Pepe Reina has been exceptional for Liverpool F.C., in the seven years he has been with the club he has won the Premier League Golden Glove three times and was even voted LFC player of the season once by the fans. Over the last couple of summers there has been speculation of Pepe leaving us however he time and again committed to Liverpool and all the other clubs went away.
It comes to a surprise to me that there are some fans who think we should sell Reina following one bad season. You got to be kidding!! Yes he has made some mistakes but all the goals conceded weren’t all his fault, he was let down by defensive errors time and again.
We have seen some exceptional goalkeeping by our opposing teams this season however many of us just saw these keepers playing against Liverpool. We didn’t see them play every single game of the campaign like we did with Pepe. Anyone can be a hero for one game but how many clean sheets can they keep? Pepe’s record speaks volumes, his stats are right up there with Liverpool’s legend keeper Ray Clemence. If it wasn’t for the fact that Pepe had his worst season at L.F.C. all the rags will be littered with stories on who wants to sign him. So maybe for this reason alone it is a blessing that Pepe didn’t have the best of seasons.
Pepe Reina is World Class, we need to keep him, he is 29 years old and as a keeper he still can have up to another good 10 years ahead of him. Remember that form is temporary and class is permanent, goalkeepers don’t “just lose it”.
I don’t want to see Pepe leave, I know he will return better and stronger than ever.
YNWA
-Antoine
on Twitter @empireofthekop
PS. After writing the above I read Aldo’s column in the Echo and he echoed some of the same sentiments as I did.