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Hugo Lloris

The QPR keeper had a poor game today, but in general he has been impressive all season playing behind a pile of brick. I think he would run Hugo close based on this season's form
Are you kidding?
Cesar has barely held a shot all season and has been extremely lucky that his deflections have not caused even more damage than they have. QPR are bottom of the EPL and his performances have helped put them there.
 
Yup. I think of him as an extra defender more than a keeper. His reading of the game and concentration are excellent, unflashy but critical qualities that tend not to be highlighted for his position.

That is a good observation.
Many keepers could have not only cost us the game but got sent off in the last incident. Perfect keeper for Spurs..perfect guy on the bench..lovely jubbly.
 
Btw, despite being renowned as more of a shotstopper than a distributor/box commander, Lloris's save percentage is actually quite low - 9th worst in Europe's top five leagues at 61%, compared to de Gea's 78.7%. Hugo's clearly not a bad shotstopper though, so I think the problem lies more with our defending - he's faced an enormous 64 shots within the penalty area compared to just 16 outside it, which is a pretty astonishing ratio (80%) even though the total isn't bad overall. I think the recent higher line we're playing now might also tend to enable fewer but better chances on our goal - if their counter does break through our midfield, they tend to have a lot of space. Luckily, we have a few pacy players in our backline and Lloris is good at coming out to snuff the potentially dangerous situations from distance.

I don't think a very high ratio is necessarily worrisome so long as the overall shots and goals conceded is low, but it's something to think about.

Brad didn't do very well in that list either, it's just been a case of some shots being easier to save than others. As bad as the table for lowest save percentages looks, I love the way we defend and feel it's very effective, even if it does mean the shots we concede are harder to save. That particular table did the rounds on twitter plugged as some sort of gospel goalkeeper rating system, I guess a fair few united fans liked reading De Gea near the top of a goalkeeper list. It was incredibly misleading though, as it wasn't a case of every goalkeeper in europe facing the same 10,000 shots and having the results written down. If a goalkeeper saves 99 shots from the halfway line but doesn't save one from 12 yards, that 99% save percent stat looks great, but if another goalkeeper saves 2 shots out of 3 from 12 yards they'd have a horrible 66% save percent, they'd be a whole 33% worse than the guy that made 99 easy saves but didn't save the one shot that was a challenge.

Anyway, the reason I wanted to reply to this is just to underline the 80 shot total isn't bad at all, even if 80% of shots conceded are in our box seems a bit strange. We concede the fewest shots per game in the league (9.5).

One last point on De Gea. As far as our league goes, Man United concede the joint 3rd highest percentage of shots from outside of their box. We concede the fourth lowest, De Gea's save percentage should be a few percent higher. The difference between being on the list of 10 lowest save ratios and 10 highest is so minimal this year, 15% is hardly anything compared to previous seasons. Luck plays a huge role too, look at today's goal conceded for example, a deflection into the top corner after he'd dived the other way.
 
Tottenham's Hugo Lloris thankful for team-mate Brad Friedel's experience

The Frenchman is now established as first choice keeper, after a tough start at White Hart Lane

Tottenham goalkeeper Hugo Lloris has said he drew on the rival Brad Friedel's extensive Premier League experience when adjusting to life in the UK.

The Frenchman, who joined Spurs from Lyon for £12million last summer, found himself on the bench for his first three months at the club, with Friedel keeping the number one jersey.

He eventually dislodged the American for the north London derby defeat at the Emirates Stadium in November and has kept his place since.

But he still feels the need to ask for help from Friedel, who has 15 years’ experience in the English top flight with Liverpool, Blackburn and Aston Villa.

“We talk about games, we talk about teams we play against and sometimes that’s good for me because I don’t know all the players in the Premier League,” Lloris said. “I knew about Brad before I arrived. He is a very good goalkeeper and a well-respected one.”

Lloris has shown good form recently and could play against former club Lyon in the first leg of their last-32 Europa League tie at White Hart Lane on Thursday.

Even if head coach Andre Villas-Boas rotates his squad and includes Friedel against the French club, it is likely that Lloris would take come in for the second leg at Stade Gerland on February 21.

Lewis Holtby, Tottenham’s most recent signing, is eligible for the tie after he was included in the Europa League squad following his £1.25m move from Schalke in January.

Holtby has settled quickly at Spurs and his home debut on Saturday concluded with a 2-1 victory over Saudi Sportswashing Machine. To join Spurs immediately, the 22-year-old abandoned Schalke’s Champions League campaign but he is convinced his new club will become regulars in that competition.

“This club are evolving every year, maybe even every month,” said Holtby. “It’s not as though this has come from nowhere because the club have been in the top four or five for the last three years. I’ve made a really big decision in my career but it’s the right one.

“We’re in fourth place at the moment and that’s where we’re aiming to go. The squad, the club are getting bigger all the time and we deserve to go into the Champions League. It’s a hard route but I think we have everything to get there.

“The quality here is fantastic, even among the players who weren’t in the squad for the Saudi Sportswashing Machine game. The level of the team spirit is very high and that’s why we are able to win tight games like that one.”

Holtby was replaced on Saturday by Emmanuel Adebayor, who is thought to have been fined two weeks’ wages — about £140,000 — for failing to return to the club by Villas-Boas’s deadline of 3pm last Friday. Adebayor’s Togo were knocked out of the Africa Cup of Nations on February 3.

Villas-Boas must ensure Adebayor is focused fully on the battle to secure Champions League football next season, something Lloris is confident Spurs can achieve. “I believe in the project and it was a good moment for me to join Tottenham,” he told Sky Sports.

“The ambition of the team is to be in the top four every year, and I think we can do it.”

Link
 
9 in 15 since Arsenal away. Lloris has such a huge impact on the way we play and it goes far beyond just goalkeeping.
 
Blame for what?

We're defending pretty well, as a whole, and conceding comparatively few goals.

we're still letting in soft goals ... e.g. last one against Saudi Sportswashing Machine, where everyone seems to scramble for the same ball. we're good but we can get much better.
 
we're still letting in soft goals ... e.g. last one against Saudi Sportswashing Machine, where everyone seems to scramble for the same ball. we're good but we can get much better.

Of course we can better. But when you say that something or someone is to blame for the defence, it suggests that the defence isn't doing very well at all. And that simply isn't the case. It's no biggie. It was just your turn of phrase that puzzled me somewhat.
 
we're still letting in soft goals ... e.g. last one against Saudi Sportswashing Machine, where everyone seems to scramble for the same ball. we're good but we can get much better.

Metal I agree we do let in soft goals but compared to where we were against the likes of WBA, Norwich and Wigan especially with the late goals we have come such a long way. Thinking of those goals makes my blood shiver.
 
Metal I agree we do let in soft goals but compared to where we were against the likes of WBA, Norwich and Wigan especially with the late goals we have come such a long way. Thinking of those goals makes my blood shiver.

A big reason for this in my view is the poor play of our full backs, specifically Walker and Naughton. They have been at fault for more goals than any other player in the team.
 
A big reason for this in my view is the poor play of our full backs, specifically Walker and Naughton. They have been at fault for more goals than any other player in the team.

Naughton ill excuse as I hadnt seen much of him before coming from Norwich however Walker has been dodgy this season really dodgy.

I think we have as a unit defended with concentration and ill also argue that with Dawson we have had that no nonsense defending we needed which I have always advocated. I dont mind a defender clearin it out every once in a while.
 
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