Five reasons this West Ham star could be the Premier League’s best
Manchester United’s David De Gea, Chelsea’s Thibaut Courtois, Manchester City’s Joe Hart and Tottenham Hotspur’s Hugo Lloris.
With these bunch of names in one sentence, many people would immediately associate them as some of the best goalkeepers in the Premier League.
You could even throw Stoke City’s Asmir Begovic into the mix. However, when there’s talk of the best keeper in England’s top flight, why is West Ham’s Adrian never mentioned?
After a nervous start to his West Ham career, Adrian has firmly established himself the Hammers number, replacing the ever present and hugely experienced Jussi Jaaskelainen.
Several months ago, Spain national team coach Vincente Del Bosque said in a press conference ‘why does no one ever ask me about the West Ham goalkeeper Adrian’.
The reason being is he’s one of the best shot stoppers in England, and here are five reasons why…
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Passion
Despite being on the opposite side of the pitch, whenever West Ham find the back of the net, Adrian always celebrates with great passion.
Even if the Hammers miss a glorious goal scoring opportunity, you see how disappointed the Spaniard is, giving a lot of encouragement to his teammates to keep the pressure up.
How often do you see this from the likes of Courtois or Lloris? The answer is not that often at all.
Shot stopping
Adrian’s shot stopping ability is something to desire. His acrobatics are truly memorizing and has helped the East Londoners gain valuable through some of his man of the match performances.
Making at least 3.46 saves per game and making a respectable total of 128 saves in the 2014/2015 campaign, Adrian also has a knack of saving penalties; saving three consecutive spot kick’s this season.
Every keeper makes mistakes during a long a tiresome season, however, as times goes on, Adrian seems to be making less and less and the likes of Courtois and Lloris seem to be making more.
Communication
Any defensive unit needs a strong voice in the backline in order for good organisation. Usually, it’s the most experienced centre half in the starting XI doing so.
However, despite English not being his first language, Adrian organises his back four with pure precision and is the main reason why Sam Allardyce’s men are known for their defensive solidarity.
The likes of Courtois and Begovic are known to shout at the defence, despite being good goalkeepers. This is maybe what separates Adrian from the rest but fails to et the recognition he richly deserves.
Reliability
It’s safe to say that it’s very rare goalkeepers are on the treatment table on a weekly basis (unless you’re Craig Gordon!).
However, the likes of Lloris, Hart and Courtois have missed the occasional game, whether it be an injury concern or a squad rotation by the manager.
Forgetting the sending off he picked up in the 0-0 draw away at Southampton in February, Adrian has not missed a game since the Capital One Cup second round penalty shootout defeat at the hands of Sheffield United way back in August.
If there’s one keeper to rely on, its Adrian.
Hero status
Despite the plight of West Ham’s season in 2015, many of the fantastic Hammers faithful will remember the 13th January on a cold Tuesday night at approximately 10:30pm.
The FA Cup third round replay at Upton Park against Everton saw jubilation, desperation and heart ache in the space of 120 minutes.
But when it comes to the winning penalty, the fans only wanted one person to step up and put his team into the fourth round of the mist famous cup in the world.
Adrian looked into the eyes of Joel Robles, threw his gloves aggressively to the floor and confidently slotted home. Them moments are truly priceless and are more memorable than a world class save.