Match Thread: Watford v bristol City

You could do with our luck chrissy..

 

I'm not sure about that. The TV foreshortens it a lot. I had a side on view and the ball got pinged back faster than it really should have been and bounced just in front of him. Loach should certainly have stopped the ball but it was hardly "barely moving".

 

I could do that. After all he is only human and also made some damned good saves this year and past years. 'Better' keepers have made bigger blunders. He is blameworthy as any defender worth his salt would know not to put a back pass between the posts. You stick it to one side or the other. Also you play it along the floor, you dont chip it so that its bouncing. Plus Mapps put it to Loach's right which is his weaker foot. So he made three huge errors!! Loach was unlucky, and it is one of those once a season things.

 

I would suggest that it was a one of those once in a career things. Can't ever see him doing that again. Of course, if he takes after his opposite number in last Tuesday's game, then there will be plenty more (but different) ways in which he will give away a goal.

 

But it does not mean he is rubbish. It just means he was unlucky. He has kept us in plenty of games before and will do in the future no doubt

 

I agree! It does not mean he is rubbish. But, like James, he will never quite make it right at the top, However, he will nevertheless make a very good living out of the game - and that after all is the primary objective of a professional.

 

But in all honesty will we ever be a top premiership team?? I doubt it, so whilst he is with us i am content with him being good enough for low level premiership teams. They are the best teams we will be playing so what does it matter?

 

I'm agreeing with everything you write dan - we could do much worse for a keeper. I go back to the days of 64-65 when we had the 2 worst 'goalkeepers' I have ever seen play for us - Peter Goy and Frank George. They were atrocious and didn't just suffer from following the great Pat Jennings.

 

I in turn agree with everything you say mate. I will continue to get behind Scott and back him until such a time that he is so bad i can do better.

 

Had forgotten about them - they were truly atrocious! We also had John Cowen that season, who had played in goal for England U19 when they beat N.Ireland 4-0 in the Euro final at Wembley - Pat Jennings was in goal for N.Ireland in the same game. Strange how their careers took totally different paths.

 

I'm not old enough to have seen them but I remember Tony Meola - he played for the US in the 90 and 94 World Cups. He had one game for us and it was an absolute shocker in what has become the JPT (before it was for 3rd and 4th tier clubs only). In his Wikipedia entry it isn't even classed as a first team game.

 

I can only say as a boy(many moons ago) I was on Leyton Orients books and the first thing I was taught by Laurie Lesley(ex West Ham goalie)was taking control of my area....does Scott do that ...an emphatic no. I agree he makes great saves but he doesn't do the basics right.

 

Shirley was the same , Only Keeper I had total faith in was Tony Coton !

 

I think the main reason he does not command the box like many keepers is because he does not need to. He is comfortable letting Nosworthy, Mapps, Dicko and Hodson deal with things. He has improved it lately and does claim a lot more balls in the air and on the floor.
You have admitted that he makes great saves, so how can he be a liability if he does that?? Goal keeper has got to be the hardest job on the pitch (after officiating) because if you cock up there is no where to hide, and if you make a mistake its usually costly, but if a midfielder looses the ball a defender will pick up the pieces.

 

Disagree Dan when you have a keeper who commands his box it gives the defenders a lot more confidence ,plus causes a lot less goal mouth scrambles , To go through History the best keepers have been the ones that have commanded the box ,Jennings, Clemence,Shilton (a younger Big Neville Southall) , Peter Schmiechel and many more !

 

I do agree there that they were some of the best keepers. But if you have a defence which will clear a cross then there is no need for the keeper to come out past his 6-yard box. Loach collects any high ball into his 6-yard box, but is reluctant to leave it, and for good reason! The yards between the penalty spot and the 6-yard box are called the corridor of uncertainty and you can see why! If a keeper come he has to collect, and to do so there would mean going through a lot ob bodies. So many keepers wont leave the 6-yard box.

 

I thought the corridor of uncertainty was the area about 2 or 3 feet outside the off-stump in cricket! I've never actually heard that exact term used in relation to what you describe, it's usually a couple of lines that mean exactly the same.

 

You are right Barry. It was first used in Cricket, but it has come to be used in Football too.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corridor_of_uncertainty