England watch - Chris Kirkland
Chris Kirkland - the world's best?
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Wednesday, 01, Nov 2006 03:37
A brief look through the length of reigns goalkeepers tend to exact over the England number one jersey immediately alludes to the fact that a quality shotstopper is hard to dislodge - see Gordon Banks, Peter Shilton, David Seaman, the list goes on.
Paul Robinson, at 27 years of age and with 31 caps behind him already, is beginning to show signs that he too is developing the same sort of stranglehold over the ill-coloured national team jersey, even if he is partial to the odd bit of slapstick now and again.
But what if "freak" bounces continue to arise for Robbo and what if David James-style calamities return to haunt the Spurs custodian? Would the England goal be placed in safe hands? Yes, frankly, they would be.
Name: Chris Kirkland
Position: Goalkeeper
Club: Wigan Athletic
Age at start of South Africa 2010: 29
Wigan Athletic manager Paul Jewell described Chris Kirkland last week as a "world-class" keeper, a description that abounds around Premiership players as frequently as champions Chelsea suffer injustice at the hands of referees, arguably.
Of course, the Latics boss had to say this. He had just persuaded his non-too-affluent board to splash out however many millions on bringing a player in from Liverpool more used to treatment tables than league tables.
But there is some degree of truth in what Jewell said. When fit, Kirkland really is one heck of a goalkeeper. He is possibly more talented, certainly more agile, and more energetic than Robinson and at 25 still has ten more years of top-flight football to give.
The trouble is he seems to suffer from the Jonny Wilkinson post-World Cup syndrome whereby he simply cannot stay fit and healthy for longer than it takes Robinson to pick up his hourly chicken pie takeaway.
Indeed, since bursting on to the scene at Coventry in 1997, Kirkland has played barely 70 league matches - 24 of them at the Sky Blues led to a £6 million switch to Liverpool where just 25 matches later he found himself farmed out at West Brom and then Wigan.
His permanent move to the JJB last month could, however, have signalled the turning of the tide. Ten games this season already, including his debut for England in the one-sided friendly against Greece in August, have started people talking. And well they should.
Kirkland, who has shades of Edwin van der Sar and not purely because of his build, has been backed to be a major player in world football and not just by an ever hopeful Jewell.
With the poor Petr Cech sidelined indefinitely through injury and the world's second best goalkeeper, Gianluigi Buffon, playing in Italy's second division, the mantel of the world's best goalkeeper is very much up for grabs. Kirkland is by no means there yet but he is one of the few who could be there. All he need do is stay fit.
England's 2010 World Cup squad
*Players in bold - tickets to South Africa booked already
Goalkeepers
Paul Robinson
Possibles: Chris Kirkland, Ben Foster, Rob Green, Scott Carson
Defenders
John Terry, Ashley Cole, Rio Ferdinand, Jamie Carragher
Possibles: Glen Johnson, Joleon Lescott, Micah Richards, Ledley King, Michael Dawson, Anton Ferdinand, Leighton Baines, Justin Hoyte, Curtis Davies, Wes Brown, Phil Bardsley, Michael Mancienne
Midfielders
Steven Gerrard, Frank Lampard, Owen Hargreaves, Joe Cole, Michael Carrick
Possibles: Aaron Lennon, Tom Huddlestone, Nigel Reo-Coker, Lee Cattermole, Shaun Wright-Phillips, Stewart Downing, Giles Barnes, James Morrison, Kieran Richardson
Forwards
Wayne Rooney, Michael Owen
Possibles: David Nugent, Theo Walcott, James Vaughan, Gabriel Agbonlahor, Jermain Defoe, Peter Crouch, Darren Bent, Dean Ashton, Cameron Jerome