Int Football - Your view: James best of a bad bunch

Eurosport - Sat, 28 Mar 17:11:00 2009

David James is the man to keep England's goalkeeping gloves for the remainder of the World Cup qualifying campaign, according to readers of Eurosport-Yahoo!

FOOTBALL 2008 World Cup qual. England David James - 0

The great national goalkeeping debate reared its head once again ahead of the friendly match with Slovakia and the crucial World Cup qualifier with Ukraine.

Who is the right man for the job? Should Fabio Capello go for youth or experience? Does he have a safe pair of hands to rely on or is whoever he picks going to represent a gamble?

We asked you for your thoughts, and with nearly 20,000 votes cast, current number one James topped the poll.

But it was a close-run thing and the result was far from convincing (some may say much like some of the Pompey keeper's performances on the pitch). The man once dubbed 'Calamity James' garnered just 36 per cent of the votes cast to pip young pretender Ben Foster to top spot.

The injury-prone Manchester United shot stopper may not play much at club level but he has obviously done enough to impress the 6,732 (32 per cent) of you who voted for him - most likely with his performance during the Carling Cup final penalty shoot-out.

Robert Green, who has jokingly referred to himself as 'England's number six' in the past, attracted just 14 per cent of the vote, with the 'other' category, which possibly included the likes of Chris Kirkland, Joe Hart and Scott Carson, winning 18 per cent.

Results (at 10:00 UK time, Saturday March 28):

David James - 36%

Ben Foster - 32%

Robert Green - 14%

Other - 18%

21,008 votes cast

You said:

Paperboy: "He (Foster) is a first class young keeper­ and will only improve with age. I'm sure that he will become England's number one."

tim_nospam: "Why should Capello use Foster who can only get a game for his club in the Carling Cup. Why not Green who plays well week in week out. for his club? Foster only gets a mention because Manchester United pay his salary, if he was reserve keeper at any other club he wouldn't get a look in at international level."

MARCUS: "He is the next England keeper - injuries not preventing."

RedBack: "How can Ben Foster be England's keeper for the next international? Foster is our (Man United) third choice for in between the sticks. England should wait until Ben is our first team choice. I for one don't think he is ready for such a big step up."

saeed_wazza90: "Foster deserves to play since he is much better than all the other England keepers."

Eurosport

Comment 27 - 46 of 46

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  1. Kirkland?

    From Slurms, on Sat 28 Mar 5:03PM

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    From one l, on Sat 28 Mar 5:01PM

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    From urmyherocouk, on Sat 28 Mar 4:50PM

  4. To redback, Foster will be Manchester United goalkeeper­ in a years time, he is second to van der sar now not­ third choice as you seem to think. HE was sensational­ in the carling cup final and won it for united, he is­ calm, good at kicking out after ball is played back to­ him and is a fantastic close range shot stopper as­ lennon will testify to.

    MUFC

    From derektwilliams, on Sat 28 Mar 4:43PM

  5. Shilton to come back

    From Seb, on Sat 28 Mar 4:34PM

  6. 10 years ago Hoddle took clemence from coaching Barnet­ (who?)
    & installed him as England goalkeeping­ coach,we haven't had a worth while keeper since.
    ­ The keepers are there, we need a new coach, sort it out­ Mr.
    Capello. Ron.M.

    From chambermaid, on Sat 28 Mar 4:33PM

  7. how about Almunia? Why not? He was just recently­ nationalized as an English citizen. As of right now­ he's the only #1 from a high level team.

    Since­ Spain won't take him. Spain already has Casillas,­ Valdes and Reina. Almunia is one of the best in the­ Prem. David James is good, but he's not­ Almunia.

    GUNNER FOR LIFE.

    From quaribc, on Sat 28 Mar 4:22PM

  8. David James is one of the best keepers in the world. ­ He's absolutely incredible. I think you English­ exagerate his flaws and should appreciate while you­ still have him.

