Top 5 Goalkeepers of the Premier League Era

Karel Podolsky

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Or big Ed de Goey with his fetching moustache?
To be fair, he had Tim Krul ( de Goey 2.0 / regen) on the list.

1. DDG
2. VDS
3. PFS
4. Cech
5. Seaman (I rate Courtois higher actually).

Honourable mention: Joseph Hart, 4 time EPL Golden Gloves.
 
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Schneckerl

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Top 4 are obvious locks (VdS, De Gea, Schmeichel, Cech), I think the fifth spot is debatable.
 

Bastian

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In no particular order

Schmeichel
de Gea
Cech at Chelsea
VDS
Seaman

It's early days regarding Ederson, but I've never seen such pinpoint and quick distribution from a GK before. He really is crucial to their style of play.
 

Pughnichi

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Schmeichel
VDS
Cech
DDG
Seaman

Might be overweighting trophies somewhat, as DDG would surely move up a place or two if he'd won the same as those above him. There's not much at all between the top 4 in terms of ability for me.
Strange that Cech peaked so early. When he first came across and before the head gear he was epic. He’s announced he’s retiring at 36. Strange for GKs to peak so soon.
 

FrantikChicken

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Strange that Cech peaked so early. When he first came across and before the head gear he was epic. He’s announced he’s retiring at 36. Strange for GKs to peak so soon.

I think the head injury fecked him up pretty badly. He was never the same after. Started making big errors fairly frequently. Unfortunate as he really was brilliant before that
 

Dancfc

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Seems Cech being a bit average from 2013 onwards has led to people forgetting just how good the prime version was.

Bar Schmeichel no PL keeper is fit to lace his boots, you can make a case for DDG in regards to shot stopping but he trails prime Cech in every other aspect.
 

Bojan11

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Seems Cech being a bit average from 2013 onwards has led to people forgetting just how good the prime version was.

Bar Schmeichel no PL keeper is fit to lace his boots, you can make a case for DDG in regards to shot stopping but he trails prime Cech in every other aspect.
Yeah let’s see how Cech would have done with our defence in front of him. I’m sure he probably would have suffered a brain injury having to play with Jones alone.

It’s crucial to note the likes of Cech, Seaman, big Pete and VDS had world class centre backs or pairings in front of them.

When you think of Pete then you think of Bruce, Pallistair and Stam. For Seaman you think Adams and Bould. Cech you had Terry and Carvalho. VDS had Vidic and Rio.

What has DDG had? Smalling, Jones and Rojo etc. Oh come on it’s not even a comparison.

So to say no PL keeper is fit to lace his boots is disrespectful. Much has been made about his first two seasons at Chelsea. But he was also protected by a wall in his first two seasons there. I would love to see a highlight reel of his first two season because he was protected by a wall. You had Ferreira who rarely ran forward. Then you had Carlvalho and Terry in the Centre. To top it off you had Gallas as left back and Makelele as the cdm. That’s pretty much a wall. I don’t even think Pete or VDS ever had a defensive structure like that around them.
 

FutbolFan

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Čech is kind of The Simpsons of goalies in that he’s been mediocre to bad a lot longer than he was brilliant.
What what? He was bedrock of all those Chelsea defensive victories. I know of recency bias amongst fans but thats just not fair. Goalkeeping is not just shot stopping, its command of the area and thats where he has been one of the very top keepers in the world.
 

FutbolFan

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Yeah let’s see how Cech would have done with our defence in front of him. I’m sure he probably would have suffered a brain injury having to play with Jones alone.

It’s crucial to note the likes of Cech, Seaman, big Pete and VDS had world class centre backs or pairings in front of them.

When you think of Pete then you think of Bruce, Pallistair and Stam. For Seaman you think Adams and Bould. Cech you had Terry and Carvalho. VDS had Vidic and Rio.

What has DDG had? Smalling, Jones and Rojo etc. Oh come on it’s not even a comparison.

So to say no PL keeper is fit to lace his boots is disrespectful. Much has been made about his first two seasons at Chelsea. But he was also protected by a wall in his first two seasons there. I would love to see a highlight reel of his first two season because he was protected by a wall. You had Ferreira who rarely ran forward. Then you had Carlvalho and Terry in the Centre. To top it off you had Gallas as left back and Makelele as the cdm. That’s pretty much a wall. I don’t even think Pete or VDS ever had a defensive structure like that around them.
Yeah let’s see how Cech would have done with our defence in front of him. I’m sure he probably would have suffered a brain injury having to play with Jones alone.

It’s crucial to note the likes of Cech, Seaman, big Pete and VDS had world class centre backs or pairings in front of them.

