Whitey Grandad

You move in small circles. How about a married one?

Indeed. When do his two weeks run out?

"Everyone" is stretching the term more than a little. A few posters on here I'll grant you but hardly reaching double figures. That leaves many tens of others who we don't hear from. Which stats are these, by the way? Goalkeepers are impossible to quantify objectively. Every other goalkeeper that I see in several leagues seems much the same. Oh. And a Merry Christmas to you too!

Because they're meaningless perhaps?

They are not shit. They're just not the best. Like most players in this league.

Only when they reinforce your prejudices. With age comes wisdom. Merry Christmas to one and all 🥳

Perhaps he knows where the greatest danger lies?

I can neither confirm nor deny that I used to do this when I was an active referee.

Because the 'stats' are meaningless.

This is the nub of it. The ball is simply getting too close to our goal and relying on any goalkeeper to keep out every shot is unrealistic no matter how good we might think they are. A good defence starts a lot higher up the pitch.

Too many cooks.

Stats 🤣

Kelvin wasn't all that great. But yes, in today's circumstances I don't believe that we are able to buy and pay the wages of a goalkeeper significantly better than those we already have. If we could, we would see Ramsdale between the posts. Let me put it another way. If your aim is to reduce the number of goals that we conceded where would our efforts be best rewarded? Cutting out the unopposed crosses and shots at source or recruiting a better keeper in the hope that he might save a couple more than either Gavin or Alex? It's our defensive shape and intensity that is the bigger problem.

Those figures are generated by a computer game.

Exactly. That was then and this is now.

And where is he now?

As I have said elsewhere, this tactic is now standard especially in the Premier League and only strong refereeing will stamp it out. Doe it happen as much in other leagues? Internationals?

That has become a common corner tactic at all levels of the game.

If anyone is expecting us to sign a much better goalkeeper whilst we are in the Championship then they are going to be disappointed. We are no longer dining at the top table. There are reasons why even a moderately talented goalkeeper like Ramsdale was loaned out to a Premier League team.

Their second? Have a look at it again and then try and say that he should have claimed it. He absolutely couldn't. You usually make some good points but this isn't one of them.

The Vincibles

We sacked him because we were declining.

Not liabilities but we really need better.

But then there shots wouldn't have gone where they did. They don't come in at random.

He falls over a lot. He's not good to us lying on the ground. There's an old football saying, "Stay on your feet"