ToffeeWeb - Season 2009-10

The Mail Bag

Let's praise Tim Howard

I always used to chuckle when the Guardian's tea time email used to arrive "The Fiver" and mention Newcastle United — or Newcastle Comedy Club, as their recent self destruction made me thankful I follow Everton! It was always amusing when they referred to the talisman Shay Given, who they gave the title "Newcastle's entire defence."

Tim Howard was immense on Saturday, and even the one that hit the bar was no real worrier as he was going to save it anyway had it dropped any lower.

The sheer confidence he has in himself at the moment is great for us, as the ball seemed to be aimed at him most of the time — something that used to happen with Schmeichel in his prime — strikers would cack themselves and blast the ball at him!

Howard does get beat from range a fair bit, but let's enjoy this little run of form and give credit where credit is due.

ps: Even Tony Hibbert did well for his cameo on Saturday... WELL DONE, TONE!
Wes Coles, Melbourne, Australia Posted 28/09/2009 at 20:40:01

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Peter Bourke
1 Posted 29/09/2009 at 01:24:15

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Have to agree with you Wes. Tim Howard had a blinder and was by far and away our best player. Some people will say that's what he is supposed to do and that's what he gets paid for, which is true... but you have to give credit where it is due and Tim Howard certainly deserves huge credit for saving the game for us.

Martin Cutler
2 Posted 29/09/2009 at 03:51:10

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I take your point Peter (& Wes) but if it were based purely on the notion of what the players are "supposed to do" and "what they get paid for" then presumably we should have won the game a lot easier than we did. I don’t mean as a comparison to whatever the Portsmouth players are being paid of course .... just on paper how the teams shaped up .... bottom line we should have made it easier for ourselves.
That aside, Howard was amazing .... best game I’ve seen him play for some time!

Doug Walters
3 Posted 29/09/2009 at 04:38:52

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That is now 5 clean sheets this season; he is on his way to beating his own record.

Aidan Wade
4 Posted 29/09/2009 at 10:13:30

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Tim was a great buy, £3.5M or thereabouts? Somebody was on here at the beginning of the summer proclaiming that a new goalkeeper should be our "highest priority" for summer signing as Tim Howard was our most obvious weak point. The internet is a strange place.

Peter McHugh
5 Posted 29/09/2009 at 11:46:46

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Don’t get me wrong, I think he’s a fine keeper, indeed, shots in the box he’s great, I thought the save with his shoulder was unbelieveable and not luck as many pundits commented upon.

He does have faults he needs to work on — notably, he is slow to come off his line and flaps too much at crosses. However, he has improved this area considerably than when he first came. My biggest concern is that he is weak when being shot at from range.

I think he’s good enough for our current position (i.e. 5th best) but Van de Sar, Reina, Cech and Given are superior.

Chad Schofield
6 Posted 29/09/2009 at 13:28:41

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Absolutely. The man was immense on Sunday!!!

Karl Masters
7 Posted 29/09/2009 at 15:29:45

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So, he’s even immense when he’s not playing then, Chad? ;)

He’s playing so well I bet he even cut the grass perfect and read the paper with aplomb on his day off after the victory on Saturday!

Anthony Doran
8 Posted 29/09/2009 at 16:48:12

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He is playing well for us, 5 clean sheets in a row makes up for the 6 that got past him on the opening day.

Michael Kidd
9 Posted 29/09/2009 at 18:22:07

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Howard is better than Reina. Reina is a clown. Cech can be very dodgy. Van der Sar is on his way over the hill. The only keeper I’d have instead of Tim is Given.

Ste Lewis
10 Posted 29/09/2009 at 20:38:19

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Sorry, Reina is a very good goalkeeper.

Vijay Nair
11 Posted 30/09/2009 at 10:57:45

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RE: Reina... Good keeper he may be, but I agree with Michael Kidd. Howard is better.

It's so great to have a capable goalkeeper like Howard between the posts. God knows we’ve had some shockers aside from Southall and Martyn. I actually didn’t mind Thomas Myhre, but he was never the same after his ankle injury.

Liam Reilly
12 Posted 30/09/2009 at 14:13:34

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Speaking of goalies, anyone see Dickie Wright's latest game for Ispwich... two major howlers costing them the points.

Re Howard, he's a good keeper but needs to improve his ability on crosses, never very confident there, but that said, he’s playing very well at the moment.

Peter McHugh
13 Posted 30/09/2009 at 17:39:06

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Blue-tinted glasses I think by many. Howard goes through purple patches when he is brilliant and I am hopeful he will keep improving. For me, Martyn was far superior and I think many in the Premier League have proved better, although some are getting over the hill (Jaskelinan, Friedel, Van de Sar... etc) so I’d rather have Howard.

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