is Buffon the best

Best of all time is probably someone like Yashin, with Banks and Zoff a level below.

An aspect that is never spoken about regarding keepers is their distribution. Watching the Argentina-Chile game the commentator was praising Abbondanzieri's distribution ability - i.e when to kick, or throw in order to start a counter attack. Which goalkeepers do you think are particularly good at this?

Chilavert was easily the best "keeper" ever. i put quotes cuz he was hardly a keeper, he was just like a fatter, angrier, stronger robinson who scored from 60 yards out.

Thats one area I would really praise van Der Sar.

Cech is good at it as well.

Rogério Ceni is much better than Chilavert. BTW he scored much more fk goals than Chilavert. When I watch him live I just can't believe how good he is with his feet.

Back to the topic, don't forget that when Casillas got his first chance at Madrid he was an 18 yo boy and the club was playing very badly, Toshack was sacked, etc. He had a great performance against european champs Man Utd at Old Trafford and Bayern a few weeks later. He had to deal with much more pressure than Buffon at Parma.

Schmeichel? I am as far from being a ManU supporter as one can get, but I will insist nobody had his kind of presence under the bar. Very good distribution, was imho the best in 1-against-1 scenarios, great cross-stopper, and well, he got closest to any goalkeeper has ever gone to winning their national team a major championship by himself.
He did trail off a bit during the ManCity days... but a great player does not become bad because he chose to retire late...

If we are doing past goalkeepers as well, then Schmeichel is the best I've seen in terms of distribution. The amount of counter attacks he started was unreal. Throw out to Giggs or Kanchelskis and off we went.

We should make a thread on this, but with more than Scheichal and Buffon. Maybe listing the best five keepers you've ever seen, in order or something shall I ?

godof86 wrote:Schmeichel? I am as far from being a ManU supporter as one can get, but I will insist nobody had his kind of presence under the bar. Very good distribution, was imho the best in 1-against-1 scenarios, great cross-stopper, and well, he got closest to any goalkeeper has ever gone to winning their national team a major championship by himself.
He did trail off a bit during the ManCity days... but a great player does not become bad because he chose to retire late...

At times I actually thought he was unbeatable. The only keeper I have seen who I would back in a one on one situation. Some of the saves he made were incredible and his distribution was just as good.

And its not easy to make the Italy top 3 (at least not in the last 15 years)... ask De Sanctis or Cudicini!!

EMP wrote:

bluenine wrote:Pags was a legend

Bucci was the 3rd choice gk for Italy for a while, and even played a few games for Italy - I think thats what EMP is refering to, coz when Bucci was at his peak he got upstaged by a 17 yr old.

Deano Ashton wrote:

Cesc wrote:

Although I always thought Peruzzi and Pagliuca were the Italy goalkeepers at that time.

Great Keeper ...and I think you're right...I don't remember Bucci ever being first choice for Italy.

Exactly what I was referring to.

sheva7 wrote:Rogério Ceni is much better than Chilavert. BTW he scored much more fk goals than Chilavert. When I watch him live I just can't believe how good he is with his feet.

Back to the topic, don't forget that when Casillas got his first chance at Madrid he was an 18 yo boy and the club was playing very badly, Toshack was sacked, etc. He had a great performance against european champs Man Utd at Old Trafford and Bayern a few weeks later. He had to deal with much more pressure than Buffon at Parma.

well when Buffon become a regular, Parma were in a title fight with Juve that went down to the last day. Not like there wasnt any pressure there. You forgot to mention Casillas was dropped for a large period on 2002. Wouldnt ever see a coach dropping Buffon.

BoBo Vieri wrote:

sheva7 wrote:Rogério Ceni is much better than Chilavert. BTW he scored much more fk goals than Chilavert. When I watch him live I just can't believe how good he is with his feet.

Back to the topic, don't forget that when Casillas got his first chance at Madrid he was an 18 yo boy and the club was playing very badly, Toshack was sacked, etc. He had a great performance against european champs Man Utd at Old Trafford and Bayern a few weeks later. He had to deal with much more pressure than Buffon at Parma.

well when Buffon become a regular, Parma were in a title fight with Juve that went down to the last day. Not like there wasnt any pressure there. You forgot to mention Casillas was dropped for a large period on 2002. Wouldnt ever see a coach dropping Buffon.

he was dropped in the second half of 2001/2002 allthough i dont remember because i cant remember him doing bad then m maybe the other madrid posters can remember.

don't know about being the best ever, but he's currently the best in the world.