Time to map out a plan for Villa's future
- Says blogger Matthew Turvey
Albion return on cards for Kuszczak
Wednesday 11th May 2011, 10:00AM BST.
Albion are favourites to re-sign Tomasz Kuszczak in a move that could trigger a shake-up of the Hawthorns goalkeeping department.
The Manchester United shot-stopper is keen on a return to the West Midlands in a switch that could spark doubts about the futures of Scott Carson and Boaz Myhill.
Albion have enquired about a deal for Kuszczak, who is set to leave Old Trafford this summer after becoming frustrated by a lack of first-team opportunities.
And the Baggies have received positive feedback from the Poland international, who spent three years at the Hawthorns before joining the Red Devils in 2007.
Albion boss Roy Hodgson will face competition for his signature from clubs across Europe, but the 29-year-old is keen to remain in the Premier League.
Kuszczak has a year remaining on his United contract but the Premier League’s champions-elect are unlikely to price him out of a move away.
And the player is intrigued by the prospect of a return to Albion, where he deputised for the injured Russell Hoult as the club sealed ‘the Great Escape’ in 2005 before ousting Chris Kirkland to become first-choice at the Hawthorns.
The Poland international, who joined the Baggies originally in 2004 from Hertha Berlin, has spent four years as understudy to Edwin van der Sar at Old Trafford.
Kuszczak had hoped to become United’s No 1 when the Dutchman retires in the summer, but is now ready to cut his losses and move after United made it clear they are looking elsewhere for Van der Sar’s long-term successor.
The Baggies have also enquired about Japan international keeper Eiji Kawashima, of Belgian club Lierse, and the signs that Roy Hodgson is targeting a goalkeeper are bound to raise questions about Carson and Myhill.
Carson has just a year remaining on his contract plus a year’s option in the Baggies’ favour and the club have not yet approached the England international about an extension.
Without a new deal, this summer would be the Baggies’ last chance to recoup a significant chuck of the £3.25million they paid Liverpool for Carson in 2008.
Neither Carson nor Myhill, who penned a three-year deal with a year’s option when he joined from Hull last summer, appear to have convinced Hodgson of their credentials.
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I would be very happy to see him back – thought he was a great keeper for us (in a weaker team than we have now).
Can’t believe he has thrown 4 years of his career away sitting on the old trafford bench – even if he has got a couple of medals, but he aint the first to do it.
I think Carson is still a very decent keeper and if he goes we will see him flourish elesewhere – chalk another one up to the boo boy knuckle draggers.
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Eiji Kawashima and Tomasz Kuzczak, that’s a brilliant pairing to me. Get it on.
BOING~~~~BOING~~~~JtH.
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Ideally we need 20 m to revamp our team for next year
Kusczak wud be a gd start if we could bring him in cheap. We would need to sign another top striker for around 6-10m n then a couple of defenders and a midfielder
Gera might be a punt if we cud get him in on a free
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Revamp is the wrong choice of words
Improve is what I meant
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Considering his nationality,is someone being funny on the ‘transfer rumours’ piece,when they say Albion are in ‘pole position’ to sign him?
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Excellent move if it comes off…when he has played for Utd (and us in the past) you had confidence in his ability and the past four years coaching at Utd can only have been good for him. He’ll soon get match practice in our team if we dont improve the defence. This would be a great start to stenghten our much needed ‘spine’ in the team during the summer.
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Would be great to have him back, would be our number one without doubt. I’d be inclined to keep myhill and offload carson as he still has the potential to drop clangers on a regular basis and i can’t see it changing. A few other quality signings and we’ll be a force to reckon with next season.
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1. Happy I’ve never understood why certain players go from playing week in week out at certain clubs then get the chance of a move to the top 4-5 clubs and do nothing but warm the bench or play in a micky mouse cup competition, yes the wages might be a lot more but suerly playing every week is worth more than a few grand in a pay packet every week. He would be a good signing for you if you can get him back.
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Forget about the past if he wants to come here and he is by far a better keeper than Carson then I welcome him.
We need to understand that it is a business and lets face it who would turn down the opportunity to play for Man Utd.
Welcome back Tom!
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i would love to see it happen but cant see him coming back to west brom there would be more prestige clubs than ours after him and money does mean more to these footballers nowadays than playing.
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I think its unfair to blame the booboys for Carsons mistakes Happy, YES he IS a good keeper, the same way David James was a good keeper, but Carson just has no consistency, why do you think he has been sold-on so cheaply, because he keeps making mistakes, this is HIS fault, not the “boo boy knuckle draggers” as you so eloquently call them.
He has soo much potential, that’s why Liverpool and Villa took him on, but then they found his weakness and that’s why they sold him on, its the very same reason why Hodgson will too.
In the premier league mistakes lose matches, lost matches gets you relegated, then you lose money, sorry Happy, I normally agree with your posts 100% but this one I think you got wrong.
Tomasz Kuszczak has IMHO wasted 4 years of his life/career at Man U, maybe he will have something to prove if he does come back, that would be another bonus for us.
