Can you name me a keeper whose kicking is good? I don't think I've ever heard a football fan say that a keeper's kicking is good. It seems like the stock description for every goalkeeper is something along the lines of: "He's a good shot stopper, but struggles to command his area and his kicking is awful." Seriously I bet if you went on every PL board on this site and asked them about their keepers, most would say something along those lines. I'm not arguing Amos was amazing (except at Leicester away). It just annoys me that he's become our worst ever goalie according to half our fans. He didn't even have a nightmare, Gulacsi at Burnley, Gulacsi at Leeds or Jakupovic against Wednesday kind of performance at any point to give people a reason to think he was so ****. He seemed to get blamed for the mess McShane caused against Blackpool at home, but that was around the height of McShane's ironic untouchable phase so it had to happen I guess. Particularly for glennonslastpint who was so determined to believe that Macca was our best defender.
In the same way you blame McShane for everything? He'll get blamed for world poverty and starvation next. The only opinion that really matters is the managers - I'd like to think as he got us automatic promotion and worked under one of the best managers in the world and was a fairly decent centre half. He knows his **** about football. That's why he sent Amos back early - he didn't rate him. That's why he awarded McShane a new contract - he does rate him. Whilst I'd love to exchange views further - yours don't hold much value. I'd love to hear why you 'think' you're a better judge of a player than the manager?
He may have potential, but as he demonstrated in his time here he was no where near the standard required for first team football. He wasn't as bad as Gulacsi who was terrible, I wasn't overly impressed by Stockdale either. The best rookie keeper we've had in a while was Mannone, although I thought Guzan did a good job when he was here too.
What did Amos actually do wrong? I'm pretty sure you won't have a single example. I usually find when I disagree with you about a player you just talk in blunt sentences like "He's our best defender, end of." or in this case the part I've emboldened in your post here. I like to watch players, pick out their strengths and weaknesses and that's what I'll talk about on here when debating a player. You always just seem to forcefully insist that whatever you've come to believe is right.
Well, Myhill could kick straight, as could Duke. The last few seasons we've been loaning the reserve goalkeepers of other clubs. Mannone wasn't too bad at kicking, but Gulacsi, Guzan, Amos and Stockdale were poor at it and it isn't a hard thing to kick a ball to a target when you aren't under pressure. Amos didn't have one bad game, but he got gradually shakier as the season went on. He started conceding soft goals (much like Stockdale did from time to time) and making mistakes that a professional Manchester United player shouldn't make. He might go on to be a solid goalkeeper, but he was far from that with us.
You must watch different games to most spectators then, because your player judgement is at a complete tangent to most. Conversely, what did Amos do right? He may have had one decent game away at Leicester. Beyond that he wasn't particularly strong in any area. His commanding of his area was poor, he wasn't the best at collecting crosses. You could see the confidence in the defence wilt in front of him, which for me it's important to have a keeper that the defence are confident in. His all round positioning didn't seem right either. Whether it's because he was young, his confidence was maybe affected by a series of below par performances. It's pointless debating it though, as he was deemed to be of an unsatisfactory standard by the club, and most fans that attend matches (you being the exception of course). I do sometimes feel you're on a wind up, as genuinely you can't have rated him when the general consensus is he was poor.
Myhill's kicking was always criticised. In fact, he probably fits the stock description I described earlier more than any other keeper we've had in recent years. And what were Amos' mistakes? We've established he never actually had a bad game, but when were the 'mistakes' he made? I'm convinced Amos is another example of a player who everyone just made their mind up on without even being really sure why. It reminds me a bit of Tijani Belaid and David Amoo who literally no one complained about at the time, yet as soon as they left they became joke players.
If you remember back to the first half of the season, people were calling for Jakupovic to play in goal because they were getting fed up of Amos' mistakes. The team was performing well, but we were in some pretty high scoring games, such as those against Leeds and Millwall and we could've kept clean sheets in those games were it not for a few silly mistakes. I think it was the games against Cardiff and Birmingham that did it for me (and apparently Brucey as Stockdale came in the game after), by that point he looked like he'd lost all his confidence and sure enough, he was gone by Christmas. His mistakes were generally things like not coming for the ball when he should, not using the protection referees give goalkeepers to challenge for balls; he wasn't nearly vocal enough and it sometimes led to the defense being disorganised. At least Jakupovic, Guzan, Mannone and even Gulacsi were all loud and you could hear them shouting from way back in the stands. I can't really give you specific times, aside from those against Birmingham and Cardiff as I can't remember that far back. Actually, he was poor in the Leeds game as well. I don't think anybody complained about Belaid, I'd have kept him on, but Amoo was **** at the time, hence him playing for Carlisle United now. In fact I remember the reverse of what you said; people were saying he wasn't good enough. He was, however, a better option than Rowan Vine.
I didn't mind Belaid, I think he should have got more of a look in. Amoo's only redeeming features were one goal at QPR and a funny chant.
