Caoimhín Kelleher GK Brentford b.1998

[Asterix]

Just watched the highlights there. I was expecting some massive mistakes based on here and Twitter. Am I missing something? First goal, no chance. Second goal, yes didn’t get down and ball squirmed under him, would have been saved by most keepers, Alex McCarthy would have just let it go through his legs. Third goal, great finish. Perhaps his positioning could have been better? But not a clear error. And the fourth, I assume he should have had better positioning and opened too much of goal up to Armstrong? But again, nice finish. Not a drastic error.

So only one goal, where he should have clearly done better from what I saw. He made some good saves as well. And looking at his passes record, distribution seemed to be solid.

Am I missing something?

The all important xg stats, the only way to judge a goalkeepers perfmormance on here this year.

[Eirambler]

Thought he was poor enough for the first goal as well. Second was a clear mistake.

I think the concern is that it's probably not the kind of performance you'd expect from a £15m to £20m keeper hoping to be a Premier League first choice next season. He does seem to concede a lot of goals where you think - that's not an out and out disastrous mistake, but another keeper might have got to it. Added to his lack of playing time I could see a lot of clubs thinking he's one to pass on for now at the prices being quoted.

[elatedscum]

Disappointing performance. No catastrophic mistakes but Alisson would have definitely saved the first, second and fourth.

Saw the full second half and he made two decent interventions. Good single handed save but probably would have been slightly disappointed if they scored, and an excellent one where he was brave and pounced at the feet of the attacker…

On the subject of goalkeepers, Travers came out of today really well. From the highlights, he looked to have a performance similar to the ones that had Bournemouth raving about him last year.

[Colbert Report]

I watched the Everton/Bournemouth match, and Travers played really well. He made some great saves and what impressed me most was how confident he was on the ball when an Everton attacker closed him down. He's too good to sit on the bench next season, needs a move to a Championship club where he can play fifty times.

[Snapshot]

I watched the Everton/Bournemouth match, and Travers played really well. He made some great saves and what impressed me most was how confident he was on the ball when an Everton attacker closed him down. He's too good to sit on the bench next season, needs a move to a Championship club where he can play fifty times.
He could do exactly as you indicate - be the best Championship goalkeeper (again) while Kelleher is superglued to the Liverpool bench - and still find himself third choice for Ireland.

[pineapple stu]

The all important xg stats, the only way to judge a goalkeepers perfmormance on here this year.
3.1 apparently - though really PSxG is generally only reverted to when people are denying a poor performance. No-one's doing that here.

Though even that shows that it wasn't a "desperate" performance as suggested. Alisson almost certainly would have stopped one, quite possibly two, and that's the difference a top keeper is worth.

Whoscored gave him a 6.6 rating which again isn't dreadful; he obviously had a couple of other saves to make in the game as elated mentions. (How Liverpool gave up so many chances to a dreadful Southampton side I don't know; it's why I suggested they were on summer holiday mode earlier)

He needs regular football which we all know. This game probably won't have added to his transfer value though, which you'd imagine will be annoying to Liverpool as they need a rebuild in the summer.

Travers was rated 7.5 incidentally. Nice little reminder he can still play a bit.

[ifk101]

I think he can do better for all four goals. The first two are down to lack of match sharpness imo, reaction speed is too slow. Just didn’t get down quick enough. His positioning is all wrong for 3 and 4, needs to be a step more central for the third goal, moved too far towards the end line for the fourth.

Disappointing from our perspective with the Greece game. Kenny can’t pick Bazunu or Kelleher with confidence, Travers had a good showing, but he has been put firmly behind Bazunu and Kelleher to date. Wonder if O’Leary is in consideration.

[Eirambler]

Fairly sure it will be Bazunu all the way for June. He made 32 Premier League appearances this season and while he was by no means outstanding, when they did drop him there was a notable drop off in standards to McCarthy I felt.

Kelleher remains in a position where his main international goalkeeping rival is 3 years younger and considerably more experienced than him. I don't think the order has changed at all between the three keepers in the last year.

[Snapshot]

Fairly sure it will be Bazunu all the way for June. He made 32 Premier League appearances this season and while he was by no means outstanding, when they did drop him there was a notable drop off in standards to McCarthy I felt.

