Standing at just 6 feet tall, Mathew Ryan is hardly the “big brute between the sticks” that desperate Liverpool fans seem to be after. And while I think we can all agree that a new goalkeeper is as far down on the list of priorities as you can get, the link to him has intrigued us all and therefore let’s take a look at him.
Source: http://clubbrugge.be/
Mathew Ryan is an Australian goalkeeper that plays for Club Brugge KV in the Jupiler Pro League (Belgium). As far as this season just gone, Ryan has had what I would call a pretty remarkable season for a 23 year old playing in a foreign league. Some notable stats would be that in all competitions for his club last season Ryan conceded less than a goal a game with a 0.93 goals per game stat. He’s also kept a very respectable 21 clean sheets in 58 games across the board.
The only games that Ryan has missed for his club this season have 3 league games and 2 domestic cup games. These were due to being selected for the Australian national team to play in the Asian cup which he won playing 6 games in the tournament and keeping 3 clean sheets. He’s missed no games through injury or suspension and only received 4 yellow cards out of his 58 games.
Now I think a few reds have raised the opinion that maybe his stats aren’t as credible when they are from the Belgian league and maybe the quality of opposition is the best. Well I thought we could take a look at just his Europa League stats in which he faced opposition such as Fabio Quagliarella formerly of Juventus, now playing for Torino. And Demba Ba and Gökhan Töre of Besiktas JK who we know first-hand can cause a bit of damage.
In the Europa League last season Ryan played 16 times including qualifiers and kept 9 clean sheets. His average claim success is an outstanding 100% which is one of the main criticisms leveled at Simon Mignolet this season. Another asset to Mignolet’s game that has come under some scrutiny is his distribution. Ryan has a 67% distribution success rate. 3 quarters of which have come from throws or ground passes.
To summarize Mathew Ryan is a very athletic, front-footed goalkeeper who is coming on leaps and bounds despite lacking in height. He is fast in the save and gets from post to post with incredible speed. Don’t be fooled though, Ryan is strong and powerful in the punch when required to come and clean house. He does not get lost amongst the trees in the box, he is well capable of storming through opposition players to claim his ball. He is confident and capable in possession and can distribute it well. I think he would be a great buy myself and if he doesn’t jump into the number 1 jersey straight away, he’s a very strong back up to have should duty call.
Connor Sheehan
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- Who is goalkeeper Mathew Ryan? - June 4, 2015