There have been some reservations noted on this Board now and again about Marcus Bettinelli. However, the young man - voted by fans into runner up spot in “Player of the Year” - made some cracking saves. As this snippet shows:
I was, and still am one of his critics, yes he has made some spectacular saves, my criticisms is that he has no positional sense.so any save when caught out of position will look spectacular. We have had some great keepers at the cottage and on his present form for me, he is not one of them.
We need to remember that he is still young-ish (22 is young for a keeper) and this was his first season as our number 1, he'll still be learning as he goes. I think we need to give our young players the chance to grow into their roles and put some faith in them, we do that by giving them game time. I think Bettinelli will become a very good goalkeeper in time, so I'd hate to see us try to get a new number 1 keeper in for next season, Bettinelli deserves his chance.
But harsh Rosc. Let's not forget the pile 'o' ****e in front of him. I thought he had a good first season. Staying consistent as a goal keeper is more difficult than an outfield player. Much less forgiving. I don't think he was out of position in many of those on the video.
For me a goalkeeper has to command his defense, that's why an experienced keeper can make a difference to a young defense. He made some good saves but also made some bad errors which cost games. It's a combination of a keeper giving confidence to his defense and the defense taking instructions from a keeper to push out or fall back. Bettinelli's reactions are good, his kicking is average very hit and miss, his positioning is suspect, and not sure why his punching is so poor. My nickname for him is Superman as he seems to come flying out to punch one handed. I hope in time he will get better, but at the moment I wouldn't bill him as one of our best players.
Fair enough, SuperBri, but who would you say had a better season? The 1-2-3 in the player of the season vote (McCormack, Bettinelli, LVC) seems about right to me. If Christiansen had stayed fit, he'd almost certainly have deserved a higher placing, but it's hard to argue his case as player of the season given that he barely appeared after Christmas. If Bettinelli isn't one of our best players, who (apart from Ross and LVC) would you put ahead of him?
The problem this season is we didn't have many players that were consistent throughout the season. Some because of injury. I thought Hyndman showed promise , I'd say Smith made a difference when he came back, I'd also say Turner gave me more confidence about the defense, those are 2 players I would have liked to see have a full season. LVC would probably have got the top spot if he had kept his performances up instead of getting injured. But I think McCormack was the only player who was consistent all season. I remember Maik Taylor being a bit like Bettinelli when he first arrived (My nickname for him was Flapper) so I hope Betti graduates the same way he did.
There's not many keepers at Bettinelli's age apart from the likes of Courtois and ter Stegen that have great command of their defence. That comes with time and experience. The thing we need to decide is whether we can afford to wait and let Marcus learn that here while we try push for promotion or do we need to bring someone in who already has that command and organisation of their defenders. I'd suggest having a consistent back four would make a lot more of a difference than a new experienced keeper.
I’d agree with your conclusion FI. But I also kind of agree with SuperBri, although I’d question whether Marcus’ “reactions are good”. Perhaps in relation to shots but far too often he dithered about on his goal line when low crosses came in across his six yard box. On reflection maybe it’s his ‘anticipation’, his reading of the game, rather than his ‘reactions’ I’m calling into question. Whichever, this hopefully is an aspect that will improve with experience. There was a definite change in him, and his confidence, as his first team status became established. Which brings me to another point in his learning curve. And that is, “commanding the defence” is not shouting at them after the event (as he did for example on that one particular instance with Ruiz) but, as SuperBri said, it’s about issuing instructions before the hammer falls. So, I think Marcus has a long way to go before he becomes the finished article - further than some seem to believe. However, with the correct mentoring (not sure who that will come from mind you; Kiraly and Lee will presumably be long gone) and if we can recruit more experience in front of him, I think FI's preferred option is the correct one.
He's not perfect. But every player this year had terrible positional sense, not just Betts. There were many times when the midfield or a defender lost the ball/misplaced a pass that cost us a goal. It's easy to remember mistakes by the goalie. All of his weaknesses will be improved but he needs first team games. He is a good keeper imo. I seem to remember the legend that was VDS had a mate in his first season.
Betts made some errors and lacks positional awareness at times but at 22 I think he can improve. The problem is that he couldn't learn anything from the pyjama bottoms...
