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I read in an interview somewhere that since his head injury his eyesight hasn't been as good as it was, and that in spite of now wearing contacts he still has problems. This could explain sometimes going for crosses which you would normally expect him to get and then making a complete balls up. The fact that his mistakes are so rare makes them even more glaring.

He has the courage to not only continue diving at players' feet after 2 horrific head injuries, but also has the courage to face the press as he did last night and take the blame wholly on himself. What about the misses at the other end? What about the Czech left back and left midfielder allowing the Turkish wide right players to run rings around them? Didn't they also contribute to the loss? What about the general poor defending of the Czechs as the Turks poured forward in the last 15 minutes?

Personally, he'll always be my first choice as "best keeper in the world"

I personally reckon Sam is just having a laugh at Cech's expense.Had'nt of Cech been a Chelsea player,Sam would'nt of battered an eye lid.

Well, give it a few weeks and he can have a joke at the expense of Carvalho or Lampard with impunity

Marino is right. A defender, midielder, even a striker can make one mistake and pretty much get away with it. The goalie has nowhere to hide. Cech is the latest in a long line of excellent keepers vilified for one moment's lapse of concentration. Just last season, Robinson, Gordon, Green, Carson all suffered loss of confidence after rare errors. Even the Premiership's best stopper, David James, had an occasional slip.

They are human and make mistakes. Get over it.

If strikers were dropped every time they made a booboo, Berbatov, Rooney, Adebayor, Torres, Drogba etc would be needing medical attention to have the bench splinters removed from their botts.

[quote]Had'nt of Cech been a Chelsea player,[/quote]

Sorry to slip into Steve R mode but it's: 'Had Cech not been a Chelsea player', or, 'If Cech wasn't a Chelsea player'.

Actually, it has nothing to do with being a Chelsea player, or having a laugh at Cech's expense; it's more to do with winding you and Bob up, which, to be honest, is becoming so easy it's almost tiresome. I think Cech is a brilliant keeper, although I think Buffon just edges him for top-spot.

[quote]Sam would'nt of battered an eye lid.[/quote]

I can, in all honesty, say that I've never 'battered' an eyelid in my life - at least not specifically. I think you were looking for the word 'batted' and it's: 'wouldn't have' not 'would'nt of'.

'Wouldn't of' makes no sense whatsoever.

!happy!

I suppose it's swings & roundabouts, Carac.

Keepers do get bad treatment over every error but on the other hand, the keeper of a Championship winning team has less work to do than a team lower in the league. A Cech, or VDS may only have to make 3 or 4 crucial saves over a whole season to claim that winners medal, while their midfield counterparts, while making more mistakes, contribute much more over a full season to the teams position in the league.

Champs league final shootout aside, I don't think VDS is all that good. But with the BEST team in England AND Europe in front of him, he didn't need to be. He even went the wrong way for Terry's penalty and slipped for Lampard's goal. Not that it mattered in the end.....lol.

Very true about VDS---he didn't look likely to save any of the penalties in that match.

Agree with you about Buffon. Excellent goalie, and seems like a down to earth chappie.

Buffon does indeed seem like a nice chappie, Carac, but listening to the Guardian's podcast alerted me to something that made me sit up and take notice.

There are hints that he's also a fascist; pretty strong hints which this article touches on in more detail.

Takes nothing away from his goalkeeping skills mind....

!thumbsup!

True.Buffon was once a Juve 'Ultra' before his goalkeeping talents were discovered !laugh!

Aren't the Juve ultras anti-fascist? I thought they mocked the Lazio ultras (who most definitely are fascist).

Hmm, you learn something new every day.

The links between fascism and football in Italy are well documented. Lazio seem to be the worst, but I recall Fiorentina being fined a huge amount about 15 years ago when it was discovered the design of their shirts was made up of little swastikas.

As for Buffon, have to reserve judgment until he admits his true political colours. As a footballer, he is an excellent keeper and is usually down to earth and quite complimentary about other sides and players---a pleasant change from the arrogance of some (Terry, Lampard, Drogba all come to mind).