Guglielmo Vicario

[Jordinho]

I remembered Modric had a hairline fracture back in the day and it turns out he was out for almost three months.

 

[Dicko]

I remembered Modric had a hairline fracture back in the day and it turns out he was out for almost three months.

I heard a crack in my foot back in May and it's still playing up.. I should probably get it checked out

 

[Lemonade Money]

I heard a crack in my foot back in May and it's still playing up.. I should probably get it checked out

How's May?

 

[Muttley]

Vorm was pretty good. Cudiccini also. Best of all was when Friedel became backup to Lloris.

Slightly off topic, but it always amazed me how Brad kept going after his US football school back home sucked up all his money and bankrolled him. He was doing his bit for football and ended up having to have a long career to recover his financial security. I will always respect him for that, even knowing that he was never our best keeper.

Unfortunately, there was a reason why Brad played so many consecutive games across Blackburn and Spurs. He never came off his line, he never put his body into dangerous positions and he only really managed up to 2-3 yards off his line. Wasn't he about 43 when he left and about 40 when he was 1st choice under Harry?

During that period, Gomes was also treated awfully by our club and Harry R. He proved in my mind that when he went to Watford that he should have been our first choice keeper when Brad was here, and become second choice to Hugo when he arrived under AVB, just after Harry. He was at his peak and we should have supported him after a couple of howlers. He had broken a WHL record that stood for 80 years only the season before.

The transition should really have been Gomes to Lloris in my mind.

 

[Bedfordspurs]

Vorm was pretty good. Cudiccini also. Best of all was when Friedel became backup to Lloris.

They are all smart and experienced players but the way we played then was different to now of course

 

[Bullet]

Note that Ange says he only wants his keepers to play short, simple passes.
He doesn't expect them to ping it long into a striker, or try to pick out some complex pass, just a short simple pass, quickly.
He says he tells his players NOT to pass back to the keeper because outfield players should deal with things.
He explains to the keeper that it is simple, don't panic, don't think it is some complex task, it is just a 10-20 yard pass along the deck, easy peasy.

 

[Bedfordspurs]

Note that Ange says he only wants his keepers to play short, simple passes.
He doesn't expect them to ping it long into a striker, or try to pick out some complex pass, just a short simple pass, quickly.
He says he tells his players NOT to pass back to the keeper because outfield players should deal with things.
He explains to the keeper that it is simple, don't panic, don't think it is some complex task, it is just a 10-20 yard pass along the deck, easy peasy.

Is that from an interview?

 

[Bullet]

Is that from an interview?

He said it today in the press conference iirc

 

[Baleforce]

Slightly off topic, but it always amazed me how Brad kept going after his US football school back home sucked up all his money and bankrolled him. He was doing his bit for football and ended up having to have a long career to recover his financial security. I will always respect him for that, even knowing that he was never our best keeper.

Unfortunately, there was a reason why Brad played so many consecutive games across Blackburn and Spurs. He never came off his line, he never put his body into dangerous positions and he only really managed up to 2-3 yards off his line. Wasn't he about 43 when he left and about 40 when he was 1st choice under Harry?

During that period, Gomes was also treated awfully by our club and Harry R. He proved in my mind that when he went to Watford that he should have been our first choice keeper when Brad was here, and become second choice to Hugo when he arrived under AVB, just after Harry. He was at his peak and we should have supported him after a couple of howlers. He had broken a WHL record that stood for 80 years only the season before.

The transition should really have been Gomes to Lloris in my mind.

I thought Freidel was excellent in his time as our first choice.

 

[Baleforce]

Note that Ange says he only wants his keepers to play short, simple passes.
He doesn't expect them to ping it long into a striker, or try to pick out some complex pass, just a short simple pass, quickly.
He says he tells his players NOT to pass back to the keeper because outfield players should deal with things.
He explains to the keeper that it is simple, don't panic, don't think it is some complex task, it is just a 10-20 yard pass along the deck, easy peasy.

They pass back to the keeper all the time?

 

[braineclipse]

They pass back to the keeper all the time?

I think it makes more sense in full context of what he said. Quoted from the Forster thread.

Ange has been speaking to the press:

You're confident that Fraser Forster can step up?

That’s why he’s here. He’s already played in the Carabao Cup and a couple of European games. That’s the reason we’ve played him and why he’s in the squad. He’s ready to go.

Will you look to sign a free agent goalkeeper?

That's not going to happen. That's why we've got a squad of players here. I don't think us signing a free agent now is going to help us. If I hadn't named Fraser in the Europa squad, then jeez that would've been a radical decision, and you're left with two, again they wouldn't be able to play in Europe, then you kind of look at it. Unless something else happened, that's why we've got four goalkeepers. There's young Luca but to be fair he's been injured so he's not really ready. Fraser I've known for a long time and he's such a strong character within the group and ready to play. Brandon's improving all the time and Alfie's been at the club for a while. Whenever they've been asked, in terms of the training capacity they bring, we're happy with what we've got.

