Alex McCarthy

[Saint_clark]

Sigh. 

Was really hoping for a new keeper. But it has to be said...I'm more confident of staying up with him in goal than I am Bazunu. 

[Lighthouse]

3 minutes ago, Maggie May said:

A big reason why we are back in the Prem. Absolutely deserved.

He is very little at all to do with why we are in the Prem and last time he played in it he was dreadful.

[hypochondriac]

I'm holding judgement until we know definitively he's first choice. If he is then the club have shit the bed. 

[AlexLaw76]

8 minutes ago, Maggie May said:

A big reason why we are back in the Prem. Absolutely deserved.

He played about 5 games, so not really

[CB Fry]

Jesus wept.

[Lee On Solent Saint]

5 minutes ago, hypochondriac said:

I'm holding judgement until we know definitively he's first choice. If he is then the club have shit the bed. 

I'd let go of that judgement if I were you. Going to get a very achy arm.

[Jimmy_D]

Feels like he earned that with his professionalism and performances to get us over the line for promotion last season.

He’s certainly shown that he’s got an excellent mentality to be a back up keeper.

[Saint Billy]

9 minutes ago, Jimmy_D said:

Feels like he earned that with his professionalism and performances to get us over the line for promotion last season.

He’s certainly shown that he’s got an excellent mentality to be a back up keeper.

Back up yes, not number one surely. Yes he did well at the end of last season but let's not forget his past horror shows 

[SaintsLoyal]

New number one as Bazunu isnt PL standard.

[Turkish]

all we need now is to get Che wrapped up on a new deal and Europe is on!

[Baird of the land]

I have quite liked mccarthy in past, even when he was getting criticised on here.

That said this feels like a backwards step to me. He feels at this point in his career to be a solid championship goalie but fear he’ll be exposed again at prem level. Feels like an admission of a lack of ambition too.

[AlexLaw76]

So far.

Lallana, McCarthy and THB...linked with a few freebees, with KwP likely out of the door (with Downes in)

Lets hope some additional quality comes in, otherwise we will comfortably go back down

Edited June 28 by AlexLaw76

[SaintNewForest]

Going back to the PL with McCarthy still the starting goalkeeper, despite not being deemed good enough last time we were there. 

One summer, we might actually make a good, decisive decision regarding our goalkeepers. 

He was fantastic in the play offs, dont get me wrong, but the club spent the past 2 years trying to shift him. 

[hypochondriac]

3 minutes ago, AlexLaw76 said:

So far.

Lallana, McCarthy and THB...linked with a few freebees, with KwP likely out of the door (with Downes in)

Lets hope some additional quality comes in, otherwise we will comfortably go back down

TBF we had the 9 out of 10 squad two seasons ago and we were fecking shit. Maybe solid and underwhelming is better than flashy but unstable. 

[AlexLaw76]

Just now, hypochondriac said:

TBF we had the 9 out of 10 squad two seasons ago and we were fecking shit. Maybe solid and underwhelming is better than flashy but unstable. 

🤣

Very true...

[trousers]

41 minutes ago, Maggie May said:

A big reason why we are back in the Prem. Absolutely deserved.

 

33 minutes ago, AlexLaw76 said:

He played about 5 games, so not really

Yep, played the last 5 games before the playoffs, of which we lost 3 games, and one of which was a 5-0 defeat.

Please tell me this won't be yet another season where we go into a season with the goalkeeper being one of our weaker positions.... 

Edited June 28 by trousers

[Turkish]

9 minutes ago, AlexLaw76 said:

So far.

Lallana, McCarthy and THB...linked with a few freebees, with KwP likely out of the door (with Downes in)

Lets hope some additional quality comes in, otherwise we will comfortably go back down

fuck off mate, we're going to walk this league! this is the greatest period in our history!

[S-Clarke]

I think we all know how this ends. This is our GK until Bazunu is back. Totally bonkers, completely backwards decision. If he hadn't come in for the last handful of games last season (he didn't even feature on the bench for us for 90% of the season) then he'd have walked off into the sunset on the released list. Somehow those handful of games have convinced us to give him a first choice PL contract for 2 more years.

If he was a squad player then fair enough, but we all know deep down that he is starting next season and we won't be signing another. Lumley and McCarthy are our two GK's at PL level. At this stage we might as well have stayed down.

