Great game and very happy with the result - My thought on the Liverpool game

This is undoubtedly part of the problem. He knows Eliott is no danger to him.

Plus Krul is still very young in keeping terms, there are very few who are stellar from a young age and maintain that level. Their form doesn't tend to get that high level consistency until their 30's. Pretty obvious why, their decision making (which is obviously key in the role) gets better with experience. Simple case of trial and error. It is the danger of going with young keepers, as Man C and England have found with Hart.

Not having competition will only amplify any problems because there is no fear factor for your position and complacency inevitably sets in. I have long advocated the need to have an experienced older statesman to compete with Krul. Forget the transfer policy here, just get someone in who has been there, seen it and can not only push him but also pass on some of the experience he is lacking. Another example of our transfer policy being more about money than ambition. Right throughout the team we lack older heads who carry that extra knowledge. The likes of Freidel, Schwarzer, Jaaskelainen, Given, and countless others have drifted around out of contract in recent years. We need to pick up someone of that ilk to put real pressure on Krul and actually help develop him.

 

At the end of the day Krul shouldn't need another keeper to keep him on his toes, his own professional pride should drive him on.

 

I noticed at Harper's testimonial when Given came on he paced out the half way point of his goal line, then the half way point of his six yard line, presumably to make better awareness of his positioning.
Never noticed him do that at Newcastle so assume he's still taking on board tips to improve his game. Wonder where he learned that.

 

You're never too old to learn so they say. Maybe a wise old head who's been around a lot longer than Shay helped him out a bit.

 

I used to do that when I was playing. In one game I was quite correctly booked for marking the six yard box with my boot before the game kicked off.

 

Yer daft bugger. You should've just put your shirt down on the spot instead. Or a scarf.

 

it's a yellow for taking your shirt off!

 

Straight red for taking everything off.

 

When I last played the laws of the game were getting weird in some countries. For example, we couldn't go onto the pitch without shin guards and I had played for donkeys without them. In the minor leagues in Belgium it was illegal to back-heel the ball because it was "dangerous play". And forget proper Nobby Stiles tackles: anything that took the opponent four feet off the floor was a booking or a sending off whereas my sports teacher would have given us a gold star for that.

The most bonkers one was that, as a 'keeper, I had to wear gloves as if I were a soft southern pansy. Until my mid to late twenties I was happy to not to wear gloves and just to gob on the palms to (a) make the ball stick and (b) to stop the bloody stinging in mid-winter. Now look at the bloody size of the gloves they wear these days; I've seen circus clowns with smaller...

And then the ref books me for marking the pitch. That must have been a rare occasion when the goalmouth wasn't under three inches of half frozen water and had its own tidal patterns.