Match Day Thread Pre-Season

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My point was that our defence struggled in the early season so Gunn struggled. After Hanley came in things improved, but not enough overall. A GK depends on the defence and vice versa. It's about the team, not individuals.
If Mathews didn't get a run out it probably means Farke has seen enough and a new keeper will be arriving soon.
 
If Mathews didn't get a run out it probably means Farke has seen enough and a new keeper will be arriving soon.

Before we rush out and 'splash the cash' where we don't need to, I'd rather wait and take heart from PD's comment - 'Given Ivo Pinto, Grant Hanley and Jamal Lewis are all to come back into the defensive mix, allied to any number of examples last season when City were able to successfully repel invaders when they had their backs-to-the-wall, the overall direction of travel feels positive.
Clarity with the keeper situation will come fairly rapidly from this point. DF must decide whether it is Remi Matthews or McGovern who gets the nod for St Andrews, or if a commanding, authoritive presence has to be sourced from outside the current dressing room.'
http://www.edp24.co.uk/sport/norwich-city/canaries-paddy-davitt-verdict-on-german-tour-1-5615450
 
Remi Matthews may well be worth a trial vs Lincoln, Paderborn etc to see if he's up to scratch as a 'keeper. But two weeks time, as they walk out at St Andrews with points at stake is no time to 'trial' or experiment with a goalie who may or may not make the grade.
Paddy is right to mention the absence of Hanley, Pinto & Lewis but that doesn't address any potential 'dodgy keeper' scenario as we enter a new, important season.

https://www.sportskeeda.com/football/5-premier-league-goalkeepers-who-will-be-free-agents-in-2018
 
Personally I think we'll need a new 1st choice keeper. We can't afford the luxury of giving Matthew's time to grow into the role.
OK canario, we'll agree to disagree on this and I'll come back to this post after we've been Charlton.
I believe Gunn & his defenders conceded something like 10 goals in the first 4 games last season.

Edit - I'm happy to be proved wrong on this and I'm sure the Pilgrims would welcome him back.
 
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OK canario, we'll agree to disagree on this and I'll come back to this post after we've been Charlton.
I believe Gunn & his defenders conceded something like 10 goals in the first 4 games last season.

The turnaround in our defending seemed to be when the penny finally dropped that Martin wasn't good enough, something that was clear well before the season started. I wouldn't right off Matthews, but we do need to hit the ground running next season if we have any hope of a decent finish, I just don't think starting with Mathews & McGovan is a risk worth taking. Only time will tell.
 
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I only looked at the top few.
Wouldn't say no to Tim Krul but £2.25m is a bit of a stumbling block!

There's also a slight problem with the wages Krul or Myhill would want. I've nothing against bringing in another keeper (one we can afford) and sending Oxborough out on loan but I'd still argue that any keeper depends on having a settled defence in front of him, rather than one which rotates every match in pre-season. As JMF points out, Gunn struggled early on because the defence struggled in front of him. With Hanley, Lewis and Pinto still to come back, we're judging on partial information. We conceded yesterday because the scorer was left completely unmarked, not because McGovern did something wrong.
 
Matthews was quite good in Lg2 but the Championship is a brutal unforgiving league , Gunn may have started untried last season but his involvement in the England set up from youth to u21s and obvious talent were a good indication of his class.

It's no surprise he cost Saints £15m and will be a regular in the top flight.

Matthews has potential but he's not ready or good enough to start as our number 1.
I'm not McGovern's biggest fan but I would be more confident with him against Brum based on what we have seen pre season .
 
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Matthews was quite good in Lg2 but the Championship is a brutal unforgiving league , Gunn may have started untried last season but his involvement in the England set up from youth to u21s and obvious talent were a good indication of his class.

It's no surprise he cost Saints £15m and will be a regular in the top flight.

Matthews has potential but he's not ready or good enough to start as our number 1.
I'm not McGovern's biggest fan but I would be more confident with him against Brum based on what we have seen pre season .

Plymouth is in League One and just missed out on promotion to the Championship, DD.
 
Plymouth is in League One and just missed out on promotion to the Championship, DD.

But they did miss out on promotion, so they are still league 1. DD makes a fair point about the gap between league 1 & Championship.

