Massimo Taibi was almost always a great goalkeeper
Reappraisal ~ Matthew Barker looks back on the career of Massimo Taibi and proposes that, asides from his two howlers at Manchester United, he was a very good goalkeeper
On August 31, 1999, Massimo Taibi signed for Manchester United from Venezia on a four-year deal for £4.5 million. He was highly rated. The Lagunari had just enjoyed one of their most successful seasons since the early 1960s and the 29-year-old was seen as a potential replacement for Peter Schmeichel.
The newly knighted Alex Ferguson didn't get on with Mark Bosnich (though Martin Edwards had been delighted to get the Australian in on a free transfer) and Ferguson was keen to play Taibi as his first-choice keeper. In his four United games, the Italian was given the man of the match award twice, including on his debut, a 3-2 defeat away at Anfield. He’s there in that famous photo of a teenage Michael Owen with head in hands in front of the Kop.
He was superb in a goalless draw against Wimbledon the following week, dealing with an onrushing Carl Cort in a succession of one-on-ones. However, against Southampton, Matt Le Tissier’s speculative, scuffed 25-yard punt bounced gently through the luckless keeper’s legs and across the line. The game ended in a 3-3 draw.
Famously, he partly blamed the length of the studs on his boots: “During the week I was asking for longer studs because the ones I have are too short. So maybe that was the reason as well, but there’s nothing I can do now. I’ve made the mistake and now I’m just trying to forget it.” A 5-0 hammering at Stamford Bridge a few days later sealed Taibi’s fate.
Eleven goals in four games is not a great return, but maybe instead of his studs, he would have been better off pointing the finger at his defenders. At the time, United had fellow newbie Mikael Silvestere, who really struggled in those early outings, a central pairing of Henning Berg and Jaap Stam that never truly clicked, and Denis Irwin, who was fast approaching his sell-by date.
Off the field, an administrative hiccup meant Taibi was ineligible to play in European competition, which interrupted his flow of games. With Roy Keane out injured and David Beckham’s frivolities in glossy magazines attracting Ferguson's wrath, the keeper became a scapegoat for an underperforming and occasionally shambolic United side. He swore he would never talk again to the tabloid press, who dubbed him the Venetian Blind (he is from Palermo).
In January 2000, Taibi returned to Italy, signing for Reggina, then in Serie A. He is still revered by fans of the Calabrian club (as he is at Venezia). Now retired, he recently took on the role of sporting director at Serie D side Montebelluna, in the Veneto region.
Last month, talking to a local Venetian newspaper, Taibi looked back on those few months at United: "I had only been to the stadium once before, when I was playing with Piacenza and we went along to visit the museum. More than a story, mine was a fairytale. It was the opportunity of a lifetime." Matthew Barker
Plus... United won the game at Anfield 3-2. With 10 men. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sport/football/fa_carling_premiership/444155.stm
Taibi was brilliant in that game.
He was at fault for the first Liverpool goal though.
Maybe it's WSC and not Matthew, but Massimo Taibi was never a great goalkeeper. They are few and far between and in Italy only Buffon in the last 20 years deserves this title. Taibi was at Atalanta from 2001 to 2005, and two of those seasons ended in relegation, with a promotion sandwiched in between. He was too inconsistent to be remembered as one of the club's best goalkeepers. If he had not had that short spell at Old Trafford, he would probably be unheard of outside Italy.
So he was BMC http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Efq80jcfWfI Although the save I remember - a last minute point blank shot/header being tipped over the bar doesn't appear to be on this highlight reel. Maybe I'm misremembering it and it was from a different match.
I've read Matthew Barker's stuff in WSC in the past, and really liked it, but this bit --
"He was superb in a goalless draw against Wimbledon the following week"
-- is not true. The Wimbledon game ended 1-1.
And the piece is not broadly true either. Taibi was a disaster apart from making three or four good stops against Liverpool (and, as Bootleg Mark Chapman points out, he fucked up in that game when coming for a right-wing cross, missing it, and allowing Hyypia to head in). That's why he was made to walk the plank so early on.
Taibi must have had something about him to get signed by Man Utd in the first place, but he never got capped for Italy and he never proved himself to be a top-class keeper. He was no more a lost genius than Sander Westerveld.
@geobra Not sure what your experiences have been but judging by the reactions when I've brought up the name of Taibi in Milanese pubs, very few people INSIDE Italy have heard of him either!
@ Jobù
Despite the fact that he also had a short spell at Milan in 1997-98! He lasted a little longer there than he did at Old Trafford, but another top club obviously decided he was not for them. Some people think that the very best clubs maybe don't need a good goalkeeper, but they do.
I should have mentioned that prior to arriving at Atalanta he was in the Reggina side that went down (after a controversial play off with Verona) in 2001. That makes three relegations in 5 years, though in 2005 he lost his place to Alex Calderoni after a particularly bad howler away to Lazio and never got it back again.
I don't mean to imply that he was a very bad goalkeeper, because he wasn't. But at the highest level he was never more than ordinary.
In the 2000-2001 Reggina relegation season, he is better rememebered for a last-minute headed equaliser in a 1-1 draw with Udinese than for any save he made, even though I'm sure he made many.
On the subject...
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"the keeper became a scapegoat for an under-performing and occasionally shambolic United side."
They can't have been that bad - they won the title by 18 points. And if he was used as a scapegoat; it worked.