Your name is Shay Given. You've done a lot in football. You've earned your keep. You've seen it all. You deserve a quiet year or two as a sub goalie, passing your knowledge on to the next generation of goalkeepers.
You don't really expect to playing week in, week out. That's a young man's job.
Sadly Given has been finding himself between the posts for Stoke on Saturday afternoons this month, and it hasn't been pretty. Since Stoke lost Jack Butland late last season, Stoke has had to lean on Shay Given because to be honest, they hadn't expected Jack Butland to get hurt. Keepers rarely get hurt. Given is a great keeper but he is out of his depth.
It's been a miserable season for Stoke - they're are bottom of the table with the worst goal difference in the Premier League. Given has shipped a lot the blame and it got worse for him today as he conceded a highly comical own goal, as Leighton Baines knocked a penalty off the post only for Given to score an own goal when the ball bounced off his head and rolled back into the net.
Penalty comes after Williams was fouled in the area. Baines hits the post from the spot but it hits Given and heads in. Phew!
— Royal Blue Mersey (@RBMersey) August 27, 2016
Bullet header from Shay Given though.
— MDA (@MichaelDeAsha) August 27, 2016
All the Shay Given owners out there: The Stoke keeper has been awarded the penalty save (to go with his own goal) #EVESTK #FPL
— Fantasy Premier League (@OfficialFPL) August 27, 2016
Shay gonna Shay. pic.twitter.com/hxZR5sVAPC
— Balls.ie (@ballsdotie) August 27, 2016
This evening the stat wonks with the Premier League have confirmed that Given set a new PL record with that goal: he is officially the oldest footballer to ever score an OG in the Premier League.
Shay Given (40 years, 129 days) is the oldest player ever to score an own goal in the #PL, a record previously held by Stuart Pearce
— Sky Sports Statto (@SkySportsStatto) August 27, 2016
After it all, Given must be asking himself two questions
- When is Butland back? (the answer is soon, it turns out)
- Was it for this?
