It is definately a close call between the pair, I suppose you've got 49 million to buy someone decent now. You missed a trick not going for Begovic IMO, as I think you may well have got him over Chelsea, due to the lure of first team football. I think alot of managers fail to realise just how important a good goalkeeper is, they can gain you just as many points as a 20+ goal a season striker. We found that out last year with how well De Gea played. It's probably one of the most underestimated positions on the field
I would have definitely had Begovic so that's a fair shout - god knows why we didn't match Chelsea's bid. I guess Rodgers has faith in Mignolet, and to be fair he's an excellent shot stopper, he just needs to improve on commanding his box (he is getting better at that), but his distribution is piss poor. I'm not worried though as we have 'Super Bogdan' as our 2nd keeper.
Made sense at the time and wouldnt have cost much. We will now get a fee for him too. De Gea leaving becomes less and less likely by the day. Real wil be offering world record fees and still be laughed at.
This doesnt make sense following your Valdes comments earlier. You seem to underestimate Valdes then call people for underestimating keepers?
It is only in your opinion that I'm underestimating Valdes. I don't rate the guy, never have done. if we had gone into this season with him as our number 1 we'd of been in big trouble
Begovic has zero interest in playing football again. He wouldnt have signed for chelsea if he wanted first team football. Courtois was a walking disaster at times last season making error after error. He got high praise for catching a few crosses and 'commanding his area' but the calamities kept on coming. If Cech couldn't force him out, Begovic has little chance.
He was never the best of the best but he was always a very good keeper. In his younger days he certainly had an error or two in him but when Puyol plays ahead of you, who is surprised. Barcelonas defence was hilariously bad even when they were winning everything. He was always underrated imo. A better keeper than Casillas too who literally lived on his name and who he played for.
Well I've never been convinced by him, he always looked dodgy when I watched him at Barca. None of the Spanish mangers rated him either, hench why even Pepe Reina was ahead of him
Spanish football politics meant a poor keeper kept a number of decent keepers out. Using that as a tool to bash a player doesnt work seeing as Casillas also keeps De Gea out of the side and hes already far superior than Casillas ever was. Reina wasnt a bad keeper either, much like Valdes a big club deemed him good enough for cover at the very least when he finally made the move to a big club, Bayern.
Maybe Begovic is backing himself to show Mourinho on the training ground and in the early cup matches what he's about. Bit harsh to say the calamities "kept on coming". How many goals did he concede all season and how many were his fault? Not many on either count compared to just about every other keeper in the league.
The defence and the way the team is set up, is more important to goals conceded than the goalkeeper. Mourinho's teams always make it easier for their goalkeeper to keep clean sheets, as they keep him well protected. That doesn't make the goalkeeper a better goalkeeper, because they concede less goals than a keeper in a more attacking side
Courtois was poor whenever called into action excluding his amazing catching skills. Wow! His best save happened to be in a game where he made on of the errors of the season. Begovics next run of playing consecutive games in now years away. Way to flush your career down the pan.
Surely though Valdes was in a stronger position than Reina, being number 1 for Barcelona, one of the Spanish Giants. You really would have to have some big question marks hanging over you if Bayerns number 2 or Liverpool's number 1 is ahead of you. As far as De Gea was concerned, he has his place in the Spanish side now, I think he was left out before because they didn't want to be going into a World Cup with a keeper with little international experience. But since the WC he's been the number 1. I agree though he should have been number 1 long before the WC
Valdes was the reason Reina left Barcelona. He was deemed better. He went on to have a fantastic career while Reina played for Liverpool. Neither played much for Spain due to Casillas and football politics. 20 odd games each. Think Valdes also played for Catalonia to (national team of Barcelona )
