Keepers...

comment by The Logical One™ - destroying the souls of trolls 😏 (U20872)
posted 14 minutes ago
comment by MaineGunner (U10130)
posted 26 minutes ago

I feel like you are trying to hard to deny what is right in front of you. No keeper that I know of has played at a top team and not been sure of his position. I cannot recall having 2 high profile keepers at one club who were both happy and performing.

The most recent example of this was Kepa as Mendy...Mendy won out, Kepa looked nervy, and eventually has gone out on multiple loans. Meanwhile, Mendy got shifted too. And I feel the same will happen here. Ramsdale will leave, Raya will prove to not be as good as Arteta thinks and in 2 years we will be looking for a new goalie.

You also mention that no one bats an eye at the interchanging of outfield players. But that is VERY very different. No player can play all games. And breaks plus competition does indeed spur them on. And even if a player ages a mistake, rarely is it as damaging as whe. A goalie makes a clear mistake. A goalie meanwhile thrives on continuity in the position (This is clear even on my U10 team) as the game is mostly about concentration and any mistake or nerves normally means paying the ultimate price of a goal conceded.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
What has been infront of me since last season and now presently is that both keepers are below what would be considered top level keepers. I don't see how I'm denying anything by making an article about it.

But anyway, you can say you have not seen a simialr situation before but the fact still remains that as a professional sports person challenges to your position in a team is part of sport, if someone's confidence is crushed to pieces because of that then they probably don't belong in that enviornment.

Also I don't see how a goalie having a another top goalie challenging his position should excuse lack of concentration in a game. The same logic could apply to a striker, his mistakes infront goal can be costly so lets not have a top challenger for his position so he can better concentrate and be less nervous infront of goal.... that is the same argument and I just don't buy it tbh
----------------------------------------------------------------------

You have every right to your opinion. I guess what I would ask is "why has no other top manager ever done this before?" Feguson, Wenger, Ancelloti, Guardiola, Mourinho, Zidane etc etc...NONE of them have ever started a season with that place up for grabs. Yes, they have replaced goalies but the one coming in knew they were playing until they made multiple errors. Or it was a natural changing of the guard.

Strikers miss chances yes, but difference is, there are 10 players with chances to score in a game (some have better chances than others). Whereas, there is only one goalie as the last line of defense allowed to use any part of his body to keep the ball out. As an outfield player (and I play weekly rec), if I know within the first 10 mins that my touch is off, my shooting is not on point etc, I can revert back to basics, and try help my team in other ways. Jesus is not prolific but when he is not scoring, he is battling, creating space and still contributing. If you as a goalie are a bag of nerves, it's pretty much a bad result all around.

comment by MaineGunner (U10130)
posted 26 minutes ago

You have every right to your opinion. I guess what I would ask is "why has no other top manager ever done this before?" Feguson, Wenger, Ancelloti, Guardiola, Mourinho, Zidane etc etc...NONE of them have ever started a season with that place up for grabs. Yes, they have replaced goalies but the one coming in knew they were playing until they made multiple errors. Or it was a natural changing of the guard.

Strikers miss chances yes, but difference is, there are 10 players with chances to score in a game (some have better chances than others). Whereas, there is only one goalie as the last line of defense allowed to use any part of his body to keep the ball out. As an outfield player (and I play weekly rec), if I know within the first 10 mins that my touch is off, my shooting is not on point etc, I can revert back to basics, and try help my team in other ways. Jesus is not prolific but when he is not scoring, he is battling, creating space and still contributing. If you as a goalie are a bag of nerves, it's pretty much a bad result all around.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Well Wenger himself did a lot of things that no one else did before him... we all know how great that turned out. So I'm not sure it's a solid argument to say no one has ever done it this way so it must be wrong, innovation is the opposite of that. Arteta has decided to try something different time will tell whether he's wrong or right but I commend his bravery for attempting to try.

I take your point about Goalie being a unique position , however I fail to see the correlation between having a top challenger for a position and that leading to a bag of nerves, in any other walk of life that would just suggest that individual is not mentally up to the task.

I just can't buy the excuse for Ramsdale not performing if he gets the chance next game being... "oh Arteta you brought in a challenger now how am I supposed to stay calm and perform between the sticks..."

I think you guys are kind of missing the point. The keeper is an important part of how the defence plays, and by extension, the entire team. You're not just asking one player to come in and perform, you're asking the team to adapt how they play every game. Not saying it can't work but I reckon that's the reason it's not really been done before.

All managers still state about having strong spine in the team. If one is thinking of replacing the keeper, then , to use the spine analogy, if the keeper is good, that spreads to the defence and so on. The top vertebrae is sound. If you keep tinkering with the cervical vertebrae you will eventually cause instability. I see this happening with the current keeper setup. Raya is not a good or strong keeper IMHO

Playing Raya means that you will need to score 3 or 4 goals every game and that might not be possible

I think you make some valid points. There were some who thought we needed to upgrade on Ramsdale albeit it wasn't the position most in need of investment. It could be true that Raya isn't the guy but as fans we are very quick to jump on a player.

Initially I thought the rotation of keepers could work by keeping both sharp but sadly we've got a situation where Ramsdale is loved by the fans which is putting extra pressure on the guy who has come in and taken his shirt.

Arteta has made a lot of decisions where initially we have all gone "WTF?" but more often than not, it has proven to be a good decision which is why we are where we are. I think it's right to question and challenge even though we are top and I think it's a lazy defence to just say we are top etc. Injuries are a bigger problem than the keeper right now though and we are one injury and a suspension away from seeing Cedric start a PL game of us

comment by Dave&Danny COYH (U4428)
posted 1 minute ago
Playing Raya means that you will need to score 3 or 4 goals every game and that might not be possible
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Raya has conceded 13 goals in 15 games so that's not really true is it?

comment by #LiquidGenius (U20571)
posted 9 hours, 55 minutes ago
Very few top goalies around nowadays unfortunately.

Most are too focused on passing to hone their craft at the key skills of actual goalkeeping.

Ironically and unfortunately for us, the best goalie in the sport right now is one we sold to Villa for £20m for no good reason.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Best goalkeeper in the sport

Nonsense

comment by Never Mind the Defending: Here’s Jürgen Klopp’s Liverpool (U3979)
posted 2 hours ago
comment by #LiquidGenius (U20571)
posted 9 hours, 55 minutes ago
Very few top goalies around nowadays unfortunately.

Most are too focused on passing to hone their craft at the key skills of actual goalkeeping.

Ironically and unfortunately for us, the best goalie in the sport right now is one we sold to Villa for £20m for no good reason.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Best goalkeeper in the sport

Nonsense
----------------------------------------------------------------------

He’s the reigning World Champion goalie and won…

FIFA best goalkeeper
Yashin award
WC Golden Glove
Copa Golden Glove
The Greatest Save of All-Time (from Kolo Muani)

How is he not the best?

comment by Emile Death Rowe (TCM) (U8959)
posted 5 hours, 38 minutes ago
comment by Dave&Danny COYH (U4428)
posted 1 minute ago
Playing Raya means that you will need to score 3 or 4 goals every game and that might not be possible
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Raya has conceded 13 goals in 15 games so that's not really true is it?
----------------------------------------------------------------------
It's funny how the media have created this narrative that the stats contradict.