[SNSUN]

If he's on a heavily reduced wage as back up this is fine. 2 years worries me though, I hope we haven't given him the deal just based on a handful of decent games at the end of last season as we've seen from the Prem before... he's not an answer.

If we bring in a new number one in while Baz is out this deal is fine. If Alex is the answer then we're in trouble.

[Hodgey]

I’m not so sure - it does seem we have very little transfer budget due to ffp so are trying to max out frees etc.

But if we are clever we could use the loan system to attract players who will look at our team and see themselves as a shoe in, and gk could be one of those positions (and striker). Bonus of that is we’re in less financial jeopardy if we go down / they’re rubbish (which given our horrific scouting efforts on big signings may be sensible)

[disconnect]

Bazunu cannot be first choice at any point this coming season if we have aspirations of staying up. If he gets fit, great, but he needs to go on loan to the Championship. McCarthy is surely back up / stop gap until a new first choice comes in. Ramsdale on loan just seems far too sensible for clever, (cheap) Saints 🤣

[Dusic]

Strange one as he doesn't fit the way the manager wants to play.

Don't think he is good enough/suited enough to be a successful #1 and Lumley isn't good enough to be a #2 so we have a problem in this position.

Bazunu an irrelevance for this season as he won't be fit for the vast majority - but clearly a factor in why we are not seemingly signing a new #1.

Edited June 28 by Dusic

[Turkish]

47 minutes ago, S-Clarke said:

I think we all know how this ends. This is our GK until Bazunu is back. Totally bonkers, completely backwards decision. If he hadn't come in for the last handful of games last season (he didn't even feature on the bench for us for 90% of the season) then he'd have walked off into the sunset on the released list. Somehow those handful of games have convinced us to give him a first choice PL contract for 2 more years.

If he was a squad player then fair enough, but we all know deep down that he is starting next season and we won't be signing another. Lumley and McCarthy are our two GK's at PL level. At this stage we might as well have stayed down.

im expecting a Caceres type loan. a decent keeper who's been around a bit, but sits on the bench all season with us all wondering why he's not playing

[S-Clarke]

Just now, Turkish said:

im expecting a Caceres type loan. a decent keeper who's been around a bit, but sits on the bench all season with us all wondering why he's not playing

Entirely possible, but maybe we'll pull out a Boruc style free transfer after the window has closed - once it becomes apparent that the GK's aren't up to it. (as we saw with Kelvin when we last got promoted, so had to act out of desperation once the window had closed).

Our management of goalkeepers has been diabolical for so long now. We might all be wrong and we have a number 1 up our sleeve about to sign, but I think we've been here before!

[hypochondriac]

24 minutes ago, Hodgey said:

I’m not so sure - it does seem we have very little transfer budget due to ffp so are trying to max out frees etc.

But if we are clever we could use the loan system to attract players who will look at our team and see themselves as a shoe in, and gk could be one of those positions (and striker). Bonus of that is we’re in less financial jeopardy if we go down / they’re rubbish (which given our horrific scouting efforts on big signings may be sensible)

Agreed. Loads of quality keepers would jump at the chance of playing every week in the prem even if it's a loan. I'm still holding out hope until told otherwise. 

[stknowle]

55 minutes ago, trousers said:

 

Yep, played the last 5 games before the playoffs, of which we lost 3 games, and one of which was a 5-0 defeat.

Please tell me this won't be yet another season where we go into a season with the goalkeeper being one of our weaker positions.... 

This won’t be yet another season where we go into a season with the goalkeeper being one of our weaker positions. No idea if true, but happy to oblige.

[skintsaint]

Like a bad fart...he is just lingering around the club.

[Saint Keef]

Trying to put a positive spin on this. Just my observations, but when McCarthy came in, it was immediately clear that his ball control at his feet, and short-pass distribution is not as good as Baz's, (we probably all knew that already anyway) and in those few games Alex played we gradually moved away from playing so much of the "tippy-tappy bollocks" around our own area. It took a couple of games to suddenly readjust that style and to me, we looked better for it - ie. the play-off semi's and the final, we looked better for getting up the field quicker. So if it means we ditch the "tippy tappy brave" stuff then personally I think that's a positive. We would get ripped apart trying to play that way in the Prem. I think (hope) RM suddenly realised that too.

I also think Alex commands the box better on crosses than Baz. The near post shot stopping is still a worry to me, so, whilst being somewhat underwhelmed by him possibly being our "new Number 1" I do think there are positives in there, if it means we play a bit more direct. Alex seems a bit calmer under pressure. At times, Baz looked like a rabbit in the headlights. Time will tell of course. 

