There continues to be some debate on whether we need a new keeper and no doubt this will rage on, particularly given the usual consequences of errors by those who don the gloves. I have always been of the opinion that your keeper is your most important player. If they can deliver their part of a team's performance consistently, then you've pretty much got a point in the bag before you kick off. Yes I'm being somewhat simplistic as piece of genius, a refereeing howler or an error from an outfield player can easily spoil a clean sheet, but as a rule of thumb, a great keeper will win or save you as many points as your star centre forward. I was thinking about our two best keepers throughout my time as a Saints fan; Peter Shilton and Antti Niemi. Is it a co-incidence that their tenures with the club coincided with arguably our two most successful periods? (Yes I know we were later relegated with Niemi but we could have played two keepers in the first half of that year without making much difference!). Likewise, would Man Utd have won quite so many titles in the 90s without Schmeichel? He was statistically always the best performing keeper in one on one situations but this was noted because he was involved in so many! There are a few very good current examples in the PL too. I have no doubt that Swansea would be in very serious trouble if not for the extraordinary performances of Michel Vorm, Newcastle would not be flying quite so high if it weren't for Tim Krul, and dare I say that a certain England number one is the primary reason that City haven't dropped more points. Just look across that city to see that the reverse is true with some of De Gea's contributions. Keepers aren't just important, they are crucial. So, with this in mind, I think it may be a case of when we buy a new keeper rather than if.
De Gea is a good keeper, but one or two mistakes meant the Manure fans got on his back, he lost confidence and, well, Manure lost games they should have won. Regarding to Saints, Kelvin is one of the best keepers in the Championship. Bart was nervous against Blackpool, and should be given another chance, maybe in the next round? COYR!
By all means Bart should be the first name on the team sheet in cup games, swiftly followed by the kids. Not worth the risk of giving him another chance in a league game.
Davis does make the odd error, but on the whole he's a solid keeper and I've got no problems with him at the moment. I wouldn't say there are too many better keepers in the division than him. However you are completely right to highlight how important a goalkeeper is. They can literally win you points by themselves (look at how many keepers have come away with MOTM awards at Anfield this season, and a point for their team as a result). Therefore, if we were to get promoted then I would like us to invest in a new goalkeeper; a real top notch goalkeeper. I'm expecting Swansea to survive this season, and a large reason for that will have been the signing of Vorm at the start of the season. Davis could then be our no.2, and with the experience that he has I'd be very confident that if we ever have to call upon him for a game, he wouldn't produce the sort of performance that Bart did against Blackpool when he was suddenly thrown in.
I agree with 90% of this, but I would like to see us sign a keeper now. I wouldn't be massively dissapointed if we didn't I just have always thought that Davis is prone to errors more than other keepers, but he is still a decent Championship keeper, wouldn't put him in the top 5 though.
The problem with a signing a new keeper now though, is that they're unlikely to be a real top notch goalkeeper (to use my own words). There's no guarentee that we could offer them Premiership football next season. Going back to my example of Vorm, would Swansea the Championship club have been able to sign him, or is it only because they've subsequently become Swansea the Premiership club that they were able to get him?
Once we are an established Premier League side, I think we will sign a top goalkeeper. If we want to reach the top we have to slowly keep adding quality and I do think every successful team needs a top keeper. Davis has served us very well but like some of our current first team members, they will eventually need replacing if we want to reach our ambitions.
No criticism of Davis, but we need another keeper as an able back up for this season with a view to being our number one in the future. I have said before that I think Davis would be a great coach and third keeper in the future. However, it may be a difficult position to fill in the January window...may need to wait for summer. If we get promoted, Davis deserves a chance in PL..sentimental may be, but that's how I feel.
I agree. He should have at least one season in the Prem. If we don't get promoted this season though, I fear it'll be too late for him.
Niemi was a great keeper but personally I rated Flower higher Saints have been quite lucky with keepers in my football supporting lifetime (from Shilton onward) Memorable names include Shilton, Burridge, Taylor, Flowers, Jones & Niemi. Even Grobelaar was a quality keeper although eratic and well past his best Kelvin will be fine for several years yet. No need to worry really.
Paul Jones had a rough time of it after Neimi arrived- he worked his socks off to get back in the team and I thought he significantly upped his game and came very close to regaining his place. We were priviliged to have them both for a time. I hope Bart makes it with us, I think he will be a quality keeper. I still think we'll be getting a new keeper at some point, possibly in the summer.
Tough one this, because Kelvin has shown loyalty and commitment to the club, and has made a huge contribution to our recent success. But imo he just falls short at the highest level. Bart is young and deserves a chance to develop. Maybe he just needs games at this point. Either way, we really do need to bring in a real quality keeper. This sort of dilemma is why being a manager, in any industry or walk of life, is damn hard. I wouldn't want the job of telling Kelvin he's in the bed next to the door.
They won't be getting in a another keeper until Forecast goes which I think will be in the summer. I am not sure if they will even then. Davis has been a loyal servant to the club as has Bart, in truth though, I am not sure either is up to Premier standard. Trouble is do you take a chance with either or do you bring in a proven keeper? Who'd be a manager of a football team..........Not me that is for sure!!
Unfortunately, loyalty and commitment don't always mean they should be kept. The club and what is right for the team at the time is what matters first. Kelvin is good enough for us today; yes he makes the odd error and in the last two league games he made the same error three times, each leading to goals (one being disallowed), but he is good enough. I am unsure though that next season he would be right for us in the premier league. I would like a keeper in the summer to fight alongside Kelvin.
yes. That's what I was sort of saying, but I believe it must be with another quality keepr at the club. Right now I wouldn't want to be there with Bart as one of the options. 3-5 years ago, I thought he was going to be something really special, but maybe a lack of competitive games has made him stale. A season long loan would do him a world of good.
I'd agree with this, and with the rumoured signing of Robin Ruiter it certainly appears that a goalkeeper is a target for the Prem - Bart's out of contract at the end of the season, and we could well lose him for nothing
