Thought this was quite interesting - from The Guardian's column 10 things we learnt at the weekend. I rate Steckelenberg but this is a valid view. Maarten Stekelenburg's career has eerily followed that of Edwin van der Sar. From Ajax, to spending two seasons in Italy, to Fulham. When Van der Sar signed for the London club in 2001, he talked of how the "nice, friendly atmosphere" had tempted him from Juventus. With Felix Magath now in charge and Fulham still bottom, the atmosphere for Stekelenburg is likely to be anything but friendly for the remainder of the season, especially after the Dutchman's error at West Brom, which denied the London club their first league win since 1st January. Stekelenburg's pedigree is not in question â the 31-year-old has earned over 50 caps for Holland, some of which came during their run to the World Cup final in 2010 â but having only played for teams competing at the top end of European leagues his entire career, how the Dutchman's temperament holds up in a relegation fight will go a long way to deciding if Fulham survive this season. A goalkeeper's job is a lonely one, and often the right mentality is as important as raw ability in these pressure games. I still think, deep down, we'd have been better off holding on to Schwartzer and then worrying about a replacement at the end of this season but we got what looked like a quality replacement so I put that to the back of my mind. The real problem with him for me is that he gets injured way too regularly.
I can't agree with that. Back in May the general consensus seemed to be that we had to replace Schwarzer, who was no longer able to consistently play to his previous high standards. He was still capable of the odd save, even the odd game where he was every bit as good, but we couldn't depend on that happening week in week out like we used to. I think we all also agreed that, despite our best hopes a couple of years earlier, Stockdale wasn't the man to take his place. Goalkeeper was one of the positions where there was agreement we needed to bring someone in. I don't know how injury prone Stekelenberg was before he came to us, and if that was something that the club should have been aware of, but that apart I think he's been an excellent signing, and one that was made at the right time. As for suggesting that he doesn't have the temperament to play in a relegation fight, that's pure speculation by the Guardian writer. Has he shown any sign of not wanting to scrap it out with the rest of the team? If not, then it's spurious and more than a little insulting to his professionalism for the journalist to suggest otherwise.
He's a quality keeper and a lot of this comes down to the defence in front of him. I think I read somewhere we've allowed he most amount of shots in the league. Getting a bang to the head wasn't his fault against Liverpool in fact I think it was rather brave, he knew he was going to get hit on the 50/50. I firmly believe Stockdale would have not saved a couple of those on Saturday.
Take a look on the Sky Sports website, he was interviewed. In my view came across well. Knows what we need.
He may have cost us 2 points on Saturday, but he's saved us on more than a few occasions, Man Utd away being a significant one.
Despite his error Stek pulled of some great saves on Saturday. We could have quite easily come away with nothing on Saturday if it wasn't for him.
I think that the Stek has performed well since we aquired him. My worry is that we have not got a quality keeper on the bench.
I didn't look at the equaliser as a mistake but a good half stop to which he was only 6 inches away from a great double save. Many keepers would have not got a touch to the point blank shot.
For me he is top drawer. He's been unlucky with the shoulder injury at Sunderland. His saves, positional sense, shot stopping and 6 yard box ownership are excellent. I can't see anyone blaming him for what happened at West Brom. I'm also of the opinion that a top goalkeeper just won't want to sit on the bench so its always going to be difficult to find a brilliant number 2. Not impossible though.
Thought I would just revisit this and it would appear that the Journo had it spot on in this case as Felix has arrived at exactly the same opinion. Still won't surprise me to see Stekkie go at the end of the season regardless of what division we are in next year. Have to say, though, Stockdale has stepped it up a gear or two since Felix has been there - wonder what has caused that?
It is the first time that Stockdale replaced the first goalkeeper when he was fully fit. Stockdale played very well at Hull as first team keeper but for us seemed to lack confidence. Think Felix boosted his confidence and was fairly given the job after a couple of blunters by Stekelenburg. Probably coupled with better keeper training might have done the job!
Stekelenburg, came in with a good pedegree, but he's been quite error-prone (IMO) this year. I can't think of several games in which his errors cost us points. I don't care what happens to him. He can leave; he can stay, but he's not as good as Stockdale, who was my MOTM on Saturday. Stockdale's been very good for us the last few games and I can't see any reason for him not to continue as our first 'keeper short unless his form unravels as catastrophically as Stekelenburg's did. The problem with 'keepers is that once the team and/or manager loses confidence, there's nearly no way to get that back. So even though Stekelenburg has some skills, size and talent in the position, there's no way back into Felix' good graces. He's probably gone at the end of the season.
I think Magath's reasoning was that Stocky was more vocal, which helped out the defence in front of him. I don't think Stecky did a lot wrong, really, but Stocky is working better for us as part of a unit. As has been said, he looks like a new man because he's got a manager that believes in him.
I think Stockdale is one of the squad who is really buying in to Magath's methods. He himself said he needed to be worked like a shire horse or he would end up the size of one. I think Stocky has thrown himself into Magath's fitness regime and has been rewarded for that both by Magath and in improved performances. As an aside, I think there is an overlap between the players who have bought into Magath's methods and those doing the interviews and celebrating with the fans. Stockdale, Rodallega, Holtby, Richadson & Sidwell have all been key for us over the past few weeks.
And Diarra, who managed to hobble on and join in the celebrations on Saturday. No, seriously, apart from his calming influence on the field his "personality and character" as Felix put it adds loads off the field.
