DPL vs Oxford U

I agree that Lawlor makes some fabulous reaction saves, but his cover from distance is not good. He comes from Man City, and we could say Hart had a similar problem - just consider Euro 2016.

I don't expect that DF would criticise him in public, but I hope that what we observe will also have been recognised by him.

The abilty of the modern goalkeeper to throw himself around to get in the way of close-range shots is hugely better than say even 20 years ago. It often means not even trying to catch the ball, just putting himself between the ball and the goal. The fitness and speed of reaction required obviously demands the specialist training that goalkeepers receive and it is impressive probably right down to the leagues well below the EFL.

The question then is "Does stopping long-distance shots demand identical skills?" And the answer is probably "No", Decisions and judgment are more involved.

So whilst you might think that there is not too much difference there I would say there are new elements. Timing is one; if an attacker is a couple of yards away timing is "immediate" with no judgment involved, just the need to move, but for a long range effort when to begin your leap is a decision point. Power is probably another; if you've got to get to the far side of the goal a lot of "springing" power is required especially if the ball is in the top corner or just inside the post on the ground. So you may need to postpone the start your jump ever so slightly to build up enough power to get there. So you might ask is Lawlor not getting there due to lack of power or is he getting there too late?

So sitting in my armchair with experience of goal-keeping confined to watching and a total of a few odd moments in goal in my own footballing career which was spent largely as a primary school half-back(!) - now 64 years distant - that is my analysis!

Yr quiet hound?

What I want to know don is.............were you a right half or left half?


Lanza, not a lot to say really, we are consistently inconsistent so nothing much has changed.
If we escape relegation I will be delighted but not much is happening to make me confident that we will.
Twenty five games to go and we still need 27 more points to get to 50, which has just about kept teams in L1 over the last few seasons.
DF’s one point per game over his last few L1 seasons is panning out again and it worries me.
We do have some very good players and yet can’t put a decent run of results together.

Left Hound, but being right footed you could say I was versatile or tried to be - just to get into the team.

Two of a kind then don.
In our junior school team the games master put me in as a left half but after a season there he saw that I had a knack of scoring goals so moved me up front.
I played there for the next twenty odd years.
In my last season I played quite a few games as a sweeper and found it really easy.
It was very different to play facing the opposition goal compared to being up front with your back to goal most of the time.

Got 2 remain optimistic hound.
Someone said we have lost 13 points after 90mins dont know if thats right or not.
Not being negative i.hope but i cant see kimonya being our salvation i really hope mcullock returns but again im afraid its not going to happen.
We just dont seem to.have anything different to offer up front.
Another.must win game on Saturday.
As you say hound we have the players and I am sure they are putting the effort in but we can get a consistent winning run together.

Well Hound I’m pleased to discover that we have a fragment of our sporting past in common. I went on to be active yet mainly unsuccessful in rugby, cricket, athletics, badminton and currently golf where the handicap system eventually brings some moderate rewards for the persistent competitor.

As for the future, despite my propensity to offer selective advice to Fergie, I still have faith in his ability to do his mainstream management job of bringing on the individual skills of the younger developing talent and generally melding this into the team. Beestin, Houghton, Mason, Mandeville, Ben Khemis, Wright, Kiwomya and I hope Lawlor surely have promise and the slightly older ones like May and McCullough still have the potential to get better. In fact even though none of us could not be aware of the very youthful average age it was not until I looked at individual biographies that I realised just how young so many key members of the current squad are. And it is something that one (me included) loses sight of when things go wrong. And it makes you realise that there is so much room for improvement with age and experience.

So Lanza I do believe that, well managed, we have the resources to get better and I hope that we will get better. Of course, it all depends on those younger members of the squad improving with experience and the older ones sustaining a dependable standard.

I was left back when we played away.