I remember Shay’s Dad once tell a story about his own goalkeeping heroics with the story going something like:
“We were beaten 7:1 but I was carried off the pitch as a hero because I stopped at least 10 more from going in!”.
I think the same can be said of Shay yesterday against Liverpool. It wasn’t 7:1 but it very nearly was. I think Shay again showed his ability to the watching world. I’ve woken up this morning to the usual ‘Shay’s going to Arsenal’ emails and headlines, but I doubt if there’s any truth in that. It’s in my opinion the Newspapers way of saying “Hey, this man Shay Given needs to be at a club where he wins something, etc.”.
Knowing Shay, he would have preferred to have won 1:0 and been totally in the background and had all three points. Stephen Gerard said on Shay’s performance:
“We have threatened a scoreline like this for a while. We have had a lot of chances in certain games but not been clinical enough in front of goal.
“This time we were — and we could have had a lot more. But Shay Given is a world-class keeper and made some tremendous stops.”
Joe Kinnear Newcastle’s Manager backed up Stephen Gerrard’s comments adding:
“”If there’s one positive, Shay’s proved he’s the best goalkeeper in the league by a mile.”
January 2nd, 2009 at 22:22
Saint Séamus should have got 11 out of 10. An if it’s true that he’s had enough of our muppet show and wants to finish his career at a decent club I do fully understand it and wish him the best of luck. If anyone deserves it, it’s SuperShay. True Toon hero. Legend. Thank you Séamus.
January 22nd, 2009 at 19:01
I watched some of the highlights of the match on BBC after the game. The commentator was saying things like, “Liverpool 0, Given 0″ and “here’s the latest (save)”.
A truly superb performance from the best goalkeeper in the Premiership.