Injured goalkeepers have been in the news lately, some high profile, some not. But it must have come as a surprise to one of them that his manager suggested that maybe he was 'too brave' - foolhardy almost - and that, as his 'protector', he might have to talk over with the keeper whether his style was a contributory factor to him getting injured.
The keeper in question was Danny Milosevic, who was on-loan at Crewe, from Leeds United. On the same weekend that Danny was carried off, with a broken wrist at Oldham, Chris Kirkland's season was ended with a cruciate ligament injury he sustained in bravely denying Dele Adebola, a former Crewe striker, in Liverpool's FA Cup tie at Crystal Palace.
Following Crewe's game at Oldham, which they won 3-1, Alex boss Dario Gradi said that maybe Danny had been too brave in denying Oldham a goal. And as he had been injured on a previous loan spell, ironically also against Oldham while on loan at Plymouth Argyle, Dario, indicated that he would be talking to the Aussie keeper about his goalkeeping style.
The long-serving Crewe boss said: "He is very brave and a bit foolhardy. I would have thought he will get injured playing like that. I am not criticising him because it was a very brave save but you want your goalkeeper to stay on the pitch, so I would have to go through his record, with him, to determine whether that is his problem."
The very next day, with Milosevic nursing a cracked wrist, Kirkland threw himself into a brave block to prevent Adebola scoring at Selhurst Park and sustained a posterior cruciate ligament injury to his right knee that not only robbed him of a Worthington Cup Final appearance but a first England cap.
Kirkland's save was effective but very costly. How costly, to his team and Chris's career, remains to be seen but it did bring up the question of whether goalkeepers can be too brave.
In an attempt to gain some perspective on that question I sought the views of a fully paid-up member of the goalkeeper's union, Alan Kelly. Currently number two to Brad Friedel at Blackburn Rovers, Alan announced his retirement from international football after going to the World Cup with the Republic of Ireland, for whom he won 34 caps.
Allied to the experience of around 500 career club games, Alan was able to make some relevant observations that arose out of the injuries sustained by Milosevic and Kirkland that some felt might have been avoided if technique had over-ruled bravery.
Alan said: "I saw the incident between Adebola and Kirkland and I would have to say that sometimes in those situations injuries do occur. I think Dele's knee made contact with Chris's shin and forced the knee back, rupturing the ligament. I think it was an honest attempt, by both players, to get the ball and it wasn't a lack of technique by the keeper at all.
"What I would say though is that sometimes keepers lead with their legs and sometimes with their body, but if a player is coming through very fast the quickest thing to get down on the floor, when you are sliding out, is your legs."
But what about the question, as inferred by Dario Gradi, can a goalkeeper can be too brave? Kelly explained: "Basically our ethos, our reason for being in goal, is to stop the ball going into the back of the net and we, as goalkeepers, are quite prepared to put our bodies on the line to achieve that goal.
"It's instinct to block the ball but there is a distinction between bravery and common sense. However, the ones who adopt common sense, in more situations than not, end up picking the ball out of the back of the net."
And Alan has an observation, regarding Dario Gradi's point concerning Danny Milosevic's save that earned him a cracked wrist, along the lines of one of the great Bill Shanklyisms.
The legendary Liverpool manager, when one of his forwards was ruled offside for 'interfering' with play was asked if it was a correct decision. Shankly replied: "If he wasn't interfering he should have been."
Kelly offers a modern-day goalkeeping equivalent when he says: "If the Crewe keeper hadn't made the save and the ball had gone into the back of the net his manager would probably have questioned if his keeper could have got there." It's a fine line alright.
