The Weakest Link costs us again

[londinium]

The ball went in near the corner. If he had stayed on his line and been beaten, we'd have hammered him for it.

Hanhemann's decision making in terms of coming or staying on his line is not what I see the problem as. What he needs to do is go in all guns blazing (!) and take out everything in his path. He seemed to try to catch the ball for the goal, when he should have been like a bulldozer and knocked Johnson and DLC out of the way to reach it.

I think a lot of keepers would have come for that ball and made it theirs. That's what Hanhemann needs to do next time. Attack the ball and not wait for it to drop into his hands.

Our number 1 has made more saves than any other keeper in this division so far this season and I'd wager that he's saved us more points than he cost us.

As has already been said, he would have caught it if he'd stayed put.

I would ask, can you honestly sit and there and pick one game that we have won this year where you came away thinking that if weren’t for Hahnemann we’d have lost that game. I really can’t.

People keep bringing up the fact that he has made more saves than any other keeper this year and that is a fact. But again, I’ll ask you how many were no more than routine saves. For example, in the West Ham game I believe they had 5 shots on target all saved – all from outside the area or one that was mis-hit IIRC. All saves you would expect a keeper to make. Again nobody is questioning his shot stopping ability but other aspects of his game that are causing concern game after game.

You do have to realise that all the other keepers too have had easy shots to save so it does level out. Stats are stats and they are not the be all and end all, but you can't say that you remember him saving loads of easy ones when you don't know if the other goalkeepers have done just the same.

BTW How bad has Robinson been playing recently? Check out the spurs fans sites, they are baying for his blood. It doesnt make him a bad goalkeeper overnight, just not on top of his game.

I am sure Marcus is aware that he hasnt been top notch this season, and that now the transfer window is open, and with Federici's decent enough display the other night, and he needs to pick his socks up.

[SpaceCruiser]

If you see me online tomorrow, please tell me to F*ck off, because I really need to be focussing on my work as well instead of talking rubbish on HNA. Do that or make my arguments look stupid so I get embarrassed and quietly retreat behind my work. Thx.

The only rubbish you've talked about today is suggesting that Spacey ever makes any sense. That was just ridiculous.

Now get back to work.

DING! The pompous meter has just rated your post as a 10.

[Royal Rother]

[Top Flight]

If you see me online tomorrow, please tell me to F*ck off, because I really need to be focussing on my work as well instead of talking rubbish on HNA. Do that or make my arguments look stupid so I get embarrassed and quietly retreat behind my work. Thx.

The only rubbish you've talked about today is suggesting that Spacey ever makes any sense. That was just ridiculous.

Now get back to work.

I've had this situation with Spacey before, where you argue a point with him over many posts and end up finding out that you pretty much are on the same wave length. Its just Spacey can't be assed to write more than 2 lines when he puts a post together so he can never express his opinions fully. He is a lazy g*t that Spacey........

[Gordons Cumming]

he needs to pick his socks up.

Did he drop them?

[brendywendy]

or was he throwing them into the crowd with the rest of his sweaty kit?

[Focher]

De La Cruz was our worst player today in my opinion and he was just on the wrong side of adequate.

were you watching the same game?? Apart from Ingimarrson, and taking into account his lack of games, i thought he had an excellent game.

[richiford]

i think its harsh

[royals pete]

Well, this thread has really exploded while everyone has been sitting in front of the screen at work today ( I Assume )

I'll add my bit.

EVERY keeper makes mistakes. If they were perfect, we wouldn't see any goals. Then we wouldn't go would we.

Marcus will do for me. He's part of the Championship team and is doing VERY well in settling to the PREMIERSHIP with the rest.

Keep it up Marcus.

[Arch]

BTW How bad has Robinson been playing recently? Check out the spurs fans sites, they are baying for his blood. It doesnt make him a bad goalkeeper overnight,

No, he's been sh!t for years.

[Charles Dapper]

Can I just say I thought UDC had a great game particular the second half, linking up with Little and taking the ball down the line. Wasn't concerned with his defending either.

Marcus' distribution was awful. During the second half when we could have done with slowing things down and when he had plenty of time he boots it straight into touch.

I still think back to that sh1t game in Watford where he kept booting the ball all the way down front straight to Shitu (since Leroy is too short for that).

Would I not be wrong in thinking that every season, so far, he has a little lull about this time?

As for Sidwells shots, at least someone was having a pop and maybe he'll get more confident with them. The strikers yesterday weren't exactly looking like scoring.

[Victor Meldrew]

They have both had off days too.

Off days?

Totally unacceptable.

Replace them all.

I actually think Ivar has been our most consistent player of the season. Sonks is either brilliant or liable to make mistakes which is all the more reason we need our keeper to be more decisive. Hopefully that man will be Marcus but frankly i have my doubts

I thought Ivar was our best player yesterday and his reading of the game often makes up for his lack of pace.
I'm surprised that nobody has made the point that it must be very difficult to play behind Sonko.
The Chelsea goal when Sonko stood still rather than jump with Drogba followed a number of games where he seemed to be all at sea and (unlike last season) was not judging crosses.
These are free transfer players who have done brilliantly for us and I think can be forgiven the odd lapses.
Performances by two of England's finest over the weekend-Robinson and Kirkland- made them look no better than Marcus.

The time may well be right for us to be looking elsewhere for the future (not every keeper improves with age) but I believe that Marcus is still very much in credit for his performances even this season and deserves to see this season out.

