Monday, 24th December, 2012

Former Aston Villa goalkeeper Brad Friedel has backed the club’s current number 1 Brad Guzan to recover from conceding eight goals against Chelsea yesterday and tipped his countryman to go on and become a top notch custodian.

Friedel turned out for Aston Villa between 2008 and 2011, before opting to leave the Midlands club for Tottenham Hotspur, where he currently plies his trade.



The veteran American is still fondly remembered by the Aston Villa faithful, who now have another American between the sticks in the form of Guzan.

The 28-year-old suffered a blow yesterday however, when he conceded eight goals as Villa were crushed 8-0 by Chelsea at Stamford Bridge.

relatedNewsStory

Friedel though told his old club’s official website that he feels "you just have to experience those bad moments.

"He can be one of the top goalkeepers in the Premier League. He has all the attributes to be.

"The one thing he’s short on is playing games. He has to go through a lot of experiences – good times and bad times. He needs to get to the point where he develops that thick skin of leather where you don’t care what people think.

"He just needs to experience football at the highest level for a long period of time. Once he gets 34, 35 years under his belt, then we’re really see how good he can be."

And Friedel, who is now 41 years old, stressed that in goalkeeping terms Guzan is still very young, with a long career to look forward to.

"He’s still very young in goalkeeping terms. But he’s got a very long career ahead of him.

"I think every time you play, you have some learning experiences on the pitch. You need to have them. There’s no other way of getting those experiences than by playing in the games.

"When you make one or two mistakes, you learn from it. It doesn’t matter where you are or where you play, it’s the same for everyone, learning from those mistakes and going on from there."

Friedel is set to return to his old club on Boxing Day, when Tottenham Hotspur visit Villa Park for a Premier League clash.

The American though looks set to be warming the bench, something he rarely did when at Aston Villa, as French custodian Hugo Lloris’ has claimed the number 1 spot for Andre Villas-Boas’ men.

Like betting on football? Check out Inside Bet.