Tomas Holy - long shots | Page 2 | Vital Football

Tomas Holy - long shots

Strangely I expected this thread to be about another issue when I read the title. Tomas takes free kicks just inside his own half, even right out wide. It makes me nervous because I worry what happens if the ball is played straight back at us. I have to say that he is yet to be embarrassed and gets back smartly.

The goal at Bradford had nothing to do with our goalkeeper's height. He got down and across in time but a combination of being partially unsighted and an odd bounce contributed to his being beaten. The pitch was uneven and bare in parts and was generally a bit lifeless resulting in a deader bounce than usual.

A more interesting feature of Holy's performance was the way he dealt with back passes under pressure in a calm and efficient manner. Several times he beat the onrushing attacker and found a colleague with a pass. He is well above average with the ball at his feet but I hope he mixes it up by hoofing occasionally in these circumstances, his kicking is good.
 
Well said Jogills especially that as I said - probably a bit unsighted for the goal. Why don't people list all his good points?
 
"if he didn't have the odd problem, he'd probably be playing at a higher level"

That's the whole point of the OP Wayne. No one's saying he's got weaknesses so he's not good enough for this level. People are suggesting that while he's already very good at this level, if he can work on those aspects of his game he'll move on to the next level and make us a lot of money. In fact he may well move onwards and upwards anyway, but certainly these are areas he can still improve to warrant achievement in the top half of the championship/premiership.
 
Holy's distribution is excellent in general, but he had an off game at Bradford. One time he belted it straight up into the air in the penalty box and another time it went straight to an opponent.

I love the fact that he's calm and collected, but on Saturday it strayed into the careless at times. One of these days he's going to dummy the oncoming striker and it isn't going to come off. He wasn't the only one. The whole team seemed relaxed to the point of slopiness.

On the whole Holy's a fantastic keeper and we're lucky to have him, but Saturday wasn't one of his best games. But the same went for a lot of them, trying to play Samba football on a Leysdown beach. Bradford's goal came from Wagstaff trying an outrageous feint, then about four Gills players winning one-on-ones but failing to move the ball from the spot, then Bradford picking it up and scoring.

This isn't picking on individual players but just stating a fact. Team spirit can get you so far, but bad days at the office are always going to happen. I'm just pleased we're where we are now rather than where we were before Christmas. It's something to build on.
 
To be fair Alderman, I think it was the "odd" bounce that caused the sort of miss kick. That pitch was a disgrace.

Regarding this myth about long shots, it's difficult for ANY keeper to judge a shot when there are players (even just one or two) moving about between the kicker and the goal. Consequently there are a lot of things for the eyes and brains to process in a short space of time.

Would someone on here who is a perfect keeper like to explain how it should be done?
 
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