Six clean sheets in nine matches, it is something that you come to expect from Pepe Reina. Despite unluckily conceding a penalty to Keith Andrews last weekend, Reina’s performance in the match against Blackburn Rovers was once again immaculate. Always reliable, Reina is no doubt one of, if the not the best, goalkeeper in the Premier League and his abilities between the sticks will be crucial in the run in for fourth place. Anfield legend Alan Hansen has no doubt about the Spanish keeper’s abilities:
“Reina has been brilliant all season and is without a shadow of a doubt Liverpool’s player of the year. The great thing about him is his total and utter reliability. If you asked me what I’d want in a goalkeeper playing behind me at Liverpool, that would be what I’m looking for – total and utter reliability. Having a goalkeeper like Reina behind you gives the central defenders a huge amount of confidence.”
It is certainly a ringing endorsement from a person who is somewhat hard to please. A goalkeeper with the capabilities of Reina is hard to come by in any league in the world and it is an area I believe that Liverpool will have the edge over their rivals for fourth place in the last ten games of the season. Certainly Manchester City’s Shay Given is the closest in terms of ability to the Spaniard, but even he can make mistakes, such as against Stoke a couple of weeks ago. There are also big question marks over Tottenham and Aston Villa’s goalkeepers. Despite Heurelho Gomes dramatic improvement in form over the last year, he is still capable of the occasional mistake like the one against Everton last week. In regards to Villa’s goalkeeper Brad Friedel, he has definitely in the past been the league’s best goalkeeper but now at 38 years of age, certain frailties have crept into his game.
Out of all of them, I think most Premier League managers would take Pepe Reina every time. His consistency and assuredness against Blackburn was in stark contrast to his opposite number Paul Robinson, whose inexplicable decision to come out of his goal allowed Torres to finish with consummate ease to put the Reds 2-1 up at half-time. Considering Robinson has 41 caps for England and Reina only 19 caps for Spain, it says it all about English goalkeepers. Despite the fact that Robinson has suffered a dip in form in recent years, it doesn’t hide the dearth of talent in this country in that position. A fact that Hansen was also keen to highlight when praising Reina:
“The ironic thing is that England haven’t got a goalkeeper to take to the World Cup but Liverpool have got the best ‘keeper in the Premier League and he can’t get in the Spanish side. It’s crazy.”
How England could do with a keeper like Reina at the World Cup. Liverpool do possess him though and a keeper like him could be the difference between a draw or a loss, a win or a draw. Pepe could well save us many key points in the crucial run in for fourth. With his clean sheet record, Reina may just get the Barclays Golden Glove award for the fourth time in five seasons, a tremendous achievement, and with a new contract also on the horizon for the Spaniard, both will be well deserved.
