Darren Randolph G Free agent b.1987

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Originally Posted by paul_oshea

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.

What's even funnier though, is that facebook post had been eating away at you for a few days :D

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It wasn't actually.

You showed a video of a bunch of cockneys reminiscing about Upton Park, jellied eels, terrace violence and the end of an era. I guessed the video was about all that but I posted that I think the politics and economics of the Olympic Stadium move stank. You agreed, but you also confirmed that I didn't need to have seen the video because the video was irrelevant to my point. It merely prompted it.

And I could comment on the goal without seeing it. I didn't give my opinion on the goal but I took it on face value that he had made an error because several posters here said he had let in a soft goal (and so did the BBC live feed which you so highly rate when it suits you). It tallied with my opinion that he lets in soft goals a bit too often. So, no, you're talking shyte again. I didn't see the bomb drop at Hiroshima, but I take it that the locals weren't impressed.

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Originally Posted by paul_oshea

I thought you'd have learnt from the facebook post and the people liking my comment asking the question "have you watched the video".

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Would that be the one person (a Richard T. Walsh) who liked it? Or would it include the hordes of people who liked it in their minds but didn't click the like icon? Anyway, sorry for failing to learn. It must be very frustrating for you.

I wasn't comparing keepers like for like, I was discussing the attributes of keepers in general. Thats whats important. That wasn't fair to try and say I was comparing the actual keepers when I never did that.

And yes that comment and the one below where I actually descibed what was in the video got liked a good bit as well, even by one member on here ;) You mustn't have watched all of it, it wasn't just cockneys :D

Finally, you can describe the Hisroshima bomb where it was dropped, the total destruction caused, the actual areas and how the buildings were affected without being there, jees in an age before video cameras or anything recodring material easily at hand, you're pretty good Stutts :D I think we know who is really talking shyte here.

Again, you can't comment on a video you haven't seen. The same as I can't comment on Westwoods saves for Wednesday the last night, and hence didn't.

Also I am not sure people want their names dropped on a public forum, so its probably good to refrain from that also ;-)

That can't be right - you didn't see a game?

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Originally Posted by paul_oshea

I wasn't comparing keepers like for like, I was discussing the attributes of keepers in general. Thats whats important. That wasn't fair to try and say I was comparing the actual keepers when I never did that.

And yes that comment and the one below where I actually descibed what was in the video got liked a good bit as well, even by one member on here ;) You mustn't have watched all of it, it wasn't just cockneys :D

Finally, you can describe the Hisroshima bomb where it was dropped, the total destruction caused, the actual areas and how the buildings were affected without being there, jees in an age before video cameras or anything recodring material easily at hand, you're pretty good Stutts :D I think we know who is really talking shyte here.

Again, you can't comment on a video you haven't seen. The same as I can't comment on Westwoods saves for Wednesday the last night, and hence didn't.

Also I am not sure people want their names dropped on a public forum, so its probably good to refrain from that also ;-)

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Seriously Paul, get over yourself.

I know you were pointing out general attributes and I agree with you by and large - though post 120 where you say you don’t see why anyone saw anything impressive in him is OTT in my opinion.

I don’t know what you’re referring to by saying it’s not fair to say you were comparing keepers. Really, I have no idea. You yourself said you’re nervous about Randolph and have more confidence in Westwood (post 126).

As for not seeing the Martial goal, two posters (Crafty and Tets) said Randolph made an error and I trust their judgment. I was in no way describing my assessment of the error, which I’d need to have seen. I just said that it tallies with my regular assessments of him being a bit error-prone. You of course get all high and mighty as usual (“All I can think of is no one actually saw it”).

On your West Ham video on Facebook, your comment said something like modern football has lost a lot and now sucks, my comment added to that – the politics of the move. Seriously, what’s wrong with that? Why do I need to have seen some ageing yob talking about fighting Millwall fans to respond to your comment about modern football?

ONE person liked your rebuke. One other person liked a further comment below, the foot.ie poster we both know. Call that “getting liked a good bit as well” if you want.

