Freidel.... does the problem partly lie with him?

[Andy]

yeah i reckon i'm going to get shot down over this but hear me out...

Now i know he's a good keeper but does some of the blame for our poor form lie at his feet(or gloves)? looking at our recent goals scored to shots on target shows that our strikers are pretty wasteful or is it showing we are easy to score against?
I saw the stats for the stoke game and remembered seeing something similar against man united so i thought i'd check our recent few fixtures.

stoke 2 shots on target- 1 goal
us 6 on target- 1 goal

everton 5 on target- 1 goal
us 5 on 0 goals(this game shows both sides to be wasteful)

united 5 on target-3 goals
us 6 on target -1 goal

scum 8 on target 5 goals
us 5 on target goals 2

even stevenage scored with only 3 shots on target
stevo 3 shots on target -goals 1
us 5 on target goals 3( more like it)

wigan 3 on target goals 1
us 10 on, 3 goals.

city 4 on target-goals 3
us 3 on, goals 2

looking down the list it seems like a few things stand out,
one is that if you hit the target two to four times against us you'll be two goals for the better,
we score roughly 1 in every four times we hit the target at the moment(41 shots on target 12 goals) but 30 shots against us has seen us let in 15 goals.
that's a goal every other shot on target.
jeez, i didn't actually think it'd be as bad as that when i started looking into it :-|

I'm not even sure what the answer is, that's the problem.
does the problem lie with Brad? or is it down to the back four?

 

[tototoner]

I don't rate him at all, yes he is more steady and makes less gaffs than Gomes but is nowhere near the same quality at shot stopping.

 

[EastLondonYid]

If we could mix Brads mentality with Gomes body we would have the worlds best keeper.
I think we are underestimating the effect Brad has had on our team this season, though i would prefer an upgrade next year.

 

[Wheeler Dealer]

He, Gallas, Parker, Saha and Nelson are Redknapp type of signings. Safe, experienced, good in their prime, but not the players to progress or even consolidate.

They would be ideal for a mid table consolidation team, not a team with Champions League aspirations

 

[CJMurray]

Look at the goals we concede, not the stats themselves. Alot of them he could do nothing about.

 

[cozzo]

He has cost us some very simple goals when I have been screaming for him to come off his line and punch the ball or catch it. The Stoke goal was a great example of this. The ball was in the air for enough time for him to come out and attack it before it dropped to Jerome to score. Any time we concede a set piece then we have a very big problem. The rest of his game I am happy with.

 

[JimmyG2]

WE need more than a 'Steady Eddy' in goal.
We need someone brilliant who makes the odd blunder with the capacity to get us out of trouble when the occasion demands. A Gomes or De Gea type every time for me.

His unwillingness to make brave saves or come off his line would be more unsettling to me as a defender than Gomes flying about and dropping the odd ball.

We seem to have too much experience and not enough flair all over the place. Gallas, Nelsen. Parker, Friedel, and now Ledley are all solid players and have had good games but put them all together and what have you got, mid table mediocraty which is where we are heading again.
Being third in January wins no prizes and recruits no top players.
I sometimes wonder what Van and Luka think of some of their team-mates.

Agree with OP

 

[bubble07]

When Bale was picking his 5 a side team it was interesting that he said Gomes and not Friedel as Gomes makes saves no other keeper makes ect ect. SDtill think we are slightly better with Friedel then Gomes. But he is certainly upgradable and will be disappointed if we do not look to upgrade in the Summer

 

[jimbo]

Look at the goals we concede, not the stats themselves. Alot of them he could do nothing about.

I'm never sure how far to go with this. In my opinion some of the goals he could do nothing about because he wasn't in the right position to make a save.

 

[WestBelfast Spurs]

Bad defending from set pieces, would be the main problem, not sorting thesse mistakes out in training would be the problem.

 

[spursfan77]

hes come for about 5 crosses all season but really I think our not practising of set pieces in training is to blame.

 

[kungfugrip]

Does the problem partly lie with him? Yes, because he's one of the players on the pitch. Is he a good keeper? Yes. Is he better than Gomes? Yes. Has he made mistakes this year? Very few.

I would say are problems in the last 6 weeks have been:

England / Harry fiasco

Defoe not connecting with the ball in dying minutes against Man City (my, how things could have panned out differently in terms of the confidence a win would've given us)

Missing Lennon and playing an unbalanced team

Very hard set of fixtures that, even if we'd been playing well (which we weren't), we would have been hard pushed to get a decent points haul from.