I dont know who though I would get rid of lol, Carson or Myhill, to be honest Myhill hasn’t really had many opportunities, maybe Hoggy will get rid of them both.
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5.
CantelloRocket 78, love that one m8, love it.
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Sadly i do not see him as a great keeper he can’t deal with corners or set plays and he walked out on us when we took a chance on him gera is a spent force and greening was telling all albion players to put the team first my kids got his autograph at a pre season game a few weeks later he was gone greening was good at albion but i for 1 would like new blood look at brunt and co the scouts can find gems and bring them through dorrans is another come on roy show your mettle and i for one don’t want albion bancrupting themselves in a big named striker coming for the money in the twilight years.
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Kuszczak is no better than Carson. I’d like someone to tell me how many points Carson has cost us this season, as I believe he has only cost us a potential point against Fulham away and given us a lot more.
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Dudley 3 – why do we need a striker who costs 6-10 million ?? I can think of a few who cost over 6 million but haven’t done the business and at least 1 who cost less than 2 million who has !!
Don’t fall into the dingle trap of money = success !!!
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TK would be a good signing.
there was talk of Mccauley from Ipswich yesterday-how about Wes Brown?
Boing Boing
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Can’t help but think is just paper talk because everyone knows he wants a move and Albion want a new first choice keeper – just seems too easy.
I’d personally look at Shay Given or Thomas Sorensen. Both are very commanding, have good communication, good shot stoppers and have vast Prem experience. They also want first team football and would be available quite cheaply.
Never been one to boo Carson but he’s nowhere near good enough. Personally I’d also remove Kiely as GK coach as he was always hesitant to come for crosses and I think this has spilled over to the training he gives.
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No 11: good post. I agree with Happy and everyone who argues that no Albion player should be booed when they play (the only time I let myself down on this front was when Andy Townsend was “playing” for us) but the fact is that Carson hasn’t been good enough often enough. You can’t directly blame him for the first two goals last Sunday, but I can’t help thinking that a stronger keeper, with greater ability to marshal his defence, might help us deal with set pieces better.
Carson is a decent keeper and he’s made some great and important saves for us (eg v Villa recently), but if we can get a top-class replacement for him then we have to go for it. And sadly I think it will be down to his own inconsistency if he does leave.
We all have fond memories of Kuszczak and I’d be happy to see him back, although you worry that he hasn’t had much game time in the past few years. Gera I’d have back like a shot if the price & wages were right; not sure if he really is a spent force, but in any case he’d be a good addition to the squad.
Desperately need a striker to play alongside Peter; any ideas?
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How may points has Carson cost us….
Fulham A
Stoke H
Blackburn H
Man Utd H
Stoke A
Chelsea H
muth be a double figure haul there!
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MBOY
Man utd away , 2 points
Arsenal Home , 2 points
Man Utd Home , 3 points
Chelsea Home , 2 points
Do you want me to continue , IF he leaves and IF he flourishes i will be the first to say i was wrong but quite frankly ( no pun intended ) i a’int holding my breath.
Anyway must dash got some booing to do and gotta find some plasters for me knuckles, must look my best for the bash at the Vine on Saturday !!!!.
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It’s no secret that we need a new GK maybe even two but for me as LORDSMYSHEPARD pointed out it seems like lazy journalism to me because it’s easy to link the two due to past ties
Also touching on a couple of other points LORDSMYSHEPARD mentioned, I haven’t been known to boo any ALBION player either including Carson but I do feel like many others that he isn’t the right GK for us and just makes to many mistakes, which I know GK’s mistakes get more coverage than outfield players but there comes a time when you have to learn from them and not keep making the same errors/misjudgements. I’m not knocking Carson in any way and will support him for as long as his in an ALBION player, I’m just giving my opinion.
Interesting what you say about Deano as well because I remember I was always nervous when a cross came in to our box, as like Carson he was no doubt a good shot stopper but was lacking in the decision making/commanding area department. Maybe it’s just me but in recent years I have only ever been fully confident in our GK when Russell Hoult was in goal for us which is surprising because we had a way worse team back then than we do now
BOING BOING!!
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I’d love to see Kuszczak back at the Hawthorns. He was a great keeper for us and would certainly strengthen the team if he did return. I wouldn’t hold the fact that he left us to join Man United against him either… we had just been relegated after all. I’d say that other than the midfield, we need strengthening all over the pitch:-
1. Cover for Shorey at Left back
2. A natural Right back
3. A centre back partner for Olsson – although I’d like to see more of Ibanez
4. A couple of new strikers to help out Odemwingie
On the way out… Carson, Meite, Cech, Jara, Zuiverloon, Miller, Bednar?
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TK is certainly the best keeper we have had in recent years and I would welcome his return. Maybe Sir Alex looks for something extra in keepers than most managers and we should remember that Ben Foster was allowed to leave and has performed very well for Blues.
I have been critical of Carson in the past but he has improved since Roy Hodgson arrived. Perhaps we will keep both of them.
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Wall Heath – so by your reckoning, we should have beaten both Man U and Arsenal at home and away and you obviously didn’t go to the Chelsea game a few weeks ago as everyone there could plainly see that they were far better than us.
