Skjaere9 Posted February 6 Share Posted February 6 11 hours ago, bowlingcrofty said: Definitely believe this is a big part of the problem. Dubravka's starting position is much deeper than Pope's, so our defense drops deeper and suddenly there's a big gap between them and the midfield that is being repeatedly exploited. We are setup with a sweeper keeper type defensive line but we don't have the keeper to do the job. You almost never see Dubs heading clear or making interceptions outside the area. Completely agree with this. Pope’s sometimes gonzo approach to aggressive sweeper keeping was our solution to Rafa’s old “short blanket” problem. Now with Dubs glued to his line, it’s back. Way too much space for our slow, injury-depleted defenders and midfielders to cover. Of all the injuries in this cursed season, Popey’s was the one that wrecked us. 14 goals conceded from 14 PL games with Pope; 23 from 9 with Dubs 😫 And it’s not like we didn’t have catastrophic injury/suspension problems during Pope’s run of games (Botman, Barnes, Tonali, Willock, both strikers and Big Joe in and out, etc) too. Get well soon Popey 🙏 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest reefatoon Posted February 6 Share Posted February 6 16 hours ago, bowlingcrofty said: Definitely believe this is a big part of the problem. Dubravka's starting position is much deeper than Pope's, so our defense drops deeper and suddenly there's a big gap between them and the midfield that is being repeatedly exploited. We are setup with a sweeper keeper type defensive line but we don't have the keeper to do the job. You almost never see Dubs heading clear or making interceptions outside the area. Totally agree with this, it’s definitely been a factor. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nucasol Posted February 11 Share Posted February 11 Quite interesting stat popped up when talking about Vicario: Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
David Edgar Posted February 11 Share Posted February 11 Not surprising at all! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Smal Posted February 11 Share Posted February 11 Posted this in the Botman thread yesterday: 15 hours ago, Smal said: The injuries definitely play a part aye, and I don’t even think Dubravka has been playing badly, but he’s just the opposite of the right profile for us. I don’t even really rate Pope either, but he is a completely different goalkeeper to Dubravka and it’s shown massively during his absence what a goalkeeper of Pope’s profile gives us. Relatively slow back line that regularly plays high up and man to man? You need an aggressive keeper who will dominate large spaces, not a meek one who hasn’t got a clue how to come off his line. To underpin the difference further: Pope: Dubravka: It’s never been clearer than the Awoyini pen shout yesterday which came from their keeper taking a long punt forwards from the edge of his area. The comms talked about Botman’s poor defending, but Awoyini didn’t actually touch the ball until he was a yard inside our own area. Any goalkeeper should be looking after that situation and any defender will be expecting them to do so. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lush Vlad Posted February 11 Share Posted February 11 (edited) In fairness, whilst I agree with all of that. We have had some injuries to the back 4, Trippier had a massive drop in form and the midfield 3 that has played for a lot of Dubravka’s run in the side. Offers fuck all in the way of protection to the defence and are slower than me after a curry and 8 pints. So many things going wrong at the same time. Unrecognisable at the back compared to most of Howe’s time here. Edited February 11 by Lush Vlad Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RobsonsWonderland Posted February 25 Share Posted February 25 We have scored at least one goal in the everyone of the last ten games (in fact 2 or more apart from last night). You can't underestimate what this guy brings to the team.. even if he can't kick the ball ! A keeper that keeps clean sheets is all I want for now Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
M1tche Posted February 25 Share Posted February 25 Depending on how he comes back, this Kelleher looks like he'd been a decent next GK. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
sempuki Posted February 25 Share Posted February 25 Think we need someone decent to compete with him, not Dubs or Karius. This absence has really shown how important having a good keeper is. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
El Prontonise Posted February 25 Share Posted February 25 We have one, he's just injured. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
timeEd32 Posted February 25 Share Posted February 25 At minimum we need a backup GK that profiles like Pope. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kanji Posted February 25 Share Posted February 25 The miss of the season, part of me wishes Fab didn’t have that clearance and Pope likely doesn’t make the save on that volley by Regulion (I think?) v Man United. I’m of the belief we’d be comfortably 6th and still in the CL. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Conjo Posted February 25 Share Posted February 25 9 hours ago, RobsonsWonderland said: We have scored at least one goal in the everyone of the last ten games (in fact 2 or more apart from last night). You can't underestimate what this guy brings to the team.. even if he can't kick the ball ! A keeper that keeps clean sheets is all I want for now I think you overestimate what he brings to the team. The timing of his injury has severely increased the perception of our dependancy of him imo. We'd still be leaking goals left, right center if he was available the last few months and we'd be very close to (but a bit better off) where we are today regardless. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lush Vlad Posted February 25 Share Posted February 25 See. I’d say you’re underestimating what he brings to the team, though. He’s clearly miles better than Dubs. Especially for how we play. But it’s also daft to just look at Pope v Dubravka in isolation. It’s all hypothetical, of course. Nobody has a fucking clue if we would have been better or worse off. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
