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The Footie Thread

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I’m not anti Pickford, but no goalkeeper should get beat at his near post. His body was leaning to his left anticipating the ball going in that direction, meaning he was off balance and unable to react properly.
Ryan Giggs so called wonder goal against Arsenal in the FA Cup didn’t reflect well on David Seamen. Seamen’s body shape was all wrong, he was falling backwards and was hunched down as the ball went in at the roof of the net.
Seamen should have stood tall.
That is quite often a cliched view often thrown out by commentators / pundits, which often frustrates me. I agree, that generally a keeper will look to position themselves to make it very difficult to get beaten at near post. And, maybe Pickford made a mistake last night, though I've not seen it so don't know.

But, if you go back and look at the best goalkeepers now, and the best keepers of all time, I bet all of them have been beaten at their near post on several occasions. Sometimes it may be an error, sometimes the shot was simply so powerful and accurate, there'd have been little they could do differently. I mean, they could simply stand at their near post and make it virtually impossible, but then they'd be much less effective at reacting to a shot across goal. So, all very well saying no keeper should be beaten at their near post, yet the reality suggests every keeper has been beaten at their near post (caveat that by saying I have not reviewed the conceded goals of every single goalkeeper, so it is an assumption on my part)
 
What if he shoots low and his hands are high? Most strikers don't go for the roof of the net in those circumstances, being 3-1 up gave Jota the luxury of that option.

We'll never know but lets not dismiss how good Jota is. What a goal that was. The backheel and turn was top drawer that very few footballers can do.

I think @Bazzatron thought Wolves done great business in getting £40m off liverpool for him.

His goal return to date, let alone his performances is proving we got the better deal.
 
Anyway - it all deflects away from how great Salah is ??

I understand that Everton where financially hamstrung because of FFP and they couldn’t spent much so the question is wtf have they spent their money on ?!

Where is the quality on the pitch for that level of money spent - there best player was a £1.5mil signing in Gray.

Why is that Brands still being allowed to buy players when it appears that he is shocking

I thought FFP was only applicable to European football? The blooooooooooos dont have to worry about that anytime soon?
 
We'll never know but lets not dismiss how good Jota is. What a goal that was. The backheel and turn was top drawer that very few footballers can do.

I think @Bazzatron thought Wolves done great business in getting £40m off liverpool for him.

His goal return to date, let alone his performances is proving we got the better deal.

I remember back to that summer and all the Teddy throwing because we didn’t buy Werner for the £60mil - instead buying Jota and Thiago - right now looking like that was the better choice
 
We'll never know but lets not dismiss how good Jota is. What a goal that was. The backheel and turn was top drawer that very few footballers can do.

I think @Bazzatron thought Wolves done great business in getting £40m off liverpool for him.

His goal return to date, let alone his performances is proving we got the better deal.
He was excellent, the turn was superb. McCoist gave Allan some jip about that but I thought it was unfair. It was a great piece of skill, hats off to him. He is giving you Firminio plus goals and that makes you even more dangerous.
 
I’m not anti Pickford, but no goalkeeper should get beat at his near post. His body was leaning to his left anticipating the ball going in that direction, meaning he was off balance and unable to react properly.
Ryan Giggs so called wonder goal against Arsenal in the FA Cup didn’t reflect well on David Seamen. Seamen’s body shape was all wrong, he was falling backwards and was hunched down as the ball went in at the roof of the net.
Seamen should have stood tall.

Absolute nonsense.

I don’t know when this became a thing. But you often hear non goalkeeper pundits repeat it.
 
One thing not really picked up, but how terrifying was it at corners last night :eek:? Just put the ball on the edge of the 6yd box and mayhem happened. Something is not right to be that open over and over again.
 
Well, at least you have a manager who's known for defensive organisation. :oops:
We are not a small team either, not huge but not diddymen. There were big empty spaces on every corner that Liverpool players could just stroll into. They didn't even have to be clever about it. I can understand struggling to score but that side of things, under Benitez, should be locked up tight.
 
I was a goalkeeper and this was drilled into me at various coaching levels ?
I’ve also heard various professional goalkeepers state they shouldn’t get beat at their near post
So if you concede 5 weak goals but they were all hit across you it's fine? I feel like this advice might be outdated and probably not applied anymore.
 
Jota's goal didn't squeeze through a small gap at the near post. It was hit at close range, like a rocket, whistling past Pickford's ear, or was it giving him a centre parting? Singling that incident out for criticism is harsh in the extreme, he had no reaction time for that shot.

It whistled past his ear because he was already half way down onto his left knee as he anticipated it going across him. Hit ferociously without a doubt, giving minimal reaction time, but not helped by Pickford moving early. YouTube it, it’s obvious.
 
It whistled past his ear because he was already half way down onto his left knee as he anticipated it going across him. Hit ferociously without a doubt, giving minimal reaction time, but not helped by Pickford moving early. YouTube it, it’s obvious.
We could talk about this all day, but from that range it's almost like trying to save a penalty. Keepers will often guess and go early, that's what he's done here, because of the angle he assumes most players would hit across goal. But it was an extremely accurate finish to hit it inside the near post from where he was.
 
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