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The best goalkeepers make outstanding saves, but how well they are remembered depends on what the rest of the team do
Gianluigi Donnarumma banished all memories of Claudio Bravo as he stood tall in the Manchester derby to help Manchester City to a much-needed victory. The high-profile summer arrival looked at ease on his first start for the club, making it the finest debut from a City goalkeeper since...probably James Trafford a month earlier.
Thrown straight in at Wolves for the first game of the Premier League season amid uncertainty around Ederson's future, Trafford held his nerve at Molineux as the home team threatened in the first half and made a number of saves that his predecessor arguably would not have done to give City the platform to take the lead. He then used his feet to get the ball up the pitch for the third goal of a 4-0 win before producing more saves to keep his clean sheet.
The feelgood factor did not last long though, with a mistake in the 2-0 home defeat to Spurs sucking all of his confidence for the rest of the game. In what was perhaps even tougher circumstances a week later, Trafford was back to his high level at Brighton and made an outstanding save as the 90th minute approach to keep City level, but it made no difference.
With Erling Haaland having missed a number of chances and the team falling apart after a quadruple substitution from Brighton on the hour, Trafford's saves were forgotten. By the time of the next game, he had been displaced by the arrival of Donnarumma and will have a much tougher fight to get the No.1 spot.
This isn't to make a sob story for the former Burnley stopper - although he does deserve some sympathy - but to point out the importance of the rest of the team to the goalkeeper. Good saves in defeats are quickly forgotten whereas a lot more credit goes into the bank for victories.
Nobody knows if United would have come back into the game if Donnarumma had not turned Bryan Mbuemo's effort around the post, yet nobody of a Blue persuasion wanted to find out given how flimsy the team has been for a year at responding to setbacks.
The important thing was that Donnarumma made sure it was never explored and City went on to solidify their win.
That is one of the biggest things required of a goalkeeper. Whatever Donnarumma may or may not be able to do with his feet, he prevented a City setback - the sort that Trafford was central to against Spurs - and he is rightly being praised for it.
His stop earned the congratulations of his teammates to the satisfaction of Pep Guardiola, but the biggest thing that the rest of the side can do for their new goalkeeper is play well enough to make sure that his saves matter.
The best keepers make the saves that matter, but they only matter if the rest of the team do their jobs. How long Donnarumma can stay on the right side of that balance will determine how good his start is viewed.
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