Put it it like this - he's better with his feet than pope. In my opinion he's an upgrade on pope, creates competition in that area. At the minute popes position is pretty much guaranteed. De gea is prone to a blunder but so are most keepers and man Utd at one stage wanted to keep him. Makes you wonder why nobody else wants him thoWasn’t De Gea’s issue always the fact he was shit with his feet too?
It's not knee jerk at all dubravka lost his place and done nothing wrong. Pluswe lost a goalkeeper over the summerFar too knee jerk a reaction. Nick Pope has had a shaky start and the last thing he needs is either dropping or replaced altogether. Even then, Dubravka is more than an able replacement.
It's not knee jerk at all dubravka lost his place and done nothing wrong. Pluswe lost a goalkeeper over the summer
So what you're saying is Dubravka kicking and distribution was so obviously bad he had to be replaced after 6 months. But pope has been playing in the team over a year his kicking is ten times worse and it's a knee jerk reaction to replace him?Dubravka had half a season under Howe where his kicking and distribution was obviously a factor in him being replaced. The same will apply to Pope if he doesn't improve or cut out the mistakes.
All a matter of opinion but we had the best defence in the league last season and he more than played his part. Would you not say our defence was brilliant last season? He was part of that defence. I agree he's nowhere near the best in the league I said when it comes to shot stopping he's definitely up there. At least last season he was, it's hard to judge this season because everyone who's hit the target so far has scored against him.Pope has never been "brilliant" for us. He is an above average premiership keeper but nowhere near the level of the best in the league in my view. Not even close.
Shay GivenI personally think Pope is an excellent keeper, however, his kicking is shocking! I can’t remember the last time we had a keeper that was decent with his feet. In fact, I can’t recall one in my lifetime.
Shay Given
Agreed, if anything Steve Harper was the better of the two with the ball at his feet.He couldn’t kick the ball anywhere but into touch. He remains one of my all time favourite players, but I’ve seen better kicking from Under 12s and Almiron.
Yes the defence did really well last year. But no I would not describe Pope as a "brilliant" goalkeeper during that period. He played his part without too many silly mistakes. But lets look at the other side of the statistics. We let in the same amount of goals as City, but they scored over 20 more. That has to be our direction of travel and for that we would need a keeper who can anticipate, clean up and start meaningful passages of attacking play. Rather than hoof the ball into the stands (at best).All a matter of opinion but we had the best defence in the league last season and he more than played his part. Would you not say our defence was brilliant last season? He was part of that defence. I agree he's nowhere near the best in the league I said when it comes to shot stopping he's definitely up there. At least last season he was, it's hard to judge this season because everyone who's hit the target so far has scored against him.