Brad Friedel turned 40 years old today, so, aside from wishing the big man many happy returns, it seemed like a good excuse to take a glance at our goalkeeping situation now and going forward.

Friedel’s contract expires this summer. We know that Gerard Houllier was actively looking at potential replacements last year, but the gaffer never ruled out the possibility of extending Friedel’s stay. In fact, he said that they’d talk about it in February and come to a decision some time afterwards.

Here we are then and there is a reasonably strong suggestion that another year may well be on offer at Villa Park. I said in the reaction post to the Arsenal win that an extension would be no bad thing on the basis of that showing, but it would be no bad thing on reflection of the whole season.

Mr Reliable

One of Friedel’s strong points is consistency. Setting such a ridiculous (and still ongoing) record of consecutive Premier League appearances without being completely dependable is simply impossible. Avoiding any kind of injury, especially at his age, is obviously also a major factor and he credits yoga for keeping him spry.

Goalkeepers are known for being eccentric, certainly the very good ones, but Friedel’s about as grounded as any player in the game. He keeps it simple, nothing unnecessarily spectacular. You won’t see him steam through a crowded box to pluck the ball out of the air ten feet above the ground, but then you won’t see many Heurelho Gomes moments either.

When goalkeepers make mistakes, even more so than central defenders, they’re magnified; they tend to lead to goals. Mistakes cost games and Friedel makes very few howlers. Not only is it easy to think about games where Friedel has saved us points, it’s conversely pretty tricky to recall games where he’s cost us points.

Extension

Like anything, the future will be determined by a number of factors. If a 12 month extension is what is on the table at Villa Park, it may well be that that isn’t enough for Friedel himself. Without wanting to drag up his recent personal issues, guaranteed income beyond the next year might be important to him and if there are other such offers in place, he’d have to be seriously considering them.

Status within the squad may also be important, he may not fancy dropping to number two with the acquisition of a new first choice keeper. However, with our limited finances, the conventional wisdom is that there are more important positions to focus our transfer activity on than goalkeeper.

We shall see, but if Friedel does end up staying with us, I, for one, won’t be unhappy at all.

So happy birthday Brad. Thanks for being one of the few consistent performers this season!

But what about Little Brad? Good question, we’ll take a detailed look at his situation in Part II which can be found here.