Robert Elliot G Gateshead b.1986

[DeLorean]

Elliot fit and will start against Bournemouth this afternoon. They were just praising his save from Jonathan Walters' header last week on Soccer Saturday. Arter starts for Bournemouth.

[DeLorean]

Making save after save to preserve Newcastle's 1-0 lead. The BT commentators raving about him. I have half an eye on it and to be honest most of the saves were fairly standard, spread himself well for one alright.

Edit - Named man of the match by Robbie Savage. The stats for the game are mad, Bournemouth have had 68% possession, shots 19-2, corners 16-0. Only in football!

[Charlie Darwin]

Named man of the match for basically winning Newcastle the match.

[tetsujin1979]

MOTM again yesterday against Spurs, kept Newcastle in it for the first half

[OwlsFan]

Good news.

However, Randolph again on the bench for West Ham. No sign of Given for Stoke. Still injured I assume. Westwood made some excellent saves for Wednesday but needlessly conceded a penalty (at least he went the right way for it - attention Mr. Given) but they still scored. Forde continues to be on the bench for Millwall and didn't even play in the FA Cup game or Football League Trophy game.

Interesting selections to be made there.

[nigel-harps1954]

I don't envy O'Neills choice for Euros. If Elliot keeps his place in the team and Newcastle don't buy in January he should most certainly get nod in the two March friendlies at least to prove he's capable of doing it at international level.

Westwood would still be my pick for number one, but for some reason he seems to have fallen out of favour with O'Neill and has trouble with injury which may stop him getting a spot in the squad at all.

Given will probably go just for sheer dressing room presence, even though I don't think he should be in the squad at all.

Randolph needs game time, but he'll be in the squad simply because of the part he had to play toward the end of the qualifying.

David Forde has to miss out. Simple as that.


If it were up to me picking the squad as of today, the three goalkeepers, in order of preference, would be Westwood, Elliot, Randolph. Shay Given should be brought in a coaching capacity as there's no doubting the influence he has in around the squad.

[TrapAPony]

Think it is a fairly straight forward choice at the moment tbh. Randolph, Westwood & Elliot are our 3 best goalies at the present time. There can be no room for sentiment re Given & Forde

[elroy]

I thought Randolph was super impressive in the final games of the campaign. His presence, confidence and not to mention his kicking (a massive weakness with Forde). However, he aint going to see much game time with Wham, with the exception of maybe the FA cup. So it is a wonderful opportunity for Elliott now - not as assured by him for some reason.

[Stuttgart88]

Yep, I agree. Elliott looks good but Randolph is in possession of the shirt and largely because he took to the role instantly. Lack of game time isn't a great concern just now. There'll be pre-tournament warm ups for that & hopefully he'll get a good FA Cup run. In fairness, Adrian is playing very well. Good keeper I think. Choice of 3rd keeper might come down to personality / presence. Pick 2 keepers on form, the third for his contribution to the camp.

[OwlsFan]

. Pick 2 keepers on form, the third for his contribution to the camp.

You'd be in with a shout on that basis :)-

[Paddy Garcia]

the third for his contribution to the camp.

reminds me of Saipan..........

[Stuttgart88]

reminds me of Saipan..........I read that the squad is doing a warm-up camp in Austria or Switzerland, with Roy's approval. I thought the general lesson of Saipan was "do not travel further east than the host country to acclimatise and then fly back west again"

[dr_peepee]

Given their appearance stats during shared time at Charlton it seems they considered Elliot the stronger of the two.

[paul_oshea]

One thing i have liked about oneill and keane, completely different to other managers we have had, since and including mccarthy, is they will shake it up change it as they see fit. If Elliot keeps his place, and he is getting the odd MOTM award, he has to be a starter come June. He is our highest playing keeper on a consistent basis. Randolph did one good kick out, and he seems a messiah almost, and a dead cert. He was poor in Poland. And in friendlies previously he was too especially against Spain in America.

[Stuttgart88]

I thought he was poor in that Spain game too. Jury is out on the Poland performance. I thought he could have done better with each goal though Coleman did him no favours for the second and there was talk of a deflection for the first. He did make a great save one-on-one quite late and he also made a super one-on-one save in Bosnia to keep it at 0-0, a potential tie-changer. His biggest assets are his kicks and his confidence which he transmits outwards to his defenders. If we're to judge by the same standards I thought Elliott was beaten a bit too easily for one of Turkey's goals. I think it was Turkey anyway. Elliott's recent club form is important though, no doubt.

[paul_oshea]

I think its very exciting that we could have ellliot and arter starting come June, that will hopefully be consistent premier league performers and playing well. We can't throw out the players mainly from the championship crap then.

[DeLorean]

I think its very exciting that we could have ellliot and arter starting come June, that will hopefully be consistent premier league performers and playing well. We can't throw out the players mainly from the championship crap then.