Kelleher remains in a position where his main international goalkeeping rival is 3 years younger and considerably more experienced than him. I don't think the order has changed at all between the three keepers in the last year.
Kelleher has got to do something/go somewhere and show his hand over a season. If Travers regains his Bournemouth place (and performs well) or transfers to the Championship (and performs there like previously) then it's a two horse-race between him and Bazunu based on Championship form. A few Kelleher midweek cup games is not enough.

[Jd2793]

3.1 apparently - though really PSxG is generally only reverted to when people are denying a poor performance. No-one's doing that here.

Though even that shows that it wasn't a "desperate" performance as suggested. Alisson almost certainly would have stopped one, quite possibly two, and that's the difference a top keeper is worth.

Whoscored gave him a 6.6 rating which again isn't dreadful; he obviously had a couple of other saves to make in the game as elated mentions. (How Liverpool gave up so many chances to a dreadful Southampton side I don't know; it's why I suggested they were on summer holiday mode earlier)

He needs regular football which we all know. This game probably won't have added to his transfer value though, which you'd imagine will be annoying to Liverpool as they need a rebuild in the summer.

Travers was rated 7.5 incidentally. Nice little reminder he can still play a bit.


Post shot xg is probably a fairer to judge a keeper on than normal xg. TBF to CK Allison is different level altogether, for me hes the best in the business. CK isnt anywhere near that level. Hope he moves on the in the summer, i do think he'll push for a move this time. The 3rd goal in particular was desperate from liverpool , the rest of the team had packed it in.

[pineapple stu]

Post shot xg is probably a fairer to judge a keeper on than normal xg.
Yep - that's what I've been using here, just to confirm

[sadloserkid]

Kelleher will be 25 in November too. Not old by any definition but another season with a single figure club game tally would be fairly disastrous for his development? Easy say with hindsight that he should have gone elsewhere (even on loan) this year but if he ends up staying put again for another 12 months... it wouldn't be encouraging.

I think he has to move if he is interested in playing. As per Wiki he's only played half as many games this season as last (8 v 4) and this season was his joint lowest since he made his debut. Hasn't been given a minute in Europe for two consecutive seasons now too?

I think he should bite the arm of any Championship club who'll have to be honest. He needs games.

[Stuttgart88]

Looked like a classic “haven’t played in ages” performance, but I’d qualify that with a few comments – mainly that I think his positioning was suspect twice.

- One of the first half goals was very close to his feet. I always hated them, but I’m of a lankier build than CK. It’s much easier if the ball is wider as you can actually get down quicker. It didn’t look good but it maybe looked softer than it actually was?
- But I thought his positioning was poor for the third and fourth goals.
- I took a still from the telly for the third, the angle from behind the goal. The whole goal was open for the goalscorer to shoot at. Sure, a still can’t be taken in isolation but it looked really bad. Reminiscent of his positioning for the Batshuayi goal at home to Belgium imho.
- For the fourth I think he “over-covered” the near post, leaving the far post wide open.
https://i.ibb.co/X5JB8Jc/IMG-20230530-WA0005.jpg (https://imgbb.com/)
https://i.ibb.co/s3LfkJD/IMG-20230530-WA0004.jpg (https://ibb.co/HgmS1pM)

[Stuttgart88]

I think he can do better for all four goals. The first two are down to lack of match sharpness imo, reaction speed is too slow. Just didn’t get down quick enough. His positioning is all wrong for 3 and 4, needs to be a step more central for the third goal, moved too far towards the end line for the fourth.
Agreed, I posted same without having read this

[ifk101]

I took a still from the telly for the third, the angle from behind the goal. The whole goal was open for the goalscorer to shoot at. Sure, a still can’t be taken in isolation but it looked really bad. Reminiscent of his positioning for the Batshuayi goal at home to Belgium imho.

The Belgium goal is more a lack of alertness/ urgency on Kelleher’s part and the quality of the strike than a positioning issue imo. The Southampton goal is a positioning mess as your picture shows and not liking how small and narrow his body shape is in that picture. Compared to Travers, for example, who fills out the goals with his body shape, Kelleher tends to make himself small and gives up more of the goals to shoot at. He can do better, and needs to play to do better and improve, hopefully his two appearances in 2023 (Latvia + Southampton) don’t cool off potential moves.

