Given

[stockportblue]

Having a Given debate on another forum.Some wont hear a word said against him others myself included are a bit worried about his inability to command his area.Maybe because I have been spoiled being brought up watching Joe Corrigan at his best its always something I look for in a keeper.Superb shot stopper who is an improvement on Joe Hart at the moment though.

[10.Goater_Legend]

[youtube]H4AwlfA-9Zk&feature=channel_page[/youtube]

[mcfc1632]

Having a Given debate on another forum.Some wont hear a word said against him others myself included are a bit worried about his inability to command his area.Maybe because I have been spoiled being brought up watching Joe Corrigan at his best its always something I look for in a keeper.Superb shot stopper who is an improvement on Joe Hart at the moment though.

Well all keepers have strengths and weaknesses - he was not lovingly called "big daft Joe" by fans for no reason - he could do somethings better than Shay - but I would suggest Shay could do more things better than Joe

[bluej]

I side with Given on his not coming for crosses sometimes, especially if he knows he isn't going to make them. Thats where the central defence needs to get their collective fingers out and stop the players/ball. I'd much rather have him stay on his line and palm it for another corner than him come, flap, and then we concede.

[Wonderwall]

I think given could have easily saved fletchers first yesterday, I think he thought it was going wide. He made no attempt at it, goes to show the best can make mistakes

[10.Goater_Legend]

I think given could have easily saved fletchers first yesterday, I think he thought it was going wide. He made no attempt at it, goes to show the best can make mistakes

Same here mate.

[Kiss_The_Goat]

We were lucky...if it wasn't for Given?...FFS, that's why we bought and played him...he was doing his job.
We were lucky too if it wasn't for Bellamy...or any of the oithers too.

Yeh exactly. There's nothing lucky about having a world class goal keeper. We bought him. There's nothing lucky about all the goals a striker scores so why is it considered unfortunate when a keeper prevents them?
It would have been a different story had we had Ben Foster in goal though cos that guy is absolutely shite. How that clown has ever got an England call up let alone a cap i'll never know but I hope the scum keep him in goal. He's a disaster area!

[dazby]

We really missed Adebayors heading ability in defence. So many balls that were cleared in the previous 3 weeks actually made their way into the box.

[Slim]

We really missed Adebayors heading ability in defence. So many balls that were cleared in the previous 3 weeks actually made their way into the box.

A lot of the free headers, notably the two to berbatov and the two goals by fletcher, in all four instances Lescott was on his heels. If you think I am bad on the board you should hear me spit venom at the tv.

[Nickyboy]

I think given could have easily saved fletchers first yesterday, I think he thought it was going wide. He made no attempt at it, goes to show the best can make mistakes

Same here mate.

was it not going wide and then deflect off barry?

[Florida Blue]

Devils Advocate time. First though I do think Shay is awesome and I would not swap him for any keeper in the prem. But was he that awesome yesterday?
He made a good save with his feet from Giggs , 2 saves from Berbaflop which he headed fairly straight at him and then pushed one over from Giggs which was straight at him.Of course they were all good saves but not that special and what we all would expect a decent keeper to make.

i kind of agree with you Dougie. the one i needed him to make was on Owen's ball. the berbatov stops were down to berbatov not having any fucking ability in the air. I *do* believe another keeper could easily have let one of those in though, so dont misunderstand how i feel about Shay. I think he's fantastic...just wish he could have found that something special to keep Owen out. it's asking a lot i know, but...it would have changed our lives yesterday and for a while to come for sure.

I agree with what both of you say. Clearly he needed to make the save on Owen, but what about the second goal? It looked like he stopped short of covering his post, thinking it was going wide, only to see it take a slight change of direction. Had he moved his body to post it would have hit him. Still he is far from the reason we did not take points, and there is no one I would rather have than him.