What Championship crap? If Elliot comes in he'll replace two goalkeepers at PL clubs in Randolph and Given. Ironically enough, most of us here consider our best goalkeeper to be Championship based Westwood. What Championship crap player do you see Arter replacing? Hendrick is probably our only Championship based midfielder that starts and you can hardly knock his contribution to our campaign so far. I don't think Arter is a like-for-like replacement for him anyway.

[paul_oshea]

No i mean, the way everyone says championship players, as a way of slating or underplaying our ability. I think that they put reserve players or backup players at PL clubs in the same bracket as championship players.

I am agreeing with you, we have almost a complete 11 that plays in the premiership.

[Stuttgart88]

Good interview with him here

http://www.theguardian.com/football/2015/dec/25/rob-elliot-newcastle-united-keeper-tim-krul-steve-mcclaren

[samhaydenjr]

Saw the Newcastle v Everton game today - Elliot made five decent saves but I don't remember him competing strongly for dangerous crosses throughout the game and at the end it was an indecisive punch from a corner that led to Tom Cleverley's free header to an empty net. He's definitely put himself into the frame for the international side after his last few performances so I guess the question for the March friendlies is: does Randolph keep the shirt, on the basis of his performances in the qualifiers, in spite of being on the bench for West Ham, or do we blood in Elliot, as our only goalkeeper playing in the EPL?

[tetsujin1979]

I was watching it as well, did Janmaat step in front of Elliot before he punched the ball, so he didn't get a great contact on it?

[samhaydenjr]

I was watching it as well, did Janmaat step in front of Elliot before he punched the ball, so he didn't get a great contact on it?

Just had another look at it - Janmaat was in front of Elliot, but didn't really step in front of him, he was just following the flight of the ball and, if anything, Elliot moved out behind him. There was a gap between them so Elliot certainly wasn't muscled out or even significantly unsighted, which is why I would like to see him become more comfortable dealing with crosses. That said, his shot-stopping was first class, with a nice variety of saves - covering his near-post; not going down too early in a one-on-one and using his legs; getting down quickly to get a strong hand on a daisy-cutter; a reflex stop of a near point-blank bouncing header.

[DeLorean]

Compared to other positions, does it really matter what level our goalkeepers are playing at in terms of who we should start, within reason obviously? I think Westwood is comfortably a better goalkeeper than Elliot from what I have seen. Elliot doesn't do much wrong, but Westwood saves things that a lot of goalkeepers don't. That's why I always rated him higher than Forde as well and what separates the top goalkeepers from the reliable goalkeepers. Randolph got a bit of a free ride for B&H's goal against us, I only saw Danny Invincible mention it, he was pretty poor for it I think and wasn't great for the Poland opener either.

[Stuttgart88]

I think Randolph was utterly blameless for B&H's goal, jury out for Poland's opener (personally I think partly culpable - others have said deflected). A great save at a key point in each game too remember. His save in Zenica at 0-0 half way through second half was excellent, after Hendrick was caught in possession on our 18 yard line I think.

I think too much is made of the importance of starting or not. Look at Long last night, sharper and hungrier than ever. Whoever starts in goals in June will have benefit of training and a couple of warm-up games. As an ex keeper I'd opine that sometimes not starting can be good - a bit like not having played golf for a bit. Bad form or self-doubt can be carried into the next game whereas a break is a chance to be positive.

Anyway I'll be seeing Elliott live on 2nd January at Arsenal. If there's any talk of Arsenal being title favourites before the game he's sure to have nothing to do!

[DeLorean]

I think Randolph was utterly blameless for B&H's goal

I think be might have been covering his near post to an unnecessary degree, Dzeko was able to just put it into the centre of the goals from about the penalty spot I think. Maybe I'm being harsh though, it was an unusual kind of goal.

[Charlie Darwin]

Misses the game through illness.

[DeLorean]

He made the bench. His replacement has had an "exceptional" first half according to Jeff.

Edit- messed up for what looks like a West Brom winner.

[MeathDrog]

He made the bench. His replacement has had an "exceptional" first half according to Jeff.

Edit- messed up for what looks like a West Brom winner.
Jeff didn't watch the game so.

Darlow was a disaster from first to last whistle.

[DeLorean]

Maybe he meant exceptionally bad :p

[Stuttgart88]

Got 5/10 in today's Independent (UK). That's pretty poor.

[DeLorean]

That was unbelievably generous, he was a mess the poor guy.

[pineapple stu]

Heard Jeff Stelling on Sky Sports saying early on that "Newcastle keep on unearthing goalkeepers" - so maybe he started off well and went down from there?

