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 1 - 19 of 39

Sort comments by: Most recent
  1. James is a good shot stopper but he scares me when­ playing for England. Bring on Joe Hart

    From ken.treherne1, on Fri 5 Dec 11:17PM
  2. i dont care what mistake he has made, what i know is­ that, he is still a good goalkeeper. and how come clubs­ havent realised how quality Joe Hart is !

    From victor, on Fri 5 Dec 10:57PM
  3. mistakes make you human deal with it

    From robday991, on Fri 5 Dec 10:52PM
  4. couldn't be as bad as Robinsons "air­ swing" against Croatia
    it used to be that we­ laughed at scottish keepers, now they laugh at ours

    From Nicholas, on Fri 5 Dec 10:49PM
  5. Mmm I see that there are plenty of David James mistakes­ here, (a joy to watch I can assure you) but aren't­ we all forgetting another calamitous culprit?? I think­ Paul Robinson (another keeper who keeps getting the­ chance to represent his long suffering­ country!)souldn't go unnoticed! Afterall this is­ the same gaffe prone former Leeds and Spurs keeper, who­ is currently at Blackburn. His (slightly confused)­ manager Paul Ince claims that he has the best keeper in­ the league! a slightly outragious claim considering­ that the error prone keeper has played 13 games so far­ this season, conceeding 28 goals and keeping a mere 2­ clean sheets!
    I feel that it is time that someone far­ more capable is giving the gloves for England... Over­ to you Fabio Capello.

    From Scott, on Fri 5 Dec 10:38PM
  6. Pompey's best goalkeeper ever. A brilliant blocker,­ diver, catcher, distributor, team motivator and fitness­ fanatic. His "ventures" off his line ususally­ enables the defence to play further forward. He should­ be playing abroad where his qualities would be more­ appreciated but one thing is for sure- no supporters in­ UK will appreciate him more than we Pompey fans. Stay­ with us forever David.

    From Darby, on Fri 5 Dec 10:26PM
  7. strikers make loads more mistakes than keepers, its­ just that theirs are not normaly so costly or blatent.

    From casabella.int, on Fri 5 Dec 10:26PM
  8. one of the best keepers in the world on reaction, shot­ stopping and catching...give him time to think, he­ makes silly mistakes. his defenders and managers should­ have realised this by now

    From boothebigrad, on Fri 5 Dec 10:20PM
  9. what about the FA CUP FINAL 1996 LIVERPOOL 0-1 MAN UTD ­ flappy mac flapperson, he palms the ball from a corner­ to eric cantona of all people in the dieing moments of­ the game!!!

    From bigmelacha, on Fri 5 Dec 10:17PM
  10. Comment hidden due to its low rating. Show

    He kind of sums up the English football over the last­ ten years, a bunch of overated, overhyped, overpriced,­ talentless muppets. Cappello I wish you luck

    From Manicman, on Fri 5 Dec 10:14PM
  11. Fair comments - but you have to say his card is now­ marked forever - poor bloke. Would like to hear of an­ English keeper who has consistently played better over­ the last 3 seasons though? - Anyone?

    Wouldn't­ swap him for anyone in Britain except Reina or Cech­ (pre-injury). Would rather have him in goal for­ England too than anyone else - why was Carson picked­ ahead of him for the Croatia game, when it took McClown­ nearly a year to pick James for the squad (as­ Robinson's confidence plummeted), then he picks the­ youngster ahead of him (!).

    Maybe did England a favour­ in the long run though! (Saved us more umbrella­ moments...)

    From coshampompey, on Fri 5 Dec 10:08PM
  12. He is Englands Number 1 for a reason boys!

    From justin_payne23, on Fri 5 Dec 10:05PM
  13. i can honestly say I would want no-one else in goal for­ Pompey. It is gonna be a sad day when he moves on. Sure­ he can have his moments but 98% of the time you know­ you have got the best keeper in the world between the­ sticks, by the corner flag, wherever he may be!!! All­ this uproar is just ridiculous.

    From justin_payne23, on Fri 5 Dec 10:02PM
  14. and spurs want to sign him lo lol lol lol lol lol lol­ lol

    From Gregg, on Fri 5 Dec 10:02PM
  15. As a Pompey fan I've grown to stomach these gaffes­ and focus on his better goalkeeping moments.

    From The Northerner, on Fri 5 Dec 10:02PM
  16. Always known him as Dracula - cause he's scared of­ crosses

    From dellboy_147, on Fri 5 Dec 9:36PM
  17. CALAMITY James!!!!!

    From vimalinm, on Fri 5 Dec 9:29PM
  18. I think you're forgetting a few other famous­ Gaffes, like the '96 cup final (A carbon copy of­ the 2000 final except with Cantona profiting), a ­ similar effort against Notts Forrest the season before­ (making Stan Collymore look good to Roy Evans and­ parting with 8m to get him, thanks Jamo!) and about­ half a dozen other bloopers, screw-ups and near misses.­ 'Calamity James' is a nickname that is THIRTEEN­ YEARS OLD...surely that tells you something about the­ guy...he's been doing this all his career.....
    All­ goalies make mistake from time to time, even the greats­ (Clemence, Shilton, Banks) but James makes the same­ mistakes time after time....

    From wistysboy, on Fri 5 Dec 9:28PM
  19. bless him he only wants to be like his idol buffon,­ only james is more buffoon

    From melliott650, on Fri 5 Dec 9:24PM
Sort comments by: Most recent

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