Lots of sad results personally for this round’s matches. Who do I blame, the sudden international break? The transfer window? The Olympics, even? I don’t have a clue, but as far as I’m concerned the global timetable for world football needs to be revised and given a major overhaul. Blatter is known for being radical in his views but if he suggests something like this I’ll start to think better of him.

Then we have Tottenham bottom of the league after 4 matches. With no team having a 100% record this season looks to be a very tight league. But the worst start ever for Tottenham Hotspur is predicament to the unpredictable nature of the Premier League – for better or worse, every matchday turns up a shocker or two.

That could be said for Spurs, who have a top manager, a top assistant manager and a healthy, brilliant squad of players – individually that is. Like frequently mentioned, it takes a team effort to win football matches and Aston Villa showed this exact point to Tottenham with their first goal.

But with the second goal, along with Liverpool’s gift of a first some days ago, proves that it also takes individual errors to determine games. Usually when you buy a player you see his qualities, on and even off the pitch, but could there be a measure of his tendency to drop a clanger?

David James, the incumbent England goalkeeper, is renowned over the years for not just his shotstopping but his failure to stop the shots in normal circumstances – but he has turned the leaf with his age. I fear the reverse has happened to Edwin van der Sar. Ever since the back end of the season, despite winning the double, his decision-making has waned a lot.

Heurelho Gomes is a different case altogether. Having won the lot for PSV and gaining international pedigree, he is at a stage in his career which, at 27 for outfield players would mean their prime, but for a goalkeeper would go towards a crossroad. James’ current mentality and form at his age is to me because he hasn’t won much in his early career, while van der Sar having won the European Cup at the age of 19 would mean he has been in the limelight for too long. I’ve seen even Oli Kahn drop clangers just before retiring too. In short, the degree of success a goalie has achieved may contribute to his mentality in the twilight of his career. Thus we saw Jim Leighton, Neville Southall, Alberto Fontana, Marco Ballotta et cetera, whilst not having an illustrious career playing into their forties and remaining as solid custodians, being remembered more for their goalkeeping heroics. Today Brad Friedel looks to be doing just that.

I guess you need to buy keepers old and steady but with no sort of honours to their name… but there’s probably much more to that. You can’t deny that the Cechs and Buffons of this world are timelessly good keepers, but there’s a pattern for the rest. Stuttgart watch out.