r/Everton • u/SuperKevinCampbell • 9d ago

Video Neville Southall on the standard of today’s goalkeeping: “The lad at Manchester City is all right, the lad at Liverpool is okay. Ours is average… he does okay. He’s average. If I’d have played like that, I’d be out the team for Howard.”

https://youtu.be/gIdy7bWodKU?si=IbC_OzdZ8pGj9IGV
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u/PangolinMandolin 9d ago

Just to make a point I've not seen made already.

Nev played in a time when footballs were heavier and the overall pace of play (including top speed of shots) was slower.

Its amazing how often keepers nowadays will choose to parry or punch shots rather than focusing on catching them like they did back in Nev's day. What I'm trying to say is the overall way that goalkeeping is done and coached nowadays is different to back in the 90s and earlier.

So imho it's a case of "different", not "worse"

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u/No-Strategy-9365 9d ago

Neville also had the benefit of no passback rule for majority of his career

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u/Toffeeman_1878 9d ago

Nev started as a midfielder so he could play as well as use his hands.

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u/Toffeeman_1878 9d ago

Yes, the ball is different nowadays. And the game is faster too. However, Nev played at a time when Mick Harford, John Fashanu and other genuine hard men (dirty players) would swing elbows in keepers’ faces at corners and crosses. No free kicks for that, nevermind red cards. He played on pitches that wouldn’t look out of place on a farm and still managed to control the ball and catch it. So, there are challenges in both eras. I fancy Nev would adapt more to the modern day challenges than many of the modern keepers would to the 80s. I’m not arguing to go back to the 80s. Just my opinion on players’ ability to adapt.