[Eirambler]

His positioning is wrong in both of those images. Worse in the Liverpool one definitely, but wrong in both. I think this kind of thing is a consequence of him never having found out and ironed out his weaknesses by playing games.

Realistically how many games that genuinely matter has Kelleher played in his career? By that I mean League games that weren't end of season dead rubbers, CL games that weren't dead rubbers, FA Cup games and competitive international games. I'd maybe count the league cup final as that probably mattered to Liverpool on the day, but most league cup games they don't actually care about- that's why he gets to play in them.

He has probably played about 10 or 12 of those games that actually matter in his whole career - four nations league games for Ireland when Bazunu was out and maybe seven or eight for Liverpool across his entire time there. It's clear his positioning within the goal is an issue, and there may well be others that will only be exposed once he finally becomes a first team goalkeeper somewhere, whenever that is.

[tetsujin1979]

Is the positioning of his legs bad? I'm not a coach, so I don't know if this is correct or not, but I've seen coaching videos with goalkeepers where they're told if they're preparing to dive, or to move left or right quickly, they can't get the maximum use from their leg muscles if they're too close together. Of course, it could just be the photos, and he adjusted his stance before/after the photo was taken.

[Stuttgart88]

I don't know about his legs but his head is looking around his defender to the right while the ball was being shifted to his left. So not only was he in wrong position but his weight would have been slightly to the wrong side when the ball was struck.

I think the point about looking small in goals is true. I think it was elatedscum who made a similar point after being beaten in a 1:1 at Chelsea, albeit in a different context.

[Eirambler]

He does seem to stand very upright in the goal alright. I wonder does that leave him exposed to low shots, as it takes him a split second longer to get down to them then, he definitely seems to have a weakness with them anyway. That split second can be the difference for a keeper really.

[geysir]

Looked like a classic “haven’t played in ages” performance, but I’d qualify that with a few comments – mainly that I think his positioning was suspect twice.

- One of the first half goals was very close to his feet. I always hated them, but I’m of a lankier build than CK. It’s much easier if the ball is wider as you can actually get down quicker. It didn’t look good but it maybe looked softer than it actually was?
- But I thought his positioning was poor for the third and fourth goals.
- I took a still from the telly for the third, the angle from behind the goal. The whole goal was open for the goalscorer to shoot at. Sure, a still can’t be taken in isolation but it looked really bad. Reminiscent of his positioning for the Batshuayi goal at home to Belgium imho.
- For the fourth I think he “over-covered” the near post, leaving the far post wide open.

You're well proportioned, not lanky.

[seanfhear]

You're well proportioned, not lanky.Sounds more like, tall for his weight ~ Lurch, perhaps ? !

[osarusan]

If anything, he seems to be slightly slow with his diving. Especially, it seems to take him that fraction of a second longer to get down to low shots.

Maybe that's being too upright, or having poor footwork meaning that he needs that extra fraction to sort his feet out, I don't know.

[seanfhear]

Can some post good video footage of the performance ? I haven't really seen the best quality of video to make good assessments.

[sadloserkid]

Can some post good video footage of the performance ? I haven't really seen the best quality of video to make good assessments.

All the goals are here Seanfhear if that helps
8rEJ8qzh3LA

[Eirambler]

They get worse every time I watch them!

[seanfhear]

All the goals are here Seanfhear if that helps
8rEJ8qzh3LA
Probably a bit to much movement to Kelleher's right for the first goal.
2nd ~ looks like it went through him and maybe that was one to try to save with his feet.
3rd ~ no one is saving that when the defence lets a player at this level do as he pleases.
4th ~ maybe a bit too much to his right.

Anyway it was like an exhibition friendly where both sides agree to let the defenders have a day off.

Mad game ~ When defenders take the day off ~ It never looks good for goalkeepers.

[seanfhear]

They get worse every time I watch them!
They go in every time. It's as if you don't get a second chance ! ! ! !

