Hugo Lloris joined one transfer deadline day, in a deal which many fans will now agree was a complete bargain. For just £10m, Tottenham had easily brought one of the best goalkeepers to the Premier League.
The French captain has been on top form recently, inspiring Tottenham to hold a draw against Arsenal, as well as Beşiktaş. His command of the box has been good, his shot stopping excellent and sweeping up behind the back four simply unique. Whatever is coming towards the goal, Lloris stops it. Even the perfectly hit shots do not pass the keeper. To put it bluntly: Hugo Lloris is absolutely vital to Tottenham Hotspur.
Some of his saves determine whether a match is won or lost. But it’s not just the saves alone; his ability surely must have an effect on the players. It must be an inspiration to play in front of him, seeing all the brilliant work he puts in; a message to the rest of the team to get their act together. The closer the gap in the score line, the harder the players will push to change it. If Lloris has pulled off some top saves, it may well be the difference between a rout and a close game. Of course, there will be some shots which are quite literally unstoppable, but it certainly helps when Spurs have a keeper that ensures the majority of shots stay out. A brilliant statistic that shows this is the fact Lloris has the highest save percentage in the Premier League: 75%. He saves three out of every four shots. Fantastic.
What would Tottenham do without him? Sure, they have Michel Vorm and Brad Friedel, but are they on the same level? Probably not. It’s a bit like comparing Gareth Bale when he left players like Tom Huddlestone and Clint Dempsey behind. Good solid players, but not world beaters like Bale. So, Hugo Lloris is equivalent to Gareth Bale with gloves and a bright purple kit. Obviously the glaring difference here is that Lloris obviously saves goals and Bale scores them. But no matter how many saves Lloris pulls off, if none of his teammates score in the other end, the game will end 0-0. However, Bale could go and score a hat-trick to win a game 3-2.
Lloris will make a big difference to where Tottenham will finish by the end of the year if he keeps up his current form. He can’t save everything, but he’ll certainly try! His quality is shown both within England and abroad, for France. It’s impressive that he is now both the captain of France and one of the vice-captains of Tottenham. It’s important to have a keeper that can organise the backline, especially for the high-pressure system the manager employs. When pressing up the field, it will leave gaps and this is up to Lloris to make it known to other players; the goalkeeper can be quite vital in this respect. Sometimes it takes a player that isn’t involved in the game up field to spot where a weakness may lie.
Alongside Christian Eriksen, Lloris is one of the best players at the club. If one, maybe two, equally good players were to join, Tottenham could start to push higher up the table. Teams like Liverpool and Manchester City wouldn’t be disarrays anymore and this is where Lloris will be key, because every save he makes could change the game.
So long as Hugo Lloris is between the Tottenham sticks, there could not be a better man to take his place. Beating such a good keeper requires something that extra bit special and even then, Lloris may just pull out yet another top class save.
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