30 Aug 2015 10:36:07
I want to talk about Sergio Romero.
People talk about him being a disaster waiting to happen, and I can see why. He does seem to take an age when he has the ball at his feet. He has had be gasp a few times. And yet he has so far only conceeded one goal, and a fluke of a own goal that was too.
Would DDG have been able to do any better than him so far this season? I don't think so.
Our weak defense has been pretty water tight so far. Last season we didn't concede that many goals, but we did concede a load of chances. And fortunately DDG was there to save our arses time and again. But this season how many times has Romero pulled of a great save?
Maybe twice? Once against Spurs and once in that one on one agaisnt Brugge away.
Do I think we will concede goals this season? Yes of course we will. Will Romero be the cause? Maybe but probably not, most goals conceded are through mistakes made by outfield players not keepers.
Yes I expect Romero to make a couple of mistakes, everyone does. Even DDG made mistakes last season, but his weekly world class saves stick in our minds more than the mistakes.
I don't think Romero is the best keeper we could have but I think if the team plays the way LvG wants them to play then he is good enough.
Johnstone is a great young keeper and is good enough to stand in for Romero if needed. People say he isn't ready, how do you know? As until he plays for us amd shows how he can perform for us on a weekly basis you have nothing to base that opinion on. DDG wasn't ready for a top team when we signed him, it took a couple years for him to become a top keeper.
I don't see us signing a keeper in this window. Nor do I feel one is a top priority. For me we need pace and goalscoring threat in the right wing and a quality back up striker before we need to look at the keeper and CB positions.
30 Aug 2015 10:53:43
i don't think he looks great to be honest , i think he will cost us points
30 Aug 2015 11:09:41
"I don't think Romero is the best keeper we could have but I think if the team plays the way LvG wants them to play then he is good enough."
I think this will be the story of the season, not just with Romero, but our squad in general. We are set up to play functional passing football, and have enough to grind out wins against most of the sides in the league. The question is what is the squad "good enough" for? Winning titles or doing enough for a respectable finish? The proof of the pudding will be toward the thorny end of the season when fatigue starts setting in and we have to deal with injuries.
30 Aug 2015 11:14:50
I agree with jred. Look at what has happened to arsenal in the past without a top class keeper, small margins in the EPL
30 Aug 2015 11:36:48
I don't think he is good enough to be honest. We have not been put under pressure yet but there will be games against the likes of city and arsenal on the road where you need a top keeper and they can be the difference on the day.
30 Aug 2015 11:39:40
Eoin, Arsenal are a totally different kettle of fish, Sol Campbell apart name me one world class defender Wenger has signed? He inhererited a very good defence and since those players have left Arsenal have always been a team that attacks well but defends poorly. So to put them not winning things at the feet of their past keepers is exetemely harsh and a little misguided.
Danny, I think your probably right. This team looks far more functional rather than fantasy. But maybe without that world class player who can create something out of nothing that is always going to be the case.
Where we finish will show how successful this way of playing can be. But to be honest when I look at our squad I think really its the best way to achieve our aims.
Jred, I do think to really reach the top we will need a much better keeper than Romero. But how many players can we bring in during one window without causing too much distruption. We currently have brought in 5 players and most of us agree we still need a striker, a centre back, a right winger and a goalkeeper.
Thats another four, I think we can bring in one more at most without causing too much distruption. So three positions will have to make do until January at the earliest most likely until next summer. Personally I think a goalkeeper is less important to this squad than a right winger or a striker. Its a lack of goals scored than will cost us this season rather than the amount of goals conceded in my opinion.
30 Aug 2015 11:55:08
Arsenal's problems in past season lay a lot deeper than problems at GK.
If De gea moves on I'd expect Cillesens to be signed. If not, De Gea will be back in between the posts again.
I still believe we will sign another forward player. And I still hold the hope that it will be griezemann.
30 Aug 2015 11:59:31
He is a liability for me without doubt, he seems a bit wimpy and too quick to smile and laugh with the opposition (like he has gate crashed a party and everyone will realise soon, or he knows he is only there to prove a point to DDG and will be shunted back to the bench).
What I would say for him is that we seem better defensively, maybe I/we underestimate how good he is at organising, I really don't know who should take credit, manager, defenders, midfielders and keeper all should get a bit. But did DDG contribute to those chances being created in the first place by not organising enough?
It is open for debate and too soon to know but maybe DDG was called upon because he wasn't doing another part of his job as well as other keepers do. Romero will cost us points by simply lacking in confidence imo, hopefully once DDG is moved on he will feel/look more self assured.
30 Aug 2015 12:49:31
shaps
you say buying a new gk may cause disruption , you are away romero is a new player.
whats the difference between him coming in to the team compared to someone else ?
30 Aug 2015 13:11:20
Come september 2nd if de gea is still at the club i think we all know hell slot back in and play their for the rest of the season and then go off to madrid for a free. This would give us a season to get our scouting network on the case of a new golkeeper, much like we did with de gea, analysing him over a long period of time until we were confident that he could take over from van der sar.
30 Aug 2015 13:50:21
The deal to sell De Gea will be dependent on Utd already having a deal in place for Cillesen or someone else.
It's the same as Hernandez can find another club and leave but only if we have an agreement in place for a replacement. That's the exact reason why Spurs were knocked back when enquiring about him this week.
Whatever your opinion is about LVG and Ed Woodward they are not stupid.
30 Aug 2015 14:07:47
Beast for once I agree with most of what you've said. I don't know I would go as far as calling him a liability as he hasn't done anything to let us down yet. But he certainly makes me nervous with how long he takes to play the ball out.
Jred, its about the sheer number of players coming and going. We could well bring in another goalkeeper but I'd only want us to do that if we are 100% sure he is the right keeper for the next 5 years. No point panic buying for the sake of it.
But from everything I've read and heard about Romero he is working well with our current defenders and has settled pretty quickly.
You don't know how long it will take for the new goalkeeper to settle and build a good working relationship with our defenders.
Ultimately its not a good idea to bring in 7 or 8 players in one window as it causes problems with everyone settling into the team and creating an atmosphere.
I'm of the opinion we should sign one more player, two at absolute most, and looking at our priorities I think depth up front and pace wide right is more important than a keeper at this moment in time.
30 Aug 2015 14:31:40
shappy
until the keeper has a bad game .
as for panic buy we have know all season ddg may leave so we will have targets.
if ddg leaves we need a new gk .
romero doesn't look great and if he got injured our number 2 isn't ready.
we would have more and better options at cb, rw and st than we do at gk
30 Aug 2015 15:39:37
Shabby, I wasn't putting it down arsenal keepers for them not winning the league but how many teams have actually won the league with a poor keeper. A good keeper could be the difference of 12 points in a season.