DONE DEAL: Saints sign Maarten Stekelenburg (Gone to Everton)

Kind of scary that he was considered 3rd choice at Fulham. Do remember him playing some blinders when he was playing for Fulham though

 

He was being 'managed' by Felix Magath, the same man who told Brede Hangeland to strap some cheese to his leg to solve an injury.

Let us judge him on his performances at Saints, not what he did five years ago or what he wasn't allowed to do under Magath.

 

My first thought was 54! That's really taking precautions. I like that in a keeper

 

I get the logic behind it and the Fulham defence was terrible, but the lad let in some real howlers.

I'm not very confident in this Keeper at all. I will be surprised if he does anything more than ok and we'll be strapping Dairylea triangles to Forsters knee by September in a bid to heal him quicker

Welcome to Southampton Maarten

 

There is Bertrand-like potential for a turnaround, but I don't know if we are that lucky/good. Still, I put my faith in Coach K and the black box. I like the odds that he is better than he's shown recently.

Hard to get excited about this kind of signing, but it's a solid move nonetheless. I think he is probably better than SKD but if not well, we just use SKD. If the defense is solid again, he shouldn't have to do all that much.

I mean, it might drop us a few notches which would be a bummer if it keeps us out of CL/Europe. But there's nothing to do about it. Signing an expensive, awsome GK with Forster already on the team is both impractical for us financially, and realistically unlikely as top GK's are not going to come here to potentially end up second fiddle after less than a season. Stekelenburg is about as good as we can hope for. At worst should be average-ish, and at best there might still be some of that 2010 guy in him.

 

Well we're underwhelmed by this one, it seems. Difficult to judge a goalie, I reckon. There are stand out brilliant ones, but they're a rare breed. In the black box we trust I guess.

As for the behaviour of FLT and Fran on this board recently, I have to ask the mods about their behaviour management policy. Could they be given their own thread so that those of us who don't find their immature, adolescent humour amusing haven't got to be subjected to it? Me? I think it's bloody brilliant. But then I do subscribe to the view that growing up is optional.

 

This!
I'm surprised at a lot of negativity on here. The above is absolutely correct & if it's good enough for LesR / RonK I'm happy with that as well.

 

Happy with this. Ron has worked with him before and quite simply, that is enough for me.

 

If saving funds by bringing in Maarten to cover for FF means we can buy Toby then I am happy enough

 

Maarten (haven't mastered his surname yet) will enjoy playing behind our defence....gives a GK a chance to shine without exposing him to so many shots that he invariably lets some in. I'm willing to bet (though not actual money ) that he gets the best stats of his career whilst here. Good luck, Maarten.

 

Here's another way of looking at it. Is Maarten good enough to be a number two Premier League keeper who can step in and play?

I think the answer to that is yes.

An international level keeper standing in for a year? Lovely. Can't believe people are moaning.

#iknowwhonextseasonsscapegoatwillbe

 

I agree with you he is a good signing but is he international level any more? I don't think so. Happy for him to prove me wrong

 

Great signing, had a bad few years but still young-ish for a GK and on loan as well? Can't believe some are moaning about this - 5 years ago he was a better keeper than Fraser is now imo.

I also don't like all this talk of "half a season" - If he plays well up until Christmas then I don't think Fraser should walk straight back in, I think that would be a ****ty message to send out.

 

He's never gone out with anyone called Laura, has he???

#thebigquestions

 

Only no one is moaning about this signing.

 

Think this may also have more to do with him being a big earner. They let him go be reserve at Monaco last year to get his wages off the books, I'm sure they'd rather not play him to avoid the expense of his wages+bonuses.

 

Could be a great keeper if he gets anywhere near his best but he hasn't even gotten close to that since his Ajax days. He was underwhelming at Roma and even more so at Fulham, then only got a cup game or two at Monaco. With us he had poor defensive organisation and glass shoulders. Granted he had a few headless chickens playing in defence for us but Stockdale came in and was a significant improvement. I think everyone at Fulham hoped for a permanent transfer but getting his huge wages off the bill is a good consolation I suppose.

Hopefully he does well for you and earns a permanent transfer.Anyway best of luck for next season.

 

Thanks...be interesting to know what we are paying him...certainly won't be 60K a week. Our defence is ace (or will be if we don't sell half of it), so any GK has a chance of doing well with no more than a couple of serious saves to make per game. He could take up crocheting.

 

Needn't bring his own when he's defending the Chapel end, just borrow a set from over the barrier.

 

Also, don't under estimate the influence of a good goalkeeping coach, and we have one. If you watch the keeping drills videos Watson does for the England Keepers for England (are on the FA's website), they are superb and really test the keepers in training. Hart has spoken highly of Watson in the past, so lets see how his influence can work on Maarten.