Season 2011-12
The Mail Bag
Former Goalkeepers' Fortunes
35 Comments: I've found it mildly interesting to follow the differing fortunes of our relatively recent second and third choice goalkeepers, Iain Turner and John Ruddy.
Iain Turner, who, remember, was sent off after 9 minutes into his no-so-glorious Premier League debut with us, but who nonetheless went on to have some success with Sheffield Wednesday (on loan from us) and then Preston North End, has now fallen back upon hard times: he was loaned earlier this year to Dunfirmline (having lost his first team place at Preston as a result of injury), but sent back upon being injured again, and is now club-less having now been released by Preston.
John Ruddy, on the other hand, is Norwich's first choice keeper, was their Player of the Year this season, and now is in the England squad for the 2012 European Championships. One of the relatively few gems that David Moyes has let slip through the net. Not having seen much of his performances with Norwich this year, how do ToffeeWebbers presently rate him against Tim Howard?
Steve Carter, Posted 24/05/2012 at 04:48:12
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Ultimately Moyes probably decided he was ready, and Howard remained the number 1, so adios John. Just waiting now for some to base his 81 minute league performance against Blackburn as proof-positive he was better than Howard...
So best for player and club to move on.
Good keeper but had to move to get playing time, hope he does well.
Which is why an ambitious kid will be off to a lower division or lesser team rather than sit behind a stalwart waiting for an injury or really bad run of fom. Goalkeepers are also notorious late developers and often the best years a goalkeeper gives to a club are the years 25 -35.
This isn't always the case - but it happens more often than not.
Barkley and Rodwell our supposedly budding super stars have had even less first team playing time than Victor.
Moyes claims he is protecting them yet both are strong robust young men at an age when many of their peers at other clubs are nailing down first team places and in some cases international caps. The question is, what is it they are being protected from?
Sadly it seems that in Moyes who sees them on a daily basis thinks they do not cut the mustard. Are we to add their names to a long and growing list of academy failures.
If Victor is the only academy graduate then I rest my case on the worth of having it.
Similarly Vaughan was given a chance, had injury problems, was given 3-4 more chances to get over them, and was then sold on for a reasonable fee.
Have you ever actually seen Barkley? He has bags of talent but he quite simply isn't better than the players in the team at this moment in time. He needs to improve and work hard and he will get more than enough chances in the coming years - he's only 18. How many 18 year olds were playing regularly in the premier league last year?
Back to the original point, Ruddy is decent and he's done well for Norwich but he's not better than Howard which means there was nothing wrong with the decision to let him go.
As for not having an academy, Dick, Everton would have been out of business had we not had one. You really say some stupid things.
A few seasons a go I would have put Howard in the top 3 keepers in the league,now though I think he's slipped down the pecking order and would think about getting a long term replacement.Its not a prioity though.
Turner famously cost Everton a game against Man United 2-0 up less than 30 minutes to go and he chucks one in and Ruddy came of the bench to keep a clean sheet with 10 men.
Anyway memories and all that good luck to both of them.
Next season Barkley will be 20 and Rodwell 22, not exactly youngsters, eh? For every Wilshere (who next season will be 21) there are a lot more learning their craft in first teams. I will be pleasantly surprised if Jack or Ross nail down a first-team spot with Everton.
Time to start a thread on Gerrard and Suarez then.
Howard is nowhere near the top 10 keepers in this league and is now singled out by the opposition as they know he's a liability. The gladwys usually shout keeper's ball about two seconds before he gets off his line.
it is all about opinions but to say Howard is nowhere near the top 10 keepers is a sweeping statement. My view is that for last season as a whole I would place 5 others ahead of him - Krul, Vorm, Hart, Cech & Reina (just). The others no thanks they did not perform as well as Tim Howard. John Ruddy performed very well for his 1st full season in the premiership and he will develop I think.
But really all keepers have their strengths and weaknesses and Tim Howard is no different. You must also remember that he was the top goalscorer amongst keepers too!!!
Given
Hart
Cech
Sczeceny
Friedel
Reina
Lindergaard
Foster
Robinson
Begovic
Ruddy
All for when I've seen them at GP or watched them live they all seem to communicate with their defences and command the area better than Howard.
The keeper I was most i8mpressed with was Foster who looks a top keeper in every aspect.
How many seasons do they need before I rate them?
I thought Rooney was a better player than Madar after about 10 minutes.
I can see a volley of abuse coming your way now.
I dont agree with a couple on your list but i'm surprised not to see Hennessey there.He is who I would like to see between the sticks.
It's fair to say I see Howard a lot more than others but I have seen a fair bit of those I've mentioned.
I haven't seen much of Vorm, Hennessey or Bogdan and I don't think Paddy Kenny is a bad keeper neither but not that good with crosses.
Howard seems to be rated on here (Maybe the number of Americans who use TW?) but get's a lot of stick at the game.
All 22 players had to take a kick.
Still. I am pretty sure I was there at Southampton when Simo made his debut, off the bench, replacing ??? And it was 0-0 at HT but we lost 0-2???
??? are please fill in the gaps.
See the Toffeeweb report at:
http://www.toffeeweb.com/season/99-00/reports/southampton_a.htm
The Den was not a happy hunting ground for me as a fan. My highlight being meeting Paul and Ov Collyer. St Mary's didn't bring better fortunes. Although at least I can say I saw Li Wei Fang's game for us. We lost 1-0. That Latvian player they had.
Hart is the best keeper on the list, and the best in the league. Howard is superior to all the rest in terms of shot-stopping, particularly at close range. He has improved in both distribution and command. And, he's the least prone besides Hart and Friedel to howlers... he's only had two or three in his Everton career.
As to Ruddy, he's an average Prem keeper who had a good season and has established no record of consistency. His place in the England side speaks to the chronically dismal state of English goalkeeping depth, not some brilliant talent that David Moyes didn't see. The idea that he's even close to Howard, let alone better, is utterly ridiculous.
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390 Posted 24/05/2012 at 07:10:20
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He would never have been the 'keeper he is today without getting the move to pastures new. Unfortunately, it does beg the question: Was this one simply "one that got away" or are many of our youngsters generally not good enough?
Judging by various other youngsters who have moved on, I would hazard a guess that DM actually has a good grasp of his youth/reserve players and can see who will/won't progress.