Premier League - Top 10 David James blunders

Eurosport - Fri, 05 Dec 19:27:00 2008

Following the much-maligned Portsmouth goalkeeper's latest costly clanger, you can't help but feel sorry for David James.

2008-2009 Portsmouth David James - 0

As capable of brilliance as he is of buffoonery, 'Calamity' James has helped keep D-list celebrities in work presenting football gaffes DVDs with over a decade of cock-ups to work with.

But, ever happy to kick a man when he's down, we present our 10 favourite Jamo howlers. Feel free to add your own in the comments section below:

December 4 2008

Wolfsburg 3-2 Portsmouth - UEFA Cup group stage

The latest in a long line of clangers, and one that will ensure the name Zvjezdan Misimovic will stay in the Pompey faithful's consciousness for a long time to come. As our match commentator put it: "DISASTER FOR POMPEY! It is a CALAMITY JAMES MOMENT. Distin plays the ball back to James and Wolfsburg's Misimovic half-heartedly chases the ball down. You would expect James to just boot it clear but he inexplicably side foots it straight to the Wolfsburg man who rounds him before tapping home. AWFUL mistake."

August 20 2008

England 2-2 Czech Republic - International Friendly

England's first match of the season was a chance to show how far they had come in their previous four matches under Fabio Capello, but it almost turned into a nightmare. With the Czechs 2-1 up on the hour mark, James came sprinting off his line but was beaten to the ball by Vaclav Sverkos who takes it round him. The Banik Ostrava striker had an open goal, but mercifully sliced his shot wide. James couldn't help but give an embarrassed chuckle, even if nobody else found it funny.

April 20 2008

Manchester City 3-1 Portsmouth - Premier League

Having beaten West Brom to reach the FA Cup final, Portsmouth then went on a dismal run of five matches without a win in the build-up to their Wembley showdown with Cardiff City. One of those matches came at one of James's old clubs, and it took just 11 minutes for a mix-up between him and Sol Campbell to allow Benjani to steal in, nick the ball and get it to Darius Vassell at the far post via Stephen Ireland for an easy tap-in, and City fans learned to love Joe Hart that little bit more.

August 17 2005

Denmark 4-1 England - International Friendly

England warmed up for their World Cup qualifiers with Wales and Northern Ireland in some style - recording their worst defeat in 25 years. It was all-square on the hour-mark in Copenhagen when James came charging out of goal to intercept a cross-field ball but Jon Dahl Tomasson kept his cool to beat him and set up Dennis Rommedahl for a tap-in that sent the Danes on their way to a resounding victory.

November 5 2005

Fulham 2-1 Manchester City - Premier League

With Stuart Pearce's City a goal down with full-time approaching, James came upfield for a late free-kick in order to mix it up a little. He managed to mix it up a lot as he first air-kicked an attempted volley before trying a Magic Johnson-style no-look reverse pass that initiated a Fulham break that ended with Tomasz Radzinski's scuffed shot being cleared off the line by Sun Jihai.

September 4 2004

Austria 2-2 England - World Cup Qualifier

One of the worst errors in his extensive back-catalogue, James gave Austrian football fans a night to remember in Vienna. After Frank Lampard and Steven Gerrard both scored to put England two goals ahead, Ronald Kollman's excellent 71st-minute free-kick looked to have given the home side their moment of joy. Then, just two minutes later, Andreas Ivanschitz's tame strike from distance should have been easy for James, but he somehow conspired to dive over the ball and see it sneak underneath him and into the net.

June 13 2004

France 2-1 England - Euro 2004

In truth, James can't be entirely blamed for the loss of the Euro 2004 opener, but when he brought down Thierry Henry after the France forward chased down Steven Gerrard's suicidal backpass and gave away an injury time penalty, it was one of the most depressing moments of England's very depressing recent history. Zinedine Zidane was visibly nauseous with nerves as he stepped up to take the spot-kick, but his strike completed the French comeback and caused English hearts to break once again.

January 1 2001

Chelsea 1-0 Aston Villa

Jamo continued his gaffe odyssey on the first day of 2001 when - with half-time approaching in a drab affair at Stamford Bridge - he blasted a routine clearance straight at Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink. The Dutch marksman needed no further invitation and he was at full stretch to send a looping effort goalbound that neither James nor Gareth Southgate could do anything about. Villa boss John Gregory said through gritted teeth afterwards: "I thought David had a great game. He can count himself unlucky to concede a goal in the way he did."

