Steve Harper Is England's Number One
According to someone, once upon a time, a long time ago, there were three kinds of lies: lies, damn lies and statistics. And, according to someone else, a long time ago, somewhere in the world, there are two kinds of statistics, the kind you look up and the kind you make up.
Nevertheless, love them or hate them, statistics are everywhere in sport compiled, presumably, by people with leather patches on the elbows of tweed jackets, who used to be a member of the chess club at school after losing their dinner money to bullies and who now enjoy watching University Challenge with a cup of hot chocolate while playing Dungeons and Dragons online.
Sam Allardyce, who has made much of his scientific approach to the game - I wonder if his backroom staff includes someone of a similar description to the above who lives in a broom cupboard next to the manager’s office at United’s training ground - might disagree, but there is surely more to football than facts and figures.
I’m normally a little wary of using statistics in football because I don’t believe it is a game that can be simplified into numbers and percentages. It is supposed to be the beautiful game, not the game of graphs, figures and pie charts, but there are times when they do reveal something interesting such as the fact Steve Harper should be playing for England against Russia on Wednesday night.
Many of us have questioned whether Harper was guilty of a lack of ambition or whether he was simply too loyal for his own good in deciding to stay at Newcastle United when he wasn’t first-choice goalkeeper.
On top of that, there has even been speculation that, if the 32-year-old had decided to leave St James’s Park and play regular first-team football elsewhere in the Premier League whether he would have broken into the England team?
Harper admitted last week in The Journal that he almost left the club just over a year ago because of the constant frustration of sitting on the bench, but that playing 25 games last season had persuaded him to stay.
That decision has been further vindicated by the fact he is currently keeping Given out of the side following the Irishman’s recovery from another groin injury and, if this continues, there is bound to be a strong argument for Harper to be considered for international recognition when Steve McClaren’s present choices for the national side are Dumb (Paul Robinson) and Dumber (David James).
With this in mind and because they undoubtedly support this argument I’ve decided to draw heavily on some information provided by the Opta Stats boffins.
According to their stats analysis Harper has been the best English goalkeeper in the Premier League with an impressive 83% saves-to-shots ratio so far this season and a 100% catch success rate. He has also managed to keep a clean sheet in two of his four games.
Kasper Schmeichel was actually the top-rated eligible player but the son of Peter (should have been called Pedersen Schmeichel then shouldn’t he?!) has already announced that he will play for Denmark so he doesn’t count.
So there you have it, after four games Harper is the country’s number one, at least if you believe the statistics and I think, on this occasion, who am I to argue with the geeks?
Incidentally, if McClaren was going to pick the rest of his team on the basis of this statistical analysis it would line up like this in a 4-4-2 formation:
Steve Harper (Newcastle United)
Micah Richards (Manchester City)
Rio Ferdinand (Manchester United)
Anthony Gardner (Tottenham Hotspur)
Ashley Cole (Chelsea)
Ashley Young (Aston Villa)
Steven Gerrard (Liverpool)
Frank Lampard (Chelsea)
Stewart Downing (Middlesbrough)
Emile Heskey (Wigan Athletic)
Andrew Johnson (Everton)
If only Gerrard and Lampard could play together, we could replace McClaren with a high-tech computer called Morris...
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Luke Edwards - is Chief Sports Writer of The Journal and uses his blog to give a unique and entertaining insight into events at Newcastle United and Sunderland.
Wow Luke and who says Jouro’s don’t do their homework?
Now Im not going to have any sort of dig at Shay Given, but whenever Steve Harper got in the side under previous regime’s (Usually in Carling Cup and European misfit games) he was always dispensed with come the time Premier League service was resumed.
This was wrong. Not that Shay ever did anything terribly wrong to get dropped anyway, but the fact was a manager dropped his keeper, replacement did well and then previous keeper came back in.
I cast your eye’s to Sir Bobby Robson’s Autobiography (Page 254 to save you time) where Sir Bobby complains about Steve Harper sounding off (In the Journal, Luke!!) about not being happy with his position as number two to Shay.
And I quote “…the club paid him extra to compensate him for…playing second violin to Shay Given�
Now we’ve seen a rarity, Shay Given actually daring to get himself injured for a change, Steve Harpers got in, played well and Shay’s back fit, but Harpers been rewarded for his loyalty and patience by being kept between the sticks. Only Right, now it’s Shay’s turn to be patient.
If Stevie loses form, makes a rick, gets injured (And we hope he doesn’t do either) then Shay will be back in between the jumpers on a Saturday afternoon.
On the subject of England, maybe Steve Harper doesn’t have that desire to play for the National side (Or surely he would have moved) but either way, he’s playing now, so should get his chance with England.
I doubt Mclaren really cares and until he gets sacked or England wins something, he will just keep Status quo.
Paul.
