Why Mark Schwarzer could be the best Premier League Keeper.
by W.H.
In the English Premier League it always seems as if the “big four” are competing in their own division. 32 games into the season Manchester United, Liverpool, Arsenal, and Chelsea have each scored over 54 goals and allowed less than 28. All four are currently alive in the UEFA Champion's League quarterfinals. Three of them are standing tall in the FA Cup semifinals. They represent the best club teams in the world and carry more top-flight international talent on their rosters' than most of their English contemporaries. But the Premier League's top keeper may not belong to any of those clubs.
Residing in the nether regions of the EPL standings, the space in-between Europa League qualification and relegation where the “big four” do not tread, is Fulham. A London side with the second shortest combined tenure in the English soccer's top division behind 1st
Schwarzer may be Fulham's best international
Fulham doesn't have the as many world class forwards, mid-fielders, or defenders as the best of England. But they do have Mark Schwarzer in goal. Edwin van der Sar may have had the clean sheet streak, but he also has world class defenders in front of him like Rio Ferdinand, Nemanja Vidic, and Patrice Evra. Van der Sar leads the EPL with 18 clean sheets this season, followed by Pepe Reina (Liverpool), Petr Cech (Chelsea), and Manuel Almunia (Arsenal). But Schwarzer is close behind with 12 and has almost twice as many saves as Edwin. Against Manchester City on Sunday, Schwarzer deflected 4 shots to keep Fulham in contention for Europa next season with a 3-1 win. The previous week only he and the goalpost kept Fulham in the match against Liverpool, making 5 savesdespite the fact that Fulham's poor midfield quality led to seemingly the entire game being played in his half.
There are no exact measures in soccer for goalie performance other than goals allowed or wins, but the Premier League does use the Actim Index to measure player contributions, much like the use of sabermetrics measurements in baseball. Currently Schwarzer ranks 5th among goaltenders behind, of course, the keepers from the“big four”. However, Actim is heavily influenced by clean sheets, which in turn are usually determined by the quality of a team's defense as a whole. So Schwarzer could be penalized for making 5 saves to preserve a 1-0 loss, while van der Sar is rewarded for having 5 clean sheets where he didn't have to make a single save. If we were to use hockey goaltender measurements in soccer it could paint a better picture of the quality of Schwarzer's play. His goals allowed per game may be higher than the “big four”, but his save percentage would be at the top of the league.
|
Keeper |
Saves |
Save Pct |
Saves per Game |
GAA |
CS |
Adj CS |
Goals |
Games |
|
Van der Sar |
60 |
76.9% |
2.14 |
0.642 |
18 |
13 |
18 |
28 |
|
Reina |
75 |
78.1% |
2.34 |
0.656 |
17 |
14 |
21 |
32 |
|
Cech |
69 |
77.5% |
2.37 |
0.689 |
16 |
14 |
20 |
29 |
|
Almunia |
81 |
75.0% |
2.61 |
0.870 |
13 |
13 |
27 |
31 |
|
Schwarzer |
117 |
80.6% |
3.65 |
0.875 |
12 |
11 |
28 |
32 |
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