- Jan 31, 2005
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Robinson's sideways-on volley kick into Lennon's path was a thing of beauty.
True :grin:
Robinson's sideways-on volley kick into Lennon's path was a thing of beauty.
But, we don't need a keeper with a good distribution.
I often felt that with Robbo and Berbatov's ability to control, we found ourselves completely bypassing our midfield.
We now have a team that can play the ball through another team, so doesn't really need that long ball style. GOmes is decent enough and all other attributes are better than Robbo's.
As for the Gomes/Cudi preference.
Gomes every day of the year for me.
Except for the fact that his name is actually Cech (but he is a Czech), B-C makes an excellent post that I am in total agreement with.
Although I think that if Gomes had saved Cole's shot it would've been the save of the century, remembered in legend like Brown's on Pele. The shot was just that good.
Can't recall Bill Brown ever facing Pele. Think you mean Banks.
Cudicini is a great keeper to have as back up but is not as good as Gomes. Cudicini could take some blame for both the goals he's let in so far.
Cudicini is a great keeper to have as back up but is not as good as Gomes. Cudicini could take some blame for both the goals he's let in so far.
Everyone grumbles that Gomes comes and deals with balls into the box and gets the odd one not quite right, but against Hull you can see the consequencies of inaction; the ball ends up in the back of your net. I'm also positive Gomes would have saved Cole's shot.
I think the overlying point is though, that goalies will always make mistakes, like every player on the pitch. When they are making pro-active mistakes like Czech, James or Gomes it catches the eye more readily than the type of inactive mistakes that keepers like Robinson make several times a game, by dithering around on their line, even though the pro-active keepers might make just one every 9/10 games that costs.
You have to try and see through the obvious and weigh up what is actually costing/gaining your team more; A keeper that hides from crosses and responsibility or one that is very pro-active.
I have come to realise that the latter, as long as they have other attributes, of which Gomes does, are far more valuable to your defence.
If you actually compare our defensive record with Gomes compared to Robinson you can see we have made an absoloutely quantum leap. His shot stopping is in the top 2 in the EPL IMO, he's great at 1v1, and when defenders know that a keeper is coming to take anything in his domain it removes the kind of indicision that always exixts with keepers like Robinson.
I know sometimes we groan when something that looks catchable is punched but the balls are so light now that keepes are being trained to punch rather than risk a spillage. Just watch Czech or VDS at ManU.
Critics of Gomes completely ignore the fact that these two keepers frequently also make the odd high profile blunder and often punch when a catch looks do-able.
For me, Gomes belongs to that minority of uber keeprs that not only have great basic goalkeeping skills (agility, shot stopping, 1v1, positioning, timing, physique) but also takes responsibility from defenders shoulders.
Czech, James, Gomes, VDS are all of this nature.
Cudicini is a very good example of a keeper of the other kind (by that I mean he is probably one of the best of the "inactive" kind of keeper of Robinson is one of the worst). Cudicini has other good attributes (agility, shot stopping, 1v1) but is often reluctant to deal with crosses and when he does he doesn't always make a good job of it.
Just your opinion - personally I doubt if any keeper would have saved Cole's shot. On the other hand. I don't think Cudicini would have given away the penalty against Liverpool.
My Chelsea season-ticket holding friends feel that they sold us the wrong keeper - they rate Cudicini better than Cech. You are right in suggesting that Gomes is in the James/Cech mould of keepers although, in my view, inferior to them. I think Gomes is rash and makes poor decisions. His kicking is awful but he has physical presence
Cudicini is a far more solid, less spectacular keeper. I feel far less worried when I see him between the posts. He may not make some of the saves of Gomes but is less likely to make mistakes.
I think that Gomes is more likely to win AND lose us games.
I'm not overly bothered which of them Harry selects.
Agree on the Chelsea mates comment, that Cudi is the better keeper.
Okay, I may take that Cech hasn't been the same keeper since his head injury, but he is still one of the very best keepers in the game, argueably the very best keeper in the game.
4 world class managers have all agreed since being manager of Chelsea (is it 4?)...
Whilst I agree that Cudicini probably wouldn't have given away the penalty I disagree that any keeper wouldn't have saved Cole's shot.
Cudicini was wrong footed, as simple as that.
The saves that you flippantly say Cudicini wouldn't make that Gomes would are in fact goals then. Which, if you think about it, actually makes a fuck load of difference and clearly mitigates the 3/4 goals a season Gomes might cost by mistakes ( a tally which Cudicini is already halfway to matching).
And there is absoloutely nothing wrong with Gomes's kicking at all. Nish. The bloke kicks the ball fine. He just prefers to throw the ball to a team mate and build possession rather than give the ball to the opposition by kicking it long to Keane to pretend to head.
You say James is better than Gomes but the same weekend Gomes gave a penalty away diving at the feet of a player clean through, James commited an even worse faux pas rushing to the edge of his area in no danger and bundling into a player which cost his team the game.
Your Chelsea mates who think they sold the wrong keeper just don't understand football. It's such a stupid thing to say that it's not even worth debating.
Maybe it's so long since Cudicini was first-choice for Chelsea that people have forgotten he wasn't exactly immune to gaffes himself, and that it was disasters in the 2005 pre-season games that lost him the No. 1 spot in the first place.