Adam Federici: Is He Good Enough?

[Sarah Star]

Watching the game again today, I have to say that was a cracking save Federici pulled off to deny Birmingham a 2nd goal, right in the top corner.

Agreed - watching it on highlights, my immediate thought was "With Marcus, that one would have gone in". But maybe that was a bit harsh.

It had zero power on it at a very saveable height.

Federici has done nothing wrong as yet, he's had 2 quiet games and as others have said is distribution really is superb.

But Hahnemann would have certainly saved that.

Fair enough, Hahnemann would probably have saved it, and I'm no goalkeeper, but as I remember it, the shot was in the top corner. If it had been any higher, it would have hit the woodwork. If that's a very saveable height, then anything aimed at the goal is, surely.

[RoyalBlue]

Wait a second, Bent's effort at the end?

Wasn't that quite good positioning on his part, giving Bent very little to aim for?

I would have said so, yes. It would have needed a very neat headed finish under pressure to have beaten him from there and if it had beaten him it would have beaten most other keepers who, as I said earlier, would have been in a very similar position. Had he got closer to Bent I suspect it would have been easier to have got the ball over him with a header.

[AlexY25]

Hopefully after a couple more games, he'll get more and more confidence.
I think he could do very well.

[Stranded]

Wait a second, Bent's effort at the end?

Wasn't that quite good positioning on his part, giving Bent very little to aim for?

I would have said so, yes. It would have needed a very neat headed finish under pressure to have beaten him from there and if it had beaten him it would have beaten most other keepers who, as I said earlier, would have been in a very similar position. Had he got closer to Bent I suspect it would have been easier to have got the ball over him with a header.

Thought he also closed down the angle very well when Jerome had a chance right at the end, giving him almost nothing to aim at.

[Hoop Blah]

Had he got closer to Bent I suspect it would have been easier to have got the ball over him with a header.

How would it have been easier to head the ball over him if he was closer to him?

He'd then have to head it almost straight up in the air, making it a lot harder for the ball to move forwards towards the goal.

[Stranded]

Had he got closer to Bent I suspect it would have been easier to have got the ball over him with a header.

How would it have been easier to head the ball over him if he was closer to him?

He'd then have to head it almost straight up in the air, making it a lot harder for the ball to move forwards towards the goal.

Because if he was closer to him, he may not have had to go over him. He could have knocked it to either side of him easily as Fed would have been moving forward. Where he was Bent had only one option, given the pace on the ball and that was to attempt to get enough pace and height on the ball to get it over his head.

Not that easy and Fed was in the perfect spot to take an easy catch.

[papereyes]

Wait a second, Bent's effort at the end?

Wasn't that quite good positioning on his part, giving Bent very little to aim for?

I would have said so, yes. It would have needed a very neat headed finish under pressure to have beaten him from there and if it had beaten him it would have beaten most other keepers who, as I said earlier, would have been in a very similar position. Had he got closer to Bent I suspect it would have been easier to have got the ball over him with a header.

Thought he also closed down the angle very well when Jerome had a chance right at the end, giving him almost nothing to aim at.

Sorry, that was the one I was thinking of.

[Hoop Blah]

You may well be right Stranded, my question was specifically aimed at the statement made that being closer Bent would've made it "easier to have got the ball over him with a header."

I just can't figure that one out!

[loyalroyal4life]

Feds distribution is better then USA IMO and i think that is v.important in this division and effective counter attacking football.

[Stranded]

You may well be right Stranded, my question was specifically aimed at the statement made that being closer Bent would've made it "easier to have got the ball over him with a header."

I just can't figure that one out!

Ah got you - yes going over him would be harder but getting the ball past him would have been easier.

Though if you want to take advice from a keeper with the user name Stranded....

[Royal Rother]

Clever!

[Ark Royal]

Watched the full game on the web yesterday and Fed was sound. What brilliant distribution.; he regularly picked out a player in the oppo's half and had a direct hand in Doyle's goal by picking out Long(?) from 70 yards. From that we earned the free kick from which we scored.

[Ian Royal]

I thought fed was in the perfect place to be lobbed by a header. Too far from his line to do much if it was looped right and not close enough to Bent to put pressure on. But Bent's header was poor, difficult to get the power though.

But I'm a terrible 'keeper so wouldn't surprise me if I'm totally wrong.

[rg6royal]

Definately good enough.

[SteveRoyal]

Definately good enough.

Agreed. His distribution will be critical should we keep him in the starting XI against Premiership opposition.
Counter-attacking football away, please... actually...

[East Stand Ste]

definately....no question!.....i've always rated him, maybe even over marcus....federici's distrobution is ten times better than marcus's (in my opinion!)

[RoyalBlue]

Had he got closer to Bent I suspect it would have been easier to have got the ball over him with a header.

How would it have been easier to head the ball over him if he was closer to him?

He'd then have to head it almost straight up in the air, making it a lot harder for the ball to move forwards towards the goal.

But once he'd got the ball over him he wouldn't have needed to have relied on the ball's momentum to carry it forwards towards the goal! He would have run past Federici (who wouldn't have been able to turn quick enough and therefore could only have prevented a goal by pulling him back in return for a penalty and red card) and just slotted it home.

Still maintain that given the play immediately preceding the moment, Federici was positioned where most other keepers would have been. Turned out to be perfect positioning because he prevented the goal!

Mind you, it's easy to be an expert on the sidelines. It's for that reason that the goalkeeping 'school' my kids attend periodically run coaching sessions during which parents, team managers, etc. are invited to join in. They reckon that once the touchline experts get to see what it's really like to be a keeper they tend to be a little less vocal in their criticism!

Wait a second, Bent's effort at the end?

Wasn't that quite good positioning on his part, giving Bent very little to aim for?

I would have said so, yes. It would have needed a very neat headed finish under pressure to have beaten him from there and if it had beaten him it would have beaten most other keepers who, as I said earlier, would have been in a very similar position. Had he got closer to Bent I suspect it would have been easier to have got the ball over him with a header.

Thought he also closed down the angle very well when Jerome had a chance right at the end, giving him almost nothing to aim at.

Yes, I was surprised the commentator didn't give him more credit for that at the time. Perfect positioning, made himself big (and he's pretty big anyway) and didn't make it easy for Jerome by committing too early. I doubt Jerome got to see much of the goal at all.

[Hoop Blah]

If Bent had headed it straight up in the air, the chances are Federici would've had loads of time to turn around and beat him to it in the air (don't forget he has the use of his arms over and above Bents head!).

As for his positioning, I think he wasn't way out of place to be honest. It's a tough one to call as he was caught out by Ingimarssons inability to get a touch in the first place. I do agree that he was a little in no mans land though, but I'm not sure he could really have been anywhere else to be fair to the guy!

[Franchise FC]

Yeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeesssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssss !!!!!

[rhroyal]

3 league games, 1 conceded, 1 goal. So far that's far better than Marcus' record. He deserves to keep the shirt, he made some crucial saves, even to keep it at 1-0 in injury time.