timeEd32 Posted February 25 Share Posted February 25 1 hour ago, Conjo said: I think you overestimate what he brings to the team. The timing of his injury has severely increased the perception of our dependancy of him imo. We'd still be leaking goals left, right center if he was available the last few months and we'd be very close to (but a bit better off) where we are today regardless. I think you’re partially right. We wouldn’t have fallen off a cliff if Pope had gotten injured in the first game of the season. First it was no Pope + no rotation options + increasingly tired legs. Then it was no Pope + no midfield rotation + no midfield athleticism. But I do think he’s the singular most important player that we’ve missed at any point this season because his absence makes other problems so much worse. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jordan Posted March 11 Share Posted March 11 When is he due back? Was meant to be March but I’ve not seen anything about a return date. He’s our biggest miss imo, his high line stops Schar and Botmans lack of pace constantly being exposed. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Yorkie Posted March 11 Share Posted March 11 Just now, Jordan said: When is he due back? Was meant to be March but I’ve not seen anything about a return date. He’s our biggest miss imo, his high line stops Schar and Botmans lack of pace constantly being exposed. Howe said in his last presser that he wouldn't be back until April at the earliest. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ronaldo Posted March 11 Share Posted March 11 Back in contention from start of next month. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jordan Posted March 11 Share Posted March 11 Can’t come sooner. Dubravka is a car crash atm and not suited at all to our style of play. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Yorkie Posted March 11 Share Posted March 11 Incidentally we do keep this up to date. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
duo Posted March 11 Share Posted March 11 3 minutes ago, Ronaldo said: Back in contention from start of next month. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vaj Posted March 11 Share Posted March 11 6 minutes ago, Jordan said: When is he due back? Was meant to be March but I’ve not seen anything about a return date. He’s our biggest miss imo, his high line stops Schar and Botmans lack of pace constantly being exposed. Always thought this. The whole team suffers with his absence. The defence either stays as high as they do but have no keeper to sweep and get exposed for pace or they drop deep to compensate for this and the gap between defence and midfield causes us issues. Desperate for him to return Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lush Vlad Posted March 12 Share Posted March 12 I think we will look a better side when he comes back. Assuming he isn’t seemingly rushed back, like it appears with so many players this season. I don’t even rate Dubravka. But I think it is giving a free pass to some of the horrendous performances in front of him and a bit simplistic to pin it on him. To just say his lack of sweeping is causing them all to put in rubbish showings every week. I’m not buying it anymore. Pope might hide some of the deficiencies and lack of pace for certain players. I’m sure we’ll get higher up the pitch again, at least. But Burn isn’t going to do loads better 1 v 1 or offer anything more going forward. Botman isn’t going to stop making awful mistakes and bad decisions all the while. Longstaff isn’t suddenly going to improve on the ball and I don’t think our front three will benefit much, either. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
The College Dropout Posted March 12 Share Posted March 12 We are incredibly vulnerable to that ball in behind the defence. Not just in terms of goals but general confidence and composure. The 1-2 injuries of Pope and Joelinton have broken our defensive setup. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
The College Dropout Posted March 12 Share Posted March 12 1 hour ago, Lush Vlad said: I think we will look a better side when he comes back. Assuming he isn’t seemingly rushed back, like it appears with so many players this season. I don’t even rate Dubravka. But I think it is giving a free pass to some of the horrendous performances in front of him and a bit simplistic to pin it on him. To just say his lack of sweeping is causing them all to put in rubbish showings every week. I’m not buying it anymore. Pope might hide some of the deficiencies and lack of pace for certain players. I’m sure we’ll get higher up the pitch again, at least. But Burn isn’t going to do loads better 1 v 1 or offer anything more going forward. Botman isn’t going to stop making awful mistakes and bad decisions all the while. Longstaff isn’t suddenly going to improve on the ball and I don’t think our front three will benefit much, either. The whole back line is slow. His sweeping covers for our first choice back line. Each one of them. Burn has been bad 1v1 since he moved to LB. But the Forest Elanga goal doesn’t happen with Pope. I agree it’s not just down to Pope or Joelinton or the combo. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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