decided to rewatch it and make a video on it since, surprisingly, there aren't any. I have to say that the first half was brutal, triggering my Brentford PTSD — even though United had Cantona, Keane, Giggs, Irwin and Cole on the pitch Newcastle could've easily scored 4 or 5 goals. But Schmeichel had other plans. Instead of conceding easy goals, he turned on God mode and demoralised the opposition forwards by effortlessly saving anything that was flying his way. Watching Keegan's face slowly shifting from happiness (since his team was playing so well) to despair (as one man made all that irrelevant) was priceless.

Anyway, here's the video and I'll leave the link to The Athletic's article here. I figured that we can all use some positive reinforcement at the moment. What's your favourite goalkeeping performance of all-time?

 

ROFLUTION

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Nice work. The ball just stuck like glue to his hands in almost every situation in that game when he had to make a save. De Gea used to be like that too in his peak.
 

Tommy79

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Ah remember that game (march 96) like it was yesterday and have to say you are spot on with the comments on his first half performance against them, as was in the pub and was on the third pint before the end of the first half. And then the king scored the only goal, like he did in the following 3 matches after that game, oh happy days.
 

BarstoolProphet

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Remember Cantona getting most of the plaudits in that game but we would never have won without Schmeichel being in god mode.

DdG have had some insane matches for us aswell. Liverpool at home (about 400 saves) and Everton at home (his save on Oviedo's shot was a thing of beauty).
 

Red the Bear

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Always felt comfort with him at goal, easily the best keeper I've seen for United , his confidence levels compared to de gea were day and night.

Wonder how he'd fit the modern game, he certain had no fear of coming forward and was quite proactive but there's no denying his footwork needs some work to thrive in the modern game.

Still would happily take him in if we could time machine him here somehow, what a great player.

Edit: to answer that question it's hard to pin one performance down but one of the recent standouts was the courtois one against pool obviously.
 

DickDastardly

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Feckers really battered us in the first half.
Every fecking header, every second ball was theirs....

And look at Keane's panicky clearing header... almost an OG.

Yeah, the best part and the biggest difference between David and Peter is the vocality, the natural anger and the leadership...

We really should replace De Gea. Feck.
 
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Fantastic performance, Newcastle were a really good team too.. good mix of strength, pace, power, skill and glossy hair. Think the win got us to a point behind Newcastle, loss would’ve probably been the title gone.

(The thing that I remember about Schmeicel (other than the saves and shouting) was his amazing throws. Caught the ball, next thing it’s in the other half with Kanchelskis racing away).
 

Oranges038

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This is still my favourite, watch a highlight reel of this regularly.

Recently Courtois is the CL final.

Never really get to enjoy them because usually it's the keeper playing against Utd having a day on it, Friedel and Heaton come to mind.
 

2cents

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Gresat channel @harms, lots of memories there.

This match I remember exactly where I watched it and the full rollercoaster of emotions. Schmeichel was such a presence back there.
 

Sylar

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Fantastic performance, Newcastle were a really good team too.. good mix of strength, pace, power, skill and glossy hair. Think the win got us to a point behind Newcastle, loss would’ve probably been the title gone.

(The thing that I remember about Schmeicel (other than the saves and shouting) was his amazing throws. Caught the ball, next thing it’s in the other half with Kanchelskis racing away).
Yes, the number of counter attacks we had with the way he released the ball.
And having the likes of kanchelskis, Giggs, Sharpe and later Blomquist, Beckham (who wasnt lightning but accurate)

Fantastic keeper
 

RedDevilCanuck

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Neuer against us when he played for Schalke.

We destroyed them but at one point I thought we would get unfairly knocked out due to the most insane keeping performance I've seen.

Thank God for that offside goal that was called back, after that we were calm, knew he could be beaten and finished the job.
 

Dread Devil

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Football was so exciting back then, so much space…we invited teams on to us and then exploited the space…so much fun…
 

BerryBerryShrew

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Controversial opinion, but he made one or two good (but not exceptional) saves and the rest were all straightforward saves that you'd expect any keeper to make.

Newcastle lost that game due to their own profligacy rather than because the oppo keeper had a worldie.
 

Murder on Zidane's Floor

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Watching us losing to Brentford in such manner, conceding 4 goals before the half time, made me think of something. De Gea made a couple of horrible mistakes and after the game took all the blame on himself. I doubt that it's completely fair as the entire team was useless, but it did made me think of the games where keepers really made the difference — like the better version of De Gea v Arsenal, for example or the last CL final.

