Patience! If he's not brilliant when he comes back he will be written off and we will be told he will never be any good again or that he never was any good anyway.
Yes, the same thing was going through my mind. A few weeks back everyone was saying that Stek was crucial to us and we didn't have a decent back up. I think KD is an adequate 'backup' and I have always been a fan of Gazza. When we signed him we reckoned we got a Butland at half the price and I still think we may have a bargain. He could go on to play at the top level for years. But one good performance is nothing more than a step in the right direction. Stek has the experience, the confidence of the defence and is a good distributer as well as a shot stopper. So it really depends on whether Ron thinks he has recovered and, perhaps more importantly, who is showing more desire in training. Stek is probably starting to realise that he will not get a contract beyond next summer with Forster returning to fitness and Gazza showing promise so his motivation will be affected.
I'm amazed that someone would think that someone's confidence would be affected by one player having one good game. Really?
True. He had something to prove when he came here and IMO proved he is still a top draw keeper with plenty to offer but his form (like the whole team) has eased off slightly in recent weeks. Would love to see him show that fight in the second half of the season but if Forster is fit I wonder how many chances he will get.
Apologies, I should have put motivation. Replace that word where I put confidence and bingo, your last sentence. It still stands.
Anyway, Stekelenburg. A thoroughly subjective opinion I know, but my feeling vs Liverpool was that all my doubts about him were being confirmed. I said at the time that I wouldn't hold any of those goals against him singly, but collectively, to let in 6 out of 7 shots on target? I've lost confidence in him after that performance, but obviously I don't pick the team and I don't claim I'd do a better job of it than Ron. However, if I was Ron I'd go for the young guy coming off the back a good solid performance before the older guy who's beginning to look like he couldn't stop smoking with his mouth taped up.
I think Stek does the best he can every game. All goalkeepers are motivated by the desire to keep the ball out of the net.
If he had a good game, why not give him another start? He has more of a future with the club than Steklenberg and IMO, we really aren't playing for Europe this year so good time to give the youngsters a shot, plus make certain everyone knows good performances will be rewarded and no one's spot is guaranteed. Would be easier if Gazza was a field player as then he could be given more time without playing the whole game or not playing at all, which is what happens at GK. I personally feel that Gazzaniga does not have what it takes, but he deserves a chance to prove me wrong. But yeah, I do kinda suspect that should Gazzaniga have a bad game, somehow this will all be Koeman's fault and people will be clamoring for the next shiny new thing. Sending him out on loan is another good option. That way he gets some experience and a chance to show what he's got, but some other team bears the risk. Any cashed-strapped Championship sides with injured and/or really terrible keepers out there?
I wouldn't accuse Stek of not trying. I think he probably does most things pretty well. But I suspect his reactions are just not quick enough to perform consistently at the highest level. Forster on the other hand made quite a few positional errors before his injury. But he can work on that with the coaching team. As for Gazza, even when he had his nightmare run, he made some brilliant instinctive saves; and you can't really teach instinct. I think maybe this is his time.
Gazzas good form isn't something that needs to be acted upon. Carry on as before. Try to keep Stek for one more year while FF is finding his fitness, and hopefully in Stek and Gazza we have two adequate back ups. I'll leave the team selection up to Ron, but reserve my right to be critical.
Costly and unnecessary to have 2 good back ups. I expect Forster will make a return this season and we will say our tearful farewells to stek. Gazza will stay as number 2 even if he isn't that good. Unfortunately I don't see us looking to recruit a quality reserve keeper behind Forster- time has shown that this is not a priority for the club. And to be honest the way things have been going I agree- we need all the funds we have for keeping our existing quality outfield players.
To be honest we aren't defending especially well at the moment. From cm cover and our right mainly. Probably a bit unbalanced with new players etc. Our keepers are going to have more attempts against them than we have been used to so are going to concede more goals. Are we going to sign stek as a backup on a fairly large wage? I'd imagine not so give gazza the experience, if he has a shocker then swap him back out but he's most likely going to be number 2 next year so we need to give him a chance to keep improving
Gazzaniga is light on his feet and really athletic. I'm not buying he doesn't have what it takes, have a look at the last performance. You can't do that if you're not already a decent keeper. There isn't that much to work on either considering he has all the physical attributes to be great. It's just the mental side of his game. But he's still really young and improving. He has a lot of potential. He no longer takes risks passing the ball out. All that's left is concentration, something that improves with experience. The older keepers relax more and feel the pressure less with more experience. Decision making and hesitancy is another thing that will improve with experience. Give him a run in the side until the end of the season, his confidence will sky rocket and he will improve in a big way. But I'm not holding my breath. Koeman doesn't seem to like giving youth a fair run in the side.
Depends what you class as 'youth' we have a lot of young players in the team - 20-25 age range. Which Gazza also falls in to. Although I agree our youth team haven't had much chance in the first team this season.
