[Archived] Is Brad The Solution To Arsenals

[Hughesy]

The reason that brad isnt as commanding is because his defence has been crap this season and last. Look how good he was when his defence were doing better. He was classed by many as the best keeper in the league.

Arsenal would do aswell going for Cudichini

[happygilmore]

The reason that brad isnt as commanding is because his defence has been crap this season and last.

You've raised a good point. I feel the reason Brad can't be as commanding is because the defence drops too deep at set pieces and corners. If Brad had less people crowding his area then he'll be able to come out and take crosses.

If you think Brad isn't commanding enough, Enckleman is ten times worse.

[Shaddy]

do you think souness will buy him again for 7.5

Knowing Souness, he'll probably start the bid at £10m!

That's a misrepresentation of the truth. Exempting Grabbi, and even for Ferguson IMO, Souness done well with the transfer figures against the inflated valuation of the player's clubs. For a good many transfers, we all speculated that they'd fallen through, before a late acceptance by the selling club to lower their valuation.

Obviously, I don't subscribe to the "let's blame Souness for everything" line of thought

[USABlue]

The reason that brad isnt as commanding is because his defence has been crap this season and last. Look how good he was when his defence were doing better. He was classed by many as the best keeper in the league.

Arsenal would do aswell going for Cudichini

Exactly, with a better defence Brad's weaknesses were seldom exposed. Most of the time he only had to deal with shot stopping. the same weaknesses were there, just not seen as frequently.

I'd agree, if I were wenger I would probably rather havve Cudicini, can't see Chelsea wanting to help Arsenal much though.

[USABlue]

Nearly 10 million to Rangers in the summer,cant help but think Souness was helping his old mate Murray out of a sticky financial situation up there at our expense.

We paid well over the odds for both players to be honest,some things never change.

Then David Moyes is also a mate of his too. Everton were neck and neck with us in the bidding war to get Ferguson which probably also helped inflate his price. Said at the time we paid over the odds for him, believe it or not many on here were advocating going as high as 10 Million.

I would not sell him now though unless we could recoup every penny and there is only one man I know would pay that much.

What's the thoughts we sell Fergie and make a bid for Parker?

[Scotty]

Obviously, I don't subscribe to the "let's blame Souness for everything" line of thought

I seem to remember you subscribing to the "let's not blame Souness for anything" school of thought - something that was a daft at the time and now looks completely ridiculous.

[Hughesy]

The reason that brad isnt as commanding is because his defence has been crap this season and last. Look how good he was when his defence were doing better. He was classed by many as the best keeper in the league.

Arsenal would do aswell going for Cudichini

Exactly, with a better defence Brad's weaknesses were seldom exposed. Most of the time he only had to deal with shot stopping. the same weaknesses were there, just not seen as frequently.

No he has no confidence with his defence so he sticks to his line. When he had confidence with them and they were pushing up more he came out and closed the players down more.

There were times in the season we finished 6th that Friedel was outstanding. Just ask some of the best managers around and they will tell you that.

[greggyk]

Its not soueys fault the players have not lived up to expectations. At the time we spent the Duff and Dunn money, everyone thought his signings had been great.(Did we not have a poll which suggested that)

I blame the players. And when people say its because of souness leaving that the players are playing well-thats ridiculous!! If that is the case, the players are a disgrace.

[Ferguson16]

Then David Moyes is also a mate of his too. Everton were neck and neck with us in the bidding war to get Ferguson which probably also helped inflate his price.

unfortunately david moyes is not a pal of murray... seeing as moyes used to play with celtic and david murray having blue blood in his veins they are not friends. souness is a BIG pal of murray and souey still has shares at ibrox: i would of loved to see ferguson link up with duffer and dunn....

didn't brad come up a few weeks ago critiscising souness for selling all the good players... he said 3 big teams came in for him but souey didnt sell

[chris]

Its not soueys fault the players have not lived up to expectations. At the time we spent the Duff and Dunn money, everyone thought his signings had been great.(Did we not have a poll which suggested that)

I blame the players. And when people say its because of souness leaving that the players are playing well-thats ridiculous!! If that is the case, the players are a disgrace.

Souness did lose the plot a bit, I think its harsh to say he was a bad manager, its a bit like Peter Reid situation, Souness was manager for too long. Sadly people like Rover6 and Jim were totally right, I think allot of us still judged Souness off his past success rather then the direction he was taking the club.

The selling of Cole was the turning point for me personally, but he was pretty good for the first three years

[greggyk]

It was more than pretty good Chris

[vyeo]

Nearly 10 million to Rangers in the summer,cant help but think Souness was helping his old mate Murray out of a sticky financial situation up there at our expense.

