David De Gea | Vital Football

David De Gea

Far 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.

All Pope needs is reflection time and the chance to improve on his recent mistakes without the added pressure of owt else. We're only 4 games in and just the 1 (ONE) point off worse against the same teams we faced in the same fixtures from last season against teams that have all improved personnel.

The table starts to settle around the 10 - 15 game mark and if we're struggling then with mistakes mounting up then yes, fine, look at improvements but only then.
 
officemonkey said:
Wasn’t De Gea’s issue always the fact he was shit with his feet too?
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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 tho
 
Toon_NoMatterWot said:
Far 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.
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It's not knee jerk at all dubravka lost his place and done nothing wrong. Pluswe lost a goalkeeper over the summer
 
Rza said:
It's not knee jerk at all dubravka lost his place and done nothing wrong. Pluswe lost a goalkeeper over the summer
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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.

As for our keepers as a whole, we had 5 and that's far too many plus Darlow was 4th in line which must have come as a shock to him considering his was our number 1 for a bit.
 
Toon_NoMatterWot said:
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.
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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?

I'm not even saying replace him but competition for places is healthy and in my opinion we have the worst kicker in the premier league in nets. I don't remember dubravka kicking being highlighted to the point opposition teams were focussing on pressing him. That's what is happening to pope it's completely obvious now he's so bad at kicking opponents are targeting him.
 
I agree about the Dubravka part . His high balls were the big flaw if I'm remembering right.
Maybe subbing Pope isn't what he needs, but why Dubravka doesn't get his chance is beyond me.
 
Pope is a good shot stopper. That's pretty much it. Possibly one of the best in the league on his day. The problem is you can actually see the fear on his face now when the ball is passed back to him, he doesn't want the ball any more. If you add to that his erratic decision making (Liverpool last season) then you potentially have a weak link. I like Nick pope and think he's a decent keeper but there's certain things that aren't going to change, namely the ball at his feet. You can't train decision making either, you can give advice but when it comes down to split second decisions it's natural instinct.

Pope was brilliant last year no doubt but he also had the best defence in the league protecting him. We've picked up a few injuries now - to our first choice defensive pairing and sometimes he looks like he's had his pants pulled down. This is the time he needs to be stepping up. I mean you can only give the benefit of the doubt so much. Maybe Alvarez goal was a screamer. Maybe Nunez goals were good goals but against Brighton he was atrocious. No other area of the pitch would a player be afforded these mistakes. I wouldn't be against bringing dubravka in to freshen things up. I don't think he's the answer but no player should be guaranteed their place. Also he was dropped from the England squad for a reason - his recent form.
 
One bad game does not mean he should be dropped. How many goals did he save last season, numerous. I dont agree with this playing around at the back. A lot of teams do it and end up hoofing it in the end, which they could have done initially.
 
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.
 
I 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. Mind you, these new tactics that are deployed by all and sundry these days, playing every single thing out from the back, doesn’t help matters.
 
crooktownmags said:
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.
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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.
 
officemonkey said:
I 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.
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Shay Given
 
Rza said:
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.
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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).

I think a big problem with our club for years is as soon as we get a decent player on the books, especially if they are a badge kisser, they become "brilliant" and immune from criticism. Remember when KK sold David Kelly, and later Andy Cole?

if we want to win stuff (I do) most of our current players will need to be upgraded imho
 
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