Mark Travers G Bournmouth b.1999

[Closed Account]

Mark Travers starts today for Bournemouth in the Premier League. Best of luck.

[liamoo11]

Best of luck to him

[Olé Olé]

Awesome. Great news. A few good news stories recently. Hopefully this is all a pre-cursor to a great 19/20.

[Olé Olé]

Not able to watch the game but the Twitter consensus is that he's having an absolute blinder. Any foot.ie contributor able to verify?

[Diggs246]

Just watched the first half of Bournemouth v spur. Mark travers is a real player. 5 excellent saves and he has composure to beat the band

[tetsujin1979]

Mark Travers's start today, along with Michael Obafemi's appearances for Southampton FC, mean that 2018/19 is the first season since 2015/16 where two, or more, Ireland players under the age of 20 have appeared in the Premier League

[liamoo11]

Not able to watch the game but the Twitter consensus is that he's having an absolute blinder. Any foot.ie contributor able to verify?

Very composed lots of a ton in first half good saves and good decisions. Looks assured with his feet. Real bonus seeing him involved you would imagine be will also play next week. I think another of there young keepers is on loan at Wimbledon and is first choice there so hopefully he is considered to be ahead of him

[Closed Account 2]

Played very well, made some super saves, good positioning, decent distribution.

[irishfan86]

Travers named Man of the Match by NBC on its North American feed. Not sure if that’s repeating an official decision by league or sponsor or its own thing. Promising debut alright.

[Closed Account]

1124670609676492800
Nice momemto, nó matter what he goes on to in his career.

[Olé Olé]

This is great stuff. I remember him being in Ireland underage squads and being listed as unattached to a club. I think he was with Rovers but trialled a lot in England for a spell?

[Olé Olé]

See here: https://www.goal.com/en-ie/news/3942/ireland/2016/05/05/23162352/tom-mohan-looking-forward-to-germany-test

Interesting squad there. A lot of them have pushed their way into Kenny's under 21 plans.

[DeLorean]

Highlights here. Seems to have been a game of two halves, the first half is basically a Travers highlights reel!


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iWxfM8EX5ss

[Olé Olé]

https://www.bbc.com/sport/football/48171718

More importantly he made it into Garth Crooks' team of the week. Lucas Moura will remember his name for a long time.

[DeLorean]

https://www.bbc.com/sport/football/48171718

More importantly he made it into Garth Crooks' team of the week. Lucas Moura will remember his name for a long time.

'Did you know? Travers (aged 19 years 351 days) became the first teenage goalkeeper to start a Premier League game since Joe Hart for Manchester City in October 2006.'

Interesting!

[Fizzer]

Played again today against Palace and conceded five.A few nice saves and he was left a bit exposed by his defense all game.Might not be happy with a few of the goals,One save he pushed onto a defender for an OG.He seems to stay on his line sometimes when he could come and claim/punch it.That might just be a confidence thing and something to work on.Great to have a keeper playing in the premier league at a solid club, hopefully Eddie Howe sticks with him.If he can add some box-command to a clearly top-class shot-stopping ability then the kid could be fantastic for us.

[samhaydenjr]

Alan Kelly reckons Travers could be the best goalkeeper we have: https://www.irishexaminer.com/breakingnews/sport/soccer/travers-tipped-to-be-the-best-for-republic-of-ireland-925857.html

It'd be nice to have an obvious heir (or even challenger) to Randolph established over the next twelve months, with Kelleher, Bazunu and Corcoran still to break through

[livehead1]

Injured, and out of the two games, shame really.

https://www.rte.ie/sport/soccer/2019/0524/1051439-uncapped-travers-ruled-out-of-qualifer-double-header/

[Diggs246]

He wouldn't have played lads, not even against Gibraltar., if you are going to be injured now is the time so he is ready for next season ( it sounds nasty though)

[samhaydenjr]

Injured, and out of the two games, shame really.

https://www.rte.ie/sport/soccer/2019/0524/1051439-uncapped-travers-ruled-out-of-qualifer-double-header/

I swear, we're cursed

[tommy_c12000]

Has saved the first 3 penalties thus far in shootout vs Forest Green. 0-0 at FT. Kilkenny subbed on 84 minutes

Bournemouth through 3-0 on penalties. So 100% (3/3) saved. Tough for Travers to put a claim for number one in a match like this, but saving all the penalties won’t do him any harm!

[co. down green]

Great confidence boost for Mark

[nigel-harps1954]

Couple of good saves in that shootout too.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BLI4fNVTgbU

[Stuttgart88]

He looked enormous. Great saves.

We can now also add Travers to the list of names British commentators can't pronounce, SSN referring to him as Tray-vers.