The Athletic recently published their Golden Games series — 50 articles on 50 best individual performances in Premier League's history. The pick for the #1 spot was pleasantly surprising, considering the usual bias towards attackers — it was Peter Schmeichel v Newcastle from the 1995/96 season. The one when we were trailing behind Keegan's (I would love it if we beat them) boys by 12 points before executing the most miraculous comeback and somehow winning the league. The head to head fixture in March was crucial — Newcastle had the chance of finishing us off, basically ending the title race here and there.

So I've decided to rewatch it and make a video on it since, surprisingly, there aren't any. I have to say that the first half was brutal, triggering my Brentford PTSD — even though United had Cantona, Keane, Giggs, Irwin and Cole on the pitch Newcastle could've easily scored 4 or 5 goals. But Schmeichel had other plans. Instead of conceding easy goals, he turned on God mode and demoralised the opposition forwards by effortlessly saving anything that was flying his way. Watching Keegan's face slowly shifting from happiness (since his team was playing so well) to despair (as one man made all that irrelevant) was priceless.

Anyway, here's the video and I'll leave the link to The Athletic's article here. I figured that we can all use some positive reinforcement at the moment. What's your favourite goalkeeping performance of all-time?

Amazing, I posted about this a few weeks ago -https://www.redcafe.net/threads/premier-league-golden-games-100-best-pl-performances.471995/

During the run down of the top ten, I was convinced they'd missed this performance and was going to moan. Was greatly surprised to see this at #1.

Looked on YT and realised there wasn't actually much highlight footage. Good work @harms
 

GazTheLegend

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Nice work. The ball just stuck like glue to his hands in almost every situation in that game when he had to make a save. De Gea used to be like that too in his peak.
De Gea has NEVER been as good as Schmeichel was that day. There's been the odd occasion the ball has pinged off him, but the composure and dominance Schmeichel had in the air - we have never seen that from David.
 

GazTheLegend

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Controversial opinion, but he made one or two good (but not exceptional) saves and the rest were all straightforward saves that you'd expect any keeper to make.

Newcastle lost that game due to their own profligacy rather than because the oppo keeper had a worldie.
No 1v1 chance is a "straightforward save".
 

lysglimt

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There have been a few times when the goalie more or less was a wall when we played against other teams - I remember Tom Heaton had a game like that 3-4 seasons ago - but the worst I have ever seen was when we played Blackburn - it must have been 2004
We actually equalized through Alan Smith in injury-time to make it 1-1 but before that Brad Friedel had made 7-8 unbelievable saves. I have rarely been so frustrated in a football-game before
 

Grande

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Controversial opinion, but he made one or two good (but not exceptional) saves and the rest were all straightforward saves that you'd expect any keeper to make.

Newcastle lost that game due to their own profligacy rather than because the oppo keeper had a worldie.
Like most ‘controversial opinions’, this one too makes little sense. There are three world class saves there, which is the icing on the cake of a thoroughly dominant keeper performance. You have to note how his positioning is always very good, and often proactively high, allowing our back four to stand high after the early barrhe, how he snuffs out danger early several times, how he constantly makes the right decision wether to and when to act, how his long and mostly precise kicks helped us move the play away from our own half in a game were they effectively denioed our play through midfield. It’s a showcase for where Manuel Neuer learned how to goalkeep. Put another keeper in there, and the game would have looked different.

Now, I’m of the opinion that De Gea is a brilliant keeper still, and at his best was one of the worlds best two or three keepers for years. But put him in there in that game, and Man Utd lose, every time.
 

diarm

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Controversial opinion, but he made one or two good (but not exceptional) saves and the rest were all straightforward saves that you'd expect any keeper to make.

Newcastle lost that game due to their own profligacy rather than because the oppo keeper had a worldie.
It's the presence and authority of the man. A keeper like him will never have to make the same number of Hollywood saves as someone like De Gea, because the way he bosses his area and his defence means there will be far less opportunities for attackers.
 

Ladron de redcafe

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It was also pivotal. Newcastle had a 9 point lead with a match in-hand in early January, if I remember correctly. They started to crumble and United started to put the pressure on, but this match at St James' park was pivotal in the title race. It was United stealing the 3 points there which demoralized Newcastle, and the result seemed completely unlikely given how the match played out.

I wonder what the XG for the match was, because United had no right winning that match and - as Harms pointed out - Schmeichel was the difference between victory (in this case an important one at the ground of the table-toppers) and a humiliation. Ferdinand had 2 breakaways in he opening 5 minutes, and Newcastle could have been 3 up within 20 minutes. We needed a great performance by an all time great to weather the storm, and Schmeichel had one his greatest performances in the most important match of the season, by far.
 

