Best Keeper?

I'm just gonna take, what I'd consider, the best keeper from each decade.

2000s   - Reina
1990s   - James
1980s   - Grobbelaar
1970s   - Clemence
1960s   - Lawrence
1950s   - Younger
pre 50s - Scott/Riley/Hardy

From what I've seen in the flesh it's Reina by a country mile but from the videos/DVDs then it's gotta be Clemo. He commanded his box in such a way that Pepe is still learning. Others may have been more agile but Clemence was by no means a immobile.

Where's Westerveld? :

Spot on with the list there. Reina could certainly be up there with the greats if we start winning league titles soon. Hardly his fault we haven't won the league this decade though. He's already had a number of Golden Gloves. Hopefully the next will go alongside the league medal he's awarded.

Got to say I'd take Clemence. Perfection in goal, but Reina is certainly on his way to being held in a similar vein.

Can't believe Pegguy Arphexad has been left out :

I'd go for Reina for the fact that he is beating the records set by Clemence.

2000s Defiantly Reina, has the potential to be one of the greats at our club. Though Dudek deserves a special mention for that magical night in Istanbul.

1900s Is a hard one because we didn't have many great keepers after Grobbelaar left in 94. James would probably be the pick of the bunch amoungst Hooper and Fridel.

Clem hands down.

Pepe is not bad though 

 It would have to be Ray Clemence for me and Pepe is well on the way to being one of our best.To put a spanner in the works I will say Tommy Lawrence was the best value for money as he did not cost us anything to sign him.All the other goalies post 1960 were bought from other clubs.It was good to see Itandje not get a mention,I presume he was put out with the rubbish.

IMO I would say Reina, both Clemence and Grobbelaar were fantastic keepers and like Reina playing in front of some very good defenses, what makes me pick Reina is the way footballs have developed over the last decade they are a lot lighter and swerve and dip a lot more than ever before and a keeper has to be much more agile and alert to this than in decades gone by. Its testament to how well Reina is doing going about setting his own records here and going about beating Clemence's quietly but effectively.

Sorry but Clemence is definitely the best. His was virtually unbeatable at times and I think Pepe has a long way to go before he can be thought about in the same way as Clem.

Tough one. Clem was awesome in his day, and Brucie was such a character - and Reina is the best goalkeeper in the premiership at the moment.

Clem just shades it for me from Reina - but Reina still has years ahead of him, and can still improve.

Pepe is right up there for me although Brucie and Clem in my top 3 then Dudek for his great saves in the Champions League 05

I only watched James and Reina so out of the 2 it must be Reina.

Clemence for me but Reina is up there.

From what i have seen its got to be Reina.

I think Reina has the best distribution out of all of them but i think for marshalling of the defence and general legendary-ness it's gotta be Clemence.

Obviously for comedy it's Grobbelaar and for comedy for the wrong reasons it's James

Very hard choice between Reina and Clemance as both brilliant  but i would have to pick Clemance for now but that could all change over the next few years.

If Reina keeps on breaking more records he might just end up taking over as my number 1

One the fence with this one between Clemence and Reina , never saw Lawrence play though.

Clemence was absolutely awesome. Bruce will always be remembered and is part of the history books. DUDEK has to be mentioned for me.. obvious reasons .. arguably the greatest night in the history of this football club. He was spot on, no pun intended. I also agree that Pepe has to be right up there with the best. The lad has broken so many records already and is still very young. With time and inevitably more trophies and records.. he may just go down as our greatest of all time.

At the moment it has to be Clem amazing shot stopper given time Pepe could get there but will have to play many years at a high level to beat him ,also have to mention Dudek just for no 5 alone thank you .

I Think if in pepe's time at the club we win the premier league and champions league. He would be the best keeper.

Clemence was our keeper during my younger days and I didn't think he could be replaced. Then along came Grobbelaar and I think he actually surpassed Clem. Yes, I know he had a few "comedy" moments but don't let that fool you. Brucie was the best shot stopper I have ever seen even going back as far as Gordon Banks. And he commanded his area well enough as I recall. I know one or two of our legends have hinted that they were not as comfortable with Brucie as with Ray but I think that was more to do with personality clashes than ability. For those that paint Clem as "perfect", he did make the odd howler too, just as every keeper does. Also, Bruce never missed a single game for about 5 seasons from his debut if my memory serves correctly, something like 330 games or something. (could be wrong on that but he certainly was reliable).

So, my vote is Bruce just edging Ray with Pepe definitely having the potential to surpass them both but only if he can stay 400 games plus and he still needs to improve just a bit yet, particularly in dominating the box when crosses come in. He still has too many wobbles for my liking in that regard.