All Keepers are prone to errors from time to time and Ramsdale has made his share, but I agree with those who say that he would probably be an upgrade on both Alex and Baz. Anyway folks, that's my immediate thoughts.

[Turkish]

16 minutes ago, S-Clarke said:

Entirely possible, but maybe we'll pull out a Boruc style free transfer after the window has closed - once it becomes apparent that the GK's aren't up to it. (as we saw with Kelvin when we last got promoted, so had to act out of desperation once the window had closed).

Our management of goalkeepers has been diabolical for so long now. We might all be wrong and we have a number 1 up our sleeve about to sign, but I think we've been here before!

we got lucky with Boruc. Unlikely a keeper of that quality will be available on a free again. 

[S-Clarke]

3 minutes ago, Saint Keef said:

Trying to put a positive spin on this. Just my observations, but when McCarthy came in, it was immediately clear that his ball control at his feet, and short-pass distribution is not as good as Baz's, (we probably all knew that already anyway) and in those few games Alex played we gradually moved away from playing so much of the "tippy-tappy bollocks" around our own area. It took a couple of games to suddenly readjust that style and to me, we looked better for it - ie. the play-off semi's and the final, we looked better for getting up the field quicker. So if it means we ditch the "tippy tappy brave" stuff then personally I think that's a positive. We would get ripped apart trying to play that way in the Prem. I think (hope) RM suddenly realised that too.

I also think Alex commands the box better on crosses than Baz. The near post shot stopping is still a worry to me, so, whilst being somewhat underwhelmed by him possibly being our "new Number 1" I do think there are positives in there, if it means we play a bit more direct. Alex seems a bit calmer under pressure. At times, Baz looked like a rabbit in the headlights. Time will tell of course. 

All Keepers are prone to errors from time to time and Ramsdale has made his share, but I agree with those who say that he would probably be an upgrade on both Alex and Baz. Anyway folks, that's my immediate thoughts.

I do see what you are saying, but I think it was too few a sample of games to really come to the conclusion that we've entirely ditched that. I think we did what was needed at the back end of the season to get us over the line, so we'll probably see a revert to the 'brave' approach next season.

My biggest concern with this isn't that he will be our number 1, it's that the club are continuing to put all faith into Bazunu. This was the opportunity to replace Bazunu and fall on their sword, but by signing McCarthy it's clear we're just waiting for Bazunu to come back which is just bonkers. 

[aintforever]

Great news getting a reserve keeper signed for a couple of years. Look forward to the new no1 coming in now.

[davefizzy14]

2 hours ago, Maggie May said:

A big reason why we are back in the Prem. Absolutely deserved.

Exactly this. 

[Turkish]

3 hours ago, Maggie May said:

A big reason why we are back in the Prem. Absolutely deserved.

is he though, or did it just show how poor Baz is? I'd say it'd the latter

[East Kent Saint]

When this season and previously when Forster was out , Mccarthy stepped in and did a good job . However when he got a long run he seemed a bit crap especially when he stayed on the pitch injured and we lost . He was frozen out after that.

[Galway saint]

He did well in the last few games and playing him was a major reason we went up but ultimately he did the job you would expect of a decent keeper.

It was such a relief not to have Bazanu in goal and we looked a much better side with McCarthy there for a host of reasons. Anyone with a modicum of footballing nouse could see that and I don’t believe RM and his backroom team is stupid, however if we were serious about replacing Bazanu, now is the time to do it but looks to me that it’s McCarthy as number 1 until Bazanu is back which is a piss poor outcome really if that’s what’s been decided.

[SouSaint]

He's a good number 2 with Bazunu being number 3 but I don't think it's going to play out like that. 

[Chez]

5 hours ago, Baird of the land said:

I have quite liked mccarthy in past, even when he was getting criticised on here.

That said this feels like a backwards step to me. He feels at this point in his career to be a solid championship goalie but fear he’ll be exposed again at prem level. Feels like an admission of a lack of ambition too.

similar. The club doesn't seem to have a clue about the quality of the goalkeepers it has or where to find an actual good one. 

[austsaint]

5 hours ago, Jimmy_D said:

Feels like he earned that with his professionalism and performances to get us over the line for promotion last season.

He’s certainly shown that he’s got an excellent mentality to be a back up keeper.

