The Demise of Robert Green

Robert Green is the once talked about permanent problem to the England number 1 jersey since it was vacated by David Seaman those many years ago. So many before him had tried and failed such as Paul Robinson, Scott Carson and David James. Green managed to battle through and he got the backing of Fabio Capello in receiving the starting goalkeeping place in the 2010 World Cup in South Africa. He was having a good season with West Ham and worked hard to beat off the stiff competition for the start between the sticks. Then it went downhill from there...



This was the moment that changed it all for the highly rated goalkeeper.

I was sat in South Africa in a room full of football fans and a few Americans too, feeling confident and getting ready for a positive World Cup campaign for England. It started so brightly until that moment of horror that caused a ridiculous amount of expletives from my mouth, my hands having to cover my hugely embarrassed face and the look of complete humiliation (and this was just a fan). Robert Green had spilled a very tame effort from Clint Dempsey making the game 1 all. Afterwards, Green was vulnerable throughout the whole game, looking incredibly nervous during every defensive passage of play. This was it for his World Cup and he was quickly replaced by David James for the rest of the World Cup campaign.



Green got absolutely hammered by the English Press for this mistake and he had to forget about it quick and focus on a big season with West Ham. The question was could he do this?
Now there is no doubting that Green had a reputation amongst everyone in the game for being a terrific shot stopper. But we all know the key to being a top class keeper is, CONSISTENCY. This is what separates the men from the boys between the sticks. Goalkeepers like Van der Saar and Cech have shown that consistency week in week out and puts them above other keepers.
Green started the season very very shaky and he made a lot more crucial mistakes in the West Ham goal last season, costing the team plenty of points along the way. He conceded 69 league goals in 37 appearances last year, and along with the poor west ham defence, he was a big reason why West Ham ended up getting relegated.

There were a few clubs mentioned throughout the summer who were linked with getting Rob Green back into the premier League, but not surprisingly none of them have come to fruition. What could he offer a team in the premier League? In my opinion he would cause defences a lot of problems with his uncertainty and his lack of confidence would breed throughout the whole team.
Will he do better in the Championship? I think a goalkeeper with no confidence will struggle in whatever division he plays in.

Today, Rob Green has proved in my opinion that he is a complete shadow of the goalkeeper we saw 18 months ago. He let a late Kenny Miller shot get through his hands, which goalkeepers 99 out of a 100 I believe would have palmed it away. It is a complete demise of a promising goalkeeper with a big future ahead of him. Although, extremely surprisingly, Fabio Capello has called up Green for his International squad for a friendly against Holland. It beggars belief.