My guess is the credit Xisco had in the bank is vanishing fast. On top of that we've brought in players like Sissoko, Kucka and Rose who have played at the highest level and are the new older heads in the changing room. If those players start giving off signals that Xisco doesn't know what he's doing then that's going to filter down to the rest of the team.
No he's not! But I'm told TC wouldn't pay up at the time, saying "I didn't think you'd actually do it."
No, definitely wasn't Robbo. Just as Reg Varney said, it was a young assistant groundsman, working alongside the legendary Les Simmons. Tony Coton bet him he wouldn't climb the floodlight pylon and hang from it. "Course I would!" was the response and off he went. Not content with just climbing up, our young groundsman then hung on with one hand, while waving at Coton with his other hand.
He could always try the P0pB1tch Collection Agency. A reader wrote in to mention that, during the height of his fame, Bez didn't have enough money to pay a petrol bill at a garage. Luckily, for him, a fan was on the till and stumped up the cash in return for a paper IOU. Then it's back to PB: "After last week’s story about Bez writing an IOU at a Q8 petrol station in Didsbury back in 1991 to pay for £5 worth of fuel, Bez’s people got in touch with us. Although he didn’t remember the incident specifically (and given that it happened nearly 30 years ago, at the height of Happy Mondays’ fame, fair enough…) he wanted to do good by our reader. He’s offered to settle his bill." Sounds like a potential way to get his tenner back
Sorry to go back over old ground a bit but are people on Twitter being harsh on Foster saying the reason we didn’t win was down to him ? I would have thought the reason we didn’t lose was very much down to him as well ! The goal was probably a bit soft but he made up for any error with some key saves later on .
Exactly. Foster should have saved the first goal, and he did pass the ball straight to an opponent on another occasion. They were his mess ups, but he more than made up for that with some excellent keeping. He saved us by standing tall v Saint-Maximim then got a vital toe to the ball without fouling him as he went around. The ball should have still ended up in the net as Longstaff's miss was inexplicable, but no blame on Foster for that. He made another great save from Willock then saved us again when Murphy was 1 v 1. That quick thinking throw to Pedro immediately afterwards nearly won us the game too. So a mixed bag, but overall, he did more good things than bad in that game. Definitely saved us a point rather than dropped us two.
I'm not going 'Foster's the worst **** in the world' mode, but at the same time, I never quite buy the 'yeah he made a ridiculous error, but he made up for it later!' narrative that seems to be wheeled out for him far more often than you'd hope, because 'making up for it' is a goalie's job, no? Foster is not the reason behind our shockingly bad performance, but he is the biggest reason why that goal was conceded (just ahead of utterly pathetic defending leaving Longstaff to have the freedom of the edge of our box with the ball for as long as he liked multiple times). Unless he can erase goals he's let in through his own mistakes, that 'making up' afterwards is just him doing his job - are we suggesting that any other Prem goalie wouldn't have made the stops he made that are being listed as 'make-ups', for instance? Just kind of seems like a way of trying to plaster over the fact that our goalie situation is diabolical at this level.
Life of a keeper ! They can make good saves but also an error which proves costly in a game. An outfield player tends to get away with it - particularly if they score having missed chances. I guess you could say whilst it’s not good to make errors he did kind of atone for it to an extent but obviously we’d rather that whole situation had been defended better as we had been warned ! That was bad organisation which is down to the experienced players like Foster , WTE, and Cleverley although he was probably concussed by then. Anyway presume Bachmann was injured (for real ) and yes I agree it does now leave us with 2 keepers over 35 which isn’t ideal . And the next bright hope having a nightmare at Doncaster .
Just watched the extended highlights up to their goal and while what you say about the defending beforehand with the chances they missed is true, apart from Foster I’m not sure who can be blamed for the goal (but then they don’t show much of the build-up) - it was a very well-taken goal outside the box that our outfield players had virtually no chance of stopping. There have been many soft goals we’ve let in this season, but this wasn’t one of them.
The fact Longstaff had 2 shots just go wide before this goal should have prepared us really but easy to say now I guess . Someone ought to have taken note and been on him . It’s basic reading of the game and how they set up from set plays . The coaches are usually screaming and waving arms when we are going to defend one! As if they haven’t worked on it before the game .
It was obvious enough to a simpleton like me before the corner was taken that Longstaff was being left unmarked again, having already had two free shots from the edge of the box after set pieces and missed. If I could see it others in the crowd could but clearly not Xisco.
As UEA has said, it was literally the third time in the game Longstaff had been allowed to find himself totally free on the edge of our box and have a shot, in almost the exact same position, and the lack of awareness and subsequent sluggishness in reacting even when they realise is poor, both from an individual and organisational standpoint. It's not just about comedy ****-ups, although Foster has his in there - it's also about the team playing badly as a whole with a lack of defensive organisation resulting in those situations in the first place.
I’m not sure what people’s expectations are of keepers, but I’d say the top ones (Allison etc.) probably only make two, possibly three big errors per season that lead to goals. The rest probably make anything from that number up to maybe 10 a season. I don’t think it’s at all reasonable or sustainable to allow or expect a PL keeper to make one serious error per game, which is what our lot seem to be doing between themselves this season.
The PL provide stats for it (which you can then filter down by goalkeeper): https://www.premierleague.com/stats/top/players/error_lead_to_goal Not sure what exactly counts as an error leading to a goal and what they just put down as bad luck, but 3 was the highest last season (Kepa and Alisson) and the year before it was 5 (Dubravka).
[QUOTE="LondonOrn, post: 3053526, member: 6826" the chances they missed is true, apart from Foster I’m not sure who can be blamed for the goal (but then they don’t show much of the build-up) - it was a very well-taken goal outside the box that our outfield players had virtually no chance of stopping. There have been many soft goals we’ve let in this season, but this wasn’t one of them.[/QUOTE] Not for the first time our midfield or forwards did not come out fast enough to mark/defend/tackle their players on the edge of the box and on this occasion they had plenty of time as the short corner pass went from one player and then another pass and yet no pressure on the ball and he got his shot away easily.
That Meghan Raphinio and Stewart Dynasty are going to have a field day taking pot shots unopposed fro the edge of the box.
OK, this must have been another occasion then because I can say as a matter of fact that Robbo did scale the floodlight pylon while he was a young academy player.
I would be very surprised if many players told their manager they were no longer capable of playing, despite the manager saying they are.