The three words at the end of your post are crucial.  Until it's apparent McCarthy is the back up keeper - and not to Baz - there's reason to worry about next season.

[Chez]

1 hour ago, SouSaint said:

He's a good number 2 with Bazunu being number 3 but I don't think it's going to play out like that. 

I don't either.

[Lighthouse]

1 hour ago, Galway saint said:

He did well in the last few games and playing him was a major reason we went up but ultimately he did the job you would expect of a decent keeper.

It was such a relief not to have Bazanu in goal and we looked a much better side with McCarthy there for a host of reasons. Anyone with a modicum of footballing nouse could see that and I don’t believe RM and his backroom team is stupid, however if we were serious about replacing Bazanu, now is the time to do it but looks to me that it’s McCarthy as number 1 until Bazanu is back which is a piss poor outcome really if that’s what’s been decided.

When McC came in we lost 3 of the 5 league games he played in. The ones we didn’t lose were at home to the worst form team in the league (think Preston lost about 7 of their last 8.) and a complete dead rubber again Leeds. In the playoffs we got marginally worse results than we did in the corresponding games Bazunu played in.

This idea that McC dragged us single handedly from the despair of Bazunu, into the playoffs and all the way to PL glory is a myth, a fantasy and if he is between the sticks come August it’ll all come crashing down.

[saintant]

6 hours ago, SfcPhil said:

I'm okay with it as long as we sign a number 1. If he's our number 1, we're basically down already.

We won't. He's not been given a 2 year deal on what is presumably a very good wage to warm our bench. He'll be number one pending the return of Super Baz.

[Galway saint]

10 minutes ago, Lighthouse said:

When McC came in we lost 3 of the 5 league games he played in. The ones we didn’t lose were at home to the worst form team in the league (think Preston lost about 7 of their last 8.) and a complete dead rubber again Leeds. In the playoffs we got marginally worse results than we did in the corresponding games Bazunu played in.

This idea that McC dragged us single handedly from the despair of Bazunu, into the playoffs and all the way to PL glory is a myth, a fantasy and if he is between the sticks come August it’ll all come crashing down.

No ones saying McCarthy dragged us single handedly to promotion but it helped a lot in the playoffs having a competent keeper at championship level who was able to do the basics well and the defence looked so much more comfortable with him there. That’s not necessarily praise for McCarthy more an indictment of how bad Bazanu is. 

[Gloucester Saint]

2 hours ago, SouSaint said:

He's a good number 2 with Bazunu being number 3 but I don't think it's going to play out like that. 

Neither do I. Fine with Alex staying but would have made more sense to release Lumley and accept that Baz isn’t playing next season and on loan in the lower leagues in 25/26 rebuilding his fitness and confidence. Gavin has shown nothing yet to suggest he can play above the third tier even with a strong side in front of him last year.

The club are so determined not to admit their mistake that they’ve made another one here, which on top of Forster and then McCarthy’s obscene contract extensions is crass. Cortese can’t be the only person in the club’s recent history who can spot a decent experienced low cost/free keeper eg Boruc. Or maybe he is?

Surely anyone with a football brain in the club will know that an experienced keeper needs to come in loan?

[beatlesaint]

I'm still really at a loss to comprehend how you can go from third choice and not even a place on the bench to suddenly playing 8 games that earn you a brand new 2 year contract. It's crazy. As someone has said he was competent, he made a few decent saves but nothing that warrants being number 1 choice for next season. 

[Holmes_and_Watson]

6 minutes ago, beatlesaint said:

I'm still really at a loss to comprehend how you can go from third choice and not even a place on the bench to suddenly playing 8 games that earn you a brand new 2 year contract. It's crazy. As someone has said he was competent, he made a few decent saves but nothing that warrants being number 1 choice for next season. 

McCarthy wasn't in the squad because the club, having failed to convince him to leave in order to reduce the wage bill, saved money by not giving him bonuses related to being in the match day squad. It was nothing to do with his ability.

Prior to relegation, he was left out for similar reasons as well as the club being hell-bent on turning Baz into a sellable super keeper. Last season, Martin's system suited Baz a lot more. McCarthy would have been at least challenging, if not for the above.

Telling that he was brought in when the club really needs him.

The club must have weighed up their offer with costs of getting a replacement in, for what would be a season.  They could have went for a loan, but have decided to go with someone already familiar with Martin's requirements.