Reckon goalkeeping was a lot easier with the old backpass rule.

I know it's not very trendy to go with a modern player in all these debates but F**k it.  I'd say Reina is probably the best keeper we've ever had.

I am young so never watched the great Liverpool keepers play. For me all i have seen is James Westerveld (i think his name was) Kirkland Dudek Reina
Out of them lot theres only one winner in my eyes.



PEPE REINA

I am young so never watched the great Liverpool keepers play. For me all i have seen is James Westerveld (i think his name was) Kirkland Dudek Reina
Out of them lot theres only one winner in my eye

PEPE REINA

Sander Westerveld

Thank You. Which keepers have u witnessed at Liverpool in your lifetime ?

Pretty much the same as yourself mate, I'm only 19 so I remember James as well. But I reckon your right, Reina is by far the best I've seen

I've only seen Pepe Reina, Jerzy Dudek, Chris Kirkland or those from Sander Westerveld's time.

I'd go with Pepe Reina being the best. He has had his hard times but also had much more brilliant saves. And didn't he achieve 100 cleansheets faster than any keeper in Liverpool or something? That's a great stat considering football is much more faster now.

Thank You. Which keepers have u witnessed at Liverpool in your lifetime ?

Im an al fart born in '52.

Seen most of them starting with the flying pig Tommy Lawrence.


Head to Head ?: 




Its definitely Pepe and Clemo.

So, my vote is Bruce just edging Ray with Pepe definitely having the potential to surpass them both but only if he can stay 400 games plus and he still needs to improve just a bit yet, particularly in dominating the box when crosses come in. He still has too many wobbles for my liking in that regard.

Not always a problem, that!

GROBBELAAR - asRoma-Liverpool 1984

My heart says Brucie, but my head says Clem.

My humour valve says Mike Hooper for his ability to fall out of the way of penalties (always to his right).

Clem.

vtorres  Am the same mate never seen the likes of Clem and Bruce i wish i did like am only saying Pepe as he been the best in my life time

Whats the eldest keeper you've seen play ?

How far can i Remember probs James about the mid late 90's am only 17 you?

Erm Westerveld i think. I am younger than you.

Has to be Clem. Brucie was probably the most agile ever. Clem didn't need to be so, as he was always in the right place positionally. Would have had far more England caps if Peter Shilton hadn't been so far up Bobby Robsons arse, and sucking up to a continuation of england managers. What a F***ing creep. Defo second best.Clem was No 1. as was sung on the kop, Englands Englands No1, Englands No 1. He was like a second center half he was so quick off his line.  Pepe may get there, but has a way to go yet.

Im fortunate enough to have seen Clemo and Brucie play year after year and i wouldnt want any other keeper of their own eras between our sticks. Dont get me wrong Clemo was the ultimate goalie but brucie was up there at the same level for me. People used to focus too much on the odd mistake by Bruce but ALL top keepers F**k up from time to time including Clemo![remember the old king kenny through his legs episode for England for one]. Just read any of the autobiographies of players who played with him and youll see what they thought of his abilities.
And now our Pepe is the only other outstanding candidate, 3 golden gloves and counting and a superb keeper. In a couple more years he will rightly be spoken of in the same right as the above.

I'm with you paulboo, i only seen clem play on tv and vids/dvd, but i did have the privilege to see brucie from the early eighties thru to the early nineties, i can remember how he used to let us know the score with his hands behind his back and of his many antics and crazy moments, especially the wobbly knees routine, i still laugh at the way he runs away clapping his hands, f***in quality, imo i'm putting brucie a tad ahead of clem simply because i seen him play, with pepe a very close third but getting closer, jerzy deserves a mention of coarse for istanbul, a performance that goes down in folklore.

    ynwa   irwt

Clemence was the best closely followed by Pepe ,not forgetting that the ball was much different in the days of Clemence,when it got wet it was heavy and could damage wrists easier , this i feel has to taken into account ....Pepe will probably surpass Clemence's brilliance in a couple of years though

Just look at what Clemence won nobody can touch him.Pepe has won an FA cup.

Just look at what Clemence won nobody can touch him.Pepe has won an FA cup.

So F***ing what lad?

Dudek has a Champions League and League Cup winners medal does that make him better than Pepe? No it doesn't. And football players aren't judged on what they've won if they were Billy Liddell wouldn't be considered a legend of this club because he won nothing, Torres has won nothing so therefore he isn't better than Milan Baros because Baros won more.

