Relegation battle on the cards

[weasel]

I actually think dropping wiedwald was a weak decision and showed his weakness rather than his strength. Wiedwald was his player brought in to play out from the back his way and after only a few games he seemed to give in to the criticism and drop him for Lonergan, going against his footballing principles.

I think that proves my point in that it wasn't a straightforward decision based on the errors v loyalty argument. I do think though that it was the right decision at the time because the fans were getting on FW's back and that makes it increasingly hard for the player as he will be jittery every time he goes for the ball because of the crowd.

[1964white]

I think that proves my point in that it wasn't a straightforward decision based on the errors v loyalty argument. I do think though that it was the right decision at the time because the fans were getting on FW's back and that makes it increasingly hard for the player as he will be jittery every time he goes for the ball because of the crowd.

Point is a goalie at any level shouldn't be jittery catching a ball, that's part of the art of goalkeeping,
skills they should have acquired when playing at school if they aspired to be a No.1.

My god goalies are protected enough by the match officials these days, doddle of a job compared with being between the sticks decades ago

[danhirons]

I think that proves my point in that it wasn't a straightforward decision based on the errors v loyalty argument. I do think though that it was the right decision at the time because the fans were getting on FW's back and that makes it increasingly hard for the player as he will be jittery every time he goes for the ball because of the crowd.

perhaps. can understand looking at it from both perspectives. probably was the right choice as you say though - be interesting to see what happens if lonergan makes another mistake though...

[weasel]

Point is a goalie at any level shouldn't be jittery catching a ball, that's part of the art of goalkeeping,
skills they should have acquired when playing at school if they aspired to be a No.1.

My god goalies are protected enough by the match officials these days, doddle of a job compared with being between the sticks decades ago

I agree with you that catching the ball should be the basic skill but I would say that 99% of keepers these days are much better at shot stopping than at claiming crosses or even holding the ball from shots. The only things I can think of as reasons are that balls are lighter and gloves are much more padded so it is harder to actually catch the ball. My dad was a keeper and he always bought thin gloves that basically didn't have all the padding but had stuff to enhance grip (the white spongy stuff). I bet if you threw a set of car keys towards most keepers with gloves on they wouldn't be able to actually catch them as they wouldn't be able to get any grip on them.