We paid well over the odds for both players to be honest,some things never change.

now that you say it...

any chance we sue souness for misappropriating funds?

i wouldnt be too sad if we lost ferguson for the 7.5m we paid. he isn't consistent enough for me, and doesnt dominate the game for all 90min, tending to disappear and play well in flashes. if 7.5m means we get a good striker and another decent replacement in midfield, i'll take it. but savage for 2m is steep. if we stay up and savage plays a key role in it, he'd have paid his fee back, but he really doesn't have any sell on value, so this will be another transfer along the road we have taken in recent years.

[blue phil]

i wouldnt be too sad if we lost ferguson for the 7.5m we paid. he isn't consistent enough for me, and doesnt dominate the game for all 90min, tending to disappear and play well in flashes. if 7.5m means we get a good striker and another decent replacement in midfield, i'll take it. but savage for 2m is steep.

Some sensible comments on the Ferguson debate on this thread (probably coz Al hasn't "contributed" ) regarding the over sized transfer fee we paid. It would be interesting to see how Savage would make a difference to our midfield - with or without Ferguson. However hard I look I can't see anyone in our team worth more than 3million. Gally is probably our greatest asset IMO.

[USABlue]

The reason that brad isnt as commanding is because his defence has been crap this season and last. Look how good he was when his defence were doing better. He was classed by many as the best keeper in the league.

Arsenal would do aswell going for Cudichini

Exactly, with a better defence Brad's weaknesses were seldom exposed. Most of the time he only had to deal with shot stopping. the same weaknesses were there, just not seen as frequently.

No he has no confidence with his defence so he sticks to his line. When he had confidence with them and they were pushing up more he came out and closed the players down more.

There were times in the season we finished 6th that Friedel was outstanding. Just ask some of the best managers around and they will tell you that.

STRONGLY disagree. On both points. Brad was sensational for his shot stopping when we finished sixth. He made a lot of excellent saves. His basics have been evidently benign since he arrived, even in the First Division you could tell.

He's never been one to come off his line and he did not cover more of his area when we finished sixth than he did now.

Would you not agree the best keepers will shine behind a poor defence. A commanding keeper can help hold the defence together and if he KNOWS he is playing behind a dodgy bunch then he better be ready to come off his line and fast. Skin this cat anyway you want Brad's closing down, positioning at set pieces and coming for crosses are all suspect. We disagree so we disagree. I'll move on now.

[Scotty]

STRONGLY disagree. On both points. Brad was sensational for his shot stopping when we finished sixth. He made a lot of excellent saves. His basics have been evidently benign since he arrived, even in the First Division you could tell.

He's never been one to come off his line and he did not cover more of his area when we finished sixth than he did now.

Would you not agree the best keepers will shine behind a poor defence. A commanding keeper can help hold the defence together and if he KNOWS he is playing behind a dodgy bunch then he better be ready to come off his line and fast. Skin this cat anyway you want Brad's closing down, positioning at set pieces and coming for crosses are all suspect. We disagree so we disagree. I'll move on now.

Twaddle. Two years ago Friedel was simply sensational and did more or less everything faultlessly.

Now, there's no doubt he's slipped a little from those heights since, but you make out he's completely passed it and useless. He's still easily one of the best keepers in the league, he regularly keeps us in games with world class saves (Fulham and Palace both come to mind recently), and rarely makes a mistake.

Yet every mistake he does make, you leap on like a scalded cat and seem to take great delight in announcing to everyone how you thought he was rubbish all along. You frequently accuse Jim of having a vendetta against Souness, what's your vendetta against Friedel all about? He's our best player ffs!

[thenodrog]

Totally agree mate but tell that to the Ewood money men.....the mysterious faceless names who pull the strings down at Ewood from afar and who's only words spoken for the last 18 months seem to have been.....

SELL! SELL!! SELL!!!

Hardly a fair or realsitic comment. But I guess one simply borne out of the level of frustration that chucks all logic and rationale out of the window.

Try to think things through more, use your memory and remember the financial support given to the last manager. The finances that have been available at our tiny footballing outpost is way out of kilter with the rest of pro football clubs. It is some way in excess of what the likes of Bolton, Soton, Charlton, Everton, Portsmouth, West Brom etc have had to manage on and probably similar to the funds 'proper' big clubs like Villa and Spuds have 'enjoyed'.

In case you hadn't realised, the finacial rules have changed recently. There is little of no value held in players as the freedom of contract situation simply depreciates em as quick as a 3.0 litre petrol engined Renault.