When you think of Pete then you think of Bruce, Pallistair and Stam. For Seaman you think Adams and Bould. Cech you had Terry and Carvalho. VDS had Vidic and Rio.

What has DDG had? Smalling, Jones and Rojo etc. Oh come on it’s not even a comparison.

So to say no PL keeper is fit to lace his boots is disrespectful. Much has been made about his first two seasons at Chelsea. But he was also protected by a wall in his first two seasons there. I would love to see a highlight reel of his first two season because he was protected by a wall. You had Ferreira who rarely ran forward. Then you had Carlvalho and Terry in the Centre. To top it off you had Gallas as left back and Makelele as the cdm. That’s pretty much a wall. I don’t even think Pete or VDS ever had a defensive structure like that around them.
Counter argument is that shit defenses make goalkeepers stand out
 

Web of Bissaka

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1. Schmeichel
2. VDS
3. De Gea

4. Seaman

5. ???

Yeah, pure bias. De Gea have the potential to raise to the top, his game can improve even more. VDS was impressive since before he joined us, his performance at Fulham is classy, just wow. I really don't get this lazy claim "VDS is only a top level keeper because of Rio-Vidic". Even before Vidic and Evra raised their game, VDS was already keeping our famous leaky defense back then tight and organized (season 05/06).

The fifth one is tough to say. As impressive as Cech and Courtois are, they had the advantage having 2-3 layers of walls protecting them at Chelsea. Tbh I think Cech is more impressive pre-injury (I both admired and feared him) than Courtois who is all-around just a darn solid keeper, nothing special. Cech is special before that. Given is also impressive at Newcastle, exposed defensively.

5. Cech/Courtois/Given.
 

SadlerMUFC

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5 is too short and leaves out some great keepers

De Gea
Pete
Cech
VDS
Seaman
James
Given
Reina
Friedel
Lehman

And a shout out to Craig Forrest. What can I say? I'm Canadian...
 
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Dancfc

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Yeah let’s see how Cech would have done with our defence in front of him. I’m sure he probably would have suffered a brain injury having to play with Jones alone.

It’s crucial to note the likes of Cech, Seaman, big Pete and VDS had world class centre backs or pairings in front of them.

When you think of Pete then you think of Bruce, Pallistair and Stam. For Seaman you think Adams and Bould. Cech you had Terry and Carvalho. VDS had Vidic and Rio.

What has DDG had? Smalling, Jones and Rojo etc. Oh come on it’s not even a comparison.

So to say no PL keeper is fit to lace his boots is disrespectful. Much has been made about his first two seasons at Chelsea. But he was also protected by a wall in his first two seasons there. I would love to see a highlight reel of his first two season because he was protected by a wall. You had Ferreira who rarely ran forward. Then you had Carlvalho and Terry in the Centre. To top it off you had Gallas as left back and Makelele as the cdm. That’s pretty much a wall. I don’t even think Pete or VDS ever had a defensive structure like that around them.
There seems to be this notion that if you overperform behind a shit defense that will automatically translate to performing amazing behind a good one. You could argue that DDG is better than all those keepers in terms of single handedly getting a battered team a result, but would he be as adept at making that one save after 89 minutes of doing nothing ? That's what made the likes of Cech and Schmeichel so special, to keep concentration after an hour or sometimes over a game of being a spectator. You may say DDG hasnt often been in that situation but when he is he hasn't shone like he does when constantly called upon, like for Spain or when Jose first came to United and the fans would complain of all these unlucky draws due to the opponent scoring with their only shot.

DDG is a top keeper, but to be considered in the Cech/Schmeichel category he needs to improve on that aspect (in my opinion).
 

Jippy

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I think there is a bit of age bias here. Seaman was up there with Schmeichel as the top two by far for years. I'm biased, but will accept that Seaman not being top five is a joke.
Peak Cech was phenomenal too.
 

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1. Schmeichel
2. De Gea
3. Cech
4. van der Sar
5. Seaman
 
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RochaRoja

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What what? He was bedrock of all those Chelsea defensive victories. I know of recency bias amongst fans but thats just not fair. Goalkeeping is not just shot stopping, its command of the area and thats where he has been one of the very top keepers in the world.
There were three eras of Čech in the PL

2004-2006 - Brilliant goalkeeper. Probably top 3 in the world.

2007-2013 - Very good but still a tier below his former self. Was great in the 2012 CL run but in general had lost the aura of invincibility.

2013-2019 - Not even a stand out keeper in the PL. A liability for Arsenal.
 

hasanejaz88

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1. Alisson
2. Ederson
3. De Gea
4. Schmeichel
5. Van Der Sar

... ... If you believe the tripe media these days.