I therefore can only presume that your post number 20 is tongue in cheek (with regard to Carson.)
19 Bobby – I disagree with you that Carson was to blame for most of those games, but we don’t know what would have happened after the other team scored anyway. Eg Do you think we would have beaten Stoke away without Carson’s perceived error? That’s why I would like people to tell me how many points they believe that he has actually cost us.
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IMO we need the following
1. First choice keeper, sell Carson Myhill number 2
2. A partner for Olsson
3. a Right back and cover for Shorey
4. at least 1 central midfielder to push Mulumbu and Scharner, Reo-Cocker would be perfect and a wide right player
5. 2 strikers
8 players of real quality there
Sell or release = Cech, Miller, Zuiverloon, Carson, Meite, Jara (Too rash), Barnes, Bednar there are 8 players
Thoughts?
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I’ve got to say I’ve had enough of Scott Carson now.
Nothing against him as a player but it’s getting very wearing constantly defending him on here and it would give some of the other potential hate figures a chance to shine IE Mozza, JP or Deano who seems to be a rising star.
I think we may live to regret letting him go, as Happy often mentions he still has his best years ahead of him and someone else will probably benefit. I think it would do him good to get away from the boo boys.
PS. Max and Bobby (sounds like a Music Hall vent act) Please add that these games are ones he cost us ‘IN YOUR OPINION.’ That doesn’t make it true.
If we are looking at keepers, how about Kieran Westwood who is on a Bosman? He could be another Phil Parkes (the Walsall/QPR one) or Tony Coton, good keepers that slipped away from the area to great careers elsewhere.
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23 Robin.
Agree with you, Sir Alex might be a very good manager but not always the best judge of keepers, Taibi????
21 Baggie 91.
Yes we had a poorer team then but we were set up to prevent the other team scoring, the total opposite to the last few years of all out attacking and the Devil take the hindmost. Hoult was a good keeper but personally I think he the defence he played behind, especially Big Dave who won most things in the air helped him greatly.
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MBOY
If you take away Carsons mistakes from those games we would have indeed got those points, maybe a bit simplistic and i agree Chelsea were very good , does not alter the fact Carson was at fault for the first two goals.
Presume what you want but tongue in cheek no, lets put it simply i do not rate Carson and never have , he’s 26 and i see no improvement in him whatsoever since he joined us.
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Here is how you prove good Carson is…put him up for sale and see what bids you get and from whom !!!!
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Let us not forget though that due to frailties at the back SC does get exposed a lot more than most keepers….
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I havent got time to get into the Carson debate, but one thing i will say is that as someone who has played at a decent level of football i would say there has been a lot of goals attributed to being his mistake. Unfairly in my opinion, yes he has made mistakes, but so have the players in front of him, and so have most or all other PL keepers this season.
He needs to improve his skill in commanding his box, but his shot stopping and ability on one and ones is excellent.
Like any other foobtaller can we not beleive he may improve on his weaknesses.
Ask yourself this question, has Scott been better this season than last? I would answer yes most definately. Personally i wouldnt be too eager to get rid of a developing keeper at his age.
Damn it i said i havent got time to get into a debate on the subject then sit here typing away, silly me.
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20.Wallheath. Don’t worry too much what you look like, they’ll all be too pi**ed to notice! Especially if the E&S send that nice looking girl again. I won’t be around too long so do look for my name badge. No, I’m not going to drop dead just yet, we’re looking after my daughter’s old, fat, smelly dog and I need to be there.
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Torn on the Carson issue to be perfectly honest. I still think that he’s a better keeper than given credit for,but the panic which he often spreads amongst the supporters must surely be felt by the defense too. For every couple of good kicks,there’s a momentous rick of one around the corner,giving possession straight back even if its only via a throw in. Also,his decision making can be very erratic. Coming for crosses and changing your mind just isn’t good enough and throws defenders off their own game (although he can’t be blamed for allowing the cross to come over in the first place!?!). Parts of his game are improving such as positioning and reducing angles. But how long do we wait for it all to come together? Personally,i’d like to see him stay in direct competition with Kuzscack. If he’s not up for that then he answers my question for me. Nobody’s above the team and it’d be a case of thanks for your efforts,good luck and goodbye. COME ON YOU BAGGIES!
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Carson had made some mistakes, not sure all those that Bobby lists are entirely his doing, but as Bomber rightly points out he’s also made some excellent saves which seem to evade the memories of some. I remember a wonderful save at Everton when we were 2-1 up, never gets mentioned.
The problem lies not so much with that but the way he’s treated by the supporters. Carson caught a cross at 2-0 Sunday and some prat near me sarcastically cheered when in fact he did nothing wrong (1 skewed kick aside) for 90 minutes. I also remember losing at Bolton 2-0, for their 2nd Elmander ran through about 4 tackles and blasted home from about 4 yards, again I heard some knocking Carson. He makes mistakes yes, but the negativity he receives is completely dispropotionate, for some his face doesn’t fit and never will.