Unfortunately I never say Clem play only in videos - so going off that I think Pepe just pips it for me.
James looked like he was going to be the best goalie ever but became afraid of high crossed balls and I started to get the gitters with him in big games.
Dudek was amazing in Istanbul that night for us and solid carreer for reds.
Grob was mentally as tough as nails - & fuuny too, but Pepe is calm & so dependable I can't go pass him!

So f**king what lad?

Dudek has a Champions League and League Cup winners medal does that make him better than Pepe? No it doesn't. And football players aren't judged on what they've won if they were Billy Liddell wouldn't be considered a legend of this club because he won nothing, Torres has won nothing so therefore he isn't better than Milan Baros because Baros won more.

Billy I must take you to task over my hero Billy Liddell,he did win a first division  league champions medal in 1947.I agree with the rest of your post.

I'd say Clem and Bruce ahead of Pepe, if Pepe can improve his one-on-one shot blocking then he may well become the best ever.

Dont try absurd comments to prove a point its disrespectful and I thought more of you and your knowledge of Liverpool. Clemence won 3 European Cups 5 league titles 2 Eufa cups 1 FA cup and 1 league cup. He also let in 16 goals in a 42 game season.If that dosent make him our best ever goal keeper then I dont know what he would have had to do to be classed as our no.1. Iv'e seen all our Goalies since Tommy Lawrence and Clemence was virtually unbeatable at times and his shot stopping out of this world. Pepe is still young and is making a name for him self quite rightly but he will have to do a lot more to be considered above Clemence.

Seen videos of Clemence playing, I thought in terms of commanding the area and the defence he was boss at doing it. I think he is the best of the best Liverpool has seen, but Reina is coming behind, real quick. Reina is catching him up and at the rate that he is going, he might go down as the best Liverpool keeper ever, better than Clemence, but Reina is helped by the fact that we've got a rock in front of him that is unbeatable - Jamie Carra.

Dudek deserves special mention as well, I thought that he was the hero in Istanbul and I will never forget his double save, his wobbly legs as well. He was one of the most eccentric keepers but when it was time to be serious he was.. And his shot stopping was amazing.

Whatever Dudek did before Istanbul dosent matter to me. I agree he should be thought of in the highest terms for his heroics that night maybe a special category of most amazing career defined in one night. Iv'e watched his save frame by frame and I dont think he gets enough credit for it. Clemence was an acrobatic goal keeper with unbelievable agility he did have a weakness by his own admission he was a lousy kicker and had to work very hard on that part of his game.

Billy I must take you to task over my hero Billy Liddell,he did win a first division  league champions medal in 1947.I agree with the rest of your post.

Says on lfc.tv that he didn't win anything with us mate. I'm sure he was at the club when we won the league in 47, but maybe he didn't pick up a winners medal or maybe lfc.tv has got it totally wrong.

Dont try absurd comments to prove a point its disrespectful and I thought more of you and your knowledge of Liverpool. Clemence won 3 European Cups 5 league titles 2 Eufa cups 1 FA cup and 1 league cup. He also let in 16 goals in a 42 game season.If that dosent make him our best ever goal keeper then I dont know what he would have had to do to be classed as our no.1. Iv'e seen all our Goalies since Tommy Lawrence and Clemence was virtually unbeatable at times and his shot stopping out of this world. Pepe is still young and is making a name for him self quite rightly but he will have to do a lot more to be considered above Clemence.

If you take the time to read the opening post you'll see I've said Clemence is the best we've had. Not because of what he won however because that means absolutely nothing. As I've said some legends in our history have no trophies, it doesn't make them any less of a player in terms of quality and doesn't make them any less a player than those who have won something - how is that absurd? Maybe because it's spot on that just because Clemo has won more than Pepe doesn't make him a better keeper. His ability in goal makes him the better keeper in my opinion.

Seen videos of Clemence playing, I thought in terms of commanding the area and the defence he was boss at doing it. I think he is the best of the best Liverpool has seen, but Reina is coming behind, real quick. Reina is catching him up and at the rate that he is going, he might go down as the best Liverpool keeper ever, better than Clemence, but Reina is helped by the fact that we've got a rock in front of him that is unbeatable - Jamie Carra.

Dudek deserves special mention as well, I thought that he was the hero in Istanbul and I will never forget his double save, his wobbly legs as well. He was one of the most eccentric keepers but when it was time to be serious he was.. And his shot stopping was amazing.

Firstly mate I think you'll find Clemo had a better defence in front of him which helped him throughout his Liverpool career. He was lucky enough to play behind some of the best defenders this club has ever seen, the only "legends" Pepe has played behind is Carra and Sami. If I remember rightly is was Clemence who said we'd had a bad game if he got to touch the ball or something along those lines. That proved how water tight we were in the late 60s right through the 70s while Clemo was our number one.