Stutts it had 5 likes, if youre going to be really petty! go back and look, maybe you dont have updates turned on for notifications.

I think i mixed up the league playoff irish involvement thread with this one regarding the comparison of keepers.

You just got your mates to like it!

I give up anyway. It could have a million likes, the point was that I was responding to your comment about footy losing something, not commenting on the video.

Stutts, ill give you a few likes if you send me a link to the video on Pauls facebook. :)

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Originally Posted by Stuttgart88

I didn't see the bomb drop at Hiroshima, but I take it that the locals weren't impressed.

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Droll.

http://www.phrases.org.uk/images/doff-hat.jpg

That caught me right in the gut. Well played.

Talking of near post calamitous tendencies, did anyone else think De Gea was let off very lightly by the commentators for the Palace one yesterday ? It wasn't just beaten on his near post, it was more the ball travelling into the net via where he should have been standing had he not busied himself claiming for offside. Granted, not an intermittent or recurring error on a Randolph scale, but none the less, there it was, from one of the top keepers in a cup final.

It went through his hands. Not a calamity as it was well struck but he'd have been angry with himself.

Darren Randolph happy to have opted for Ireland over the USA

https://www.theguardian.com/football...land-euro-2016

On the Germany game :

“I tried to kick it to Jonny Walters but he was offside,” Randolph says. “He was left and Longy was right. I saw Longy run and he took a touch. I’m looking, I’m looking and he scored. So I had a little smile and I’m thinking ‘How long is left?’

Good lad, brilliant.

Did a Q&A on twitter last night: https://twitter.com/search?q=%23AskRandolph&src=typd

Man who wins lotto, happy to have bought a lotto ticket.

https://www.theguardian.com/football...lic-of-ireland

“Top debut, hope you have a top career” – Darren Randolph was pleasantly surprised by Steven Gerrard’s impromptu comment to him after the goalkeeper’s first Premier League match, which was on the final day of the 2006-07 season. Charlton Athletic had already been relegated and because their usual goalkeeper, Scott Carson, was on loan from Liverpool, they decided to give Randolph his first taste of the top flight the day after his 20th birthday.

He performed well enough in a 2-2 draw at Anfield to earn praise from Gerrard. But his career did not exactly skyrocket after that. He is going to Euro 2016 as the Republic of Ireland’s No1 goalkeeper only after years of watching matches as a frustrated reserve for various clubs as well as his country.

In one way it is fitting that Randolph has spent so long as a back-up, as he is now at West Ham United, because during his youth football was his second-choice sport. His first ambition was to be a professional basketball player like his father, Ed Randolph, an American who left Roger Williams University in Rhode Island to join Sporting Belfast in 1982. Irish basketball was enjoying a relative boom time and had just introduced a rule permitting clubs to sign two foreign professionals. Ed, a Florida native who was deterred neither by the Irish weather nor the political violence in the country at the time, accepted the challenge.
He has been in Ireland ever since, having played for and coached an array of basketball clubs and married an Irishwoman, Anne. Their sons are gifted sportsmen, most obviously Darren, who represented Ireland at basketball as a 15-year-old while also playing football for the country and Gaelic football for the county of his birth, Wicklow. He has said that it was only when he realised that he was unlikely to be tall enough to make it in the NBA that he decided to invest most of his hope in becoming a full-time footballer.

He was 16 when he agreed to go to England with Charlton. After years with their youth teams and a couple of loan periods, he made that debut at Anfield. But despite impressing Gerrard, Randolph’s next league appearance for Charlton did not come until almost a year later – and he made a rather less favourable impression then, dropping the ball against his team-mate and compatriot, Paddy McCarthy, and watching it ricochet into the net to give Southampton a 1-1 draw.
Charlton loaned him out to Hereford United the following season. Randolph began well for the then League One side, memorably making 18 saves in a 1-0 defeat against Leeds United. But a few months later he rebelled when he discovered plans to make him a reserve again. After learning that the club were in talks to sign Matt Murray, Randolph refused to play in an FA Cup tie against Dagenham & Redbridge. He soon returned to Charlton but eventually left the Valley on a free to join Motherwell. At last his career as No1 took flight.

