Hugo Lloris has earned a place in Tottenham’s All-Time Premier League XI as picked by Tim Sherwood, Sam Allardyce and Les Ferdinand on the No Tippy Tappy Football Podcast.
The French goalkeeper may not be the most popular of figures at Spurs these days, but after more than a decade of good service, this one was a no-brainer.
Sherwood and Ferdinand both agreed that Lloris should be this team’s number one, but, interestingly, Ferdinand stated that he did have reservations about the £12m man when he first signed.
Ferdinand was, of course, on the Tottenham coaching staff when Lloris first came in, and he says that due to his tendency to rush out off his line, he genuinely thought Lloris would give away lots of penalties.
Ferdinand had Lloris reservations
The pundit spoke about his initial impressions of Lloris along with Tim Sherwood.
“We’ve gone for Lloris. We went for Lloris because of the years of service he gave to the club. He took a lot of criticism and I used to say to everyone ‘try to find one better’. He’s really undersized as a goalie. You see some giants, but he was so quick, so agile, not the best on the floor, but a World Cup winner. I don’t think we can find anyone with an argument,” Sherwood said.
“When he first came to the club we thought he would give lots of penalties away because he was off his line like there was no tomorrow. I remember Tony Parkes was the goalkeeping coach and he’d come in on the Monday morning and they’d show the goals on Sky and I’d say ‘goalkeeper’s fault again’ and he’d keep his head down, Lloris was like ‘what is he going on about?’ A good kid and all the things Tim says, he’s our first choice,” Ferdinand said.
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Steady
Lloris had his moments in goal for Tottenham, but, overall, he was as steady as they come.
A reliable goalkeeper who would rarely make mistakes, Lloris has to go down as Spurs’ best stopper of the Premier League era.
The likes of Brad Friedel were solid enough, but as a World Cup winning captain, Lloris has to go down as one of the best goalies of this era.
Lloris’ career at Tottenham isn’t ending the way many had hoped, but in years to come, he will be looked back on fondly.