Note From Luke
I think Allardyce's stance has sent out a good message about players being picked on form not reputations, but it will be interesting to see what happens if Shay starts complaining behind the scenes!
I feel a little sad about Steve Harper because he shouldn't really have stayed here if he was ambitious, but we are extremely grateful that he did. If he had gone elsewhere there is a good chance he would have played for England, but ultimately he is a North-East lad who wanted to stay close to him. What alternative did he have? Sunderland!
Every top team has a number 1 keeper, come what may if they are injured and out, when they return they invariably regain number 1 spot, look at Chelsea, Man U, Liverpool, Arsenal they all have a Number 1 keeper, although Lehmann is looking under pressure. Steve is a fine keeper, but a succesion of United Managers have decided that Given is the Numero Uno.
There is absolutely no way Harper can be compared to Given. The Journal report today regarding the comments of Robbie Keane says it all.
Bet Alonso is praying Harper still in goal when Liverpool play us.
Note From Luke
So I take it you would bring Given back into the side against Derby then even though Harper has performed well in his absence? I guess, as snapper has just said, that is the lot of the back-up keeper. It's just a shame Steve's career has suffered because he has always been in Given's shadow.
In response to your comment about young Schmeichel... I thought that was your praise for me, because when I used to play in goal they used to calll me Pedersen Schmeichel!!
As for Steve Harper getting an England game, I've been saying it for years. He was overlooked for Ben Foster recently who is 3rd choice at Man. Utd. Just goes to show, if you don't play in Manchester, London or Middlesbrough, current bad-haired manager doesn't seem to want to know.
Anyone who know's Harps will testify he would never go to sunderland. He's black and white as are his family. I'm delighted for him, he looks better every game. Match practice is making him sharper.
If people such as Luke make a big enough noise and provided Harps delivers performances of note then eventually the London hacks will take notice. I'm sure some "Harper for England" chants at Pride Park won't go unnoticed on live television.
Note From Luke
You're right Paul, that would certainly get people talking and might just make the right people sit up and take notice. Most important, though, will be his performace on live television, nothing like a star display to get a bandwagon rolling among a few pundits struggling to find anything of any interest to say!
Luke I wonder what would happen if I chose your selection for this months fantasy footy mini league… might be interesting…I won last month, through the ploy of playing Antoine Sibierski who was listed as a midfielder and employed as a forward,
But as for the ‘Lies, damn lies and statistics’ it was a condemnation by someone who didn’t understand statistics! Statistics are objective! However the analysis of statistics is subjective therefore open to manipulation! It should for that reason, read ‘Lies, damn lies and statisticians’
If ever a game was more emotionally involved with statistics then it is unquestionably your favourite sport ‘cricket’ which was surely devised by an unfit mathematics teacher who got a little bored by with his pastime of train spotting or butterfly collecting. It is a sport whose ardent adherents hold up numbers ‘4’ and ‘6’ and leaf through Wisden's Almanac of bus timetables to get an adrenalin rush, whilst praying for rain to employ the Duckworth-Lewis formulae’
Ps I don’t have leather patches on the elbows of my tweed jacket, I don’t have a tweed jacket!
Note From Luke
I'm glad to hear it, but who said cricket was my favourite sport? I just like watching it in the summer as a little break from football.
Oh sorry! I remembered someone saying that you seemed to ‘know nowt’ about football! Sorry again!
Note From Luke
They actually said, what I knew about football I I could write on the back of a postage stamp!
I always seem to be making comments on the end of threads that have nothing to do with the subject in hand! I'm going to keep that tradition going today!
Emre - has Sam gone daft? If the hot and cold, big game bottling Turk has had enough of playing for Newcastle and there's a move on to Galatasary, LET HIM GO!!! If he doesn't want to play for Newcastle then cool, bye-bye!
Steven Taylor - there's a fine line between a fair salary and greed. I think he's just after a fair salary given his status, importance to the team and, most importantly, his performances. If the board muck him around over a few grand and he ends up somewhere else I'll be absolutely livid!
Note From Luke
Emre can't go until January, but I suspect it will be bye bye then. As for Taylor, he'll get his new contract but if he thinks he's getting £50,000-a-week he's got another thing coming!
Most people in the country didn’t want Steve Mclaren as National boss, I think that is very clear, he was a prominent member (Some say the real brains) behind the previous regime.
Continuity, we were told was the reason behind his appointment and that the squad needed this to go forward, when we really needed another option, to take the side forward, and above all else, have a second option when games aren’t going our way.
Continental approach is probably (Sadly) what is needed, all the (Top) national side’s have the second option and a fearless attitude of taking off a defender and shoving Four Strikers on in the bold bid to get a goal, England just pack the midfield!
Look at the players, yes they are overrated, but surely they are good enough to get out of this group (not a hard one, as only Croatia are the true competition and still..??)