[ifk101]

Yeah he has a presence about him, fills out the goals.

[Eirambler]

Gets a badly needed start in the cup this evening. Hopefully can put himself in the shop window for a loan move.

[tommy_c12000]

Solid first half, not a lot to do but made one excellent save from a one and one, distribution has been good. He inspires so much more confidence in me than Kelleher. Such a presence in goal. I’ll be much more of a nervous wreck tomorrow if Kelleher gets an unexpected start.

A championship loan would be ideal. Stoke City are desperate for a new keeper, Butland has made one mistake too many and their number 2 made a blunder today. Villa also linked with butland for coverage for Heaton, so could be good business all round. Would be a great move for Travers. Not sure where else is potentially available in championship. Preston seem to be persisting with Rudd. League one also a good option.

Faces a penalty on stroke of half time. Hits the crossbar, travers had dived to left; his intimidating presence no doubt instrumental in the penalty miss...

[tommy_c12000]

Finally a second goal for 2-0 after 67 minutes. Should see Kilkenny get some game time now. Fingers crossed

[tommy_c12000]

No appearance for Kilkenny. Nothing for Travers to do this half, 3-0 up 10 minutes left. Both players need to concentrate in securing loan moves in the next few days now

[tommy_c12000]

https://www.bournemouthecho.co.uk/sport/18141427.amp/ (https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.bournemouthecho.co.uk/sport/18141427.amp/)

Disappointing to see Howe’s comments. Travers will play at end of month in FA cup but unlikely to feature in league unless Ramsdale has some stinkers. Travers needs to push for loan spell especially with their embarrassment of riches in the goalkeeping department

[samhaydenjr]

https://www.bournemouthecho.co.uk/sport/18141427.amp/

Disappointing to see Howe’s comments. Travers will play at end of month in FA cup but unlikely to feature in league unless Ramsdale has some stinkers. Travers needs to push for loan spell especially with their embarrassment of riches in the goalkeeping department

I wouldn't worry too much about it - this is just the reality for goalkeepers - you generally don't get the opportunity to prove yourself like outfield players do, building up minutes with second-half substitute appearances in an effort to unseat an incumbent. Unless the first-choice 'keeper gets injured or, like you said, plays a few stinkers, they're going to hold the spot. So the best we can hope for for Travers in the short term is to get a couple more Cup games, replace Boruc on the bench and perhaps make a couple of appearances at the end of the season if Bournemouth are safe again (although relegation to The Championship might actually open the door for him, if Ramsdale is sold). If they stay up, he may want to ask for a loan next season

[tetsujin1979]

Starting today against Watford
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[Olé Olé]

Assuming Ramsdale is injured. Interesting but makes sense when you account for Boruc experience, but Howe clearly sees Travers as his second choice. However, he sees him as his second choice starter and Boruc a better option of the bench.

[ColourfulPeanut]

Got caught bad for the goal trying to play it out from the back. Not 100% his fault but looked bad.

[DeLorean]

Was a good 80-90% his fault, unfortunately.

[jbyrne]

Was a good 80-90% his fault, unfortunately.

The MOTD2 panel were a bit more sympathetic to him to be fair. Woeful defending after he cleared the ball and very few decent options for him to pass to in the first place. Yes, he should have just booted it up the pitch but Eddie Howe said afterwards that their approach that cost them that goal has served them very well before.... who was a 20 year old GK to decide on his first league start of the season to step away from that tactic of playing it out from the back?

[DeLorean]

Yeah, nobody came out of it looking too good but I still think he was the main culprit, mainly because he tried to be too clever when it was played back to him.

[ifk101]

Yeah, nobody came out of it looking too good but I still think he was the main culprit, mainly because he tried to be too clever when it was played back to him.

How did he try to be too clever? All he did was take a first touch so he could strike cleanly with his second touch - but the attacker did not give him enough time to do this. He couldn't hit it first time up the field because the pass back was across his body and not onto his kicking foot.

But agree, doesn't look good for him. And he needed a worldly performance to keep himself in the team going forward.

[DeLorean]

How did he try to be too clever? All he did was take a first touch so he could strike cleanly with his second touch - but the attacker did not give him enough time to do this.

He rolled his studs over the ball trying to control it I thought, trying to look composed maybe. Think it cost him the vital millisecond he needed to make a better fist of his clearance.

[ifk101]

He rolled his studs over the ball trying to control it I thought, trying to look composed maybe. Think it cost him the vital millisecond he needed to make a better fist of his clearance.

I see it as simply a touch to tee it up for a clean strike. The ball back to him was in front and across his body. Difficult (for a goalkeeper) to strike that ball first time with accuracy and length.