Edit - highlights here (http://hoofoot.com/?match=West_Brom_1_-_0_Newcastle_United_2015_12_28). Two good saves, but the commentators are referencing him throughout; sounds like there was a few general handling errors there (as well as the goal obviously)

[DeLorean]

MOTD showed a nice bit more than that. There were handling errors, sliced kicks from back passes and some general panic stations that weren't shown there. You'd have to feel for him.

[Stuttgart88]

Anyway I'll be seeing Elliott live on 2nd January at Arsenal. If there's any talk of Arsenal being title favourites before the game he's sure to have nothing to do!He had nothing to do. Hardly involved at all apart from a few kick outs and a couple of routine saves. Seemed maybe to have had a misunderstanding with a defender for the only goal but the defender should have just taken command and not let it bounce. Koscielny wanted it so got it.

Cech was much busier and saved Arsenal on a couple of key occasions in the game.

[DeLorean]

Having a stormer at Goodison as Newcastle trail 1-0. Made a world class save from Barkley a few minutes ago.

[CraftyToePoke]

Anyone got a clip of Barkleys late penalty against him ?

[DeLorean]

Ended 3-0. Two Barkley penalties late on after two ridiculous fouls. Barkley sent Elliot the wrong way for the first and dinked the second down the middle. Lennon's opener was unusual, a soft enough shot from the edge of the box but he kind of reversed it into the opposite corner you'd expect him to go for. It was clever from Lennon as it seemed to totally wrong foot Elliot but I'm not sure if he should have done better.

Would Newcastle getting relegated be good for Elliot? Surely Krul would move on? Hope it happens anyway, firstly it would mean Norwich would probably survive and, secondly, it'd be funny after all the fairly mental money they've spent.

[DeLorean]

Anyone got a clip of Barkleys late penalty against him ?

Here. (https://youtu.be/E8m2lhyYT70?t=3m41s)

[Charlie Darwin]

Anyone got a clip of Barkleys late penalty against him ?

https://streamable.com/6kir

[nigel-harps1954]

Just watched the highlights of the Everton v Newcastle game. Couple of absolutely world class saves from Elliot. He's in incredible form and certainly the form goalkeeper in terms of Irish players the minute. I hope he's not overlooked by O'Neill. It'll be a close call between him and Randolph for the Euros.

[DeLorean]

Just saw the goal he conceded against Stoke during the week, surprised it hasn't been mentioned. Awful stuff, Shaqiri shot from distance and Elliot just watched it fly into the middle of the net as if it was going wide.

[TheOneWhoKnocks]

Be ridiculous to drop Randolph when he has done nothing wrong. He will get enough football before the Euros between the cup and the friendlies.

Elliot as #2 with the confidence he can step in at short notice like he did for Newcastle.

Westwood should be #3.

No need to overcomplicate things, though I'm sure Given will be brought along for experience/destabilisation.

[tetsujin1979]

Out for six months according to Sky Sports

[DeLorean]

Nasty, poor guy. Thank God we're in a better position than Newcastle all the same, once Shay disposes of his voodoo doll.

Sky Sports (http://www.skysports.com/football/news/11678/10223011/newcastle-goalkeeper-rob-elliot-ruled-out-for-six-months)

[SwanVsDalton]

Disaster, gutted for him.

Five years ago I'd never believe I would hope for a Shay Given injury, yet here we are.

[DeLorean]

Are we going a little overboard about Given though? He played okay when he came back into the side before his injury, not brilliant but hardly disastrous. Randolph had a couple of really bad moments last night it has to be said, kicking the ball straight to the Slovak striker who miscontrolled it, fortunately for us, and threw another ball straight out of play for a throw-in. I'd imagine poor Shay would have been slated on here had it been him.

I don't want Given as our number one either, but I definitely wouldn't go as far as to actually want him to get injured again, even though I know that's not meant in a malicious way by SvD or anybody else. If he plays a few games at club level and is looking sharp then I think O'Neill can take it from there, fitness alone definitely shouldn't be enough to dislodge Randolph at this stage, but he could be okay as back up. I'd just like to see Westwood dislodge Forde for the other spot really and remain part of the picture for the WC campaign.

[TheOneWhoKnocks]

On Football Focus right now.

[tetsujin1979]

Player of the Season at Newcastle: https://twitter.com/the_dilsh/status/731917787946455040

It's an honour to win player of the season for #NUFC (https://twitter.com/hashtag/NUFC?src=hash) can't wait to get back and help get us back where we belong!thanks for all the support

[Closed Account]

Player of the Season at Newcastle: https://twitter.com/the_dilsh/status/731917787946455040

The most cheese in a bacon factory. And you can quote me on that

[tetsujin1979]

New four year deal for Elliot at Newcastle: http://www.nufc.co.uk/articles/20160907/elliot-signs-new-contract_2281670_5869071


The Republic of Ireland international was the Club's player of the season last term and is nearing full fitness following the knee injury which kept him out of the final few games of the 2015/16 campaign.