Who’s on the plane? : Part One

With England now heading to Euro 2012 as world beaters, CollinsBeans starts to look at who will squeeze themselves into one of the coveted seats on the plane. Part One starts with that most endangered of species, the England Goalkeeper

With England now heading to Euro 2012 as world beaters, CollinsBeans starts to look at who will squeeze themselves into one of the coveted seats on the plane. Part One starts with that most endangered of species, the England Goalkeeper

So let’s start at the top with the men between the sticks. It’s reassuring that for once England (well if recent tournaments is anything to go by) has a bona fide Number One. The fact he’s a damn good one too means that Joe Hart has the Goalkeeper position sewn up as well as the first seat on the plane. After the Manchester City man I’m afraid though things go downhill, and fast.

In a perfect world, everyone eligible for an England shirt would come June be fit, firing and ready to go. In an ideal world however we wouldn’t have to worry about the fact that half of the ‘keepers eligible to wear the three lions don’t want to play for them. If they were available for selection and fancy ending their self imposed exiles, then for me, you would probably have both Ben Foster and Paul Robinson as your backup and backup’s backup respectively. I’d certainly have Foster at any rate, but this squad is being picked in reality rather than fantasy (not that I’d ever want to call Paul Robinson a ‘fantasy pick’) so I’m afraid that as it stands both are out.

The main reason that both have dropped out of contention is due in large part to the level of criticism that seems to have come with being an England goalkeeper. Two men who know how that feels are Rob Green and Scott Carson. Even though I applaud his desire to prove himself and grow as a professional my moving to Turkey, I’m afraid that Carson is still rubbish and a complete liability. He is not on my plane. We all know what happened when he got there, but prior to the World Cup, Green was looking decent for England and even though he currently plies his trade in the Championship I’d take him as my Number Two.

Leaving one spot, and talking of the Championship, is David Stockdale (on loan at Ipswich from Fulham) really one of the best England ‘keepers out there?! Really??? I’ve also see a lot of the U21 custodians Frank Fielding and Scott Loach and I don’t think either in any way live up the hype. So for spot number three, let’s think a little bit different and go for a solid and decent keeper playing every week in the Premier League; John Ruddy of Norwich.

Goalkeepers: Joe Hart (Manchester City), Robert Green (West Ham), John Ruddy (Norwich City)