[Diggs246]

I think its unrelaistic to think he will get a premier league move

He really shoudl think aboiut Italy or the like

becuase if he stays in England its a champsionship move at best

[Trequartista20]

Given some of the commentary, I was almost surprised when viewing that the highlights didn't show Kelleher throwing the ball into his own net over and over again. Certainly I think he got down too slowly for the second, perhaps exposing a goalkeeper suffering from a lack of regular first team football and therefore match-sharpness. But I've thought the same of Bazunu on several occasions during the past season, who has no such excuse.

Beyond that, if Kelleher weren't Irish and I wasn't therefore overly scrutinising his performance, I don't think I would have particularly thought about the goalkeeper's role in any of the other three goals.

[Stuttgart88]

I think we're probably overscrutinising all our goalkeepers' performances. I too was expecting to see calamities rather than "maybe could do better" moments. But there was a clear Kelleher being at Liverpool surely must be a better option than an out of form Bazunu feeling from some posters here and I think that argument holds little water now. We have 3 (or more) keepers whose A games are top notch but are for various reasons inconsistent or performing below their best. I think they're each as likely as the other to play really well and each as likely as the other to slip up in some way. My personal preference remains Bazunu.

[geysir]

Sounds more like, tall for his weight ~ Lurch, perhaps ? !

No, upright, solid backbone.

[Demesne Lad]

If Kelleher decides to hang on for another year at Anfield, his successor as No. 2 goalkeeper may already be on the books, thereby facilitating the Corkman's departure. Former Pat's keeper Vít?zslav Jaroš "has been catching the eye at the U21 Euros".
https://www.liverpool.com/liverpool-fc-news/features/liverpool-transfer-u21s-euros-tournament-27208959

[Trequartista20]

Linked with a move to Wolves.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-12297297/Wolves-target-Liverpool-goalkeeper-Caoimhin-Kelleher-amid-Nottingham-Forest-Jose-Sa.html

[Demesne Lad]

Just for some context, from fbref.com, goalkeepers who played at least 1,000 minutes in first tier sides in Italy, Spain, France and Germany in 2022/23
(R = relegated):


Carnesecchi, 23, Cremonese (R); Di Gregorio, 25, Monza; Dragowski, 25, Spezia (R);


Mamardashvili, 22, Valencia; Vilar, 25, Celta de Vigo;


Chevalier, 21, Lille; Diouf, 23, Reims; Donnarumma, 24, PSG; Lafont, 24, Nantes;


Muller, 25, Stuttgart; Kobel, 25, Dortmund; Christensen, 24, Hertha Berlin (R);

[Razors left peg]

Burnley have just signed James Trafford from City for 19 million. This has been my fear for Kelleher, you can only be the hot young prospect so long before other younger guys start coming through and if you're not making progress you get left behind very quickly.

Kelleher is going to be 25 years old this November, thats only 2 or 3 years younger than Kieran O'Hara who was once seen as a decent prospect at Man United.

I hope he has something lined up, another season as a back up would be a disaster.

[tetsujin1979]

Trafford's 20, and will be 21 in October, and has had two loan spells at Bolton, and another with Accrington Stanley. Last season alone, he played more than twice the number of games(52) than Kelleher, has in his career to date(22).

[Razors left peg]

Trafford's had two loan spells at Bolton, and another with Accrington Stanley. Last season alone, he played more than twice the number of games(52) than Kelleher has in his career to date(22).

Yep, theres only so long training under a great goalkeeper with a great coaching staff can be used as a positive. A 24/25 year old is far too old to have played so little football and still be expected to be a top player

[weldoninhio]

Doesn't seem to be overwhelmed by offers. Season starts in 10 days.

[Demesne Lad]

Doesn't seem to be overwhelmed by offers. Season starts in 10 days.

Kelleher not going anywhere, according to RousingThe Kop (3 August). The Swede Leopold Wahlstedt (24), who was being considered as Kelleher's replacement as Liverpool's no. 2, is going to Blackburn or Brondby, not Anfield.

Club agree to sell 24-year-old, after claims Liverpool wanted him to replace 'outstanding' player (rousingthekop.com) (https://www.rousingthekop.com/2023/08/03/report-club-agree-to-sell-24-year-old-after-claims-liverpool-wanted-him-to-replace-outstanding-player/)

[Eirambler]

I wonder is there a known record for least number of senior club appearances by an international keeper by the age of 25 - if so, Kelleher must be closing in on it.