[S-Clarke]

Just now, Holmes_and_Watson said:

The club must have weighed up their offer with costs of getting a replacement in, for what would be a season.  They could have went for a loan, but have decided to go with someone already familiar with Martin's requirements.

This is the part I take issue with - this should have been about admitting a mistake and replacing Bazunu with a long-term decent starting GK, keep Bazunu around and have a situation where he'd have to really, really fight for his place when he's fit. All we've done is basically nothing, which means Bazunu will be back automatically without having to fight for a place whenever he is deemed fit enough.

I'd say 90% of fans wouldn't have taken this approach, so the guy who heads the GK department at the club has had a total brain fart if he feels this is a suitable way of going about this.

Obviously this is all fixed if the club sign another GK...!

[david in sweden]

8 hours ago, Gloucester Saint said:

Neither do I. Fine with Alex staying but would have made more sense to release Lumley and accept that Baz isn’t playing next season and on loan in the lower leagues in 25/26 rebuilding his fitness and confidence. Gavin has shown nothing yet to suggest he can play above the third tier even with a strong side in front of him last year.

The club are so determined not to admit their mistake that they’ve made another one here, which on top of Forster and then McCarthy’s obscene contract extensions is crass. Cortese can’t be the only person in the club’s recent history who can spot a decent experienced low cost/free keeper eg Boruc.  Or maybe he is?

Surely anyone with a football brain in the club will know that an experienced keeper needs to come in loan?

If that was the case  ... it was one of the few positive things that Cortese did do right .    Whoever said that Cortese had a footballing brain?

He may have been a good organiser / administrator,  but some of the big footballing decisions he made were catastrophic and cost the club a fortune ...

His two deals (Osvaldo and Ramirez) on borrowed money ...cost 25 million in fees and almost as a much again with their huge salaries on long contracts. 

He " granted " Pardew and Adkins quite paltry sums to bring in their own choices, and the squad that won two promotions with Adkins  cost less than 6 million. 

 

Your last sentence is correct.  The eventual return of Bazunu  (whenever that will be ) is more uncertain because it doesn't rely purely on his "fitness to play "

but the quality required to be a Prem. standard keeper which he certainly wasn't when he arrived,  and elements of his game weren't good enough for the 

Championship at times last season.   IF ....McCarthy can maintain the standard he showed in the play-offs ?... then I will be pleased / pleasantly surprised, but

if  it all goes pear-shaped, or AMc  is injured  ...we will have a major problem that can't be easily resolved...  whilst losing three points every match.

 

[goodymatt]

I wonder if a decent loan option becomes available, if we would go for it?

Alex is as good a number 2 as we would be able to attract, knows the club well and has shown he has the mindset to be out of the team and still come back in and deliver. 

Until Alex is confirmed as number 1, I’m not concerned.

Edited June 29 by goodymatt

[gio1saints]

6 minutes ago, Holmes_and_Watson said:

McCarthy wasn't in the squad because the club, having failed to convince him to leave in order to reduce the wage bill, saved money by not giving him bonuses related to being in the match day squad. It was nothing to do with his ability.

Prior to relegation, he was left out for similar reasons as well as the club being hell-bent on turning Baz into a sellable super keeper. Last season, Martin's system suited Baz a lot more. McCarthy would have been at least challenging, if not for the above.

Telling that he was brought in when the club really needs him.

The club must have weighed up their offer with costs of getting a replacement in, for what would be a season.  They could have went for a loan, but have decided to go with someone already familiar with Martin's requirements.

Thanks for clearing that up.
 

Do you have any detail? Such as what was the match day squad bonus and was that included in his reputed £50k pw salary ( Google) - or was that match day bonus on top? 
 

reason asking is if the bonus was £15kper match then his basic was less than I thought - and it may be his new epl basic.

Somehow I think it was on top and if it was a small figure- say £5k - I can’t say im Pleased that he could not make the squad let alone play for certain matches - just to give Baz a much needed rest. Not good management there I’m afraid cos Baz was obviously below his levels latter part of season and a turnover would have been proper and sensible  - as it was we relied on bad luck for Baz good luck for Saints to see Alex in goal.

Hope RM notes that. 

[Saint Fan CaM]

As predicted by some of us (not CoT), the club is financially strapped and has to take some difficult decisions in terms of financial balance. I’d argue that there are more pressing positions to fund than GK and Alex is an acceptable risk. Of course it does indicate the club are still focussed on the Baz experiment which will be a disaster if he’s put back in as no.1 - we shall see.