Two goalkeepers at opposite ends of their careers will be in action on Saturday night when Melbourne City FC play host to the Western Sydney Wanderers.
Tom Glover has worked his way to being City’s first choice shot stopper over the course of this season, with the 22-year-old showing some good form in recent weeks.
At 34-years-old, Swiss keeper Daniel Lopar has had some good moments in his first season at the Wanderers, which is also his first season playing outside of his home country.
Having started the season as Erick Mombaerts’ second choice keeper, and also missing a number of games due to Olyroos duty, Glover has played seven so far this season for City while Lopar has played in all but one of the Wanderers’ 19 games. Glover has kept two clean sheets this season, while Lopar has kept three.
Despite the score showing two goals to the Glory last week, it was one of Glover’s best performances so far in his time at City, pulling off some big saves late after Perth put enormous pressure on his goal in the second half.
Glover has a 71.4% success rate with his saves this season, with Lopar sitting not far behind at 70.1%. Despite having played in 11 less games, Glover still has more catches than Lopar with 10 compared to nine. This is likely due to the fact that Lopar elects to punch more often to keep out shots, with nine this season compared to two for Glover.
Glover has also saved the only penalty he has faced this season, while Lopar hasn’t saved any of the eight he has faced, although one was fired over the bar by George Blackwood against Adelaide in round 12.
Lopar has been comfortable going off his line to clear the ball, making 20 clearances in his 19 games while Glover’s numbers are similar in that category with nine in his seven games.
The passing statistics between these two keepers are also quite similar, with Glover’s passes being successful 59.2% of the time and Lopar’s 58.9% of the time. They also touch the ball around the same amount, with Glover making 21.7 passes per 90 minutes and Lopar making 21.3. Lopar is the better of the two when it comes to long passes, finding a teammate 40.4% of the time while Glover’s success rate in just 29.4% in this category.
Glover is also the less disciplined of the two, having picked up a couple of fouls and received a yellow card once this season while Lopar is yet to go into the book or even be whistled for a foul.
