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12 best goalkeepers in Scotland right now


skygod

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As voted by members of The Terrace Scottish Football Podcast.

The first thought was ‘is there 12 goalkeepers good enough for the list?’. Of course, in the end there were, but with no representation from the Championship, Ross County or Dundee. Last year the top three were Craig Gordon, Joe Lewis and Tomas Cerny. None of those three have enjoyed as strong a campaign but there is a few new entries with the second tier of goalkeepers impressing and the general standard across the top tier being ‘okay’.

Note: Putting these lists together is a fine balancing act, with current form, potential and previous seasons taken into consideration. Debate and criticise the selections at your leisure.

12. Scott Bain (Dundee/Hibs/Celtic)
11. Alan Mannus (St Johnstone)
10. Gary Woods (Hamilton Academical)
9. Freddie Woodman (Aberdeen)
8. Tomas Cerny (Partick Thistle)

7. Jamie MacDonald (Kilmarnock)

The 31-year-old’s days at Rugby Park had seemed numbered. He was dropped for Freddie Woodman towards the end of last season then watched on as Killie signed former favourite Cammy Bell before the summer transfer window shut. It is testament, therefore, to MacDonald’s ability to get his head down and work his way back into the team and perform to a high standard when he is there.

He has done just that this season. Under both Lee McCulloch and Steve Clarke he has performed to a high standard. At one point this season MacDonald, it could be argued, was the best goalkeeper in the league. He had a whole portfolio of spectacular saves or crucial interventions to earn Killie points. There was a swift rebuke of Esmael Goncalves in a 2-1 over Hearts, an unbelievably strong wrist to thwart Josh Windass in a 1-1 draw at Ibrox or a reflex denial of a goalbound Kenny McLean volley.

Last season he was dropped unfairly, even if Woodman impressed. But there was no chance the same fate would befall him this season. It will likely be MacDonald’s favourite campaign since moving to Rugby Park. He has been one of the busiest keepers in the last few years but his shots against per 90 minutes as fallen from 5.58 to 4.03 since 2015/2016, while goals conceded per 90 has fallen from 1.64 to 1.21 in the same timeline. It us understandable then that no longer cuts such a disconsolate figure at times.

Best moment: His injury-time penalty save at Ibrox. It kept the scores at 1-0 and allowed Kilmarnock to go up the other end and snatch an equaliser deep into stoppage time.

What the stats say: Only Ross County’s Scott Fox (10) has conceded more headed goals than Jamie MacDonald (8).

6. Ofir Marciano (Hibs)
5. Trevor Carson (Motherwell)
4. Wes Foderingham (Rangers)
3. Jon McLaughlin (Hearts)
2. Joe Lewis (Aberdeen)
1. Craig Gordon (Celtic)

(Joel Sked, Scotsman)

https://www.scotsman.com/sport/football/competitions/premiership/the-12-best-goalkeepers-in-scottish-football-right-now-1-4392988

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Its been a long time since certain people were insisting that our management team were certain to bin Jamie Mac as our number one and we all waited for the announcement to that effect but what happened they decided to give Jamie a contract extension which means one of two things either they don't know who is a good goalkeeper or certain individuals don't makes you wonder eh?

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1 hour ago, Bbk said:

Its been a long time since certain people were insisting that our management team were certain to bin Jamie Mac as our number one and we all waited for the announcement to that effect but what happened they decided to give Jamie a contract extension which means one of two things either they don't know who is a good goalkeeper or certain individuals don't makes you wonder eh?

Name names buddy. Lets get them telt. 

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6 hours ago, fraz65 said:

0Why does every one of these "top 12 players" threads have people criticising the Rangers inclusions?

Maybe because they play for a team with a large proportion of disgusting, bigoted, self entitled sectarian fans (many of whom have been to Ipox less than many of us) Maybe it has something to do with Scottish sports journalists (I use that term loosely) having to include anything that pertains to The Rangers to curry favour with these digusting fans to try and sell print or digital media and maybe also the fact that the aforementioned players are not very good.

They finished third top in Scotland, so logic would dictate that they have some of the best players in each position. 