Ladron de redcafe

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Here are long highlights of the match, and the video is worth watching:


In the close title races we had, there's always one match that you back and focus on as seminal.

1992-93: Norwich away (United win 3-1)
1995-96: Newcastle away (United win 1-0)
1998-99: United Vs Tottenham in the last match of the season, coming back from a goal down to win 2-1 and win the title by a point.
2002-2003: 3 match run against Liverpool (4-0), Newcastle away (United win 6-2) and Arsenal at Highbury (2-2).
2006-2007: Everton away (4-2 win coming back from 2 down at Goodison to go up 5 points with 4 matches remaining)
2007-2008: Blackburn away 1-1 or Wigan away in the last match of the season (2-0)
2008-2009: United 3-2 Villa / United 5-2 Tottenham
2010-2011: United 2-1 Chelsea
 

Red the Bear

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Keane was so uncharacteristically nervy in this match, definitely grew leaps and leaps as player in that time.
 

DaveSexton

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I was in the Stretford Paddock for one of the first games Schmeichel played at OT against QPR. Schmeichel picked up the ball and threw it a mile. A man next to us shouted, "Kick the ball Leighton, and take off that effing wig".
 

Ladron de redcafe

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I was in the Stretford Paddock for one of the first games Schmeichel played at OT against QPR. Schmeichel picked up the ball and threw it a mile. A man next to us shouted, "Kick the ball Leighton, and take off that effing wig".
It makes sense given that he had some early struggles and Leighton never recovered after getting dropped for the 1990 FA Cup final replay.
By 1992, I think that Schmeichel was much more comfortable and some of the saves (particularly against Liverpool away that season), were crucial.
 

daveskimufc

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Can't remember if it was the 99 season, but i remember big schmike had an AMAZING game against inter milan one year, close to his performance against newcastle
 

UpWithRivers

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Funny what I remember most was getting battered then.......Cantona!!!!!!!! Fkn legend. Schmeichel was good but he had better games
 

Red00012

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De Gea has NEVER been as good as Schmeichel was that day. There's been the odd occasion the ball has pinged off him, but the composure and dominance Schmeichel had in the air - we have never seen that from David.
DDG v Arsenal comes close and I actually think his performance was better because he made far better saves .
Schmeichels kicking that night was DDG esque at times
 
Last edited:

Red00012

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Watching us losing to Brentford in such manner, conceding 4 goals before the half time, made me think of something. De Gea made a couple of horrible mistakes and after the game took all the blame on himself. I doubt that it's completely fair as the entire team was useless, but it did made me think of the games where keepers really made the difference — like the better version of De Gea v Arsenal, for example or the last CL final.

The Athletic recently published their Golden Games series — 50 articles on 50 best individual performances in Premier League's history. The pick for the #1 spot was pleasantly surprising, considering the usual bias towards attackers — it was Peter Schmeichel v Newcastle from the 1995/96 season. The one when we were trailing behind Keegan's (I would love it if we beat them) boys by 12 points before executing the most miraculous comeback and somehow winning the league. The head to head fixture in March was crucial — Newcastle had the chance of finishing us off, basically ending the title race here and there.

So I've decided to rewatch it and make a video on it since, surprisingly, there aren't any. I have to say that the first half was brutal, triggering my Brentford PTSD — even though United had Cantona, Keane, Giggs, Irwin and Cole on the pitch Newcastle could've easily scored 4 or 5 goals. But Schmeichel had other plans. Instead of conceding easy goals, he turned on God mode and demoralised the opposition forwards by effortlessly saving anything that was flying his way. Watching Keegan's face slowly shifting from happiness (since his team was playing so well) to despair (as one man made all that irrelevant) was priceless.

Anyway, here's the video and I'll leave the link to The Athletic's article here. I figured that we can all use some positive reinforcement at the moment. What's your favourite goalkeeping performance of all-time?

He had far better games than this . This was all about a smash and grab from Cantona
 

Longlivekeano

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Yeah but Sch miles had his stinkers like conceding 5-6 goals against Southampton and Newcastle for some bizarre reason
 

elmo

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Controversial opinion, but he made one or two good (but not exceptional) saves and the rest were all straightforward saves that you'd expect any keeper to make.

Newcastle lost that game due to their own profligacy rather than because the oppo keeper had a worldie.
Goalkeeping is more than just making saves
 

little.triangles

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That little doubt he sowed in the mind of strikers because of his sheer presence would affect the quality of their strikes.

How would Schmeichel do in the modern game? Would he be a sweeper?