Printable View
Well against Germany in particular, he was incredibly assured, composed, confident, etc. His handling was flawless and it was a high pressure scenario, especially when pulled from the bench unexpectedly. There's no sense in not giving him credit for the very good stuff he has produced, it doesn't enhance your overall point for which there might be some merit in.
He's ours to lose.
He's a very good keeper and world class by our standards.
Of course we can go out and spank him for not being better. Shame on you Darron, it's me nerves, they give me the jitters because you're not better than you are currently.
Where would we be if we didn't have Paul to shatter our illusions about Randolph?
Exactly. It's totally churlish to ask what did anyone see in him other than a hoof.Quote:
Originally Posted by DeLorean
And yes, the reason he's a club number two is because he's behind a better goalkeeper. That said, he had a very good FA Cup run and acquitted himself very well.
It's crazy, but I think we all think he's better than Forde and Given and we're still moaning. Elliott is out of contention after an impressive season. I've always liked Westwood but right now I'm quite relaxed about our goalkeeping options, assuming MON doesn't go all conservative and pick Shay.
All i can think is no one actually saw the goal last night - bar Delorean.
He look composed, yes no denying, but he didnt have an awful lot to do, he didn't pull out any world class saves. Give me a keeper who does the basics right and doesn't have a weakness, doesn't have to be world-class but won get caught going down too slow, or leaving his post open on the near side. Not asking for much, and I think Westwood provides that, far from world class but a good, competent keeper who doesn't have these errors in his repetoire.
You're unreal Paul. I reply to you on facebook and your first instinct is to say "you didn't watch the video" which was true but irrelevant to what I wrote.Quote:
Originally Posted by paul_oshea
Not seeing the goal yet changes nothing. Everyone who has commented accepts that it was an error. One of many errors he has made in his career (Turners Cross U21 game v England and Birmingham's last day escape from relegation a few years ago...), not to mention the times he just didn't make a great effort at stopping a goal.
The assessment is that he's a good but not excellent keeper whose actions and presence are valuable especially in a defence that often isn't commanding. Forde was a major improvement over Given in terms of high balls, but not an improvement in terms of distribution. None of our keepers comes close to Shay's peak years as a saver of shots but Shay is pasty his peak years now. I - harshly in the eyes of many - thought Shay was poor for Poland's goal in Dublin.
It's a moot point whether he or Westwood gets the shirt. O'Neill favours Randolph and I'm OK with that. There might be a nagging doubt that he may let a soft goal in but let's not forget the excellent one on one saves he made in Warsaw and in Bosnia at crucial stages of each game (2-1 down and only a goal from direct qualification in Warsaw, 0-0 at the time in Bosnia, after a Hendrick error).
Owls Fan watches Westwood regularly and really rates him. So do I. Randolph produced similar performances during WHAM's FA Cup run, notably at Anfield where he kept clean sheets twice this season.
Contrary to what I said yesterday, my instinct would be to go with Westwood but I don't like changing a keeper that's doing a good job.
I think he took a risk with Martial's second. He clearly thought that Martial was aiming for Rashford and Martial shaped up as though he was going to play it across. As a result, Randolph committed to trying to intercept a cross but left his near post open as a result.
I'd attribute the goal more to the execution of it by a supremely gifted forward, as opposed to a Randolph error. He's not blameless but I think a lot of keepers would have bought what Martial was selling.
The keeper position generally is one that the incumbent keeps until he makes a major error (or two). I thought the dropping of Forde in favour of Given was harsh. Randolph has been pretty much impeccable for us and I would stick with him even though I rate Westwood to be the better keeper. Does that mean we have to wait for him to commit an error - I think so but there are very few keepers who don't. Even the much praised De Gea could have done a lot better for either the 2nd or 3rd goal (can't remember which) where he got a good hand to the ball but couldn't keep it out. Westwood is not unlike Given as a great shot stopper but is better at distribution while Randolph is more dominant in the air.
I would be happy with either Randolph or Westwood with a preference for the latter but no more than that.
With nothing to back it up, my opinion would be that Martial is trying to square that ball off balance on his bad foot, I don't think he was shooting. None of that changes the fact that Randolph made a mistake, his 1st instinct should be to cover his near post, not gamble on Martials pass going the intended direction. A mistake. The over analysis of keeper mistakes annoys me sometimes, outfield players can make tens for mistakes a game with no discernable outcome on the game.Quote:
Originally Posted by Olé Olé
Like Owlsfan, I'd be happy with either Randolph or Westwood in goal, but with Randolph the incumbent, he certainly deserves to start against Sweden.
http://i.imgur.com/WzZiIefl.png
I'm not at all convinced that Martial even meant it to be honest, I think he was just going off balance as he hit it. Randolph actually has it well covered even as it's struck, and doesn't leave a gap at all, but somehow manages to make himself as small as possible and kind of flaps at it as the ball gets closer to him. I do agree that this was because he was expecting a cross and that's what threw him, but his positioning was fine otherwise. It's bad mistake though when all is said and done. Here-
(I was replying to Ole Ole btw, two other posts had come through by the time I got to post it).
Randolph did manage to minimise his size.
Regardless of whether Martial meant it, I think Randolph left too wide a gap on the inside, his flap looks bad but there was little he could have done once the ball was struck.
The poorest goalkeeping of the night came with De Gea's poor attempt to keep out the winner, he reacted late and with a weak hand.
Considering the low opinion expressed down through the years in this thread about Randolph's goalkeeping, he has improved immensely.
He was always going to minimise his size eventually. It was waiting to happen.
Yes indeed Charlie, but you lot of so called football aficionados all missed the potential of it happening. It was I and I alone who predicted that it would happen ..... eventually.Quote:
Originally Posted by Charlie Darwin
I am the great one here, but you fools are too dumb to appreciate my predictive expertise.
martial was what?... about 5 / 6 yards from goal when he struck the ball. he is in behind the defender, has 2 maybe 3 options to pick out in the box and its 75% it will be a goal irrespective of what any GK does at that stage. Randolph appears to take the chance that it will be crossed and loses out. looking at it live I was sure martial was going to pull it back across goal and maybe that's what he intended. it looks worse than it is in my book
If competition is what is needed in a squad the Westwood has to be in the squad to give the best competition.
The only reason not too have Westwod in the squad is, if he is somehow detrimental to the overall performance of the team/squad.
I'm seeing a lot of myself in Stutts with this sense of vindication he is getting out of young Randolph's misfortune.
Such pettiness is more becoming of me.
:)
Whilst I have been consistent in my concern about careless or preventable goals I think he has gone on to be a better keeper than I thought he'd become and I think his strengths should be applauded.
...but I thought he should have stopped Stoke's first goal and he really should have just caught that long effort from Adam. Faffing about and putting it over the bar led to the corner from which Stoke scored again.
Stutts thats funny, commenting on somethign you havent even watched and then coming back again and saying it doesn't matter. I thought you'd have learnt from the facebook post and the people liking my comment asking the question "have you watched the video". You can't comment on something you haven't seen and talk about it in a way you know what's happened. You didn't see the goal, so you can't comment - or couldn't at the time of making the post.Quote:
Originally Posted by Stuttgart88
What's even funnier though, is that facebook post had been eating away at you for a few days :D