By setting a clean-sheet record for the Scottish club, Randolph attracted the attention of the Republic’s then manager, Giovanni Trapattoni. He made his senior debut in a friendly against Oman in September 2012, a 4-1 win. He played in another friendly nine months later, a 2-0 defeat against Spain. After that, nothing. Until, that is, he was suddenly thrust into the middle of a vital Euro 2016 qualifier against the world champions, no less.

Randolph’s club career had progressed well – he left Motherwell for Birmingham City in 2013 and did well enough at the Championship club to earn a move to West Ham in 2015. But Martin O’Neill had still not given him an Ireland cap. When Germany rolled into Dublin last October intent on securing their ticket to France, O’Neill plumped for the big-match experience of Shay Given. But when Given injured a knee in the 44th minute, O’Neill made a radical decision: rather than replace Given with David Forde, who had excelled when Ireland drew 1-1 in Germany earlier in the group, the manager sent on Randolph.
It is fair to say the 28-year-old’s wait for his first competitive international was worth it: unperturbed by nerves he made a series of fine saves, particularly from Jérôme Boateng and Thomas Müller, and even claimed an assist as Shane Long collected one of his punts before firing into the net to give Ireland a famous victory.

Randolph played again against Poland a few days later and then performed well in the playoff victory against Bosnia-Herzegovina. He emerged, like the midfielder Jeff Hendrick, as one of the finds of the Irish campaign. But the fact that he seldom plays for West Ham, where Adrián is No1, raised the possibility that he could lose his new-found starting place with Ireland to Rob Elliot, who used to get picked ahead of him at Charlton and was in outstanding form with Newcastle United this season – until tearing knee ligaments in a friendly for Ireland against Slovakia in March.

The Newcastle player’s absence at least makes O’Neill’s decision easier for the European Championship. Randolph is the most agile and commanding goalkeeper available to Ireland and the manager should have no reservations about making him No1.

Stutts are you still trying to prove your point re the playoff final?

No, not at all.

I'm highlighting that an Irish journo thinks he's the most agile of our keepers when I don't think there is anyone here who'd agree with that. We all think Westwood is our most agile keeper. I highlighted it because it was a point of debate here, that's all. Doyle might have a point with "most commanding" and maybe it was written before Westwood was chosen over Ford

Also, I don't think Westwood's agility was in question for the Hull goal, more his timing / positioning.

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Originally Posted by Stuttgart88

Also, I don't think Westwood's agility was in question for the Hull goal, more his timing / positioning.

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As a matter of interest, would you say the same about Given and Belarus's first goal against us?

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Originally Posted by OwlsFan

As a matter of interest, would you say the same about Given and Belarus's first goal against us?

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I've already answered that :)

To recap: No, I think the Belarus shot was further wide, closer to the upright. It was unstoppable, a perfectly placed shot. I had no issue with Given's reaction, positioning or timing (unlike, say, Henry in 2005, Poland at home, Australia at home or all of Euro 2012 - my point here is that I have no interest in giving Shay the benefit of the doubt over anything).

I was surprised Westwood was beaten for the Hull goal; in real time I was expecting him to tip it over. It was a good shot but more central than the Belarus goal and it seemed to go over Westwood rather than past him. I think he either dived a fraction early or perhaps was too far to his right (as per TOWK's suggestion) to begin with. That said, I'd be applauding the save if he had made it.

I think a few days ago you suggested that because Westwood got a touch on the Hull goal but Shay didn't get near the Belarus goal it was evidence that Westwood is sharper & more agile. I just don't think you can draw that conclusion from those two incidents. Though Westwood is sharper & more agile... :)

It's all very marginal but as we're in the business of micro-analysing everything about our 'keepers of late, that's my micro-analysis!

The shot for the Belarus goal was further out and to the right of the penalty area. The Hull goal was more central and possibly from closer range. That's my micro-analysis.