Whilst there is talk of a replacement for Lloris in the transfer thread it has got me thinking about the keepers I have seen at Spurs. I don’t think that there is much argument that Hugo is the best Goalkeeper that we have had in the premier league era. Going back to where I started with Spurs, Pat Jennings is without question the best we have had in the 50 odd years I have been following I know we have people here who go back to Bill Brown (and possibly before that), but that’s before my time. So Big Pat is number 1, where would Lloris place after him? In my opinion it would be hard to separate him and Ray Clemence as the next best, though I would probably just favour the Englishman. Between Clemence who must have retired in the late 80s (?) and Hugo we have had a lot of keepers many of whom were full internationals but very few that were consistently good. So if we were looking to compile our best 5 keepers since Jennings replaced Brown in the 60s who would be places 4 & 5 if you agree that the Jennings, Clemence and Lloris are 1 -3. I would have Robinson at 4 and Thorstvedt at 5.
At 32 I’ve only got memories of Premier League keepers so unfortunately can’t comment on the likes of Jennings and co. Lloris is by far the best I’ve seen and we’ve been lucky to have him as long as we have, I think during his first 6 or so years especially he could’ve easily put in a transfer request and joined just about any side in Europe with the exception of one or two such as Bayern who had/ have Neuer. In his prime years his reflexes were out of this world and his speed off his line was crazy. His only major downside was his kicking which even today is still woeful. After Lloris it’d probably be Robinson. He definitely had the best connection with fans and on the flip side to Lloris, had the best kicking of a keeper we’ve had. A shame he seemingly went downhill in his 4th season, the club were probably a bit ruthless and haste in practically binning him after that though and we could’ve perhaps stuck by him for another year to see if he’d recapture his form but Ramos and co felt otherwise. In third I’d say Friedel. It was only a brief stint as first choice as Lloris joined a year later and eventually displaced him but I felt on a free transfer and at about 40 years old, Friedel gave some real calmness to our backline after some erratic years with Gomes, still had very good reflexes for what you’d consider a grandad in footballing years and in general was a very good all round keeper to the point where the only downside to him was that we never signed him earlier. Helped us to fourth in that season but Chelsea just had to go and win the CL… ****ers. It’s hard for me to then differentiate those in 4th or 5th place, I was only about 7 when Thorstvedt retired and still a relatively young lad when we had the likes of Walker, Sullivan and Keller who I don’t really have too many memories of as to how good they were.
I liked Gomes there was something in his character that made him a popular player with the fans and at times as a shot stopper he was amazing the NLD that we won 2-1 he was immense, he also made one of the greatest saves I have ever seen unfortunately it was to keep out Malbranques shot in a Europa league (UEFA cup) game in Eindhoven(?). He also made Lloris look good with the ball at his feet!! Friedel is a good shout too, he was proper safe pair of hands and would be 6th on my list. I think the likes of Walker, Sullivan, and Keller were all much of a muchness and no better than the likes of Gazzaniga and Gollini, and Bobby Mimms well I will just park that and move on.
Gomes was brilliant and awful in equal measure, lol. Would pull off the most amazing saves then flap at a corner or let it through his hands… or on the rare occasion, knock out Corluka!
Think Clemence has been the best keeper in my time of going to Spurs although Lloris runs him close. Gomes produced the best keeping performance I have seen live with the NLD in April 2010. He made 3 world class saves in the second half. There was a save from a free kick from RVP then a save from RVP chesting the ball, turning and volleying it but the best was a save against a Judas header on to the bar. Shame he wasn't consistent
I think the keeper in the first live game I saw might have been Barry Daines. Thought I'd mention him as I don't think he will appear in this discussion otherwise!
I always thought Tony Parks was underrated....but he wouldn't feature in a top four of Jennings, Lloris, Clemence and Thorstvedt.
I think that we've been surprisingly lucky with keepers, barring Ian Walker. Even some of the less celebrated ones like Keller and Sullivan were fairly decent. Special mention for Ben Alnwick for being utter ****e in his few appearances, though.
Didn't he play for City in the effective CL play off game in 2010? Think they had a keeper crisis and got permission to sign one outside the transfer window
Marton Fulop was sent the other way in the deal that brought Alnwick to Spurs, funnily enough. Should've just kept him, for multiple reasons. Alnwick played for us 3 times, all in fairly big games and conceded 9 goals. The most memorable one was the semi-final 2nd leg of the League Cup in 2009. We led 4-1 from the first leg and they turned that round in normal time by making it 3-0. Pavlyuchenko and Defoe came to the rescue and we went on to lose to Cheating Man Utd in the final: Hilariously miserable music! The other two were a 2-1 FA Cup loss to Man Utd at Old Trafford and another loss to Burnley. Last day of the 09/10 season with 4th place secured and the possibility of third if Arsenal lost. Fulham rolled over for the filth and we blew a 2-0 lead to lose 4-2 to an already relegated side.
Difficult to look beyond Pat tbh...fellah had everything - strength, agility, awesome temperament and hands the size of shovels. Clemence was pure class and Brad Friedel was a quality act. We were lucky to get a couple of years out of him. Hugo arguably is 2nd in the list for me. Amazing keeper and shot stopper. But has some very high profile weaknesses that he has remarkably survived.
1 Jennings, 2 Lloris 3 Clemence 4 Robinson or Thorsvedt, loved Gomes but he could fall apart like a clowns car I saw bill Brown play but was too young to appreciate
Gomes could pull off saves that nobody else could, then drop a clanger a minute later. Made a couple of incredible stops in that Danny Rose game against Arsenal, for example. Ballsed it up against Chelsea and conceded a goal that didn't cross the line. Typical.