So…we move on. I’ve asked about 15 times for sensible suggestions for a replacement. So far, suggestions have included:
Sorensen- Villa didn’t want him; Stoke no.2; had a shocker at World Cup.
Lewis- Mistakes vs us for P’boro last year.
Westwood- Ireland understudy, unproven at this level.
Kuszczak- Excellent in parts last time around but people seem to forget clangers before he left, Spurs (a) anyone??
Given- Excellent keeper but supposedly wanted by Arsenal i.e. we’d be very lucky if he came to us.
In summary, if we replaced Carson we’d be taking a punt on either someone who has clangers in them, is 2nd choice elsewhere which begs the question are they that good, or someone unproven at this level.
In truth all keepers drop clangers. Hart’s dropped points for his team and so have Foster (quite a few), Al-Habsi, Schwarzer, Hennessey, Gomes, Green, Howard etc.
Bearing in mind the indiscretions of the aforementioned and that we’re probably about 12th-15th down the pecking order in terms of getting a keeper, are we guaranteed to someone better?
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Carson has improved on last season but IMO still isn’t good enough. It’s all good and well saying he’s young and still improving but how long can we wait to see if this improvement continues to see him become at Premier League GK? We don’t have the best defence in the world and the way we play we will always give the opposition chances from open play – this is where Carson is pretty decent. However, we have been awful at defending set pieces and crosses into the box for the last few years and this is where Carson is by far the worst keeper in the league. A change would do him and us the world of good.
As for Deano, he too had the same frailties as Carson, I just wonder how he can train someone to do something he couldn’t as a player?
Given or Sorensen for me.
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Warren
Sorensen – much better than Carson
Lewis – too young, not good enough
Westwood – better than Carson
Kuszczak – better than Carson
Given – much better than Carson
Hart – much better than Carson
Foster – much better than Carson
Al-Habsi – much better than Carson
Schwarzer – much better than Carson
Hennessey – on par with Carson
Gomes – on par with Carson
Green – on par with Carson
Howard – much better than Carson
Arsenal are actually after the French lad Loris not Given apparently. As previously stated, I don’t boo Carson, nor have I ever slagged him off on here and yes I know he’s made some good saves etc etc. BUT, he makes MORE mistakes than any other keeper in the Prem and mistakes by keepers cost you goals.
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27 TRBH
Yes I agree that the way we played and our defence e.g. Big Dave as you mentioned was also a big factor in Hoults performances and also I think that his age/experience was too as he was at the peak of his career. So as you say maybe Scott does just need TIME like most keepers as he is still young. Make no doubts about it it’s not just his fault and our defence needs a good refurbish and tuning in the summer.
BOING BOING!!
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Just looked at the ALBION shadow squad photo of the four youngsters, on our site. From left to right: Barlow, Allen, Setters, Astle. I wonder.
BOING~~~~BOING~~~~JtH.
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Totally agree with wbabomber and Warren. Keepers are rarely remembered for “doing their job” and I think Carson will never be accepted by a sizeable percentage of the Albion supporters.
Is TK that much better than SC? Again, it’s unfair imo to judge a keeper out of context; compare Utd’s centre halves to ours and I think that plays a significant role too.
Hodgson knows success begins at the back, the writing is on the wall. What about the rumours over 3 million for AJ from Fulham? Interesting summer ahead, Baggies.
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There are a few very good points about the defenders playing in front of you. When Hoult was our keeper, I remember reading a piece where it was said that they worked tirelessly on pushing the line every time a cross was about to come in which left a huge area for Hoult to come and claim the cross.
Compare that to Carson’s job at Stoke (bearing in mind the above was pre-Stoke days) where he’s trying to claim a cross in a 6-yard area with 10 tall bodies around him.
As a case in point on Carson’s treatment, I actually thought he did really well at Stoke. There were one or two crosses he coped with admirably in the circumstances which is what Roy called him up for. There was just the unfortunate goal which was a carbon copy of Hernandez’. Only the latter gets mentioned.
Lords My Shepherd
Those are your opinions based on seeing those keepers on the odd occasion. If you’d seen Carson 6 times, you might think he was a wonderful keeper.
Also what you intelligently avoid highlighting is that Given, Hart, Gomes and Howard play for clubs higher up the table than us. Most of them are probably on better wages too.
If Westwood’s that much better, why is he still playing for Coventry and not Ireland’s number 1 and why did Carson almost score against him last season? If Sorensen’s that much better, why did Villa get rid of him? Why don’t Stoke play him? and why did he have such a shocker for Denmark against Japan?
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Lords My Shepherd
Final point:
‘Carson makes MORE mistakes than any other keeper in the Prem’
I’ve seen a greater number of glaring errors that have directly led to goals this season from Foster and Green than I have from Carson. Also Hart, Van Der Sar, Al-Habsi, Reina, Almunia, Sczeszeny and Schwarzer have made more obvious one-off errors than Carson’s at Fulham (which was probably his worst).
Carson’s not faultless by any means, but he gets a raw deal sometimes IMO.