    From Tadaia, on Sat 28 Mar 4:20PM

  9. If there is a point to friendlies (apart from boosting­ Wembley coffers) surely it is to play young­ inexperienced men and give them a chance to shine. ­ What is the point of wheeling out old dogs like James. ­ We all know he can be brilliant then get a rush of­ blood to the head and do something so daft that it­ stops your heart. So come on give the kids a chance in­ the friendlies.

    From JULIA, on Sat 28 Mar 4:18PM

  10. Harper is da best goal keeper at the moment.

    From malchevo, on Sat 28 Mar 4:04PM

  11. Don't laugh but if it wasn't for Shay Given­ being our first choice, and keeping Steve Harper on the­ bench I think Harper would have been Englands best­ keeper for the past few years,

    From p.hogg1, on Sat 28 Mar 3:21PM

  12. Dean Windass is a quality goal keeper who is not­ 'Oirish either :-) With a 100 percent clean sheet­ record as a goalie he is made for the England job and­ given that he can't play for Hull in the EPL he has­ some time on his hands I imagine :-)

    From art_tidesco, on Sat 28 Mar 3:19PM

  13. Shay Given - is Irish! Manuel Almunia - is Spanish! ­ Okay, David James may well be past his best come the­ approach to the 2010 World Cup, and yes, maybe Ben­ Foster or Robert Green should be given a chance b4 long­ 2 prepare them for 2010..... but come on, David­ James' inconsistent form 4 Pompey was not all his­ own fault - much of it was under the struggle with­ little hope Tony Adams period as Manager, and down to­ some defenders not pulling their weight and letting the­ team down!.......
    James and his defenders have got­ better under Paul Hart & Brian Kidd, and he's­ still an England class goalie for now at least......­ play up England!

    From Tony H, on Sat 28 Mar 3:03PM

  14. Playing carson too soon...ruined him. So they shouldnt­ do the same to foster, if he has qa bad game it will­ mess his confidence up for a long time. he needs to­ play premiership football for a couple of seasons so he­ can mature and learn to deal with things like that as­ well as get some vital experience......i think united­ should loan him to someone like a new team so he gets­ lots to do.

    From wez, on Sat 28 Mar 2:27PM

  15. Lets get real. All this fixture is doing is helping to­ fund Wembley Stadium. It only wants a Gerrard or a­ Rooney to pick up an injury and they will be out of the­ Ukraine game on Wednesday. Which is more important ? We­ don't need this fixture, and look around Europe -­ everyone else gets on with the Business of qualifying,­ without needing meaningless friendlies. Germany, Spain,­ Slovakia. Capello should pick a team from what he has­ seen during the 7 months so far, gather at Bisham Abbey­ then play................QUALIFYING FIXTURES.

    From un_too_slow, on Sat 28 Mar 2:05PM

  16. Ben Foster is a cass keeper and deserves a chance. Man­ united should loan him out to a team how needs him if­ they don't use him then he will be playing club­ football consistantly and james is not as fit as foster­ or Hart.

    From antcoutok, on Sat 28 Mar 2:00PM

  17. Ben Foster is a cass keeper and deserves a chance. Man­ united should loan him out to a team how needs him if­ they don't use him then he will be playing club­ football consistantly and james is not as fit as foster­ or Hart.

    From antcoutok, on Sat 28 Mar 2:00PM

  18. Ben Foster is a cass keeper and deserves a chance. Man­ united should loan him out to a team how needs him if­ they don't use him then he will be playing club­ football consistantly and david james is not as fit as­ foster or Jo Hart

    From antcoutok, on Sat 28 Mar 1:57PM

  19. Wheel in Mr Dean '100 percent clean sheet­ record' Windass :-)

    From art_tidesco, on Sat 28 Mar 1:19PM

  20. 26.INVALID COMMENT
    I give up on these yahoo boards,­ its­ always the same you write a comment with no rules­­ broken, no swearing, abuse etc and get INVALID­ COMMENT.­ waste of time posting here, these yahoo­ boards are the­ worst i have ever used.

    From Brian B, on Sat 28 Mar 1:15PM
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