[RG30]

Interesting thread. For what it's worth like Murty to a certain extent, the image Marcus has had amongst the fans have left him escaping criticism but any keeper would have said it was a very poor goal to concede. The first frustration was the cross even getting allowed to put in, then him going for the ball which he stood little chance of getting.

Replacing keepers are so much harder than replacing other positions on a field. Last season, what the team did so well was work as a unit with the back 5 and that was shown by our clean sheets record.

However I fear changing at this stage would have a bad impact. You look at our friends in West Ham who have 2 good keepers in Carroll and Green, yet neither has been able to cement a place. Wigan have changed over the summer and seem to have lost the stability that made them a decent outfit.

As others have mentioned, we saw the best of Marcus when Ashdown had his run of game and looked solid, and had he stayed would have had a valid case to keep the shirt.

SC ain't no fool, he'll be on the constant look out with Hahnemann now 34/35 but players relish competition and as good as Federici was on his debut, it was against Burnley and the situation is different when your facing packed grounds week in week out.

[Don Finch]

I'll add my bit.

EVERY keeper makes mistakes. If they were perfect, we wouldn't see any goals. Then we wouldn't go would we.....

I think you're missing the point of the thread here pete, we are looking for a perfect keeper - and on that basis alone Marcus needs to be dropped and a replacement brought in, fast.

[Gordons Cumming]

What a stupid thread.

[Hahnemann's Hairdresser]

As has already been said, he would have caught it if he'd stayed put.

I would ask, can you honestly sit and there and pick one game that we have won this year where you came away thinking that if weren’t for Hahnemann we’d have lost that game. I really can’t.

Fulham, made 2 or 3 great saves, especially that one from the McBride header. I'm not going to try and stand up for Hahnemann's decision on Sunday, with hindsight it was clearly the wrong thing to do. However had he come and caught that ball, people would be singing his praises saying he was finally looking demanding in his penalty box. The only moan people have had about Hahnemann in the past is that he isn't in control of his box, and its quite clear that he is trying to put that right, only as that isn't the strongest part of his game it's leading to mistakes.

What a stupid thread.

Completely agree

[Huntley & Palmer]

The ball went in near the corner. If he had stayed on his line and been beaten, we'd have hammered him for it.

Hanhemann's decision making in terms of coming or staying on his line is not what I see the problem as. What he needs to do is go in all guns blazing (!) and take out everything in his path. He seemed to try to catch the ball for the goal, when he should have been like a bulldozer and knocked Johnson and DLC out of the way to reach it.

I think a lot of keepers would have come for that ball and made it theirs. That's what Hanhemann needs to do next time. Attack the ball and not wait for it to drop into his hands.

Our number 1 has made more saves than any other keeper in this division so far this season and I'd wager that he's saved us more points than he cost us.

As has already been said, he would have caught it if he'd stayed put.

I would ask, can you honestly sit and there and pick one game that we have won this year where you came away thinking that if weren’t for Hahnemann we’d have lost that game. I really can’t.

People keep bringing up the fact that he has made more saves than any other keeper this year and that is a fact. But again, I’ll ask you how many were no more than routine saves. For example, in the West Ham game I believe they had 5 shots on target all saved – all from outside the area or one that was mis-hit IIRC. All saves you would expect a keeper to make. Again nobody is questioning his shot stopping ability but other aspects of his game that are causing concern game after game.

Yes, I agree that he probably would have caught had he stayed back, but he had a split second to make a decision and the ball was dropping in his vacinity. I don't have a problem with him coming for that ball per se, but if he is going to come for it he needs to raise hell and make the ball his.

I'm not trying to exonhorate him from blame, I just think that his decision to come for the ball wasn't necessarily the wrong one. It his attempt to go for it that I would question.

In relation to your other question, I can certainly think of save he made in the West Ham away game, Sheff Utd game and Tottenham game that were important saves. It's only really Murty and Shorey out of the back five that have stepped up, I've not been totally convinced by Sonko or Ingimarsson either. They have both had off days too.

Nope, sorry. AJ won the header between the penalty spot and six yard line. No keeper needs to come that far out of his goal, he also had UDC jumping with him, so there was no need to go anywhere near it.

[Don Finch]

What a stupid thread.

Indeed, and it's made it double figures in the page stakes now.

Marcus is probably more than aware of these mistakes he's been making recently which may be making him even more nervous, hence the numerous spills. I still wouldn't swap him, he showed last season how good a shot stopper he is, just needs to work on his distribution some more. Plus he's a legend.

[rotherwick_royal]

I'll add my bit.

EVERY keeper makes mistakes. If they were perfect, we wouldn't see any goals. Then we wouldn't go would we.....

I think you're missing the point of the thread here pete, we are looking for a perfect keeper - and on that basis alone Marcus needs to be dropped and a replacement brought in, fast.

Let me be the first to point out the perfect keeper doesn't exist.

[Corky341]

All members of our team have had a massive step-up in class. That doesn't make them useless over night. OK, Marcus didn't have an outstanding game, but then I couldn't pick a 'man of the match' from the 22. This was just a poor day at the office. They happen. Everton turned us over far too easily at the Mad-House, so maybe it's not us but them. They are better organised than us. (This season).

FWIW I thought DLC had an OK second half and both me and my Father-in-Law had him as our MOM last Tuesday.