Do we keep Friedel for one more year as he has a solid year and brought stability to the defence or go for someone younger as Gomes will surely be sold and Carlo is now spring chicken himself. I'd go for a proven Premier League keeper personally as we often see keepers come from other leagues and struggle and Krul or Al-Habsi would be my choices. Thoughts?
Stockdale's not actually as young as everyone seems to think he is (26), but that's still nothing for a goalkeeper and he's looked good when Fulham have called upon him. He's got to be looking at replacing Schwarzer now though, hasn't he? Rodgers tried to take him to Swansea, but their bid was rejected. Might be an idea to bring in a couple, depending on how our younger keepers are developing. Stick a fairly experienced one in as back-up to Friedel and for the domestic cups, basically replacing Cudicini who could in turn replace Gomes and maybe look at coaching, too. Pick up someone with good potential and send them out on loan to gain experience, as we could lose three keepers in the space of a season or two.
I'd go with Vorm, if available at a reasonable pricel. Also worth a look IMO, is young Foster of Newcastle - currently on loan at Norwich. They already have Krul. There would be big competition for Krul, and if Newcastle would even consider selling, they would hike the price way up.
I'd keep Friedel for another year. If Wigan go down then maybe relieve them of Al-Habsi on the cheap but otherwise I'd stay as is with Gomes hopefully leaving.
He was out at Norwich in the 09/10 season, and though he had the odd mistake (goal kick went straight to J Beckford who then proceeded to score) he was very very impressive - though this was League 1. I do, however, personally feel that if a keeper can do well in the lower English leagues first, he can become top class. An excerpt from his wikipedia page - In November 2009, Forster was awarded Norwich City Player of the Month. He was named Norwich's Players' Player of the Year 2010 and second in the Supporters' Player of the Year award. A fantastic season at Norwich was marked by his award of the Macron Golden Gloves Award for the best record of clean sheets in the league, keeping 18 clean sheets in 38 league appearances and 20 clean sheets in 42 appearances in all competitions. Some links: Celtic goalkeeper Fraser Forster happy to let his performances do the talking as he looks to future. (including comments from Celtic fans) A star in the making: Newcastle's Fraser Forster Forster keen on Celtic stay A fee of 2m appears to be being the general consensus, so I fail to see how we could lose really. We I'd bring him in, play him in the Carling and FA Cup (and perhaps a select few CL (or god forbid, EL) games) so he's getting his first team football (though admittedly not as much as at Celtic - it depends on how much his heart is set on Celtic, but I personally think he'd rather play in the Prem), with a view to replacing Friedel as no1 next season.
I would say our CB pairing/s which we know needs sorting, would be better done in front of a familiar experienced face. A new keeper aswell will need a bedding in period (full of mistakes!), Brad's good for one more season imo.
Exactly my point, we should bring in a young 'keeper with good potential (ter Stegen, Forster, Krul etc.), let him shadow Friedel and Carlo for a season whilst playing/ alternating with Carlo in the cups, before becoming the proverbial 'No1' next season.
Fraser Foster. He was on loan at Norwich - not sure where he is now. I think he was Morwich's player of the year a couple of years go.
Didnt Brad sign a 2 year deal, so I expect he will be still be no.1 next season especially as his performances do not seem to be diminishing. We have to sell Gomes, his time at Spurs is over now but the problem will be who is going to be stupid enough to take him..... he may end up back in Brazil and we`ll be lucky to recoup half of what we (stupidly, thanks to Comolli) paid for him.
Gomes is a good keeper, but he'd probably be better in another country. He doesn't deal well with the physical aspect of the game, much like De Gea didn't when he first arrived at Man Utd, for example. He's an excellent shot stopper.
Yep, spot on there, he'll be fine where keepers get protection from the ref, he plays to that, rather than flattening all in his path to get the ball. Don't think he communicated with his defence very well either...probably ignored him anyway!
I wouldn't have called him an excellent shot stopper. Although I suspect that people like Drogba & Fat Frankie were more than happy with his shot stopping capabilities.
What we don't want is the situation Man Utd had at the start of this season, where Van der Sar had gone and de Gea had no-one to learn from. We need a new young keeper - we need to buy him this summer AND keep Brad as #1 for next season so that 'new keeper' can learn what to do/not to do with our defence.
Just noticed the Mackems discussing Craig Gordon on their board. He's out of contract in the summer and hasn't been playing following a long-term injury, but they really seem to rate him. Never really been impressed by him, to be honest, but I wonder who's keeping tabs on him?