I think Matthews may well have what it takes to be a championship GK, but I'm not convinced he's there yet. I we want to achieve a decent finish we really need a championship standard GK and I'm not convinced we have one at the moment. In fact at the moment I think potentially GK is our weakest area.
 
But they did miss out on promotion, so they are still league 1. DD makes a fair point about the gap between league 1 & Championship.

I think Matthews may well have what it takes to be a championship GK, but I'm not convinced he's there yet. I we want to achieve a decent finish we really need a championship standard GK and I'm not convinced we have one at the moment. In fact at the moment I think potentially GK is our weakest area.

League One is above League Two though and it was high enough for those who wanted us to fork out £6m on Marriott. Matthews also had a successful loan with Hamilton in the SPL. I think we need another wide player first to replace Wildschut and then another GK if that's possible. What happens with Oliveira could also influence this. Reading are said to still be interested in Nelson, so we could be waiting on that.
 
Do you think it’s possible to keep the GK debate limited to ONE thread – it seems to be ‘rearing its ugly head’ on more and more threads?? :emoticon-0121-angry

Whilst I agree that it is CRUCIAL we get a GK who is not going to ship goals for fun, IMO it’s far more important to have a resolute defence, so that the GK isn’t having to make in excess of say 10 saves (ie 10 shots on target) per game and I really think that that responsibility lies with the defence!!!!
From what I’ve seen on clips of our German tour, then the defence is PRIMARILY at fault in the majority of the goals we’ve conceded and they should have dealt with the threats more convincingly. We can but hope that DF and his coaching staff will be working on improving that in the few days they have at Colney prior to heading off to Luton.

PD talks a lot of sense in this article on the topic of both the defence and the GK – ‘Given Ivo Pinto, Grant Hanley and Jamal Lewis are all to come back into the defensive mix, allied to any number of examples last season when City were able to successfully repel invaders when they had their backs-to-the-wall, the overall direction of travel feels positive.
Clarity with the keeper situation will come fairly rapidly from this point. DF must decide whether it is Remi Matthews or McGovern who gets the nod for St Andrews, or if a commanding, authoritative presence has to be sourced from outside the current dressing room.
 
Do you think it’s possible to keep the GK debate limited to ONE thread – it seems to be ‘rearing its ugly head’ on more and more threads?? :emoticon-0121-angry

Whilst I agree that it is CRUCIAL we get a GK who is not going to ship goals for fun, IMO it’s far more important to have a resolute defence, so that the GK isn’t having to make in excess of say 10 saves (ie 10 shots on target) per game and I really think that that responsibility lies with the defence!!!!
From what I’ve seen on clips of our German tour, then the defence is PRIMARILY at fault in the majority of the goals we’ve conceded and they should have dealt with the threats more convincingly. We can but hope that DF and his coaching staff will be working on improving that in the few days they have at Colney prior to heading off to Luton.

PD talks a lot of sense in this article on the topic of both the defence and the GK – ‘Given Ivo Pinto, Grant Hanley and Jamal Lewis are all to come back into the defensive mix, allied to any number of examples last season when City were able to successfully repel invaders when they had their backs-to-the-wall, the overall direction of travel feels positive.
Clarity with the keeper situation will come fairly rapidly from this point. DF must decide whether it is Remi Matthews or McGovern who gets the nod for St Andrews, or if a commanding, authoritative presence has to be sourced from outside the current dressing room.
Moans about incessant posts about dodgy goalkeeping in pre season and possible replacements on the transfer thread, then writes a lengthy post about the goalkeeper debate.<laugh>


I seem to remember the debate during transfer Windows over the last few seasons was about our centre backs and the need to strengthen.
It was apparent the centre backs we had were not good enough and we lost our top flight status partly in my opinion as a result of transfer inactivity.

Since Nelson threw a hissy fit on the first day of the season in Farke's first competitive game as manager the concern has shifted towards the striker options.

Most are fairly satisfied with the defence and we have 3 new strikers that most are willing to give a chance to, loads of new faces in midfield so we focus on the 2 keepers.

Better to address these problems before it's too late like we usually do, waiting years to strengthen at the back and not signing a striker last January good enough to win us games.

I would love to see McGovern or Matthews in goal keeping clean sheets and smashing the records that Gunn set last season , I think most would I would also like to see Srbeny score 30 goals and get a Germany call up.

Both are highly unlikely.
 
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