Elephant in the room

I just think that given our budget is limited, don’t think we should be spending much on getting a decent back up goalie. But, I suppose, if we get a Bamford situation with Meslier, that back up does need to have something, so an end-of-career EPL goalie is probably the best option, if available at the right price

I’m fine with developing a younger keeper and in meslier we have a good talent… just thought we were taking an unnecessary risk last year by having a 20 year old back up to a 21 year old. To be fair klaessen did great when called on at wolves… but it would be unfair to expect miracles if called on for an extended period.

But nobody expected Meslier to do as well as he did when he was thrown in, its not a case of how old they are, its how good they are!..

People always say keepers are to young, it should be asked exactly how old should they be before getting a chance, 25/26?..

Meslier got his chance and took it well, funny how he wasn't getting blamed for us finishing 9th in his first season as a Premier league keeper, for me he has done a better job then Kiko who also made a hell of a lot of costly mistakes!..

Keepers make mistakes, but when the people in front of them don't do their job right then they'll always be blamed for the outcome!..

As for Klassen, he could be the same as Meslier and people have said he did well when called upon, so maybe we have 2 very good young keepers, only a run of games will answer that!..

Germany, bar a very few posters, nobody is slating meslier here. By the stats (far from perfect, but the only ones we have) of xGA he was average PL standard in year 1.. pretty good under the circumstances. But bottom of the pile in year 2.

That only measures shot stopping, not distribution etc which most think isn’t his strength.

It’s about risk management. Klaessen might be great but until he plays in front of 50,000 people week in week out with people questioning everything he does, nobody knows if he’ll cut it.

The problem of a run of games to find out is that it might relegate us. If we were Mid table in the championship, then great.

It’s no slur on either of them that some of us think an experienced keeper in the squad would be beneficial. Personally, I’d like to see klaessen get a season on loan.

Milky, as far as I see it, Meslier takes a hell of a lot of flak, but very few say much about the whole team and the way they've played!..

First Premier year was expected to be difficult so they did well, but last year was a complete fall down, that wasn't all down to the keeper, the whole team should take a battering for what happend and take blame for not giving the keeper the cover he should have!..

Like been mentioned, Meslier was top as far as shot stopping goes, if he'd had the help he should have maybe he wouldn't have had to stop so many!..

11 players on the pitch, and some of those are meant to be defenders!..

Very rarely I say anthing against the players, but they're just as much to blame as the keeper, and if we'd had a so called better keeper in goal they wouldn't have done any better!..

Wouldn't have done much better!.

It’s about risk management. Klaessen might be great but until he plays in front of 50,000 people week in week out with people questioning everything he does, nobody knows if he’ll cut it.

-----------------------

Yep, this. It's not that I don't rate either Meslier or Klaesson - i leave the judgement to both of them to the coaches. Just checked my earlier contribution, I didn't slate either, actually never would, but it's a lot to ask of 2 in goalkeeping terms, youngsters, to man the fort for a full prem season.

I thought it was a fair observation to raise by the OP.

As for Meslier getting flak, didn't particularly hear any within ER - i think most recognise what he's done so well for us. Like keepers do he makes errors and they're more obvious. I think the majority of any flak comes from a keyboard.

Of course it’s a team thing Germany… is anyone saying otherwise and putting it all on the keeper? The whole team has been butchered by everyone this year… including management team and the board. I haven’t personally noticed Meslier getting more or less than anyone else but I guess it only takes a few threads to stir things up to make it seem that way.

Well someone pointed out the other day that Donny had about 12 shots at the keeper and still got it wrong!.

And I've just seen he has 2 Elephants in 2 different rooms!.