Actually

1. Schmeichel
2. Cech
3. De Gea
4. Van Der Sar
5. Seaman

Really torn between Cech and De Gea for number 2. Cech can be there because though he is past his best now, we can't forget how high a level he played on when he first came into the league from 2004 till probably 2008, after which I think his decline started. Added to that, he has won more trophies than De Gea.

For De Gea, his shot stopping ability has been amongst the best ever seen in the prem but I still think he lacks a bit aerially where I don't see him dominate crosses as much as other to keepers. Also, he has only one premier league title though that obviously has more to do with the rest of the team than him.

Schmeichel though is a combination of the two, he had the amazingly high levels of both De Gea and Cech along with a bag of trophies.
 

FutbolFan

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There were three eras of Čech in the PL

2004-2006 - Brilliant goalkeeper. Probably top 3 in the world.

2007-2013 - Very good but still a tier below his former self. Was great in the 2012 CL run but in general had lost the aura of invincibility.

2013-2019 - Not even a stand out keeper in the PL. A liability for Arsenal.
Thats a fair assessment.
 

Adnan

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1.Schmeichel
2.Cech
3.Van Der Saar
4.DDG
5.Seaman

And I believe our defence would benefit more with Schmeichel now than DDG. Schmeichel was phenomenal and only Neuer at his peak was possibly better IMO.
 

BridgeBanter

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Can’t begrudge anyone who puts Pete and Dave 1-2 . However, I’d have Cech at worst 3rd (above VDS) because I believe he had a better peak (pre injury) even though they were both still elite and essentially equals between 07-12.
 

Raees

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Command of area, Handling, one v ones, concentration, distribution and shotstopping - those would be my 6 main technical attributes and in conjunction with their EPL/international performances ... top 5 keepers would be positioned as follows (based on peak):

1. Schmeichel - weakness was probably concentration as he was prone to a gaffe but he won more games than he lost and was such a leader. Distribution was good with hands not so much with feet.

2. Van der Sar - not the most spectacular but the most complete and timeless goalkeeper to grace the EPL. Only United keeper who’d play under guys like Pep and Klopp yet satisfy the orthodox classical goalkeeper brigade - technically so sound.

3. Cech - in his absolute prime, he was a colossus and looked set to compete with likes of Schmeichel - dazzled in Euro 2004 and performed like a Rolls Royce in EPL and CL - that injury pretty much destroyed him as a elite elite force and made him mortal and vulnerable. Only question mark I would have is command of area - he was fortunate to work for very well organised defensive side but in all other areas he was solid - his distribution was much better in his prime than it is now.

4. DDG - found wanting in distribution and command of area but is the best IMO when it comes to consistency of shot stopping and 1 v 1s. His international legacy is not secure at the moment but this may change in time and push him higher up the rankings.

5. Seaman - if it wasn’t for some very famous blunders he could put a claim forward to be higher up the list as he was a very complete goalkeeper bar modern day standard of distribution but he will have to settle for 5th as I don’t recall him having a god like reputation as De Gea has now though he was right up there in the 90s as best in the world candidate.
 

ship50

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1. Schmeichel
2. Van der Sarr
3. De Gea
4. Seaman
5. Cech
 

roonster09

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VDS should be in top 5, peak Cech was probably better but VDS at Cech's age signed for ManUtd (35 when he signed and Cech is 36 and announced retirement) and won 4 PL titles in 6 years, CL title and then 2 more finals.

He also made PFA team of the year 4 times, including his last season when he was 40 or 41.

UEFA team of the tournament when he was 38, UEFA club GK of the year when he was 39., nominated for FIFA 11 in all the 6 seasons he was at ManUtd (35-41).

The way he organised defense and relied on his positioning was unbelievable.

Not arguing he is better than Great Dane, Cech or anyone, just that what he achieved after 35 is just amazing.
 

GeorgieBoy

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Freidel would be first if this was based solely on performances against United.
 

PGLFC91

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Pepe Reina won 3 consecutive Golden Glove awards and at his very best would be top 5 imo.
 

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I wish that it had been a proper string one-after-another. Unfortunately it took us six years going through Bosnich, Taibi, Barthez, Howard and Carroll before we eventually got the right replacement with VDS.
Barthez HAHA the pants puller I forgot about him. He made me laugh! He always forgot the joke is only funny when you pull someone elses pants.
 

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Ederson
Hart
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Pow

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Think cech vds schmeichel are givens.
De gea will end up there for sure too.
Not too sure about the 5th seaman lehman were top keepers.
 

POF

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Schmeichel
De Gea
Cech
Southall
Van der sar

Southall’s best years were probably just before the Premier League but he was genuinely a top 3 in the world keeper at his best.