Harper/Given

Why, when Given was sold by the TOON did we not get a top class keeper to replace him?
Sorry Harper, but he wasn't sub for donkey years for nothing. I don't buy the loyalty card, as anyone of us happily trouser £2 million a year for sitting around.
We finished the season with a miserly goal difference which in part must be down to goal-keeping.
At 35, should Newcastle have re-signed him at half what we sold him for? We seem keen on Zog, so the club clearly has no issues about ex-players.

 

As much as I respect Shay and believe we could have been relegated a couple of years earlier had he not been here, I would not have wanted him back. Krul and Forster are the future!!!

 

Mackem in peace.

I work with a few Newcastle lads who attend games regularly and they have had nothing but praise for Harper, some have gone as far to say that were quite disappointed that he was over looked for an England call up. From what I've seen of Harper he seems quite a good GK and you have Krul as back up, he looks like he could develop into a top keeper.

 

Harper was unlucky because he's a pretty good goalkeeper, but we had Given who was slightly better, so Harper never really had much game time.

He's good enough to be first choice keeper for most of the mid-table EPL teams I reckon.

 

I disagree with the OP, I think that Harper is a Premiership quality keeper. Very reliable and consistant, and does his job with the minimum of fuss.
Krul has the makings of a top keeper but I worry about his first touch when dealing with backpasses and his kicking in general, which is now a major part of a goalkeeper's role. I would also like to see him dominate his area more, but I think that he will do this more as he matures.

 

I certainly wouldn't have Shay back now, not for any reasons of sour grapes as I still see him as a legend, simply because we're at a point now where it'd actually be nice for Harps to step down and allow our other two to battle for the number one. Adding Given to that mix guarantees at least one of Krul (which my phone just autocorrected to leukemia...) and Forster will be out the door, which is bad news in the long term.

 

I would thoroughly recommend a visit to website Damn You Autocorrect . Com

It is hilarious

 

His kicking is better than Harper's and Harper is atrocious with backpasses!

I think Krul is a better keeper than Harper and if we didn't have Krul i'd love to have got Given back.

 

I disagree. Harper made one cock up with a back pass last season which led to a goal. Apart from this one incident he looks competent with both feet, so to say that he is atrocious is harsh to say the least. Whereas, everytime Krul gets a backpass he wants to get it on his favoured foot and looks very uncomfortable and often needs several touches to get the ball under control. If you don't believe me, watch for this at his next match.
I think that Krul will develop into a better keeper than Harper, but he has to work on certain aspects of his game. There is far more to goalkeeping than just shot stopping, and at the moment harper has a superior all-round game.

 

Harper is a great goal keeper, Krul has the potential to be even better than Given IMO.

 

Totally disagree with the OP. Harper is a quality keeper who was only kept out of the team by a marginally better Shay Given. Agree with whoever said he's a solid first choice mid table prem player who has at times shown he can perform even better than that. That in mind, I'm sure he'll know it's soon his time to step down and pass the baton to Krul who could become a far better keeper in the future.

 

How's it over in Prague? im off to Bratislava next weekend for a couple weeks see our lasses family.

 

From a quick look at the results from that season, Harper doesn't seem to have let in any more goals than Given did, so you can't place the blame for the GD purely on him.

Anyway, the Given of today is no better than the keepers already at the club. There would have been no point spending money to sign him, as well as the hefty wages he'd probably want.

 

Weathers pretty mild at the minute but it's been scorching generally as summers are here, probably will be in the upper 30s for when you visit Bratlislava. You gonna be going to Vienna or anywhere else while you're over? These countrys are great for visiting loads of other places in Europe.

 

A huge element of this is simply the fact that our defenders would pass to his right side out of habit, Harpers kicking on his left foot is just as bad as Kruls right. As Krul got a run of games together it happened a lot less.

 

This. I noticed all of our defenders knock it back onto his right foot and if he's under pressure he has to get across and it will lead to a poor kick.

One thing I will say about Harper is he is calm with the ball and often beats a man! However sometimes he is too calm and puts himself under pressure.

 

Well my missus is Slovak so we often visit places within Slovakia like Tatras and there is a great Aqua Park up there, we have driven down to Croatia also was a nice place to visit. Were thinking of visiting prague for 2-3 days this year im hoping the weather will be nice past few years have been so so hope 30+ will be great.

 

I am sorry but goalkeepers today have to be good with both feet, which, if you watch Harper, he is.

It should not matter which foot the defender passes the ball to. Look at the best keepers like Van der Saar, sometimes it is difficult to tell which is his natural kicking foot.

Being able to deal with back passes and crosses are now 2 of the most important areas in goalkeeping, and I feel that these are the 2 areas in which krul needs to improve. I am not knocking the guy and I think that he will be better than Harper, but at the moment I have far more confidence in Harper's all-round game.

 

I'd say he's better than Harps at crosses. As for keepers needing 2 strong feet, for all we know Krul might have a decent right foot, but playing back up at his age and everything is coming back to your weak foot, I don't blame him for not just swinging his right at it.

 

That's the good thing about this forum is that it is all about opinions, and we can have a decent chat without resorting to name calling etc.
I don't think that crosses are Harper's strongest point (or Shay's for that matter) but I get nervous everytime that Krul is faced with a cross or corner because he got caught out several times last year and had quite a few mix ups with his defenders. Whether he did not call early enough or whether they just ignored him is anybody's guess, and this may improve the more they play together, but he didn't look too confident.

As for being able to use 2 feet, in my opinion this is of massive importance as there are many backpasses during games. Sometime due to the angle, defenders cannot put it on the keeper's favoured foot. If the keeper has to run around the ball to strike it with his "good" foot he could get into trouble. Strikers like Defoe will spot this and will chase down anything going back to the keeper hoping to get lucky. With keepers like Van de saar and Reina, they don't bother because they know that they are very competent with either foot.
There were a couple of goals scored in the play offs where a keeper hit the ball against the striker, one went straight in and the other was scored by the striker (I think that it was Shane Long) reacted quickest a put the ball into an empty net.
Academies now spend a lot of time working on keepers' first touch and kicking with either foot. The rationale is that you may get 10 back passes and 4 through balls to deal with in a game but only be required to make a couple of actual saves. The same goes for crosses. A keeper may have 5 crosses and 8 corners to contend with but not be required to stop many shots.
I find it strange that a professional goalkeeper who trains every day should not be competent with the ball on either foot.