May 20 2000

Chelsea 1-0 Aston Villa - FA Cup final

James got his just reward for a virtually error-free season at Aston Villa by reaching his second FA Cup final, the last to be played at the old Wembley. However, he would have to wait another eight years to get his hands on the famous old trophy, as he palmed Gianfranco Zola's dead-ball cross from the left wing into the path of Roberto Di Matteo, who gratefully poked home the rebound for the only goal of the game.

April 19 1997

Liverpool 1-3 Manchester United - Premier League

This was a crunch match at Anfield, with leaders United taking on second-placed Liverpool. The game had already taken a turn for the odd as Gary Pallister of all people grabbed two first-half goals either side of John Barnes's equaliser, but the coup de grace came after the break when James presented Andy Cole with the ball and an empty net to kill off the match and Liverpool's title challenge. United went on the win the title, while Roy Evans's Liverpool finished fourth.

Tony Mabert / Eurosport

Comment 20 - 39 of 39

Sort comments by: Most recent

  1. You see Reina, Cech and Van Der Sar making errors and­ howlers often enough but they are paraded about my the­ English press. Sad...

    From Tadaia, on Tue 9 Dec 8:14PM

  2. Agreed dollar... I think that David James is an­ absolutely awesome keeper and one of my favorite­ alltime keepers. Many of his stops are like I've­ never seen. The twit that cooked up this slanderous­ article and the English press in general are a bunch of­ pathetic ingrates. England doesn't desrve a keeper­ like James. Perhaps they'd do better with Carson­ or Robinson. {{roll}}

    From Tadaia, on Tue 9 Dec 8:11PM

  3. After 4 attempts to have a properly worded and­ extremely valid comment refused as inappropriate, in­ line with Simon L - FU

    From Monty, on Sun 7 Dec 10:30AM

  4. must be a shame for manchester people who cant read­ when if you look he has cost villa a lot more apart­ from england he cost me money in the fa cup and also­ the league game when i had both games down for draws­ grrrrrrrr at least we have a great keeper in friedel­ now

    From pete the greek, on Sat 6 Dec 1:19PM

  5. Most of the top 10 can be accounted for by his gaffes­ in Liverpool v Man Utd games. Bless you David.

    From Graham P, on Sat 6 Dec 12:39PM

  6. I use correct English Grammar, spelled correctly, no­ swear words, and still i get invalid comment. what do­ you have to do to leave a comment? use text talk? FU

    From Simon L, on Sat 6 Dec 2:05AM

  7. this is the major problem with English press.... quick­ to make a meal of the mistakes made by players... has­ everybody forgotten that he is still the best english­ goalkeeper around? no wonder why english football is­ not moving forward at the international level...I­ believe that david james has not had enough support­ from the press during his career... this has ultimately­ cost the english team dearly in terms of qualifying for­ recent competitions.. I mean robinson had no business­ being England's no 1 in the first place!! I'm­ afraid if this continues.. the world cup trophy will­ continue to be to England what it has always been since­ 1966 i.e. an unrealistic dream.

    From akeem, on Fri 5 Dec 5:44PM

  8. yes totally agree David James is a very good goalkeeper­ but he is not great and has never been.He makes to many­ gaffs to be great but any club who are looking to sign­ a keeper who is going to be great should look no­ further than Alan Macgregor at Glasgow Rangers he is­ better than Craig Gordon and is going to be a truly­ great keeper if he keeps fit.And i am not a Rangers­ fan.

    From rueben.dalton, on Fri 5 Dec 5:43PM

  9. OMG, David James is not Suitable to be a professional­ Goalkeeper....In fact he is a Clown himself. I agree­ that human being commit mistakes...bUT not this Clown.­ He had been commiting schoolboys mistake over and over­ again and it's not accepted in a League that is­ World standard. Common Portsmouth, find someone in this­ January and put this Clown in a Circus!!

    From marcusruud, on Fri 5 Dec 5:42PM

  10. David 'Calamity' James or is it Dave­ 'Flaper' James has always been the same why­ don't Cappello put Green in goal for England OK Im­ not a West Ham fan Im a Liverpool fan without Green in­ goal on Monday Liverpool would of won yes they missed a­ few & didn't play that well but Green saved­ West Ham so come on Cappello give Green a chance he is­ better the David 'Calamity' James anyday.

    LFC­ for the League & Champions League Cup this season.

    From Tony, on Fri 5 Dec 5:22PM

  11. David 'Calamity' James or is it Dave­ 'Flaper' James has always been the same why­ don't Cappello put Green in goal for England OK Im­ not a West Ham fan Im a Liverpool fan with Green in­ goal on Monday Liverpool would of won yes they missed a­ few & didn't play that well but Green saved­ West Ham so come on Cappello give Green a chance he is­ better the David 'Calamity' James anyday.

