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.

Totally agree about Green. Felt he played with discipline in a deeper role and expanded his game when given the opportunity as we stretched the game. Full marks for taking responsibility for the penalty as well. Reckord was poor tonight for me. Desperately poor with the ball and refuses to stretch beyond his wide midfielder which leaves us unbalanced. How we cannot do better is beyond me....

All absolutely fair and accurate. Despite that the gut feeling that I have looking at his career (of now over 200 appearances) is that his run last year was a spell that was him at his absolute best and a level he is unlikely to match. He doesn't look a natural goalscorer and when he came into the team much of his energy was wasted in directionless running. To his credit he produced at his absolute best when the team needed him most and he will always merit the warmest of welcomes if he returns in a blue shirt or otherwise..... I just don't think he will do it again. The assessment of Holloway is equally difficult as he clearly has ability and should develop into a talented threat at this level and possibly above. Somebody like Ricky Lambert should be his template.... However again if I'm honest I have my doubts. In both cases I can understand the attraction and recognise the need to gamble. Also in both cases, Shez and his team need to be as good as we feel they can be to make the gambles roll in....

I suspect we saw the very best that Curtis Mains career will offer last season. By all means re-sign if he is the best option we have, and he was excellent last season....... but I can't help but feel we'll be disappointed....

He is a fantastic young goalkeeper who we are incredibly fortunate to have. That much is absolutely clear. The intangibles of leadership and communication are excellent in addition to his shot stopping that is top draw. The only drawbacks I can see are some pretty questionable distribution at times and sometimes his range when coming off his line. He is destined for higher things. Don't be surprised to see him at Villa next year if they go up and 'Boro want to sell. They have watched him a number of times this year and have been impressed...

Whatever the players can or can't do, playing 4 in midfield was always likely to cause an issue for us. You cannot blame Robinson for individual errors both with and without the ball, but he has to take responsibility for the shape of the team. Burgess in particular is so unwilling to carry the ball into midfield that Fane and Green are on top of the back 4. As a result yesterday we just weren't able to move the ball through the midfield at all and Ladapo and Erwin were hopelessly isolated. I didn't think either were great..... but I would have loved to have seen somebody try and look great with the serice they received. We only improved after half time when we shifted Erwin to the left and got Flynn in behind McKay and we started to create the extra man on the right with Dummigan and Mclaughlin. What was really worrying was that as soon as Hill made the change to the left side of his team we were back to square one. I see nothing in Reckord to suggest that he is a capable league one footballer and I think that leaves us pretty unbalanced at present. We had to shift the point of attack in the second half but he wouldn't venture with any comfort past the half way line!! Worrying times ahead.....

It is not intended specifically as a criticism of individuals. Clarke and Ripley are certainly amongst the better players in the team. We do however get very exposed on the counter in wide areas IMHO. Frequently this happens because as we are so slow to move the ball through midfield our full backs have to play very high to overlap and extend the width. When we lose the ball we are wide open, particularly as neither Clarke or Burgess are comfortable when pulled wider into the channels. We also seem to be very suspect to straight balls that we allow to bounce between our centre backs. Communication looks an issue to me. We don't concede that many goals because we are often pretty unadventurous in midfield, or are behind in games where the opposition are comfortable and confident to sit in against us. Ripley (despite recent mistakes) is also clearly a factor in our defensive record as well...

I think we are caught between two styles at present. We haven't the size or pace (that is starting games) to play a direct game based around hitting a target and playing off his feet. Equally we haven't got the quality to retain and progress the ball when we do have it from deep. Against Bolton, they were happy to give us the short pass in our defensive third because they were absolutely confident they would win it off Fane in particular when we tried to move the ball into our midfield. Flynn is frequently the only one of our midfield in the few games I have seen who even attempts to move the ball between the lines. So much of the rest of our possession slides left and right aimlessly, all of which gives limited opposition like Bristol Rovers the chance to reset defensively. In credit to Robinson, I can see what he is trying to do in trying to retain and control the ball. Unfortunately at present we are suspect defensively, limited in midfield and the only goals we are going to score subsequently come from individual quality or set plays. Neither of which we have in abundance. Based on Saturday, Mclaughlin (not sure of spelling) must start next week. He brought an outlet and pace to the side lacking in the opening 50 odd minutes. If you balance that on the left with Flynn, keep Green and Fane holding and release Winchester to play as a 10 behind either Erwin or Ladapo, then hopefully you have a chance to move the ball through midfield. IMHO, Flynn, Winchester and Mclaughlin should be capable of both getting alongside and beyond a front man, or attempting to play them in through the channels. I don't see any version of 4 in midfield that sees us either lightweight or incredibly narrow. We make life difficult for ourselves by setting out each game to create the perfect goal. For every winner against Gillingham there are 4 games we draw a blank. Pace and adventure are required...

Am pretty sure we would suffer an automatic 3-0 defeat and get docked points...

That is the definition of a horrendous decision. :censored:!!

Kyle Lafferty is on £30k a week at Norwich..... and Birmingham had to pay £20k of that to secure his loan signing last year. Those figures come from staff at Birmingham. Would be truly amazed......