WEEKLY WHINE

Green and friends

There now follows a ranking of all goalkeeper kits in the English Premier League, as confirmed by this year’s league handbook. Criteria included appearance on its own and appearance when combined with the team’s normal kits.

1. Leicester City green: Burnley and Leicester have the same style of goalkeeper kits made by Puma. We preferred Leicester’s green kit alongside their normal blues over Burnley’s alongside their normal claret.
2. Burnley green
3. Aston Villa green: Nearly as good as Leicester’s and Burnley’s.
4. Southampton green: We enjoy the darker shade of green and would like to see that in more goalkeeper kits.
5. Everton green: A very good effort, but we don’t feel that the diagonal shading adds anything.
6. Liverpool black: The red trim makes this a winner.
7. Burnley white: We here at GoobNet have often wondered why more teams don’t use white goalkeeper kits.
8. Southampton yellow
9. Stoke City green
10. West Bromwich Albion green: Several clubs outfitted by Adidas have turned out this season with identically styled goalkeeper kits. Sunderland and West Brom both have green kits with dark green trim, a combination that we felt was a better fit with the Baggies’ white kits.
11. Sunderland green
12. West Ham United white: This is another good white keeper kit, but we question the use of orange. We encourage clubs to add trim of their own colours to their goalkeeper kits.
13. Tottenham Hotspur orange
14. Arsenal green: Another good effort, but the shade of green is a bit too pale, nor are we fans of the armpit detailling.
15. Crystal Palace blue: We enjoy the black across the shoulders, but for this kit, we would encourage them to try dark blue trim instead.
16. Hull City blue
17. Leicester City black: Leicester and Villa both have all black goalkeeper kits.
18. Aston Villa black: But in Villa’s case, it is really only useful with their change whites, whilst Leicester’s keeper can wear black with any of the Foxes’ kits.
19. Tottenham Hotspur grey: We would have loved to place this higher on the list, but a lighter shade of grey would have been preferred.
20. Manchester United black: Man Utd’s goalkeeper kits all have a silly chevron pattern.
21. Queens Park Rangers green: QPR and Man City also have chevrons, but only on the sleeves.
22. Manchester City green
23. Manchester United green
24. Crystal Palace green: As with their blue kit, we would have preferred a dark green on the shoulders rather than black.
25. Burnley orange
26. Hull City purple: The diagonal pattern is particularly interesting on Hull’s and Everton’s kits.
27. Everton purple: Same as Hull’s but with superfluous yellow trim.
28. Tottenham Hotspur purple: We suggest white trim instead of grey.
29. Manchester United blue
30. Leicester City pink: This is a fun alternative that we find fits quite well with the Foxes’ blue kits.
31. Chelsea red: This kit is decent enough, but we find ourselves wondering whether Chelsea supporters would want to see any of their players in red.
32. Aston Villa yellow: There are many nearly identical yellow goalkeeper kits in the Premier League. We are pleased with the minimalist level of trim on Villa’s kit.
33. Sunderland yellow
34. West Ham United yellow
35. Swansea yellow
36. West Bromwich Albion yellow
37. Stoke City yellow: We are now entering the territory of busy yellow kits. This one, we feel, has just a bit too much trim.
38. Everton yellow: But diagonal shading ruins it outright.
39. Hull City yellow: And again here.
40. Arsenal black: The armpit detailling makes an unwelcome appearance.
41. Arsenal orange: But it is particularly noticeable on this kit.
42. Queens Park Rangers black: Nike, if you want to put chevrons on the sleeves, fine. But at least make them match the club’s colours, all right? Thanks.
43. Manchester City black: Seriously, why do Man City have a goalkeeper kit in Man Utd colours?
44. Sunderland blue: This blue kit with pink detailling has been seen everywhere: the World Cup, MLS, and the Spanish Primera División. Sunderland, Swansea, and West Brom have all come down with it.
45. Swansea blue
46. West Bromwich Albion blue
47. Liverpool purple: We would recommend adding gold trim to echo the team’s normal kit.
48. Queens Park Rangers purple: Sleeve chevron party!
49. Manchester City yellow: Sleeve chevron party redux!
50. Crystal Palace pink
51. Southampton grey: The Saints should move the red trim from the green keeper kit to this one.
52. Chelsea yellow: The black sleeves really bumped this one down the list.
53. Newcastle United orange
54. Chelsea white: We normally like white goalkeeper kits, but this is a bit too Jorge Campos for us.
55. Newcastle United black: We bumped this one down the list because we were unable to determine whether it is a reference to Tron or to the graphic of the approach to the Death Star’s exhaust port in Star Wars Episode IV.
56. Liverpool grey: Sure, you can make a goalkeeper kit in the same style as your first team’s kit. But that doesn’t mean that you should.