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Being a goalkeeper is a tough job. The guardian of the sticks cannot afford to make too many mistakes as he is too close to his goal for comfort. Any mishap could directly result in the opposition scoring a goal and the goalkeeper would just want to bury his head in the sand.
The role of the modern day goalkeeper is evolving
The primary job of goalkeepers back in the day was shot-stopping. They had to keep the ball out of the net and ping long balls deep into enemy territory. But with more and more teams adopting an expansive brand of football, the role of the modern goalkeeper has also evolved.
Goalkeepers these days have to be good with the ball at their feet and be neat passers of the ball as teams look to build from the back. They are also tasked with sweeping behind their defenders, which means coming off their line to save their defenders' blushes.
Without further ado, let's take a look at five world-class goalkeepers who have not been at their best this season.
#5 Kasper Schmeichel (Leicester City)
Over the years, Kasper Schmeichel had established himself as one of the best goalkeepers in the Premier League. The Leicester City captain has been a depandable presence behind the backline for years. But he has been in poor form this season.
Schmeichel has not been able to command his area this term as he has done in the past. The Danish international has saved just 69.9% of the shots he has faced this season in the league. He has also committed one error leading to a goal in the ongoing Premier League campaign.
It has been a bit of an underwhelming season for the Leicester City number one, who is now 35 and seems to be in the twilight of his career.
#4 Manuel Neuer (Bayern Munich)
Manuel Neuer is widely regarded as the greatest goalkeeper of his generation. He is the most well-rounded netminder of the modern era and is technically gifted and extremely brave. However, the Bayern Munich number one made the news for the wrong reasons very recently.
He turned in an extremely erratic display against Villarreal as Bayern Munich crashed out of the UEFA Champions League quarter-finals. Neuer was bamboozled as Samuel Chukwueze's fluffed shot ended up in the back of the net in the 88th minute of the second leg.
The German international also gave the ball away cheaply at the end of one of his adventurous runs and was lucky not to be punished for it. Neuer came as far as the halfway line and played a pass right into Gerard Moreno. The Spanish striker went for the open goal from the center of the pitch but missed by a yard or two.
He has also shown a tendency to get beaten easily at the near post in recent times. While it has not been a disastrous season by any means, we expect a lot more from one of the greatest goalkeepers of all time.
#3 Marc-Andre ter Stegen (Barcelona)
Just a couple of seasons ago, Marc-Andre ter Stegen was widely viewed as the best goalkeeper in the world. He is an excellent shot-stopper and is also pretty adept with the ball at his feet. But Ter Stegen has endured some of the worst times of his Barcelona career this term.
He has saved just 70% of the shots he has faced in La Liga this term. He ranks 13 among all La Liga goalkeepers in that respect this season. The German goalkeeper has managed to keep just nine clean sheets in 29 appearances in the ongoing campaign.
Eight goalkeepers have kept more clean sheets than the 29-year-old in La Liga and four more have kept as many as he has. These are not the numbers you'd expect from a player of Ter Stegen's caliber.
#2 Gianluigi Donnarumma (Paris Saint-Germain)
Gianluigi Donnarumma was named the 'Best Player of the Tournament' at Euro 2020. His penalty shootout heroics in the semi-finals and final of the competition against Spain and England respectively helped Italy become the champions of Europe.
When Donnarumma signed for Paris Saint-Germain as a free-agent in the summer, he was expected to take Ligue 1 by storm. However, the Italian international has failed to nail down a starting berth at PSG and is being used alternatively with Keylor Navas.
To give credit where it's due, Navas is a world-class goalkeeper himself and displacing him is no easy task. Donnarumma has managed to keep just four clean sheets in 15 Ligue 1 appearances so far this season. He only ranks fifth for save percentage among goalkeepers in the French top-flight with a rate of 76.4%.
Guess who is at the top of that list. It's Keylor Navas with 79.7%. So has Donnarumma really lived upto his billing this season? The answer is no. It's not just the numbers. The Italian international has been sloppy with the ball at his feet.
He has quite often taken too long to decide what pass to play. In fact, it was one of his mistakes that led to Karim Benzema's first goal of his 17-minute hat-trick, with which he single-handedly knocked PSG out of the Champions League.
#1 Jan Oblak (Atletico Madrid)
Jan Oblak has been a colossus behind Atletico Madrid's backline since joining the club in 2014. The Slovenian international went from strength to strength and up until the end of the 2020-21 La Liga title winning season, he was viewed as one of the best in the business.
Oblak boasted a save percentage of 80% from 38 La Liga appearances in the 2020-21 season, second only to Real Madrid's Thibaut Courtois (81.1%). Oblak also kept 18 clean sheets last term, the most in the league.
That's why the fall from grace this season was impossible to predict and hard to stomach. Oblak ranks the second lowest for save percentage in La Liga this season. He has saved a measly 58.2% of the shots he has faced in the Spanish top-flight so far this term.
He has kept just nine clean sheets in La Liga this term and his form in the Champions League has been nothing to write home about either. Only Levante goalkeeper Daniel Cardenas has conceded more goals from outside the box (7) than Jan Oblak (6).
