Thursday, May 3, 2012

The L1-10 2011/12 Player Review - Part 1 - Keepers



A decent Forecast

KELVIN DAVIS worried me a bit last season with a few near post howlers and I wondered how he was going to do but being under a bit more pressure seems to suit him and he’s done well.  His performance in the Leeds away game was right up there with anything Antii Niemi, Tim Flowers or even Shilts produced in their time with us.  The ‘nailed to the goal-line’ games are getting less frequent and he thoroughly deserves to start as first choice next year.  His distribution improved this year as well and the kick to the wing flying miles over everyone’s head straight out for a throw in was more or less eradicated.  He’s already mentioned his previous season in the Prem which was with Sunderland when he had a mare so lets hope that he puts that particular one to bed and performs well. 

BARTOSZ BIALKOWSKI, the King of Patience played one league game this season and let in a horrendous goal against Blackpool when it went through his arms and legs.  This was the coup de grace in a generally shocking performance which was right up there in terms of the worst goalkeeping display I’ve ever seen.  Luckily, in the cup games he’s played, he did well and so it’s wrong to write him off just yet.  Whenever he’s had a run of games for us he’s done ok as his confidence grew.  I have a feeling that another keeper will arrive for next season and Bart could find himself further down the pecking order if indeed he’s still here as he’s out of contract.  If he’s still here then it’s an ideal opportunity to go out on loan somewhere and play some games.

TOMMY FORECAST has a dream job.  I used to play in goal and though I’m 43 and haven’t donned the gloves in an 11-a-side game for 9 years, I could do what Forecast does which is basically sod all except pick up wages.  In the four years he’s been here, the only time he’s played in front of a crowd was in an end of season kick about with a bunch of ex-Saints who were as old as me and that’s it.  He hardly plays in development games either as it’s either Bart for practice or one of the younger keepers like Steve Mowthorp.  He must have some sort of bomb-proof contract to still be here after 4 years and not even a sniff of a first team appearance and apparently, he has another year left on his deal – well played Rupert.  This may have been last season (it’s hard to remember as there are no significant indicents) but I think he went on loan to a club in the division that Pompey are going to be in next year, Southern League Division 8 and got sent back after 2 games.  He’s actually one of our longest serving employees (not a player) with probably only the other two keepers and Morgan having been here longer.  Signed from Spurs as part of the Gareth Bale deal – the equivalent now would be us signing Modric from Spurs, giving them £8million and a training cone in return.

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