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8) You have hit the nail on the head for me, in the cold hard light of today, for the majority of players, wages are all that matter, as I pointed out the other day, and several of you have also stated today, 4 years he has wasted, 4 years he will never get back, and for what? a very large pay cheque, nothing else.
Also, is it me, or do players tend not to be as good second time round? Fortune is a case in point.
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41) Dont forget Gomes! who has had some real stinkers, and probably cost Spurs a Champions League place.
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42. Well they always say never go back don’t they cos its not as good second time round, whether or not he would be a good signing or not depends on whether he is better than what you have got already and to be fair I would say yes he is better than carson but thats only my opinion, as for fortune well if he was any good surely celtic would have kept him but he wasn’t so they snatched your hands off when you bought him back whilst laughing all the way to the bank, be under no illusions though we too have bought our fair share of donkeys over the years and have been royally mugged in the process too.
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Warren
‘Those are your opinions based on seeing those keepers on the odd occasion. If you’d seen Carson 6 times, you might think he was a wonderful keeper.’
True, but I watch a hell of a lot of football and have done for years so aside from Westwood and Lewis I think I’ve seen enough of them.
‘Also what you intelligently avoid highlighting is that Given, Hart, Gomes and Howard play for clubs higher up the table than us. Most of them are probably on better wages too.’
Pretty daft comment seeing as I never said anything about signing Hart, Gomes or Howard did I? And wasn’t JP’s policy in the summer to sign players for lower fees on higher wages?
‘If Sorensen’s that much better, why did Villa get rid of him? Why don’t Stoke play him? and why did he have such a shocker for Denmark against Japan?’
I could say the same about Carson – why did Villa get rid of him? Why did Liverpool get rid of him? Why did he have a shocker against Croatia in THAT game? The only reason he doesn’t get a game for Stoke is because Begovic is one of the top keepers in the Prem at the moment.
And before you say anything about the defenders in front being better, do you know who OPTA have stated is the best Prem keeper to date this year?
Marcus Hahnemann, Wolverhampton Wanderers
More saves per game than any other regular ‘keeper – 4.4
Highest saves-to-shots ratio of any regular goalie – 79.7%
96% catch success rate
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Ref Gomes, just looked on National Press, and looks like Harry has had enough and is going to make a move for Foster, could be just paper talk, but then again?
Please lord dont let us get Gomes!
Please lord dont let us get Gomes!
Please lord dont let us get Gomes!
Please lord dont let us get Gomes!
oh, you get the idea!
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I think if we can Kuszczak cheap definitely get him. Also about Zoltan Gera his contract is up this summer at Fulham so no Fee involved, But coming from Fulham where they have played european football his wages might be too high for Peace to get him. I hope not because with him and Brunty in midfield i reckon will might just scrape top ten finish. Also hope Peace listens to Hodgson and actually spends a good bit improving defence and getting another striker in case we lose odemwingie
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Warren.
I suggested Westwood as a squad player who would cost nothing and be on reasonable wages but could challenge whoever the first choice might be, hopefully Carson.
My point was that I read that a couple of Championshio teams were after him and a couple of years down the line we might regret missing him.
I remember seeing him play for Carlisle in the play offs before Cov signed him. He looked outstanding and the question was could he do it at a higher level? I don’t think the PL is such a major difference for keepers as outfield players. To me he looks to have the lot, height, agility and ability. He just needs a chance.
PS Got to agree with Warren Lords My Shepherd, it’s too glib just to have a tick list saying ‘better, just as good etc.’ It doesn’t take any circumstances into account.
Carson unfortunately is like Gomes, the media are looking to pounce on any mistake and magnify it, like sharks smelling blood. If any other keeper makes the same mistake it’s not news. The modern footballs make keepers look bad because of the untrue flight, it’s just that you see our keeper more often.
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Was sorry to see him go dont know why Myhill
lost his place? Would like to see more of Hurst also Jara in midfield will we try for Vela? Olssen needs help Meite unreliable not sure about Tchoyi saw him on utube in europe
looked great but not out wide will Barnes find
his previous form? Thomas performances tailed
off lately. looking forward to seeing Dorrans
again Hope we can keep Peter must be one of our all time best buys.
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Dont think Carson made to many mistakes Sunday, and you still lost easily. Big money needs to be spent with SSS looming.
With peter Os departure should come a few quid. Might even be enough for Roy to buy back all the old dross he took off your hands in the first place when they escaped to Fulham a couple of years ago.
But on the bright side, that should save a few of the faithful a few quid next season. Think about it . A quick rummage around and you should be able to find your old Baggy shirts with their names still on the back. Were in a recession you know ? Every little helps.
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I think there is a bit of a siege mentallity developing here with some of the Albion Fans in the blind loyalty for Scott Carson. Anyone who has watched him week in week out over the last 3 seasons will surely agree he isn’t good enough. He cannot be blamed for all goals agreed but he just doesn’t command his area, his positioning is poor and repeatedly gets beaten down low where he appears flat footed we have all witnessed countless examples of this. Alan Miller, Russell Hoult and Thomas Kuzack were and are all superior goal keepers to Carson although i agree he is relitively young for a keeper. There may be a case for keeping him but not for me im afraid.