Does the goalkeeper situation change anything in the January transfer window?

Not again. Not from what's happened now. We've got an injury, and I think any club that gets a significant injury in their goalkeeper kind of assesses where they're at. It's not just another injury, but at the same time, like I said, it is just one injury. We've been dealing with setbacks for a while. There's a lot of work.

We talk about depleted squads. We had two school boys on the bench at the weekend. We've been very shallow for quite a while but because I don't come up here and highlight it every week, it doesn't dismiss the fact that we've kind of learned to deal with these things, and this is another challenge for us.

January, we're always working towards the next window of what the best scenario is for us, and a lot of that will depend on where we're at from the squad perspective and the game's perspective. Just this injury doesn't change any plans for January.

Joe Hart has been speaking about you recently, can you do the same now with Fraser Forster, teaching older goalkeepers to play with their feet?

Here we go with the ages again mate, he's a big guy Fraser. I think there is a misconception around that. I do want to play out from the back but don't need my goalkeepers to be Maldini or Platini. In fact, the simpler they can keep it the better for me. I keep saying to the players, don't pass it to the goalkeepers, they've got the gloves on, they're the goalkeepers and you're the player.

The thing is setting it up so we give really simple solutions to our goalkeepers. It's not about their technical ability because i you look at the way we play out from the back, and Joe's a great example of that when he came to Celtic, it's about them executing really simple passes that they do every day. They're actually quite good at it, goalkeepers. All goalkeepers. It's more about mindset.

It's more about them not thinking that what they're doing is risky, because that's what it comes down. It's not a skill. I'm not asking them to pin 50 yarders. In fact, it's harder when goalkeepers go long. It's actually a harder skill for them to do. So I'm asking them to do short passes that they're capable of.

It's more, like I said, the mindset of it. Just showing them that there's no risk here. Don't worry about the risk. The setup is there for you to execute. And I found that with Joe and other keepers I've had in the past where it was, 'oh, he can't play out from the back', and of course he can. He's a goalkeeper, he can pass the ball, that's what they do. It's just about having a structure which allows them to do it in the cleanest possible process. And changing their mindset.

The only barrier to that is if the goalkeeper doesn't feel comfortable doing it. Not because they can't. Joe was brilliant at Celtic, he embraced it all in, and Fraser's the same.

It's not like Burchy is going to start working with him this week. He's been doing it for 18 months. That's all we do at training. They get included in some of our passing drills, some of our possession drills. They're in there, so they're doing it. So that's where I sit with that.

Pep Guardiola didn't believe Joe could play with his feet how he wanted yet he did it under you?

It depends on what you mean by that. Every coach has a different version of that. I'm just talking about me, and the way we play. I don't want my goalkeeper to think that he's got to hit defence-splitting passes.

That's not what it's about. It's about, I want control of the game so when it's a stoppage or a goal kick, we have control of the ball at that time. I don't want to put that in dispute by just going along. So we want to play out. But playing out is just one bit. It's what's ahead of that to make it as simple a process as possible.

It's not that the players shouldn't pass back to the keeper ever. Of course passing back to the keeper is part of our game, and as you say we do it quite frequently.

If he actually says "don't pass it back to the keeper" to the players it will probably be situation dependant.

The outfielders should try to find other solutions, and perhaps more importantly they should give the keeper a short simple pass option as often as possible (as we do). Compared to other teams who more often ask the keeper to play more ambitious passes up the pitch. We do that too of course, at times, if no other solutions can be found. But it's not the primary strategy.

For me a more accurate description of what he's saying in context would be "don't pass the responsibility to the keeper". I know that's not what he actually said, but that's how I read it in context.

 

[johnola]

I heard a crack in my foot back in May and it's still playing up.. I should probably get it checked out

Get it sorted fella l! Go to your surgery tell them you are going to for an x ray - and book in a review then queue up in hospital for ann hour or so and they will send it back to the gp. Surprisingly good service for this sort of thing these days.

 

[Muttley]

I thought Freidel was excellent in his time as our first choice.

He gave that impression because he was never directly responsible for goals like braver keepers. He never took risks and I guess some fans loved that. Then Hugo walked in the door and could do everything Brad could, and be the defence's sweeper at the same time. Hugo would save shots that Brad would get nowhere near and pull those high balls out of the air 8-10 yards off his line.

It's all about the marketing right? Brad had a really good marketing team at 40 years old

 

[Bishop]

He gave that impression because he was never directly responsible for goals like braver keepers. He never took risks and I guess some fans loved that. Then Hugo walked in the door and could do everything Brad could, and be the defence's sweeper at the same time. Hugo would save shots that Brad would get nowhere near and pull those high balls out of the air 8-10 yards off his line.

It's all about the marketing right? Brad had a really good marketing team at 40 years old

I think Brad had been a solid keeper in the PL for so long that the form and respect he had gained just passed onto us, but he really wasn't that guy anymore and was past his prime by the time he playing for us.