Goalkeepers' Union

As much as we all try to move on, the Raya/Ramsdale debate continues to bag headlines and, as a result, the centre of attention on this very show.

Some suggested the current Arsenal No1 looked shaky in the first-half of The Gunners' win over Man City at the weekend. Taking his entire performance into account, we argue whether such analysis was a little hasty.

In the same game, Ederson racked up his 300th appearance in English football (140 clean sheets in that time, if you're asking) while fellow countryman Alisson pulled off a Save of the Weekend contender to earn Liverpool a point at Brighton.

Seny Dieng and Middlesbrough are very much back on song in the Championship, Luke Southwood played a huge part in Cheltenham's first point in seven League One outings and Christy Pym did his homework to brilliantly save a James Tilley in the bottom tier stalemate between Mansfield and AFC Wimbledon.

Keeper Capers focuses on Olivier Giroud's cameo between the sticks for AC Milan, plus an unfortunate incident in the Thurlow Nunn League Divison One South.

A bit late this week.

With Rich over in the US, we opted to hold off until the midweek fixtures had occurred, thus including Champions League action into this episode's analysis.

Andre Onana's start to life at Manchester United is reviewed following Tuesday's home defeat to Galatasaray, a first minor slip from David Raya occurred as Arsenal lost at Lens and Napoli's Alex Meret came within a whisker of making one of the greatest-ever Champions League saves... Only to be registered with an own goal instead.

The weekend's Premier League highlights are touched upon, with Jamie Carragher's assertion that Robert Sanchez is "not good enough" for Chelsea to compete for the title, while Murphy Mahoney pulled a double save for the ages in Swindon's League Two defeat at Notts County.

In the 2020-21 campaign, one name tended to crop up a fair bit during the EFL Overview.

Affectionately referred to as "K-Leth" on the pod, Kyle Letheren's 24 appearances for Morecambe in the second half of that season were a key factor in The Shrimps' League Two Play-Off promotion.

Since then, it's been something of an itch to have him sit opposite us. An itch which, we're delighted to say, has now been scratched on a stage in a working men's club in Alvethorpe.

Kyle sat down with GKU to talk about his goalkeeping father Glan, battling to be a No1 and ambitions of reaching the very top of goalkeeper coaching.

Once again the Raya/Ramsdale debate takes centre stage in this week's episode.

With the former in for three straight games since his introduction, we discuss whether Mikel Arteta will stick to his reasoning that each stopper will be selected on a game-by-game basis - and comment on that noticeable applause offered by Ramsdale upon Raya's save from Brennan Johnson in the North London Derby.

Meanwhile, over in Brighton, Roberto De Zerbi is sticking to his word and seemingly flip-flopping Luke Steele and Bart Verbruggen as Brighton continue to plough on in the Premier League. The latter was in for the victory over Bournemouth, but did make what could have been a costly error in allowing the visitors to take the lead.

In the Championship, Ryan Allsop has replaced Matty Ingram at an in-form Hull - a big call from Liam Rosenior which so far appears to be paying off. 

Connor Ripley saved yet another penalty in Port Vale's draw at Cambridge (that's now seven from his last 12), Troy Deeney scored yet another Troy Deeney penalty and Louis Jones earns high praise upon his return to the fold at Doncaster.

Raya or Ramsdale? That is the question.

And it is a massive, potentially position-changing question in a fascinating scenario which will no doubt rumble on until the end of this season - at the very earliest. Mikel Arteta has been respectfully firm in his stance that rotating goalkeepers shouldn't be such a big deal; his argument leaning towards how the perceived No1 and No2 norm has never been called into question when, in a modern era of rapid evolution, alternating stoppers simply makes sense.

We discuss whether Arteta has a point, and how Arsenal's crucial block of games from now through to early November will provide a clear and likely marker for how the Spaniard intends to move things forward.

In other news, Don Goodman added a new term to a pundit's goalkeeping glossary during Leicester's win at Southampton, and for the first time this term we hear a Goalkeeper Assist klaxon from the National League (bravo, Louie Moulden), a Keeper Caper over in Denmark (sorry Bailey Peacock-Farrell) and, lastly, a Text Talk courtesy of the FA Cup Second Qualifying Round (thank you, Roco Rees).

Imagine making your pro debut and then having to wait five years for your next taste of action. That, right there, is the life of a goalkeeper.

Welcome to the story of Alex Cairns, current No1 at Salford City with more than 300 appearances under his belt and plenty more in the tank.

We sat with the ex-Leeds man (a few weeks BEFORE the triumphant EFL Cup outing against his former club) to discuss what makes him tick, how he tackled his long wait for first team football, goalkeeping drills à la Kasper Schmeichel and why, after establishing himself as the main man at Fleetwood, he was cast aside and left in the goalkeeping doldrums for more than half a season.

With the transfer window tidied up and normal service resuming, we reflect on all the weekend's goalkeeping action - including an injury-time epic involving Jordan "Don Corleone" Pickford at Sheffield United.

A glance is given to the best of the rest from the EFL and last week's Carabao Cup clashes, plus a final look at all the movers and shakers on Deadline Day.

NB: With Rich away on post-deadline travels (and not taking his equipment with him), this recording was conducted via Zoom.

What is a big save?

There be a question which commonly crops up when discussing goalkeeping. Is it the timing of the save? Is it the technique executed to make the save? Is it the magnitude of the game in which the save is made? Or is it just simply a big save?

Whichever criteria you plump for, there's no escaping a certain Alisson Becker fell into the big save category at St James' Park on Sunday afternoon. His stop from Miguel Almiron was, well, big in ensuring Liverpool remained in the clash with Newcastle which, as we now know, they went on to win.

Competing in that category with the Brazilian was West Ham's Alphonse Areola. Although within his imaginary "arc" (more of that on the show), the 30-year-old kept Brighton at bay with a string of fine stops to justify his inclusion as the Hammers' current No1.

In a weekend littered with Saves Galore (see Rich's Erik Thorstvedt reference) Jordan Pickford and Jose Sa pulled off worldies in Wolves' 1-0 triumph at Everton, Jak Alnwick continued an excellent start to the campaign for Cardiff and Swindon's Murphy Mahoney - on loan from QPR - kicked off his clean sheet tally with a first-ever career shutout.

With every goalkeeper (and subsequent goalkeeper coach) comes another story slightly different to the other.

Lewis Price played in the Premier League with Derby, but never really believed he deserved to be there. He initially opted out of goalkeeping when a youth spell at Southampton went awry, inadvertently jumped back in with Ipswich, helped Luton reach Wembley in a two-game cameo and freely admits he spent large swathes of his career as either a No2 or No3 - an important role he was happy to perfect.

Oh, and there's also the little detail of representing his country, Wales, 11 times.

Currently Goalkeeper Coach at Oxford United, Pricey - who recently spent a year out of the game recovering from testicular cancer - gives an insight into how his unique approach to goalkeeping worked as a player, and how that wealth of experience is being passed on to the next generation.

With the Premier League now back in full swing, so too is Between the Sticks.

All the goalkeeping action from all top tiers of English football is covered, including the much-discussed double whammy at Arsenal with Aaron Ramsdale and David Raya ready to battle it out for that No1 spot. 

We also look at Mary Earps' World Cup, victory for Inter Miami and Drake Callender in the North American Leagues Cup, polish off some more GKs On Their Way, and welcome the return of the Clean Sheet Club.