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dont compare carson with kuszczak
cause theres only one winner
i would have him back
in my opinon he ruined his career at united
carson is a weak link in our team
aswell as the defence
i think we need
2 keepers
right back, 2 centre backs and left back
and 1/2 strikers
cause fortune isnt even championship standard
and miller looked like he lost his pace
not sure about cox but has lost weight and much fitter than was earlier on this season
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I have to say there must be something to the argument that Carson is not good enough as it raises its head so frequently. Firstly, keepers make mistakes and when they do they are usually costly. My take on this is that he does cost us more points than he earns us. We can argue til the cows come home which games these may be and I am not going to get into naming games but as an example we will never know whether the outcome of the Chelsea game would have been different had Carson made routine saves. I am in agreement with 22 and 25 regarding additions to the squad. We do need to improve in the goal keeping area – who that is I am not sure. Given would be great but he will be costly and will have better options than us.
Proper right back
Cover at left back
Another central midfield player as we seem to struggle without Scharner / Mulumbu;
A couple of forwards.
There will need to an offload, 25 has hit the nail on the head with his comments and am in agreement with these.
We must remember that with Olssen, Mulumbu, Scharner, Brunt, Dorrans & PO we have the nucleus of a very decent side. Good additions to the above and we have good times ahead.
Might try and make it to the Vine to put faces to usernames and for a swift half or soft one before the long journey home!
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I do have some sympathy with Carson – any weak goal conceded seems to be pinned on him no matter what by some fans. The first against Chelsea for example – although not great keeping the mistake by Shorey at the back post to pull it back across goal to Drogba rather than putting the ball out for a corner was far worse, yet Carson is still held as public enemy number one and to blame. Stoke away – not great keeping from the corner but Dorrans’ marking was simply shambolic.
However, I have said on numerous occassions on here that I don’t believe Carson is the answer long term. He struggles with confidence more than most (yes the boo boys from all his clubs and England haven’t helped that) and I don’t believe he organises/ commands his penalty area well enough. For me he is not vocal enough and the defence don’t trust him (would be fair to say he may well not trust them either).
For me I thought Myhill, although not amazing in his run of games, was harshly dropped and we still haven’t seen enough of him to judge whether he’s good enough or not. Would I be surprised to see Scott kick on and flourish elsewhere – a little I guess but not gob smacked. As stated by another post earlier on I think a move would benefit all parties – but only if we have a better replacement lined up.
As for a replacement – I’m honestly not sure with any of the names that have been linked bar Shay Given and I just can’t see him joining us. I appreciate Man City may not want him to go to a team in the top 6 but surely Newcastle would have to be firm favourites to get him what with their history and need for a class keeper? Even Villa maybe looking after a weak season from Friedel. I’d love Given at the Hawthorns but think he’s well out of our league……I did say that about Hodgson though so what do I know.
One final comment – any thoughts on what will happen to Valero? Surely he doesn’t come back into the fold does he? Genuine class act the past two seasons in La Liga but I would massively question his desire/ commitment to the Albion and the Premiership as a whole. If he was up for the challenge would he be worth another go?
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I love the ever increasing shopping lists on here. To be realistic we will be lucky to get £10M to spend.
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I’d welcome him back between the sticks.
I’ll never forget the save he made at Wigan to deny Jason Roberts and help us to a 1 – 0 win a few seasons back.
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In my opinion Carson’s problem has always been getting down to save low shots just inside the post. It’s like slow motion watching him dive for those shots.
The two goals conceded at Tottenham were typical. I think Myhill would have saved those. It was no surprise that Defoe scored. His shots are often crisp, well hit low shots from outside the box – just the type that Carson struggles with.
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I for one don’t think Carson makes very many mistakes. I have always felt his achilles heal is he has always been too slow to react to shots from distance.
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Wall Heath.
Spot on!!!!
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trbh- how come youre agreeing with the people, not like you m8, i must say i am surprised, i been saying what happy is saying all along,
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25, Romsley Baggie.
Sounds good to me, but alas, Roy won’t have much to spend whatever we do. It is what it is. We can only hope we retain our Premiership status again next season.
Not sure Wolves will be with us though? I can see them getting done in both of the last two games……………….Oh dear.
We did make them look good, especially first half.
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ALBION off to America. wolves, a fortnight in Pensnett Trading Estate. That’s a couple more palettes of cheap bricks for the NETTO-GHETTO.
BOING~~~~BOING~~~~JtH.