Or maybe logic dictates that many teams below (and one above them) them treated them like a previous dead club and gave them far too much respect instead of actually having a right go at them, thereby allowing them to amass points they might not have won. Or maybe some inept or corrupt referees handing out some dubious decisions but I might be a bit of a conspiracy theorist there. Anyway try to name one of their players that could oust any one of our first team players in any position, i can't think of one. 

 

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3 hours ago, fraz65 said:

Do you think that your intrinsic bias against Rangers might be clouding your judgement of their players somewhat?

 

ha ha no my judgment, based on 50 plus years of experience of Rangers and THE (new) RANGERS is sound. Do you think any one of their players are better than what we have at the moment?

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19 hours ago, fraz65 said:

Why does every one of these "top 12 players" threads have people criticising the Rangers inclusions? 

Just a thought - because we all fkn hate "THE" with a passion and their players are only on the list so that their cretinous fans don't fire bomb the reporter's house?

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1 hour ago, Mark Robertson said:

ha ha no my judgment, based on 50 plus years of experience of Rangers and THE (new) RANGERS is sound. Do you think any one of their players are better than what we have at the moment?

They must have had a better manager then to be getting better results from inferior players. 

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2 hours ago, Mark Robertson said:

ha ha no my judgment, based on 50 plus years of experience of Rangers and THE (new) RANGERS is sound. Do you think any one of their players are better than what we have at the moment?

Based on our respective league positions and the second half at Ibrox, I would say that several of their players are better than ours. 

Do you think we would be a poorer side with Jamie Murphy and JJ either side of Boyd or Erwin? 

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4 hours ago, fraz65 said:

Based on our respective league positions and the second half at Ibrox, I would say that several of their players are better than ours. 

Do you think we would be a poorer side with Jamie Murphy and JJ either side of Boyd or Erwin? 

Name the players you would select from Rangers and who they would replace in the Killie side. I'm curious.

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5 hours ago, fraz65 said:

Based on our respective league positions and the second half at Ibrox, I would say that several of their players are better than ours. 

Do you think we would be a poorer side with Jamie Murphy and JJ either side of Boyd or Erwin? 

Honestly??? You think several of their players are better than ours? Name names from them and us. Our last game against them looked like our players were tired or switched off as the end of season was looming and we allowed them too much space as we dropped deeper, even then it took a lucky goal to finally beat us. You are starting to sound like a hun without the bus fare

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9 hours ago, Bullitt said:

Name the players you would select from Rangers and who they would replace in the Killie side. I'm curious.

I'm fairly sure that Steve Clarke could get Ryan Jack back to the level he was playing at a couple of seasons ago. 

A fit Graham Dorrans would walk into any SPL side. 

I've already mentioned Jamie Murphy and Candeias has the most direct assists in the SPL. 

Admittedly though, the only Rangers games I've seen have been against us, so I don't have much to base the above on. 

Edited by fraz65
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9 hours ago, Mark Robertson said:

Honestly??? You think several of their players are better than ours? Name names from them and us. Our last game against them looked like our players were tired or switched off as the end of season was looming and we allowed them too much space as we dropped deeper, even then it took a lucky goal to finally beat us. You are starting to sound like a hun without the bus fare

I thought this was a light hearted debate. I'm not going to respond to personal insults Mark. 

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12 hours ago, Bullitt said:

Name the players you would select from Rangers and who they would replace in the Killie side. I'm curious.

Interestingly, Tavernier has the equal highest assists total for the SPL season with 8, three more than SOD and twice as many as JJ but I already know your thoughts on him as a player.

https://www.statbunker.com/competitions/MostAssists?comp_id=590

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Tavernier is good coming forward but the stats for him that would make more interesting reading us the number of goals Sevco have conceded down his side of the pitch. He frequently gets caught out of position and he is poor tackler. A decent wing back but not a full back to be played in a flat back four. 

There are very few Sevco players I would take over a Killie player at the moment - probably the fewest in the past 50 years. You mentioned Dorrans - there is no doubt he has been a good player but at Sevco he has been largely ineffective because of injury and poor form. Murphy, Candeias and McCrorie are about the only other three but none have been consistently good this season. Arfield might prove to be what they need in the middle of the park to stop getting hammered by Celtic. 

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