Where was Guthrie again?!

[Extended-Phenotype]

I agree with Sandy; it IS important for a keeper to find a fellow team mate with a pass. Of our three keepers Alex is currently our best choice, incidentally.

McCarthy - 42.9%
Federici - 40.7%
Taylor - 34.5%

[RoyalBlue]

I agree with Sandy; it IS important for a keeper to find a fellow team mate with a pass. Of our three keepers Alex is currently our best choice, incidentally.

McCarthy - 42.9%
Federici - 40.7%
Taylor - 34.5%

Those stats surprise me. It looks like AM is the best of a bad bunch in that respect. They will need to do far better to fit into Adkins preferred style.

In part defence of Feds, virtually all of his games were under McDermott when the clear instructions were to kick long. Given that, 40.7% is not bad.

Incidentally, back in the days when he was still 'Nicky', Mr Hammond had some good advice for my kids, both aspiring keepers. He encouraged them to develop skills as an outfield player before concentrating on becoming keepers.

As a consequence, both are extremely comfortable with the ball at their feet, although on occasions have probably taken things too far, deliberately choosing to outskill closing forwards!

[melonhead]

daft stats really, since a big chunk of their kicks will be aimed at the touchline, so as to get a defenders header out of play for our throw in

[Maguire]

I agree with Sandy; it IS important for a keeper to find a fellow team mate with a pass. Of our three keepers Alex is currently our best choice, incidentally.

McCarthy - 42.9%
Federici - 40.7%
Taylor - 34.5%

Surely that's because McCarthy has been playing under Adkins where he's instructed to pass it wide to defender (occasionally getting us into trouble as a consequence)

[Extended-Phenotype]

I agree with Sandy; it IS important for a keeper to find a fellow team mate with a pass. Of our three keepers Alex is currently our best choice, incidentally.

McCarthy - 42.9%
Federici - 40.7%
Taylor - 34.5%

Surely that's because McCarthy has been playing under Adkins where he's instructed to pass it wide to defender (occasionally getting us into trouble as a consequence)

Just pointing out that AM's passing shouldn't really be a factor for his exclusion, given that he isn't dramatically different to other options.

Incidentally, it's an old stat but keepers tend to average around 50% pass completion.

[Maguire]

That is, to coin a phrase, fair.

[melonhead]

which is probably why passing it out from the back is a better idea
goal kick is always going to be about 50-50

[Extended-Phenotype]

which is probably why passing it out from the back is a better idea
goal kick is always going to be about 50-50

A better idea if you have players with the ability to move the ball forward themselves without losing the ball. Plus, 50/50 is worth the punt if the reward is high - i.e. winning the ball close to the oppositions goal.

[Ian Royal]

which is probably why passing it out from the back is a better idea
goal kick is always going to be about 50-50

A better idea if you have players with the ability to move the ball forward themselves without losing the ball. Plus, 50/50 is worth the punt if the reward is high - i.e. winning the ball close to the oppositions goal.

Yeah, if you're going to kick it long from the keeper, they have to be accurate, and you either have to have players good at winning that first challenge and getting it to one of their team mates, or a midfield that's excellent at picking up the second ball. Preferably both. We had neither.

McCarthy's kicking is very weak in terms of distance and accuracy, but he makes up for that with better roll outs and throws to his defenders. And lets face it, it's not like Mr "superior kicking" Federici hasn't shanked half a dozen kicks straight to the opposition in his time with us. I can think of a couple of goals he's conceeded because of that off the top of my head.

Very interesting to see McCarthy still has the best pass completion given his kicking.

[Extended-Phenotype]

I think like Mags said, its probably to do with him being asked to make a few more shorter passes than Feds, so there isn't much in it really (which was my point - AM isn't giving the ball away significantly more).

[soggy biscuit]

After all these years with Federici in goal am I the only one that gets nervous every time he does his sideways kick thing, thinking he is going to spoon it up in the air?

[RoyalBlue]

I agree with Sandy; it IS important for a keeper to find a fellow team mate with a pass. Of our three keepers Alex is currently our best choice, incidentally.

McCarthy - 42.9%
Federici - 40.7%
Taylor - 34.5%

Surely that's because McCarthy has been playing under Adkins where he's instructed to pass it wide to defender (occasionally getting us into trouble as a consequence)

I would agree. You are far more likely to lose possession with long kicks than short passes and Feds played most of his games under the long ball regime. Therefore I would argue that the fact that McCarthy's stats are better is because of the fact that he has been asked to go for short range distribution in his recent run of games. Throws and short passes should be a lot easier to complete successfully (and if you are comfortable with the ball at your feet, you really shouldn't get into trouble as a consequence, other than on an extremely rare occasion when you just make a mistake). In contrast, for all his other alleged faults, most reasonable people would acknowledge that Fed's long range distribution is pretty damn good and generally better than McCarthy's (didn't Adkins acknowledge that?).

After all these years with Federici in goal am I the only one that gets nervous every time he does his sideways kick thing, thinking he is going to spoon it up in the air?

I would say that whilst you won't be the only one, you will be very much in a minority. Once perfected, and Federici has definitely perfected it, that particular technique is very reliable and far more accurate/difficult for defenders to deal with.

which is probably why passing it out from the back is a better idea
goal kick is always going to be about 50-50

I wouldn't think the odds are that good for a goal/drop kick. At best I would say that you are likely to win possession on 40% of occasions (PL defenders seemed particularly good at dealing with long range distribution), whereas the percentage success rate for shorter range distribution is likely to be very considerably higher. That doesn't mean there isn't a place for long range distribution at certain points in any game.

[winchester_royal]

which is probably why passing it out from the back is a better idea
goal kick is always going to be about 50-50

A better idea if you have players with the ability to move the ball forward themselves without losing the ball. Plus, 50/50 is worth the punt if the reward is high - i.e. winning the ball close to the oppositions goal.

Odd that we seem to be having more shots and chances playing a shorter game then...

[melonhead]

missing the fact that we are also giving up possession in our own half more, giving more opportunities to the oppo


also adkins has clearly told them to shoot more and earlier, rather than wait for a more cast iron opportunity

[Extended-Phenotype]

which is probably why passing it out from the back is a better idea
goal kick is always going to be about 50-50

A better idea if you have players with the ability to move the ball forward themselves without losing the ball. Plus, 50/50 is worth the punt if the reward is high - i.e. winning the ball close to the oppositions goal.

Odd that we seem to be having more shots and chances playing a shorter game then...

Apols, wasn't actually condemning our team there - just saying the tactic used depends on your team and style.

Personally, I don't think McD had enough confidence in our players, as demonstrated by some of his tactics and choices.

[winchester_royal]

Oh, my bad then. Apols also.

Yes, often the long ball is the right one to play percentage wise...however if you're going to play like that then you really do need a guy up top who is going to win the majority of his aerial duels, a la Mr Carroll.

[Maguire]

I think we all largely seem to be on the same page here.

[Royal With Cheese]

+1

[Extended-Phenotype]

Well this won't do.

[MouldyRoyal]

I think we all largely seem to be on the same page here.

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