These stats mean very little - because they will always favour good goalkeepers in shit clubs. It's the same as people looking at passing stats and come to the conclusion that a player with 90 % passing success is a better passer of the ball than one with 85% without looking at the bigger picture. In some games this season we have been appalling defensively - Brentford (where DDG was one of the main culprits), Liverpool and City where our defenders and midfielders were awful. And that is not making stuff up - without these 2 games where DDG had very little blame, his stats would be a lot better.
Oh btw - if you think the stats mean so much:
Care to explain why Ederson is ranked 19 and Henderson 18, oh and Keylar Navas is 16 - but the 5 keepers with the best stats are: Allison, Leno, Kepa, Pickford and Neto -
You can take a look at Rayas best saves on any youtube video - you will be shocked as to how many of those are shots from 25 yards out - and its logical with thet way Brentford play. And for the record - I am not saying Raya is a bad keeper, of course he isn't. I just find it a bit strange that people mention him as a goalkeeper to replace DDG. He has shown nothing to indicate that he is a better keeper than DDG
You know what.
I'm not overly focused on stats, they just backup what the eye test tells us. That DDG isn't as good as shot stopper as people like to believe, he's rubbish under a high ball, his passing isn't good enough and he's not very good at sweeping.
How else can you explain it to people who baselessly claim he's still a great shot stopper? I don't think he is, I think he makes some great saves, but he also lets in a lot of goals that he should save. And the numbers reflect that.
Back up your claims that Raya faces more shots and makes more saves from shots outside the box? Because at the start of this season they had actually conceded more goals from outside the box than anyone else since they came up.
It's also not really about who is better, each team has a different style and it's about how each player suits the team style. When your keeper is in the bottom rung for nearly every performance metric, and your manager compromises his whole style to suit his deficiencies. To come out and claim other keepers aren't better or couldn't do better is fecking nonsense.
Raya would suit how ETH wants to play more so than DDG. He's a better shot stopper, he's better under high balls, he's better at sweeping and he's better with the ball at his feet. The numbers backup and reflect all these things. Just like Pope at Burnley he was routinely in the top bracket for every performance metric, except passing and he's still doing it at Newcastle. These guys are just very good at the all round basics of being a keeper, they could perform to the same levels for any team.
But let's forget everything DDG doesn't do, keep inviting pressure by defending deeper than everyone else in the league, struggle under high balls having our defenders heading balls away under his nose in the 6 yard box, have him play players into trouble at the back and kick every second ball straight down the middle to the opposition. All because he can occasionally make a good save.