    LFC­ for the League & Champions League Cup this season.

    From Tony, on Fri 5 Dec 5:12PM

  12. Darren and Ken, like Yahoo give two hoots about you not­ using them.....

    From PinHead, on Fri 5 Dec 5:09PM

  13. as a man city fan i always had more faith in david­ james when the opposition had the ball.Overall he was­ fantastic for city

    From tony0ldbury, on Fri 5 Dec 4:57PM

  14. Robinson is better in curent form than David James so­ why did Capello put Carson and James on against Germany­ instead of him?????????????

    From dianesellars, on Fri 5 Dec 4:36PM

  15. yahoo what a bunch of yank idiots no idea about­ football or david jame hav now changed my home page to­ HOTMAIL and deleted my email account

    From Darren A, on Fri 5 Dec 4:22PM

  16. ok so lets stop listening to Pink Floyd or Oasis or the­ Beatles or the Stones, most of what they did was­ awesome but a small percentage was @#$%. theyre still­ legends. if the price you pay for awesome 98% of the­ time is a few fluffs here and there...GOOD. better than­ being an average keeper each week, one who NEVER pulls­ off the magic saves James has this season so far.

    From Jim, on Fri 5 Dec 4:12PM

  17. David is a fantastic keeper and worthy of playing for­ England anyday. Mistakes are a part of the game, and­ made by everyone. On balance his errors are far far far­ outnumbered by excellent keeping, team organising,­ morale boosting etc. This so called report, and­ disparaging comments against professionals like David­ are shameful.

    From freddyholmes45, on Fri 5 Dec 4:11PM

  18. All these people feeling sorry for him... The man is a­ multi-millionaire; he's proved you can be as­ consistent as an old dear's bladder and still earn­ thousands of pounds a week. Get a grip!

    From miniroll32, on Fri 5 Dec 4:05PM

  19. his a human of course he make mistakes, least his no­ paul robsion god bless.

    From screw.zombies, on Fri 5 Dec 3:22PM

  20. WHY DONT YOU MUPPETS GET A LIFE AND LEAVE THE GUY­ ALONE. HE IS A REALLY GOOD EXAMPLE TO SOME OF THE OTHER­ OVERPAID PRIMA DONNAS IN THE PREMIER LEAGUE. A GOOD­ PROFESSIONAL WHO DOESNT GO FALLING AROUND P*****D ALL­ OVER THE PLACE AND SNORTING DRUGS UP HIS NOSE. OH SORRY­ YOU SADDOS WOULD PROBABLY LOVE HIM IF HE DID. INSTEAD­ OF SLAGGING HIM OFF FOR THE TOP TEN MISTAKES HES MADE­ WHY DONT YOU DO AN ARTICLE ON THE TOP 5000 BRILLIANT­ SAVES HES MADE. MOST OF YOU WHO ARE TAKING THE P**S­ HAVE PROBABLY ONLY SEEN HIM PLAY ON THE TV. I WATCH HIM­ EVERY WEEK AND HE IS QUALITY, HE HAS EARNT US AT LEAST­ 30 POINTS SINCE HE HAS BEEN PLAYING FOR US SO MAYBE YOU­ IDIOTS CAN TELL ME WHICH ONE OF YOUR KEEPERS CAN MATCH­ THAT.TRY TAKING A LOOK ROUND AND SEE WHO YOU WOULD­ RATHER HAVE PLAYING FOR ENGLAND AT PRESENT AND DONT­ COME UP WITH THE CURRENT UNDERSTUDIES AS THEY HAVE ALL­ MADE JOKE MISTAKES WHEN GIVEN THEIR CHANCE SO FAR. THIS­ ABUSE OF DAVID JAMES IS NOW BORING AND GETTING BEYOND A­ JOKE AND BY THE WAY APART FROM THE MISTAKE LAST NIGHT­ HE ALSO SAVED A PENALTY WHICH STRANGELY ENOUGH I­ HAVEN'T HEARD MENTIONED. IN CONCLUSION IF HE REALLY­ IS THAT BAD WHY ARE THERE 10 CLUBS REPORTEDLY TRYING TO­ SIGN HIM IN THE TRANSFER WINDOW??????????????

    From KEN C, on Fri 5 Dec 3:20PM
Sort comments by: Most recent

Not already a Yahoo! user ? to get a free Yahoo! Account