Shay the only Villa player to come out of the game with any credit according to his former Newcastle teammate, Alan Shearer.
IDK about that now. I wouldn't say he's guilt free.
Villa weren't at the races at all - never got any attacking platform whatsoever. Given maybe could have done better for Mertesacker's goal - I think the ball coming off the shoulder seemed to confuse him for a vital moment, but he made some good saves anyway.
Given definitely not the worst villa player on show. Can't say if another keeper would have done better, but I wouldn't blame the result, and at least three of the goals, on him
Mixed reaction on villa talk.
http://www.villatalk.com/index.php/t...thread/page-58
No Somos muchos pero estamos locos.
GasGasGas is gas.
Beaten at the near post and from 30 yards from another - the headed goal he was also stuck on his line. Arguably (not being a goal-keeping expert to any degree) some manner of fault for all three.Originally Posted by tetsujin1979
Forget about the performance or entertainment. It's only the result that matters.
'You should never be beaten at your near post'...... one of those football clichés which is complete garbage I think. Nothing Given could have done about that one or the thirty yarder for that matter. Swerved all over the place. Benteke can take at least 95% of the blame for Mertesaker's header. I still think Westwood should be our number one though.
The first goal is the one goal he was definitely not at fault for IMO.
I think there is some truth in that cliche though - it's all about getting your angles right I think ??
As for the 30 yarder, the fact that it swerved doesn't mean that a keeper with better reactions could not have saved it.
So are you attributing 5% of the blame to Given for the headed goal ? As I said, I think there was an element of blame for all three.
It's not just my preference for Westwood. Given has gone down in my estimation since Poland and I think he was right to retire after that but why he has come back, I am not sure. I just don't have the same confidence I used to have in him which at 39 probably isn't surprising.
Forget about the performance or entertainment. It's only the result that matters.
to judge him on Poland is unfair. he was clearly injured and didn't even take part in all / part of the Croatia match warm-up for example.
with regards to last Saturdays match most commentators seemed to say that given was the only villa player to turn up when it would be easy to simply apply that to the team as a whole. I only saw the first half but did see a few very good saves from him during various highlights.
I've been accused of being overly critical of Shay in the past, notably Australia at Thomond and the Poland goal last month. He was also awful in Gdansk, slow and lacking sharpness. I think in each of the FA Cup goals he was blameless though. Here's why:
Goal 1. View obstructed by two defenders, one of whom was covering that gap until the moment Walcott let fly.
Goal 2. Look at his feet. He took a big step right as soon as Sanchez struck it, exactly the right thing to do, moving to meet the ball's line. After he had moved his feet the ball swung to his left. His only fault was not having a longer reach. A big long lank like Cech might just have got a hand to it. Modern balls can make keepers look silly. That's what happened here.
Goal 3: Mertesacker aimed to head the ball to Shay's left. Shay read this and set himself accordingly as most keepers would do. Mertesacker missed it with his head altogether and shouldered it to Shay's right. I think most good keepers would have been fooled the same way.
Btw, I do see myself as a goalkeeping expert
I know what it's like!
Last edited by Stuttgart88; 02/06/2015 at 1:07 PM.
I'm not sure any goalkeeper would have saved the second. On another day he might have got a lucky hand to the first. The third I thought he might have saved when he was younger and he did look very flat-footed. The fourth was just pitiful defending.
There are times when the keeper shouldn't be beaten at his near post, but there are also times when it's acceptable, which makes the cliché inaccurate in it's most common wording. Walcott wasn't at a partilcularly acute angle so he could have just as easily went across the keeper, so Given had to position himself in a way that gave him the best chance of saving both. He did this but the power in the shot was such that he hadn't a chance, possibly even if his view wasn't obstructed.
I think the swerve was too dramatic and happened too close to the goal for him, or any other keeper, to react sufficiently.
Not really, it looked fairly soft but came off Mertesaker's shoulder from fairly close range. The other 5% can be attribute to that element of fortune.
Westwood is a no brainer for me.
There's a post on the football365 forum from someone who claims to have been behind the goal for Sanchez's strike, with more or less the same view as Shay. He said the first he was aware that Sanchez had taken a shot was when the ball hit the crossbar!
It was Stevie Wonder posting though.
No Somos muchos pero estamos locos.
It could be argued that Crosby, on occasions, justifies his presence.
He shines out like a shaft of gold when all around is dark!!
Given is on his way to Middlesbrough.
Looks like he's going to be a back-up at Stoke now: http://www.gazettelive.co.uk/sport/f...y-boro-9615770
Disappointing that at this stage of his career he is still happy to sit on the bench and collect a decent pay cheque rather than play perhaps for lower wages at 'Boro. Or may be when you're at the end of your career it is time to cash in. I dunno.
Forget about the performance or entertainment. It's only the result that matters.
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