whitey1980

In sports science terms a number of skills that a goalkeeper requires and challenges they face are far more closed than an outfield player so there is a degree of sense in the assertion that a goalkeepers performance can be analysed more effectively at a lower level. However ironically the key challenges that a goalkeeper faces can be inactivity, environment and insecurity about their role that they generally don't face in a struggling League 1 side. Ripley has been top draw for us and will get an opportunity with Boro (Or Villa or any one of a number of Championship clubs who have looked at him this year). Whether he can excel at that level or above with the challenges and greater quality around him time will tell. Good luck to him and as he has been fantastic for us I suspect we have been for him. Playing behind Clarke in particular must have been an education and the obvious respect between the pair speaks volumes for his potential.

I wouldn't comment too much on his technique or otherwise but he certainly played the conditions well against Gregory. With the pitch so slippery and the stakes so high Gregory was always likely to be pretty deliberate and safe which gave Ripley a decent chance if he read his approach. Thankfully for us he did twice!!

Without having been there it appears the red card was the worst thing that could have happened. Maybe the shift from being in a game ultimately happy with a point to feeling we should get all 3 affected our rhythm. Makes next week a serious test of character....

My take... As mentioned his distribution could improve with his feet. He often overkicks his targets downfield and struggles to hit wide players in areas of relative space. This is a much bigger issue the higher level you are at as has been shown this season down the road..... Set against that he has improved his throwing enormously this season for me. Very often our best counters come from his fast,flat bowled throws which are accurate, powerful and normally in the stride of the breaking player. I think for a confident young goalkeeper he doesn't have the biggest range when coming for crosses. He seldom ventures beyond his 6 yard box and sometimes fails to highpoint the ball for me. A good example was when he ended up underneath the ball against Millwall allowing the centreforward to cleanly head above him. That said this might not be entitely down to him as modern coaching has goalkeepers being much more selective about attacking the lighter and more varied balls used at present. I agree that he could also be quicker off his line to intercept but in fairness we are often quite deep with a lack of pace at the back which makes it hard to sweep effectively. Given the potential for mistakes with experienced defenders heading back to goal it probably makes sense to trust their reading and judgement. His shotstopping is superb and his best asset. It would not surprise me if he plays a bit outfield on occasion because he reads the finish exceptionally well for a young goalkeeper. He is also very confident with his feet in posession which would suggest this is the case. Communication appears strong and he readily takes on his older and more experienced defenders. I sometimes wonder how much tactical information he gives though. Our fullbacks are so often isolated and vulnerable to the space that exists on both flanks outside the centre halves yet I rarely hear him shouting the instructions I would expect. Maybe he has given up, ha ha!! All this is relative though. He is a superb young goalkeeper who should be PL bound at some point. Like somebody else said, best case scenario for him is Boro go down and he steps in whilst the decks are cleared. He wouldn't let them down and I am sure he wouldn't be out of place.

Ngoo turned his man, was grabbed both before and during the turn before being physically pulled off the ball. Crazy decision!

Fair enough. However clearly as we often have Green coming inside from the right both Hunt and Taylor have to stretch the pitch to allow us to work the ball when the play shifts left. It looked to me like Shez had asked both fullbacks and wide players to stretch the pitch tactically (even Green) due to their size and physical presence today. It also allowed space for O'Brien and Banks to get their foot on the ball centrally which worked well. It was only when we lost our attacking threat that we lost our way.

Fair enough. From the Rochdale Rd end it looked like their wide player was there first and was clipped but I can accept others were much closer. Thought the referee (who I have no time for) was ok in the main. However the foul he gave against Ngoo was simply a shocker with 10 to go.

Is what he always has been an intelligent and talented player at this level. Would have been clean through three times in the second half with runs past the front man. Fitness is still a work in progress but looks after the ball excellently. Don't get the criticism at all...

Like a few have said unusually for Lord Shez he got his changes wrong today. Obadeyi had offered a threat with his pace and allowed us to mix the play with Holloway showing in the pockets in front of the centre halves. When we lost both we lost our way. That said we were terrific for an hour and passed the ball really well on a tough surface. Great point gained and full marks to both sets of players for a great game in the conditions. We couldn't even complain about the pens in truth...

This all day.

It was an enormous game for them..... even moreso than for ourselves. By the sounds of it that was one of their better performances of the year. Our limitations remain but that is a great point that has also damaged them. Excellent result and move on.....

Wow

Whilst I agree with some of the comments about the 'banter' that sections of our support give the players, some of the supportive comments about Ngoo's performance are overblown IMHO. There were a number of factors that changed the game in that 25 minute spell. The entire front 6 started to press which in turn moved us 20 yards up the pitch and pressure their midfield who had run the game. He did give us a focal point but much of that was simply him being at the point of the attack rather than any particular act of quality on his behalf. As we had nobody to do that job previously it did improve the shape of the team and allowed us to play. For a player with his junior pedigree some of his movement is terrible. His run for the Mclaughlin goal was a case in point. Until he fell over he had dragged both centre halves right into the space that we were breaking into. Gassed or not he offered next to nothing in the final 15 minutes and as the team stopped pressing he became wholly ineffective and certainly not calable of holding the ball up. Seems like a decent team man judging by the celebrations and like many would love to be proved wrong. I just don't see it and still feel we are really short in that area if he has to provide more than 10 minute 'shock' cameos.

Whilst I agree with the sentiment about Ngoo the game had shifted before the goalkeepers mistake. Granted that gift was very welcome but we had pressed with more success and commitment from much earlier in the half. As much as we can ever say a goal is coming with our record....... it was!

Coventry will go away thinking how they lost, but the 25 minutes between 50 and 75 are the reason they are where they are. I thought they were quicker to the ball generally and certainly rotated the ball better and more quickly through the top two thirds. BUT as soon as we started to press in the game they went missing. Mclaughlin, Green and Taylor started to drive at their back 4 and they just retreated and capitulated. It was only when we stopped doing what had served us so well that they came back into the game. We have to work on our defensive shape when we lose the ball. For all the stick SR got for the posession quote I can see what he is getting at. Our fullbacks are so exposed its frightening and we don't seem to recognise or sense where we should be dropping back into to alleviate the pressure. For all the talk of Ngoo, Mclaughlin was terrific through that period of dominance in the second half. His goal was the culmination of his positive movement and commiting defenders that created space elsewhere. His goal was the difference between the sides and thank god it was!! A massive three points from a tough game and certainly three we wouldn't have picked up a month ago.