[JR89]

I'd say there was more chance of Kelleher leaving than Leopold Wahlstedt being considered by Liverpool. If they ever had any intention of letting Kelleher leave this season I don't think they would have kept Adrian on.

More so if they were gonna bring in an outside replacement. They likely need Kelleher to fill the homegrown quota and teams are only allowed 17 non home grown players and Adrian takes up one of those spots. Don't think they would have wanted two keepers taking up spots.

Could always promote from within and that Keeper could well cover the homegrown spot but this late in the window I doubt it as most teams would already have their keepers sorted with the season soon.

[elatedscum]

I'd say there was more chance of Kelleher leaving than Leopold Wahlstedt being considered by Liverpool. If they ever had any intention of letting Kelleher leave this season I don't think they would have kept Adrian on.

More so if they were gonna bring in an outside replacement. They likely need Kelleher to fill the homegrown quota and teams are only allowed 17 non home grown players and Adrian takes up one of those spots. Don't think they would have wanted two keepers taking up spots.

Could always promote from within and that Keeper could well cover the homegrown spot but this late in the window I doubt it as most teams would already have their keepers sorted with the season soon.

Yeah, from people I’d actually trust, they really wanted Verbruggen from Anderlecht - who is young enough not to need to be registered this season. But he ended up going to Brighton to be first choice there.

Then they were interested in getting Zieler across from Germany to replace Adrian because he counts as homegrown due to his academy background with United, but he wasn’t keen.

They’re a bit ****ed with homegrown players having lost Henderson, Milner, Oxlade-Chamberlain, with Phillips likely to leave. So they just have 4 left out of a possible 8 (Gomez, Trent, Jones, Kelleher). Which basically gives them a senior squad (2001 or later) of 21 players.

[Rayzor]

Don't think they'll be allowing him to leave, which is within their right since he's under contract and Klopp seems to really rate him. Not for good for Kelleher but every top club needs a quality back up, Ionut Radu cost Inter Milan the title to AC a few years back, don't think Liverpool would be comfortable with Adrian as number 2.

[Demesne Lad]

Kelleher seems to be trapped by the price tag Liverpool have put on him. Forest have signed Matt Turner (Arsenal, 22 caps for the USA) for £7m plus potential add-ons of £3m.

https://www.thisisanfield.com/2023/08/caoimhin-kelleher-in-transfer-limbo-despite-interested-club-selling-no-1/

[Eirambler]

A combination of that and his lack of senior football experience I think. He's paying the price now for not getting even a single season out on loan a few years ago to build up his experience.

[Razors left peg]

A combination of that and his lack of senior football experience I think. He's paying the price now for not getting even a single season out on loan a few years ago to build up his experience.

Its actually odd that he didnt even go on loan for half a season. Im trying to think of high level goalkeepers who were #2s at big clubs for long time before stepping on to be top class and I can only really think of Martinez at Villa off the top of my head, but even he had multiple loans while he was at Arsenal.

Kelleher situation is just strange.

[seanfhear]

Have Liverpool treated Kelleher correctly ( career wise ) over the years = = Tis a very very debatable question.

[joey B]

But its up to the player himself to force the issue if he's not getting opportunities,if he really wanted to go somewhere he'd be gone,that he hasnt even gone on loan would have me question whether he's maybe just happy enough to be in the situation he's in.....

[Razors left peg]

But its up to the player himself to force the issue if he's not geting oppertunities,if he really wanted to go somewhere he'd be gone,that he hasnt even gone on loan would have me question whether he's maybe just happy enough to be in the situation he's in.....

There has to be legitimate conversations soon about O'Leary taking Kellehers place in Ireland squad if the situation continues. Bazunu, Travers, and O'Leary playing regularly in Championship while Kelleher gets 3 or 4 cup games again is unsustainable for him.

[Eirambler]

O'Leary isn't particularly good though, he is seen as one of the weakest first team players at Bristol City. Kelleher is almost certainly a much better keeper, albeit he doesn't play much.

While I'd much rather see him going out and playing, even in the Championship or Scotland or wherever, I don't think it would be right to drop him for a weaker keeper either.