Andorra, Estonia, Macedonia, and Israel, now come on, I don’t believe all this “There are no easy games in International football anymore� rubbish, that’s just an excuse people use to disguise failure.
Russia and Croatia are tricky opposition granted, but we’ve had tricky opposition in the past, they are not side’s to be truly frightened of, like Italy, Portugal, Turkey, spain, Holland or France, lets face it we’ve struggled against the minnows and flattered to deceive against the “Tricky� side’s so what hope have we against that list above?
England fans are as fickle as any club fan in the country, in the fact that as long as they are winning, everything’s rosy, as soon as results dip, BANG- Hang the manager, Sack the Turnip, etc.
Newcastle are my priority and have suffered more than any club over the past 24 months, this has had a big effect on my lack of interest on the national side, but I’d still like to see England win something, like any other England fan, just not at the expense of Newcastle
Over the years, we’ve had the players with which to do the job, but not we’ve had coaches that stifle the talent out of them, Steve Mclaren is the master of it, ask Smoggie fans- (They don’t like him even though they won a trophy)
Under Steve Mclaren, the nation will go nowhere with his defend first policies, Come on, all this rubbish from National Journalists about Hargreaves being a great player is, well, Rubbish frankly, he’s living of the reputation of 20 good minutes against Portugal at the World Cup, don’t even dare suggest playing him in midfield, negative before we even start, (So get your money on Mclaren doing it) all the players seem to have to be part of “Club England� to get in the squad, No chance for Steve Harper or Kevin Nolan, or anybody who’s on form for their club.
Time for a change, is it? Did you get the (not so) hidden message?? No prizes for spotting it though.
Luke,
Do you reckon Harper can play fly half? Get him over to Paris I say.
Note From Luke
Not seen any of the Rugby world Cup yet, but it's pretty safe to assume he'd do as well as the chumps out there at the moment!
I think stats are great, but when the concept of team comes to play, stats don't hold true. If anything else there must be a stat for team play. Can passes be? Maybe. Can finishes as in finishing a pass from your teamate and putting it into the goal or even making the initial pass on a three way pass scheme that lead to a goal? They may be close, but team play is just as important as stats. So you put Harper in the scheme of things at Newcastle. Yes he is a team player. Although in today's games Gaffers could want to transfer a player without their will too. But that hasn't happened with Harper. He was a savior of some sorts last year. A real good guy!
The article about Emre. From the games I watched. He made planty of passes that should have been goals or has started a play that ended in a goal. Don't go pointing Newcastle misfortunes on one player. While on the pitch he has played his part. And I also agree. If he thinks he can play a whole season in Turkey, then let him go. It would be a big lose as a could have been sort of deal. Remember. Grame Souness brought him to Newcastle and now 2 Gaffers latter he may not feel comfortable. He's just as human as anyone else and if he has an oppurtunity to be happy then it must be honored.
Note From Luke
I really like Emre and think he would be a fantastic player in a good side. I'm just not sure where he fits into Allardyce's plans which is why these stories about him wanting a return to Turkey have surfaced. I suspect he will be off in January.
Emre has a 1 in 10 good game, the rest are irritating to say the least. Gets caught in possession, rolls about feigning injury/screaming agony, as the opposition counter-attack with him on the deck. Gets up and gives the referee verbals. Races towards the guy who robbed him and recklessly tackles him for a yellow card. On his occasional good game he's very good, but therein lies the same problem with other departed deadwood i.e. Bramble, Dyer, Bowyer, Boumsong,....the list could go back years with the garbage this club has bought mainly as panic buys. Emre's heart was never in the Toon, his disposition, his body language exudes delusions of grandeur, thoughts of the adulation he left behind in Turkey. That's why he's harping on about Galatasaray's interest or whoever.....let him go, he couldn't tie Bartons boots. He'd probably roll about saying Barton had kicked him.....oops! politically incorrect?
Note From Luke
I don't think saying Emre is a drama queen when it comes to getting injured is politically incorrect Ronnie, but I disagree with you a little about his ability. I thought he was a rare plus point last season and could be a very important player for Newcastle in terms of creativity in midfield. I just don't think he fts the Allardyce model of a central midfielder
Refreshing blog. Great piece of journalism. Made me question the content of typical back page stories...
Note From Luke
Thanks Ali, that's very nice of you to say so. As for the back pages, getting the content to fill them gets harder and harder because of a lack of access to players/managers/chairman but we do our best.
True fact - 95 per cent of statistics are wrong.
Truer fact - you are bald. Face it.
Note From Luke
Ah but that is where you are wrong and where statistics are open to interpretation! I am in fact receding, rapidly heading towards baldness!
harps has great stats and is better than given better stats more consistant sure given makes good saves and will make good looking saves but that proves nothing at least play harps in fac last time we did we got to final.