As for the Dudek thing, well maybe it's just me but I thought for the majority of the game in Istanbul he was his usual dodgy self. A few balls came in that he flapped at, there the cross that came in from their right which he couldn't catch and it ended up hitting the post. Even the penalties shouldn't have stood since he was closer to the half way line than the goal line by the time the Milan player hit the ball. The first of the double save wasn't great because he palmed it straight back into the path of Shevchenko. And the second was instict, fantastic save but Jerzy himself admitted he knew nothing about it. There's only three good saves I can remember that night from Jerzy, all from Shevchenko. First is that second stop, whether he knew nothing about it or not it was fantastic. Secondly is the pen save that won us the game, he was close to his line on that one unlike Pirlo's and finally the one from Shevchenko's free kick at the start of the second half.

Jerzy's best moment in a Liverpool shirt was the 03 League Cup final. He was rightly named man of the match for that game because he saved us a fair bit that night in Cardiff. But even that and the "heroics" in Istanbul wouldn't make me consider him anywhere near our best keeper in the last ten years never mind our history.

You might win one or two trophies with a bit of luck but when you get up to double figures then it must mean you are good.I really hope Pepe can be considered the best ever in a few years time as it will mean we have been succesful and when you go through the list of goal keepers we have been blessed with some of the best.I think some of the comments about CLemence not touching the ball in a game are somewhat tongue in cheek and on his part self deprecating he was an outstanding goal keeper and I was priviledged to see him at his best.

Firstly mate I think you'll find Clemo had a better defence in front of him which helped him throughout his Liverpool career. He was lucky enough to play behind some of the best defenders this club has ever seen, the only "legends" Pepe has played behind is Carra and Sami. If I remember rightly is was Clemence who said we'd had a bad game if he got to touch the ball or something along those lines. That proved how water tight we were in the late 60s right through the 70s while Clemo was our number one.

That's a fair point, I'd thought something along those lines myself.

16 goals conceded in 42 matches is incredible, and a testament not only to Clemence's keeping, but the team as a whole. Our ability to retain possession was second to none, and for me the record shows how tremendous the entire unit was, not just the keeper or defence, the whole lot.

It's very hard to pick just one, as they all played in different decades, and the style of play has changed a great deal over the years. For example, Pepe nowadays will never have to play on some of the horrendous water-logged pitches I remember seeing as a kid.

What's interesting as well is the great character our keeper's have had over the years! Brucie in particular always brought a smile to my face, and perhaps this kind of mentality helps being a great keeper, as they all make their gaffs, but some seem to dwell on that more than others.

but Reina is helped by the fact that we've got a rock in front of him that is unbeatable - Jamie Carra.

Unbeatable? Theirry Henry made him trip himself over before slotting home at Highbury to go 3-2 up.

I've been lucky enough to have seen all our keepers, from Tommy Lawrence on, play. We've had some world class keepers in that time but in my opinion, Ray Clemence just shades Pepe for the accolade 'best keeper'.

After this season I think I've finally been convinced that Pepe is our greatest. He's just been a beast at the back, keeping us in so many games. And thank F**k he's signed that new deal.

So for me, our best keeper now is Pepe Reina.

Clem or pepe but reina wins purely because of the introduction of the back pass rule and the number of potential goal scoring opportunities he creates with his quick distribution.
Bloody close though especially considering the number of medals clem won.
Quick question...how old was ray when he made his debut?
Who was the youngest goalie ever to debut for liverpool?
DLS i look forward to your trivia answers!

Since I grew up in the 80s, I'd have give it to Brucie! Some of the saves the man made were incredible.

A real personality as well!!

I loved Brucie too mate grew up with him as our keeper it was like losing a family member when he left but looking back he was a little erratic at times so i'd have to give it to Pepe he's a F***ing beast of a keeper

Without a doubt I would have to say Pepe! Absolute class, especially his celebrations!

elisha scott, clemo, brucie n pepe

It's been such a season of diappointment. But the one bright light has been the form of Pepe, who has had a brilliant season, by far the best keeper in the premiership.

Let's build a team around this man, give him the captincy even. Pepe we salute you.

If he keeps this form up then without doubt he'll be the best ever. What a player.

Captain reina,what a solid wall and also some great performances this season.

Not quite old enough to remember Clemence, but got his autograph in a charity superstars event at Widnes Rugby league ground when i was about nine.
Have to say Reina is the best i've seen followed by Brucie although he went S**te around the 91-92 season.No one has mentioned Paul Jones  or that keeper we had in nets for Fowlers last game against Charlton -cannot remember his name