 

[Donki]

No.

Against Stoke the outfield players were to blame, 70% odd of the ball, 20 odd shots at goal and one goal that conversion rate simply isn't good enough. The blame doesn't lie at Brads hands. Even if we hadn't of conceded against Stoke, a 1-0 victory would have been poor.

The out field players need a kick up the arse its not good enough. The same could be said againt Man U, had a good bit of the ball and failed to convert, 2 nil up against the Scum (against the run of play I agree) but the defending and midfield ball retention was an absolute disgrace.

 

[Donki]

WE need more than a 'Steady Eddy' in goal.
We need someone brilliant who makes the odd blunder with the capacity to get us out of trouble when the occasion demands. A Gomes or De Gea type every time for me.

His unwillingness to make brave saves or come off his line would be more unsettling to me as a defender than Gomes flying about and dropping the odd ball.

We seem to have too much experience and not enough flair all over the place. Gallas, Nelsen. Parker, Friedel, and now Ledley are all solid players and have had good games but put them all together and what have you got, mid table mediocraty which is where we are heading again.
Being third in January wins no prizes and recruits no top players.
I sometimes wonder what Van and Luka think of some of their team-mates.

Agree with OP

It all depends, if the defenders know he is less likely to come for a ball they should be looking to deal with it. With Gomes his problem is nobody knw if he was going to come for it or not so they didnt know if they had to deal with it or not. It all comes down to communication and training its not that clear cut.

 

[Gbspurs]

He isn't the best shot stopper but he isn't the worst, not sure who else we could realistically get in the summer to improve. Vorm? Krul? Anyone in Europe?

 

[Archibald&Crooks]

yeah i reckon i'm going to get shot down over this but hear me out...

Now i know he's a good keeper but does some of the blame for our poor form lie at his feet(or gloves)? looking at our recent goals scored to shots on target shows that our strikers are pretty wasteful or is it showing we are easy to score against?
I saw the stats for the stoke game and remembered seeing something similar against man united so i thought i'd check our recent few fixtures.

stoke 2 shots on target- 1 goal
us 6 on target- 1 goal

everton 5 on target- 1 goal
us 5 on 0 goals(this game shows both sides to be wasteful)

united 5 on target-3 goals
us 6 on target -1 goal

scum 8 on target 5 goals
us 5 on target goals 2

even stevenage scored with only 3 shots on target
stevo 3 shots on target -goals 1
us 5 on target goals 3( more like it)

wigan 3 on target goals 1
us 10 on, 3 goals.

city 4 on target-goals 3
us 3 on, goals 2

looking down the list it seems like a few things stand out,
one is that if you hit the target two to four times against us you'll be two goals for the better,
we score roughly 1 in every four times we hit the target at the moment(41 shots on target 12 goals) but 30 shots against us has seen us let in 15 goals.
that's a goal every other shot on target.
jeez, i didn't actually think it'd be as bad as that when i started looking into it :-|

I'm not even sure what the answer is, that's the problem.
does the problem lie with Brad? or is it down to the back four?

Looking at those stats i'd suggest that perhaps the problem lies squarely at the feet of those having our shots.

 

[DEFchenkOE]

I don't think he's to blame at all tbh. I think he's been very good this year. Look at the 5 goals against Arsenal for example, I don't think he was at fault for any. Plenty of mistakes were made before the ball flew past him. Yea he could come for a few more crosses but I prefer his solid steady Eddie style than having Gomes chuck them in his own net and crying about it.

 

[Qualsonic]

He isn't the best shot stopper but he isn't the worst, not sure who else we could realistically get in the summer to improve. Vorm? Krul? Anyone in Europe?

Handanovic at Udinese - extremely solid, commanding, doesn't make (many) mistakes and has saved something like 6 out of 9 penalties this season.

 

[kaz Hirai]

I've always thought Gomes was the much bette keeper, and never hid that even when we looked to be running away with 3rd. Gomes is so proactive, too much in fact, just needed to be tempered

Freidel is decent though, safe, wont make a howler. but he isnt really going to do much out of the ordinary to win us a game

 

[jonathanhotspur]

He didn't cover himself in glory when Rosicky scored against us, did he? I don't particularly rate him and it irritates me how pundits are not happy unless they're kissing his arse.