Loris Karius

[Gym Beglin]

I think we give the lad a break.

 

He's been nervous since he came in, dreading something like this. Well he can stop worrying now, it's happened, and he can begin properly.

 

The team fell apart today, there's fingers pointing everywhere, he shouldn't feel like the only one under scrutiny.

[TheHowieLama]

Tell him to point his fingers in the general direction of the ball and everything will be ok.

[G Richards]

Karius has been good the past few games. He had a bit of a stinker today, with some good stuff intermixed. The whole team was rubbish today. The biggest miss was Matip. The whole defensive unit, goalkeeper included, looks so much better with a leader like Matip calming the whole thing down.

 

Karius is not that leader, yet. He's a young goalie, with a lot of talent, adjusting to a new team, who will make some mistakes along the way. He could and should have done better today, but the biggest miss was Matip. With him gone, everything fell apart at the back in that crazy spell.

[Guest Pistonbroke]

I think we give the lad a break.

 

He's been nervous since he came in, dreading something like this. Well he can stop worrying now, it's happened, and he can begin properly.

 

The team fell apart today, there's fingers pointing everywhere, he shouldn't feel like the only one under scrutiny.

 

He's certainly not being signalled out, people are just a bit miffed that he has been shaky to say the least. He was looking more steady of late but probably more down to the point he had little to do. Due to others letting the team down today he had a big chance to impress and make a name for himself, to show us he had some guts, he failed miserably. 

 

Like it or not, people are going to discuss that on a football forum. 

[Jairzinho]

I agree, I doubt we actually train them with that scenario much, surely we can't be? Every goalkeeper we have had since Reina has been shit at dealing with crosses. In fact if we take out the acceptable (and I don't mean World beaters, just acceptable) keepers we have had over the years, Reina, Dudek, James) we haven't had a decent keeper since Grobbelar, quite possibly Clemence. 

 

That's 35 years of only acceptable or shit keepers! 

 

And you've been kind with Dudek and James. 

 

I think Reina is the only decent keeper we've had since Grobbelaar.

[G Richards]

I'd say Brad Friedel too. We shouldn't have let him go.

[Guest Pistonbroke]

And you've been kind with Dudek and James. 

 

I think Reina is the only decent keeper we've had since Grobbelaar.

 

True, but I'd say they were still acceptable. It's a massive black mark against the club though, 35 years of spunking billions only to have had one true decent keeper since Clemence left in 81. 

 

The mancs (spit) have shown over the years what a good keeper is worth. They even turned Edwin VDS into a Worldie and when they signed him from Fulham I actually laughed about it. 

[Guest Pistonbroke]

I'd say Brad Friedel too. We shouldn't have let him go.

 

He couldn't even oust James and thereafter Westerfeld for the three years he spent with us mate. 

[Jairzinho]

I'd say Brad Friedel too. We shouldn't have let him go.

 

Was just about to mention him. Second best keeper we've had in the last 20 years.

[jimmycase]

Could have had schmichel but souness turned him down apparently.

[TheHowieLama]

James was sold the year after Friedel got his work permit.

 

Ged wanted to clean house so he sold both Friedel and Westerveld within 12 months. He bought Dudek.

 

Freidel was the best of all of those.

 

TBH Ged's treatment of Westerveld was embarrassing.

[Joe Strummer]

Yet no one gave a shit when Friedel was sold because he wasnt all that for us, like most keepers his best years were ahead of him.

[Bjornebye]

Could have had schmichel but souness turned him down apparently.

Seems like he turned quite a few top players away and bought shite. Well he did. He turned down Cantona didn't he?

[Dr Nowt]

On the flipside, he did bring in Julian Dicks and Istvan Kozma.

[ZonkoVille77]

Little acorns and all that

[The Golden Eel]

If this guy comes good, I'll eat my hat. He's fucking rubbish and has been from day one apart from a couple of games where he did what any competent keeper should be expected to do. Stick Mig back in until the summer then sell both of them. There's no way in the world Mignolet is worse than this guy. It's amazing to think that he actually had significantly less presence than Mignolet. Mind boggling

[TheHowieLama]

Yet no one gave a shit when Friedel was sold because he wasnt all that for us, like most keepers his best years were ahead of him.

 

No one gave shit because we won the Treble and Westerveld was on fire.

[Joey8FrogsLegs]

Yet no one gave a shit when Friedel was sold because he wasnt all that for us, like most keepers his best years were ahead of him.

This. He wasn't any good for us. Seemed better at Blackburn, but that may have been down to it being a smaller club where being a keeper is a totally different thing.

[TheHowieLama]

Ironically it was Souness who took him at Blackburn.

[G Richards]

He couldn't even oust James and thereafter Westerfeld for the three years he spent with us mate.

 

I know! I think we made a mistake.

 

Friedel was solid, and after watching years of keepers who went from the sublime to the ridiculous, game in game out, Friedel would have been a nice change. Boring. Steady. Solid. Just good. I'd have taken that.

 

PS - it's a minor argument though, as the general point stands: apart from an at-peak Reina, by and large we've been lacking between the posts since Brucie.

[3 Stacks]

If this guy comes good, I'll eat my hat. He's fucking rubbish and has been from day one apart from a couple of games where he did what any competent keeper should be expected to do. Stick Mig back in until the summer then sell both of them. There's no way in the world Mignolet is worse than this guy. It's amazing to think that he actually had significantly less presence than Mignolet. Mind boggling

 

Mignolet is far worse. Unless of course you think a few bad games>a few bad seasons, but that's not really how things work.

[Edward.]

I sometimes wonder if a lot of it is down to how the keepers train. Surely we knock balls into the box and have our big defenders clattering into them as they try to catch a cross. Or maybe, as I suspect, we don't.

We probably do but unfortunately it's our players knocking it, clattering in etc

[TheHowieLama]

I think at the time Westerveld was the most we had ever paid for a keeper - Friedel was a nobody.

Shit we probably paid more for Sandor than we have for Karius.

[jimmycase]

I think at the time Westerveld was the most we had ever paid for a keeper - Friedel was a nobody.

Shit we probably paid more for Sandor than we have for Karius.

 

All this reminiscing about friedel brought a smile to my face. I remember when Steve Kelly in TTW&R did a piece on him.

 

He said about Roy Evans "Roy, this man (picture of kasey keller, then a 2nd division \ championship keeper with leicester) is keeping your number 1 goalkeeping target out of the US national side"!

[manwiththestick]

I felt sorry for Westerveld when Ged went out and bought Dudek and Kirkland on the same day. Sends a message that kind of thing.