Football Special Report: The Best Goalkeepers in Arsenal’s history (Part 1)
Football is a sport that is a team game, it has eleven players from every team on the field and all of them work together to be as efficient as possible.
The aim is to defeat the opposing team on the field and the responsibility of a win or a loss is always shared, as it can never literally be just because of a single player.
Everything is dependent on the team work of a team but there are two players in the squad that have more weight on their shoulders than the others.
The most pressure is always on the player that stands between the goal posts and is the last line of defence to stop the opposing team from going for the win.
The goalies position is one of the most responsible positions on the football field, as a mistake or a s***w up can have catastrophic repercussions.
This position has been occupied with all types of players throughout football history, as there have been players like Jorge Campos, Edwin van der Saar with his otherworldly reflexes and the innovative Gordon Banks to Les Yashin.
Every club is in need of players like these or of this calibre but barely any club manages to bag them. Only the lucky clubs have their fields graced with such players and most of them stay for only short periods of time.
The Gunners, just like all other big names in the World of Football have had their fair share of incredible goal keepers.
This is something that the club is proud of, so here is a list of the best goal keepers in the Gunners history:
George Swindin, 1936-54
George Sdwindin was Arsenal’s longest serving goal keeper as he played for the club for almost eighteen years, then his career was abruptly finished because of the Second World War.
He made two hundred and ninety seven caps for the Gunners and literally spent his whole career with them.
When thinking of Swindin his career is cut in two half’s one is his goal keeping period before the war and one after it.
As before the war his skills on the field were less as he was always nervous on the field, he had an erratic behaviour trend, and this made him compete with players like Frank Boulton and Alex Wilson for the first team spot.
The book ‘Arsenal who’s who’ written by Jeff Harris said that at the early stages of his career, Swindin was excitable, slightly strung, nervous and inconsistent.
George lacked confidence on the field, was hesitant about his capabilities and was a poor kicker.
Still Swindin was determined with the game and his efforts were paid off by his hard work, as he made more first team appearances than the other two competing for the spot and this landed him with the first division medal.
When the war started, he fulfilled his duties to his country as a PT instructor in the army and still managed to make a few appearances in some games.
When the war ended, there came a complete transformation in the player as when he resumed his regular football his game play was shocking!
He made a drastic change in his goal keeping skills, and became the undisputed number one goalkeeper for Arsenal for the next six seasons.
His behaviour on the field and off the field changed as well and most believe that this led to him dominating the penalty box in various occasions.
He came back with a commanding demeanour, and with his strong physical build up, he was feared by a lot of players in the league.
Article continued in Part 2.
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