Stephen Tudor on Ederson

An impressive Champions League display for Benfica against Bayern Munich in 2016 first alerted Pep Guardiola to the imposing attributes of Ederson Moraes. At the time the then-22 year old wasn’t even the first choice for the Portuguese giants, as he learned his trade behind his fellow countryman Julio Cesar, but an injury to the veteran Brazilian afforded Ederson with an opportunity that he grabbed with both hands. The following season he stood tall and staked his place in world football, sometimes spectacular and occasionally impulsive, as he safeguarded a treble of trophies for the Aguias.

In all likelihood it was Guardiola’s effusive praise for the young keeper following the Bayern game that resulted in him being linked to Manchester City when Joe Hart was so publicly cold-shouldered on Pep’s arrival. Determining how serious the interest was back then leads only to speculation, but it’s fair within that speculation to surmise that Claudio Bravo was ultimately chosen for his experience as much as his credentials as during Guardiola’s eight year managerial career until last summer the average age of his goalkeepers tots up to 27.7 years of age. Famously, he is a coach who revels in tutoring nascent excellence but evidently too, in nets, he favours players at their peak not aspiring to reach it and it shouldn’t be forgotten that in Bravo he landed a stopper boasting over a hundred international caps and 300 appearances in La Liga. Perhaps it was viewed that comparatively Ederson simply wasn’t ready yet?

We all know how that decision ultimately panned out. Bravo’s first and presumably last full season in the Premier League was a sitcom and not even one of the better ones shot through with nuance, edge, and post-modern irony. Instead the laughs were broad with the slapstick, harking back to the days of variety when tripping arse-over-face had them rolling in the aisles. To underpin his ambitious blueprint pep Guardiola had inadvertently signed Miranda with gloves on.It is redundant to linger any further on Bravo’s short-comings, because the ashes of his horrendous introduction to English football have been pored through enough, but suffice to say his inability to stop straightforward shots aimed in his general vicinity was not only a surprise, but had a devastating effect on the defensive set-up ahead of him. His hapless porosity induced panic into a back-line already prone to it while, with a bitter irony, his much-heralded distribution was at times over-elaborate and unnecessarily risky. Throughout this protracted farce meanwhile those who railed against the loaning out of Hart made their voices heard several times over feeling entirely vindicated in their initial misgivings.

They’re quiet now, silenced into nods of appreciation for a quite exceptionally talented young keeper who arrived with the same pressure that burdened Bravo, yet who has stared it down with steady self-assuredness. While Bravo admittedly is also blessed with an abundance of self-belief his is the confidence of an office clown; Ederson’s manifests itself as Don Draper’s in Mad Men; a steely, unflappable coolness to all that is happening around him. Eight moulded studs to the face? Shaken off. A mistimed and costly calamity in his debut friendly against United? Shaken off. Nothing was ever going to get in the way of the future Brazilian number one imposing himself at City as an unqualified success. This was and remains his destiny.

Six clean sheets from eight games and nine saves made from 11 on target are the intimidating stats so far, but they are rendered almost insignificant to what we are witnessing over the course of each ninety minutes. His calmness and authority exudes out to defenders who now innately know they can afford to make errors without it leading to absolute disaster. As John Stones said after yet another immaculate performance from Ederson this week against Shakhtar Donetsk: “He’s a vocal presence and a presence as a person”. We have to take Stones’ word for the former but the latter is evident to all: Ederson is an arresting figure who evokes Herman Munster’s younger sibling who got all the looks and, not that it really matters a jot, but he is how every goalkeeper should be. Sod De Gea’s TinTin quiff and bumfluff combo and be gone Mignolet’s quizzical puppy-gurn, goalkeepers should be handsome boxers; big, intimidating, swaggering bastards with the penalty area their ring.

Yet his appearance is not the most eye-catching aspect of this new Premier League phenomenon, not when his distribution reduces spectators to astonishment. Against Shahktar a player who has been born and raised to play football with his hands made a searching seventy yard pass to Aguero that made David Silva swoon in envy. It’s not the first time either and we’re only two months into the season. Indeed, in the same match Ederson threw a launched missile setting Sane free that resulted in a penalty a mere few seconds later.
That kick out to Aguero though? Oh my. Should you be fortunate enough to see it again as a gif watch it many times over because it rewards each time. First there is the razor-sharp awareness to consider then the absolute absence of doubt in execution. As for the kick itself, a purposely flat volley, what prompts the most appreciation is the factoring in of the bounces required to reach its target; using them.

From his alertness to his unflappable aura to his agile shot-stopping Ederson has already established himself as one of the finest goalkeepers in the top flight. From there the world is at his feet and in his hands.

I think I mentioned in one of my posts edersons distribution v Shaktar, was nothing short of brilliant he gets things moving with his speed of release & his accuracy.The Joe silencers are now the greater in all honesty because we now have the keeper we thought Bravo was supposed to be.

Checkout the throw at around 0:23


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m1la6pFkybA

Might have to have his best game today.

The were impressive in the CL. Chelsea are still the team to beat this season & I think the title will be between us & them. The rags have had an easy run of fixtures as well as an easy CL group surprise, surprise. Third place is the best they will get, but I reckon they will just scrape 4th especially if Spurs sort their home form out. 5th place for the dippers.