He had a low save percentage, but a big part of that was the style of football we played and mistakes that come along with it. Put McCarthy in for a full season playing with his feet, passing inside his own box etc and he'd have done no better. Still sets his teams up to be stout defensively, which will help any GK playing for us.
I don't think that's entirely true though. Yes our style of play led to us giving up better chances at times but he conceded plenty he shouldn't have outside of that too. For me his two big flaws which make him a poor shot stopper is he doesn't position himself very well when situations develop, and he's got weak hands/wrists meaning even when he reaches shots he quite often doesn't keep them out. Remember his shot stopping was equally poor the prior season when we weren't playing suicide ball. Not sure on how the team he was loaned to play but I also didn't see any of that so don't really have an opinion on it, not a fan of judging on stats alone, or heavily even.
To me the loan with an option is ideal. Loan fee and wages off the books. The option could be for say £30 million. If we go up we keep him.
I just can't agree. Having played in goal myself (obviously a crap standard) I watched games, watched highlights, and more than once, the first thing that came into my mind was, 'Why is he standing there?' The goalie's starting position is more than 50% the beginning of a save, some goals he conceded it looked like he wasn't even watching what was going on in front of him. The ones I saw had nothing to do with playing around at the back or anything like that. It's fundamentals. Hopefully, it was a bad season for him. Hopefully, he will have better coaching. I do remember away supporters saying he was the worst goalie they had ever seen and they were definitely going to score against a good Saints team. Something was wrong the last time he was playing regularly. I hope I am talking poo-poo. If it is any consolation, I do about 90% of the time.
https://x.com/justsaints_/status/1949888268901785621?s=46 back in for the Armenian lad, who’s is now said to be considering the move?
Know nothing about him apart from he is good on FM. At that price, age and the fact Girona were looking at him would indicate he isn’t coming here as a backup. He is a number 10 on FM so could be the creative midfielder talked about previously, probably Fernandes replacement
Would be a great move for Ramsdale and for us for next season and we can see where we are at in 12 months time. If Ramsdale keeps up his record at Newcastle of getting clubs relegated, then even better
The creative midfielder discussed previously was on the list as someone who we wanted to bring in regardless of sales. So not guarantee he’s a Fernandes replacement. I didn’t think Fernandes was a dedicated number 10. We don’t usually play with one.
Still does from what I’ve read, 2 in fact. Like the 4-2-2-2 Ralph played was what I saw. Agree we probably want one anyway, just feels like a high price in the Champ. Has there been any £10m transfers yet?
I’m trying to work out how he plans on setting the team up, tbh. We now have Archer, Stewart and Downs as the central strikers, but does he play with two up front or is it just one? If we play 4-2-3-1, my issue is with the positioning of the 3. Against Eastleigh, Fraser played the advanced central midfielder and BBD and Adarma played very wide, which left Fraser totally outnumbered and restricted our ability to play through the middle. If we play a 3 then I would like them to be fairly narrow with the FBs taking responsibility for the width. If Still goes for a 4-2-2-2, a midfield 4 of Flynn, Charles, Fernandes and new guy/Dibling, with Archer & Down/Stewart up front would be quite strong, but doesn’t Still like wingers? He has been quoted as saying that Robinson is pushing for a start in 2 weeks time, so I would guess he will be playing with wingers.
It could be an option if we don't go up. Or potentially the option is higher if we get promoted. Contracts can be very creative and it's likely we'll never know the details. You just have to trust the club know what they are doing. In fairness, player sales are the only thing you can't really fault that for so far.