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know ill get slated, but i for one hope jp doesnt listen to roy! look who hes signed from us in the past and what he paid for em!
leave the scouting to dan et al. and the negotiating to jp, theyve done wonders so far.
bring the pole in if we can, let boaz and scott fight for 2nd spot, one on loan somewhere to get confidence back up.
a quality central defender a must in the summer, any goalie will become shakey if he doesnt believe in the defence
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I am sure Roy Hodgson is aware that a keeper is the priority this summer.Lets face it the stats speak for itself in terms of goals conceded and clean sheets.In the three years i have been watching Scott carson he is frequently beaten from low shots outside the box, not to mention the lack of command in the penalty box.Can anyone honsetly tell me they have watched a game in the last 3 seasons and come out saying “thank god for scott Carson he kept us in the game today”.At best he makes regualtion saves which i would expect Conference goalkeepers to make.I think Kuszczak would be a great replacement with Myhill as back up.Sell Carson and get some money back whilst we can
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carson would be ok , if he commanded his 6 yard box on corners, ie catch the ball, dont punch it, and dont hesitate, want to stay scott, then make a descision, come on son , youve got , plenty of years ahead of ya, make us proud
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I hope we sign Tomas Kuszczak,he is fantastic goalkeeper…good luck to him
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60 sid.
Are you referring to post 26, I was being ironic in the first line not having a go at Scott Carson. I’m still happy with him as a keeper but have faced the fact that it’s a bit like lynch mob mentality, the vocal minority shout loud enough to convince those unable to form their own opinions (I’m talking about at the ground not on here.)
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Can anyone remember any occasion when Scott Carson was our man of the match? He played an excellent game in the 1-1 league draw at Reading last season, but I can not recall leaving any other drawn game – or, even better, a narrow win – saying:’Carson won those points for us today.’
Also, has he ever saved a penalty?
Ben Foster and Joe Hart at Birmingham have won games for them in the last two seasons.
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61 Barnsley.
Where did you read that we wouldn’t be spending much, I must have missed it. Compared to Man City I’m sure we won’t but I don’t think the Chairman has actually mentioned any figures yet.
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Lords My Shepherd
You didn’t suggest signing Given, Howard, Hart or Gomes no, but the topic of conversation was who can we replace Carson with, so by listing them as favourable in comparison to Carson, there’s an implication we have a number of alternative options.
As Beevower (post 54) points out, I don’t think there are any names on the list of alternatives that fill you with excitement.
You respond to the questions of Sorensen with questions on Carson. I’m not denying Carson has question marks hanging above him, that doesn’t answer why Sorensen’s career has nosedived. If you’ve seen a lot of him recently then I’ll bow to your greater knowledge, but in his last games for Stoke and Denmark, he looked to me like a man badly lacking in confidence.
Again Westwood, you may have seen more of him than me, TRBH may have too. If you’re both right I’ll happily eat humble pie, I’d love it if we got a top goalkeeper. I was just posing the question as to why he’s still at Coventry and not Ireland’s number one yet.
If Carson does move on, perhaps it’s for the best, but I’m just not sure any of the suggested realistic replacements are going to be immeasurably better (Kuszczak included). Only Given, who as Beevower says, is highly improbable.
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Having read some of the comments above i think many of you have poor memories. Some have even said can you remember Carson helping us to win games?
Are you being serious, you are taking blind seated one eyed view point to a new level, either that or you do not attend games on a regular basis.
The word scape goat doesnt quite cover it.
As ive already said i am not Carsons biggest fan, but some of the things being said about him are just plain ridiculous.
Just for the record he had super games against, Everton a Sunderland h Sunderland a Arsenal a Wolves a Stoke a……..i could go on if i had the time to go through every game this season.
Yes i know he has had stinkers too and i do not deny he has flaws he needs to work on, but come on guys.
I remember the Stoke away game when he was reinstated. He was blamed for their goal by a number of fans, utter tosh, a view point made by people who have never played football. Look at the goal again, G Dorrans is marking the goal scorer Delap goal side and fails to get to the near post corner before him.
As i said at the time, what did you want Carson to do, come near post and punch the ball away over the top of two players??
It was Dozzas fault, but it was much easier to jump on the bandwaggon and blame Carson.
As i say Carson has had ome very poor games and i have had no problem in pointing those out, but what i cannot accept is him being blamed for things or goals which were not his fault. It just isnt right or fair.
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60 sid.
I’ve partly answered your post but you say ‘it’s not like you to agree with people.’ I’ve agreed with you in the past as often as I’ve disagreed and have come on and congratulated you on a good post. The thing is do you want me to come on here and say I agree with people when I don’t?
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71 Bomber.
As I said in the earlier post, it’s time for Carson to move on as he’s blocking the careers of our other potential scapegoats.
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After viewing the “Lord Alan Sugar” program. There are some big clubs now ready to hit the brick wall. Not Manchester United though, they’re our big fish, media’s delight, who started to be footballs “Holy cow” in 1958. They are geared by all and sundry, never to leave the Premiership whatever happens. What I say is, thank heaven for Jeremy Peace. Whatever we spend in the close season or not.
BOING~~~~BOING~~~~JtH.
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50) Loney, I think the one thing that can be gathered from any of our posts are that at least we are “realistic” (look at it up in the dictionary for definition)
Premiership safety assured some time ago now, but unlike some clubs that are clinging on by the merest slither of hope, you wont catch us banding about big money transfers such as Fletcher, but then again, given our proven track record and success this season, we don’t need too!
I do agree with you if Odem did leave we are looking at mega bucks (do you think Wolves could afford a top 5 Premier league striker? I doubt it) how much do you think you will seriously get for Fletcher? Chalk it up as another loss for the Wolves, yet another one in a long line of bad decisions.
