We don't have the defence to justify sticking with a jittery keeper, that's the truth of it. It's been right to give him a chance as I think he has the attributes to succeed in the future but the time as come for our best keeper (in terms of the clubs he has played for and his reputation) I now fully expect Nige to tell Boruc he's number 1 until January at which point they can re asses. Important that Davis is on the bench given his obvious experience, dressing room influence and passion and I think it will do Gazzaniga the world of good to go on loan to a championship/league 1 side where he will play every week and learn (can actually see him going to Portsmouth on loan - shock horror!) We still have some very winnable fixtures between now and January and I just hope that basic goalkeeping mistakes don't cost us.
Gazzanige being sent to Portmouth!!! The man has made goalkeeping mistakes not murdered anyone and drowned kittens....punishment should match the crime
We could have the best back 4 in the world but with gazza in goal still concede soft goals every game, I'm not saying don't spend on the defence as that is a must as it was start of the season all i'm saying having a gk who is constantly making mistakes and not addressing the problem is just plain dumb especially when there will be 3 or 4 established gk's available either for loan or permanant deals in jan.
I've been saying for weeks that Gaffeniga will keep making costly mistakes for us because he's not good enough for the PL. People have been shooting me down but he's made 3 big errors that have led to goals in the last 4 matches. Not acceptable.
Shay Given isn't getting a game at Villa, and Friedel isn't getting a game at Spurs. I hiighly doubt either club will let them go, but if we manage to get either of them that would sort us out!
You have to feel for poor old Bart, he waited for years to get his big chance, made one mistake and that was the end of his Saints career. He must be wondering why he wasn't given more of a chance like Gazza has had. Anyway, he has moved on and is doing great at Notts County...8 clean sheets from 20 matches and an average of a goal a game conceded with some good reports of his keeping.
Given that most Keepers don't really show their best form until their mid to late 20s, I think that this would be the most sensible option...No point in wrecking his career by putting too much pressure on the lad at this early stage of his development. As things stand I would say that signing a top class proven Keeper is just as important as a Centre Back in January.
I note in the interview on Player that Adkins has stopped protecting Gazza...he said that the goal should have been kept out and it was a turning point in the game. Wouldn't be drawn in outright criticism of him though, and just turned the conversation to praising Shaw and confirming he had cramp not an injury. Adkins is the master of turning conversations. He appeared to be talking about a related issue, but never returned to the original question. He will never get caught out in a rant that would come back to haunt him. The players must respect him for never complaining about them in public (except in the most general terms).
Calling him Gaffaniga is kinda sad, he is only young ffs, yes he makes errors but that is all about learning your trade. Thing is we have two more goalies that aren't much good anyways. Davis: He has been great for us and I thank him for what he has done, but age has caught up to him. His reaction time to diving( specially low shots) is so slow now. Yes he can still pull off a good shot blocking save but that's about it. Boruc: Erratic and doesn't look like Adkins rates him or he surely would be in the first team. Yes in a ideal world Gazza will be loaned out but we have to wait until Jan for that. Some fans need to get off his back (if he does play), doesn't help when some of the media namely simon peach start up the stupid Gaffaniga name. I agree atm his errors are costing us points but there's no point in going on and on. If Adkins chooses to play him he must rate him higher then the other two. It proves we badly need a keeper in Jan to go with a few new defenders.
I always felt he would stick with Gazza. NA was thin-lipped after the game, but has now calmed down. In the last game, we still had 45 mins to get a win...failing to get a goal was as bad as letting in the goal. And Gazza saved against Holt. Gazza would only be replaced if we had better options...Nigel obviously thinks we don't.
Whatever the choice, can we please not boo the keeper. The only thing that is going to improve the situation is to get behind the team 100% - especially when things are not going so well. We have to trust in Nigel in everything he does. Look at the player he has made of Puncheon (think to the comments on this board last year about him and now look at his contribution). Nigel is an ex-keeper so knows the game better than any of us. He'll be putting the work in, like he did with the rest of the defence. And just remember this, unlike most managers out there, Nigel has a proven record of making players better. When you look at how many of our squad are L1 players, 3 of our 4 forwards and they are probably one of the best attacking units in the league... so come on, in NA we trust, and whoever goes in Goal, lets just give them a cheer. !
Adkins sees them in training and his experience is saying Gazza. We will have to trust him on this as he is a damn good manager.
Presumably Adkins also saw them in training when, almost immediately after signing him, he picked Boruc, who was then dropped (so we are told) because of non-playing issues (the non-incident with the bottle). You have to wonder why we bothered to sign a highly experienced goalkeeper with a good (on-pitch) reputation, who is presumably on relatively high wages, if we're not going to play him. If he's not playing because of a match fitness issue why was he picked against West Ham and Spurs and why isn't he playing for for the U21s/reserves now? If he's injured why haven't we been told? It all seems very odd to me.
I have no fact whatsoever to back this up with, but you would have to think that it is an attitude problem that is keeping him out of the side. It can't really be anything else that I can think of.