[DeLorean]

I see it as simply a touch to tee it up for a clean strike.

Fair enough. I think he causes himself a major problem by rolling his studs over it the way he does, far riskier that controlling it in a normal way and it led to the panic of the rushed kick, when he could really have passed it to the centre back alongside him, who was still in a reasonable amount of space to receive the ball and work it out. I agree the ball back to him in the first place was far from ideal though.

[Kingdom]

I've just looked at the highlights of the first goal, and taken a screenshot immediately after he touched the ball first.
I didn't see the game, and haven't looked at the line ups, by judging where Ake is, they're either playing 3 at the back, or I assume he's left back.

Honestly, if I'm the coach there, I'm ****ed with my cb's for two reasons.
- firstly, the pass to Travers is slow: and goalkeepers are rightly wary of the ball in the central goal area, the most unpredictable surface on a pitch;
- secondly, the CB about to receive the ball (Cook?) is too central. It's bad positioning for two reasons:
a - he's too close to Travers to receive a pass that he can do something with, and also is reachable by Deeney
b - he's condensed the pitch for the Watford press. The ball is only going to go one place. It's reduced the variables. In his current position if a mistake is made, he's not going to prevent a goal, therefore he's commited to being of assistance as an out-ball for the keeper. If you've done that, then do it properly, give yourself the extra 5 yds. that way Ake can really hug the line, and it means there is more space for the Bmouth player in the middle of the press to be a viable receiving option.

That Watford press is exactly what you expect your offensive players to do as a coach. Bournemouth simply made their job easier.

2825

The full red lines are where I think the Bmouth players should be; the staggered red is where I would expect the Watford players to be if that happened, and the blue lines are the options that are then available.

And yes, the first touch by Travers isn't great, but it wasn't horrific.

[DCWA]

Certainly Travers is more to blame than anyone else. He has several other options there varying in level of risk and the “rolling” of the ball as opposed to taking a more assured first touch certainly seems to leave him if not exactly off balance then appearing awkward in making the pass.

He can go long there, use the centre midfielder who has dropped back, forward it straight away on to his nearest team mate taking out the risk of a touch.

It is tricky yes but he has options and he has simply messed it up.

The fact that Bournemouth play out from the back doesn’t cut it as an excuse either, he is a goalkeeper and as such will have to do many things that may be out of sync with the tactical approach to the game. He has to have the confidence, decisiveness and independent streak to deal with that as he sees fit. (See Alisson for Liverpool at Spurs for example, just clearing it when required)

He has said he will learn from it and I am sure he will.

[DeLorean]

the CB about to receive the ball (Cook?) is too central.

In fairness to Cook, I think he believes play has moved over to the right hand side, he's probably not expecting the ball to be returned to Travers, but to be moved on to the player on the very far side hogging the touchline, as it probably should have been. Even from your still shot there I think Travers can slip it quickly to Cook who can move it on to Ake. He could have done it more efficiently still if he controlled the ball properly. I'm with DCWA overall, regardless of the case to be made to incriminate some other players, it's a very poor moment for Travers and hopefully he will learn from it. I've liked the look of him otherwise.

[Diggs246]

Travers made a balls of it lads, his defense was awful but he is the bad guy here

[samhaydenjr]

Gets another game under his belt, as Bournemouth bow out of the FA Cup against Arsenal, with Kilkenny on the bench. Unfortunately we probably won't see him again this season unless Bournemouth are assured of safety or relegated with a couple of games left: https://www.bbc.com/sport/football/51208535

[tommy_c12000]

I watched it. Couldn’t do anything about goals, not much else to do other than one good save in first half. I strongly feel he needs a loan move. I understand it’s not as vital for keepers but they still need to get as much experience as possible at a young age as there is only so much work u can do on the training ground; there’s plenty of aspects to keeping that u can’t learn on the training ground or playing Mickey Mouse underage games. Travers looks very good, but only has non league experience. A 4 month loan to league 1 or 2 would be fantastic, doubt if champ team will come in

[Closed Account 2]

Ramsdale has got Corona virus, but I think he'll recover before the PL restarts, so I don't think Travers will necessarily get more game time.

[Olé Olé]

Ramsdale has got Corona virus, but I think he'll recover before the PL restarts, so I don't think Travers will necessarily get more game time.
Won't Ramsdale have to sit out two weeks of training now though? That might help Travers' cause.

[irishfan86]

Will partially depend on how bad his symptoms are. A friend of mine (mid 30s, physically fit) got it. Was sick for six weeks (never at risk of hospitalization). Took him another six weeks or so to be able to do anything more than a 10 min jog (he seems to be almost back to normal now).