Just to throw something into the mix...........
Before the backpass rule was changed in the early 90's (?) a goalkeeper was basically a shot stopper, claimed any ball that came into the 6 yard box and kicked the ball from hand as far as he could. Nowadays they have to be all round good footballers and some are better than others. Last night i watched MOTD for the first time this season and Mingalet (spelling), De Gea and a few others all had trouble controlling the ball from back passes and struggled to get the ball out of the area. The Saints keeper dropped a routine cross and managed to drop on the ball before it crossed the line. McCarthy at Palace pushed the ball straight to the Man City lad to score instead of holding onto the ball he parried it. The point is all keepers drop clangers and because it leads to a goal or penalty or panic they are castigated for it, whereas if a striker, Austin for instance, clatters a shot against the woodwork instead of scoring (Spurs last season springs to mind) he is unlucky........
Also having played in goal myself donkeys years ago, I think that the gloves the keepers wear today are part of the problem as they look so thick that they can not possibly feel the ball which may explain why so many shots are parried these days when previously the keeper would have held onto the shot.....don't know if that has any bearing on anything but its a theory i have.......
Anyway Ned maybe should have put the ball in Row Z.......