Be grateful that we have had a steady hand on the tiller and look around in the 1st div and see where financial irresponsibilty has left the likes of Coventry, Leicester, Forest, Leeds etc. In the Prem Man City owe zillions and Newcastle and Boro must be defying gravity.

[Exiled in Toronto]

STRONGLY disagree.  On both points.  Brad was sensational for his shot stopping when we finished sixth.  He made a lot of excellent saves.  His basics have been evidently benign since he arrived, even in the First Division you could tell.

He's never been one to come off his line and he did not cover more of his area when we finished sixth than he did now.

Would you not agree the best keepers will shine behind a poor defence.  A commanding keeper can help hold the defence together and if he KNOWS he is playing behind a dodgy bunch then he better be ready to come off his line and fast.  Skin this cat anyway you want Brad's closing down, positioning at set pieces and coming for crosses are all suspect.  We disagree so we disagree.  I'll move on now.

Twaddle. Two years ago Friedel was simply sensational and did more or less everything faultlessly.

Now, there's no doubt he's slipped a little from those heights since, but you make out he's completely passed it and useless. He's still easily one of the best keepers in the league, he regularly keeps us in games with world class saves (Fulham and Palace both come to mind recently), and rarely makes a mistake.

Yet every mistake he does make, you leap on like a scalded cat and seem to take great delight in announcing to everyone how you thought he was rubbish all along. You frequently accuse Jim of having a vendetta against Souness, what's your vendetta against Friedel all about? He's our best player ffs!

Have to side with my American buddy. Fact is Brad had one great season. Before that he was stuck in Liverpool reserves - presumably for a reason - and since then he has been as much a liability as an asset, especially now everyone else seems to have figured out his weaknesses.

I get to see 4 EPL games a week thanks to R. Murdoch, and I would definitely put Brad in the bottom third of Prem keepers based on the last season and a half.

[Scotty]

Liability!!! I can only assume that those 4 games a week don't include any Rovers games.

I can only think of Cech and Niemi that are better.

[Alan75]

Ahhhhhhhh, come in Brad Friedel, we appear to have found a new scapegoat.

[bellamy11]

Absolutely unbelievable.

Given their respective goalkeepers, Arsenal and Man United would kill for Brad Friedel.

[broadsword]

Deary me, to have a pop at Brad when we have so many genuinely crap players more worthy of a salvo is bizarre to say the least.

Poor bugger's had to watch shots salvoing past him like they're going out of fashion for two years, now he's getting it the neck.

[tcj_jones]

Have to side with USA and E.I.N on this. Superb shop stopper - nobody is doubting that, but when your defense is leaking goals and cannot defend to save their lives, you need a commanding goalkeeper to claim the ball in the air and close down a player when he is too fast for your defense. He does neither.

I have been thinking for some time now that I would prefer the majority of premiership keepers over Brad. How often is a keeper required to make a fantastic diving or reactionary save? Then ask yourself how often a keeper is required to collect a cross or a corner or to come to the edge of his box or close a striker down...

We look so vulnerable from anything delivered into the box its scary.

For the games he has kept us in, he has probably cost as many by not performing run of the mill goalkeeping duties.

What I do not understand is, why has he not developed his game to claim balls into the box? Surely managers and coaches, as they come and go, realise his weaknesses and try to ammend them, but he hasn't dealt with them at all.

Edited December 13, 2004 by tcj_jones

[Scotty]

I can't remember the last time we conceded a headed goal.

I can't remember the last time we conceded a goal where Friedel didn't come out for a cross he could have claimed.

I can't remember the last time Friedel dropped, fumbled or didn't adequately punch a cross that led to a goal.

You're talking nonsense tcj.

[bellamy11]

To my knowledge the last headed goal we conceeded was against Charlton three months ago. Shearer also scored a header on September 11th. They're the only two this season.

[tcj_jones]

I remember a few goals this season that could have been prevented if Brad had closed the opposition striker down - the goal following Jay's mistake at Liverpool especially I thought was awful goalkeeping.

All the time I see balls come into the box that could have been dealt with by Brad but were not. Perhaps we do not concede many headed goals from them, but I'd like to see how often the opposition regains possession or scores from knock downs in the box, from flick ons or from rebounds. I do not remember the last headed goal from a ball Freidel could have dealt with but then I doubt I'd remember, if one was concedded, after a few weeks had elapsed.

I too cannot remember the last time Freidel fumbled or didn't adaquately punch or catch a ball - that's why it is so frustrating when he doesn't come and collect.

I really do not think I'm talking nonsense here.

For the record I like Brad and think that as far as shot stoppers come, he is one of the best in the world.

Edited December 14, 2004 by tcj_jones