niemi14 Posted 17 May, 2011 Posted 17 May, 2011 Just seen this brilliant tribute to the great Finn. He was truly an outstanding goalkeeper, certainly the best I have seen in my days supporting Saints (sinces the mid 1990s). Made a decent save in the All-Star game the other day, still got the reactions. For those of you who have been supporting Saints longer ... would you say he is our best ever? I am sure people will say Shilton or Flowers, but I think in the modern day game where the ball travels so much faster and at sometimes strange trajectories it would be hard to judge how these two would have done?
PhilippineSaint Posted 17 May, 2011 Posted 17 May, 2011 Surely its Ian Turner for the 1976 Cup win or Peter Shilton
SO16_Saint Posted 17 May, 2011 Posted 17 May, 2011 forgot about that volley vs Fulham. To be honest - we made him look good, he had a lot of chances to make saves!
niemi14 Posted 17 May, 2011 Author Posted 17 May, 2011 He did have a lot of work to do playing for Saints, however I think that view is slightly naive. Technically he was one of the best around ... I genuinley think he could have played for Manchester United, Chelsea or another PL title challenger and not looked out of place. He was THAT good.
SO16_Saint Posted 17 May, 2011 Posted 17 May, 2011 He did have a lot of work to do playing for Saints, however I think that view is slightly naive. Technically he was one of the best around ... I genuinley think he could have played for Manchester United, Chelsea or another PL title challenger and not looked out of place. He was THAT good. yeah, i know - was tongue in cheek.... he was probably - no, was - the best Saints keeper ive ever seen, and only second to Schmicael (sp).
sadoldgit Posted 17 May, 2011 Posted 17 May, 2011 And to think WGS wanted to sign a different keeper at the time!
James Posted 17 May, 2011 Posted 17 May, 2011 He was a fantastic keeper. Easily good enough for United or Arsenal during his peak with us. One of, if not my favourite, Saints player in recent memory.
Dibden Purlieu Saint Posted 17 May, 2011 Posted 17 May, 2011 I think he is currently keeping goal for the San Jose Sharks in the NHL... http://espn.go.com/nhl/player/_/id/3937/antti-niemi
Scoobysaint Posted 17 May, 2011 Posted 17 May, 2011 Certainly the best I have seen in the sticks for Saints and i started watching during the Shilton era. The amount of double saves and even triple saves he made was simply amazing. So quick back to his feet and such a good shot stopper.
david in sweden Posted 17 May, 2011 Posted 17 May, 2011 Just seen this brilliant tribute to the great Finn. He was truly an outstanding goalkeeper, certainly the best I have seen in my days supporting Saints (sinces the mid 1990s). Made a decent save in the All-Star game the other day, still got the reactions. For those of you who have been supporting Saints longer ... would you say he is our best ever? I am sure people will say Shilton or Flowers, but I think in the modern day game where the ball travels so much faster and at sometimes strange trajectories it would be hard to judge how these two would have done? The only keeper who you could mention in the same breath as Peter Shilton (Saints most capped player BTW) but with 120+ caps for England - he was unique. Perhaps Shilton had better positioning skills as he always seemed to make everything seem easy, even if it wasn't but Antti Niemi was vey acrobatic and a first class showman (as seen) - some of his saves were out of this world. I never like to say " best " . These two played in different generations and were quite brilliant on their day. I'm just glad I had the opportunity to see them both play (for Saints).
JackFrost Posted 17 May, 2011 Posted 17 May, 2011 I believe he is currently Finland's goalkeeping coach
Jimmy_D Posted 17 May, 2011 Posted 17 May, 2011 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antti_Niemi_(ice_hockey) Maybe it's the name that makes a great keeper One of the best players we've ever had... they say a good keeper is worth 10 points a season... Antii was worth more than that to Saints I'm sure.
Bailey Posted 17 May, 2011 Posted 17 May, 2011 One of the best players we've ever had... they say a good keeper is worth 10 points a season... Antti was worth more than that to Saints I'm sure. You can count about 12 points he 'won' us just from that short video alone. Fantastic 'keeper, up there with the very best.
SaintAndy14 Posted 17 May, 2011 Posted 17 May, 2011 Certainly the best keeper I have seen live playing for Saints - loved the guy when he was with us. Also drained some more money from the Skates without actually having to do anything!
Dark Munster Posted 18 May, 2011 Posted 18 May, 2011 I think he is currently keeping goal for the San Jose Sharks in the NHL... http://espn.go.com/nhl/player/_/id/3937/antti-niemi Hopefully he won't stop Canucks progressing to the Stanley Cup final.
Eastcowzer Posted 18 May, 2011 Posted 18 May, 2011 awesome soundtrack What about Ivan Catastrophic, (nee Katalinic). Who can forget his blinder at Anfield. Mind he did b----r all thereafter.
PaulGilchrist_76 Posted 18 May, 2011 Posted 18 May, 2011 Peter Shilton was world class - far better than Antti. Niemi is the second best keeper, a class act and better than Tim Flowers.
Wade Garrett Posted 18 May, 2011 Posted 18 May, 2011 Peter Shilton was world class - far better than Antti. Niemi is the second best keeper, a class act and better than Tim Flowers. Agreed. To be fair to Flowers though, he improved a hell of a lot after he left us. One of the best keeping performances in living memory was his for Blackburn against Newcastle.
corsacar saint Posted 18 May, 2011 Posted 18 May, 2011 What about Eric Martin,and Shilton was past his best when he came here.
offix Posted 19 May, 2011 Posted 19 May, 2011 We can debate which of those 3 was "best", I just know it wasn't Ivan Katalinić
Dibden Purlieu Saint Posted 19 May, 2011 Posted 19 May, 2011 Hopefully he won't stop Canucks progressing to the Stanley Cup final. Well exactly, you're talking to a big Canucks fan here!! Good win last night as well.
Dark Munster Posted 19 May, 2011 Posted 19 May, 2011 Well exactly, you're talking to a big Canucks fan here!! Good win last night as well. Yes, the Canucks looked great, and poor Niemi let in 7, but he didn't get much help from his defence (just like when he played for Saints under Saggy ).
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