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(50)
Odd Fellow,
That dross you’re on about, tanned wolves backside four times in one season. Also caught wolves up when they had eleven points lead and pipped you to promotion. Have you conveniently forgot or are you going senile, your choice.
BOING~~~~BOING~~~~JtH.
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76) They seem to have conveniently forgotten when they bang on about the worst defence in the league, they have the worst away record in the league, remind me, are they home or away Saturday?
Given that fact, its a lot to be pining your whole future on the last game, against Blackburn who are playing Man U this weekend will more than likely be heading into that game fighting for their lives. I don’t envy you, I don’t envy you at all!
Swap Sundays result for our position? of course you would!
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71 Bomber-
Re: Carson at Stoke,I re-played their goal back at the time,having recorded the highlights,and said on here that the ‘keeper couldn’t do a thing about it.
Scott had two big players to watch(Huth and Carew?),moving towards the far post,and Delap was marked by GD,with Fortune standing on the near post where the header went in.
Nevertheless,some people were predictably blaming Scott,even though he was completely blameless.
More recently,out of interest,after the villa game I pointed out that he played well,and said I look forward to people giving him some praise,but there was very little response.
Obviously some guys are just waiting for a mistake before passing judgement.
I said before that top quality ‘keepers would be snapped up by top clubs,but I’m sure the Baggies are looking out for the best players they can realistically attract and afford.
I’m sure ALL ‘keepers make blunders from time to time,so if we sign a decent guy who then costs us a game or two,how will the boo boys react to that?
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CR78, Bomber
I mentioned earlier in the thread that I’ve heard blame attributed to Carson at Bolton for their 2nd and the sarcastic cheers on Sunday. I remember walking out of Goodison after we’d won 4-1 and someone was giving Carson abuse (????).
This fits right into your post Bomber (71), which I completely agree with. It’s not so much the barracking when he is at fault, just the irrational and disproportionate blame that goes his way when he’s actually done nothing wrong but others have.
It’s these sort of cretins that ruined Scott Darton’s short career. It makes my blood boil it really does and just smacks of a lack of intelligence.
Stoney Lane
You mention that Ben Foster has gained points for Birmingham this season, he’s also lost them about a dozen!!
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WONOH & JtH-
Lonely is a wind-up merchant,who looks for a backlash to his posts,he actually enjoys having his backside booted on here.
It’s an amusing distraction for him,so he can forget about wolves problems for a short time-but they’re still there!
Just give him a bar of chocolate and a pat on the head,and he’ll go away.
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I’ve been watching goalkeepers at the Hawthorns since 1962 and I think Jock Wallace was in goal then -and in that time I’ve seen TWO half decent keepers…namely, John Osborne and Russell Hoult…everyone else has been pretty ordinary…luckily its been supplemented by some outstanding strikers, midfielders, wingers and the odd gem of a full back…Statham so sorry but bye to Carson and hello to the “pole in the goal”…..
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Careless Hands (81) I go back to 1971 and I agree about Ossie and Hoult. I’ll also make the point about Tony Godden who had the makings of being a good keeper but was thrust into the first team too early and had his confidence severely shot. Fans around that era will tell you that they lived on tranqs.
I would like to see Tomas back, but I’d also like to see both Carson and Myhill stay and hopefully improve. Carson still has the makings of being a first class keeper (just ducking back down behind the parapit) and, as someone suggested, having a loan spell would improve his confidence no end.
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Can I put the record straight regards “that Goal” against Croatia? Not sure how many of you were actually at that game? I was! and sat to the left of the goal directly in line with the shot. The rain was like a monsoon before the game (It actually flooded under the bridge at Wembley parkway)and the rain was heavy during the game. The shot was hit with extreme power and what was not noticeable on tv was how the ball bounced off the surface (about a foot higher than it probably should have)Carson actually made several saves that night that kept England in the game! was the third goal his fault? NO!….
Carson is a decent keeper and as long as he wears the shirt like any other player (except Van BERK!)I will support him….rant over!
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78 CR78.
I said something similar at the time but the psyche of the mob is very simplistic IE Dorrans good, Carson bad. Therefore it could not have been Dorrans fault so who can we blame? Dur.
This incident probably reflects part of the reason for our lack of clean sheets. It’s not only because we get a lot of players forward. But just as big a part is a lack of concentration from our players at set pieces. Sunday was an excellent example, players totally unmarked in the box in front of goal. There’s no excuse for this in a Sunday morning game never mind a professional team. I’m sure Roy will sort this out before next season.
In the meantime let’s carry on blaming everyone’s favourite fall guy.
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(83)
Big Club,
John Terry also stated that he should have cleared the ball, before that shot, as he had the opportunity to do so.
BOING~~~~BOING~~~~JtH.
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David James past it,Robinson,Foster and now Green don’t want to play for England so that makes Carson our national No2.Sign the Pole then Carson will be our No2 also.Who’d have thought it?
There again this will put a few quid on Carson’s value should we decide to sell.
Out of darkness cometh light so they say.
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