Last summer West Ham pulled off a bit of transfer coup, signing Birmingham City keeper Darren Randolph on a free transfer. I suspect that few of us were too familiar with him and wondered how good he would be. Despite a couple of slightly dodgy performances in the Europa League qualifiers, he proved himself by stepping in for Adrian after he was sent off at the beginning of the season. He played in all our League and FA Cup ties, and also came back in the first team at the end of the season. All in all he has played 15 games, six of them in the Premier League.
He’s now off the Euros to play for the Republic of Ireland and is likely to be their first choice keeper. He’s 29 and will surely now be looking for first team football. I imagine we could get at least £2 million for him. Robert Green, just released by QPR, might be a very good replacement. What do you think?
This graphic shows how all of the Premier League goalkeepers have performed this season. It’s been compiled by Barrie Smith using data from Opta Stats. Here are some of the more interesting stats…
- Adrian conceded a goal every 74 minutes. Randolph every 45 mins (in the Premier League)
- Adrian had 9 clean sheets in 32 games, Randolph 2 in 6.
- Adrian makes 2.5 saves per goal conceded. Randolph 1.1.
If you compare Adrian’s stats to the other main Premier League goalkeepers he compares reasonably well. On saves per goal conceded he scores identically to David de Gea. However, on goals conceded per minute he’s only in tenth place. On clean sheets he’s in ninth. On most saves made he’s in fifth. On save per centage he’s in eighth.
I doubt whether anyone would consider selling Adrian, even if he still gives me the collywobbles at times. His shot stopping and penalty saving abilities are beyond criticism, but sometimes he fails to do the simple things. No goalkeeper is faultless and I think we all love Adrian’s commitment and bond with the fans.
As for Darren Randolph, my feeling is that up until the last three games of the season some of us might have considered him to be a rival for the Number 1 shirt. I’m not sure he could really be faulted for any of the Swansea goals, but the same could not be said for the Stoke game. I’d be happy to keep him at Upton Park as the Number 2 goalkeeper, but I suspect if he has any ambition he won’t settle for that for a second season running. And I couldn’t blame him.
- Thanks to BarriesView