Player Profile
Brighton & Hove Albion number one, Matthew Ryan has had an incredible debut season in his debut Premier League so far. The Australian signed from Valencia for what was at the time a club-record fee of around £5 million.
The 25-year-old didn’t get off to the greatest start making an error on his debut in a pre-season friendly against Atletico Madrid. He then made a further error on his Premier League debut in their 2-0 defeat to Manchester City.
Ryan’s Turnaround
Since his couple of blips in opening few games at the club, Ryan has been a revelation. He has proved he is a terrific shot stopper, Penalty saver, kicking and does tremendously well in one on one situations.
The shot-stopper
Ryan has proved to be a terrific shot-stopper. This was particularly evident in the win over Newcastle United at home, the draw against Everton at home and the win over West Ham United away. The one save that really stands out was in the Everton game at home with the scores level he made a terrific double save to deny Everton a winner.
Penalty Saver
Recently, Ryan has also proved to be great at stopping penalties. The games that this was prominent in was the away games against both Stoke City and Everton. The real terrific save was the one he made to deny Wayne Rooney in the away defeat to Everton. With the scores at 2-0, Everton were given a penalty after Shane Duffy was adjudged to have pushed Dominic Calvert-Lewin. Rooney stepped up and guided his penalty into the bottom left corner only for Ryan to get his hand to and tip it onto the post.
Kicking
Ryan’s kicking has also been a highlight this season. Compared to last season’s number one keeper, David Stockdale the Australian keeper is exceptional. He has only ever kicked the ball out of a play a handful of times this season. He has shown what incredible distribution even when he is being pressured by the opposition striker.
One on one’s
The 25-year-old has also been great at saving shots in one on one situations. The key to this has been the way Ryan has made himself look big even despite him not being the tallest goalkeeper. This has made him difficult to beat and therefore caused striker’s either to put their effort wide or Ryan saves them.
Ryan’s contribution’s have not gone unnoticed with him having been nominated for player of the month at Brighton and also receiving praise and being talked about as one of the better keepers in the Premier League with the likes of David De Gea and Thibaut Courtois.
Hopefully, Ryan can continue his terrific form this season and finish strongly and help guide Brighton to Premier League safety.
