Nick Pope

box_of_frogs · Post by **box_of_frogs** » Sun Dec 31, 2017 7:04 pm

Archer wrote:You think he is the one who decides whether to waste time or not?

Probably not, but still no need for it!

Paul Waine · Post by **Paul Waine** » Sun Dec 31, 2017 8:04 pm

jedi_master wrote:He's done unbelievably well. I was very concerned when Tom got injured just because this lad had barely had a kick for us and was not overly experienced at first team level full stop.

He has done amazingly well and commands his box with authority that belies his years. His record is exceptional, if you are going on statistical England squad inclusion, he would surely be ahead of the likes of Jack "It's Saturday, time to concede another 5" Butland.

Hi jedi, agree, I'm sure the great majority were rightly concerned how Nick Pope would work out as cover when Tom got injured. And, of course, the same question was asked how James Tarkowski would perform as replacement for Micheal Keane. And, the same repeated when Kevin Long stepped up to "fill in" for Tarks.

It shows what a fantastic job Sean Dyche and the "back room" trainers are doing producing Premier League footballers.

UTC

boatshed bill · Post by **boatshed bill** » Sun Dec 31, 2017 8:47 pm

When he has the ball it is as a result of at least 9 of our outfield players being in the defensive quarter of the pitch. Of course he takes as long as possible to get rid.

Stayingup · Post by **Stayingup** » Sun Dec 31, 2017 9:14 pm

box_of_frogs wrote:Top goalie - yep, can’t fault him for his shot stopping etc.

But I’ll stand by my comment that his time wasting is embarrassing. No need for it, the refs aren’t fooled by it, just add more time on and then book him as well.

Refs are fooled by most other things though.

Marvins Van · Post by **Marvins Van** » Sun Dec 31, 2017 9:16 pm

Never seen him in the away end....

superdimitri · Post by **superdimitri** » Sat Jan 13, 2018 9:39 pm

Popes kicking is so bad it's getting to the point when teams deliberately close us down just so we have to pass back to him...embarrassing.

It's never a good thing to have to resort to less than a 50% chance of retaining the ball when you are already in possession but when he hoofs it forward it's not uncommon to land in the other goalkeepers arms.

I really hope he's working on it in training. Easy choice when Heaton is back to me.

Sidney1st · Post by **Sidney1st** » Sat Jan 13, 2018 11:14 pm

Last time I checked football players are meant to close down opposing players.

Or are you saying they only bother if the GK is iffy?

superdimitri · Post by **superdimitri** » Sat Jan 13, 2018 11:19 pm

They we're putting pressure on our back line because they know he is dodgy at kicking, they also knew if they forced us to play it back we would have no chance with his kicking. Simple tactics to make is ineffective.

ElectroClaret · Post by **ElectroClaret** » Sat Jan 13, 2018 11:23 pm

Brilliant.
We've been beaten, so let's have a go at the keeper.
Who's blameless.

JFW.

tiger76 · Post by **tiger76** » Sat Jan 13, 2018 11:23 pm

Sounds at fault for their goal today sadly,like the rest of the squad he is going through a dip in form hopefully just temporary.

paulus the woodgnome · Post by **paulus the woodgnome** » Sat Jan 13, 2018 11:39 pm

warksclaret · Post by **warksclaret** » Sun Jan 14, 2018 12:11 am

He has performed better than any of us could have expected. The one thing I have noticed though is that shots on the floor going close to him are rarely saved by his hands. Really relies on his feet rather than getting down using his hands

starting_11 · Post by **starting_11** » Sun Jan 14, 2018 12:23 am

superdimitri wrote:Popes kicking is so bad it's getting to the point when teams deliberately close us down just so we have to pass back to him...embarrassing.

It's never a good thing to have to resort to less than a 50% chance of retaining the ball when you are already in possession but when he hoofs it forward it's not uncommon to land in the other goalkeepers arms.

I really hope he's working on it in training. Easy choice when Heaton is back to me.

**** me... you ever seen Tom Heaton kick a ball?

mickleoverclaret · Post by **mickleoverclaret** » Sun Jan 14, 2018 12:34 am

tiger76 wrote:Sounds at fault for their goal today sadly,like the rest of the squad he is going through a dip in form hopefully just temporary.

Looked to me as if he'd seen it quite late given he had Bardsley and Tarkowski in front of him. Hard to get down to a shot hit low and hard from that distance anyway

ElectroClaret · Post by **ElectroClaret** » Sun Jan 14, 2018 12:59 am

Did well to get a foot to it, was well unsighted.

superdimitri · Post by **superdimitri** » Sun Jan 14, 2018 1:23 am

ElectroClaret wrote:Brilliant.
We've been beaten, so let's have a go at the keeper.
Who's blameless.

JFW.

Have a go? lol

do you know this is a discussion forum?

starting_11 wrote:**** me... you ever seen Tom Heaton kick a ball?

Many a time and he is far, far better than Pope.

starting_11 · Post by **starting_11** » Sun Jan 14, 2018 10:58 am

Heaton distribution success last year 46%

Pope distribution success this year 46%

...

Far better???

ablueclaret · Post by **ablueclaret** » Sun Jan 14, 2018 11:23 am

Pope has not somehow become a bad keeper, there must be a number of sides interested in him, we're lucky to have him.

HiroshimaClaret · Post by **HiroshimaClaret** » Sun Jan 14, 2018 11:39 am

warksclaret wrote:He has performed better than any of us could have expected. The one thing I have noticed though is that shots on the floor going close to him are rarely saved by his hands. Really relies on his feet rather than getting down using his hands

Similar to De Gea.

Rileybobs · Post by **Rileybobs** » Sun Jan 14, 2018 2:19 pm

starting_11 wrote:Heaton distribution success last year 46%

Pope distribution success this year 46%

...

Far better???

In fairness, we play the ball out from the back a lot more this season than we did last. For that reason Pope’s pass success rate should be higher than Heaton’s from last season. I don’t think there’s any doubt that Heaton’s kicking is better.

nil_desperandum · Post by **nil_desperandum** » Sun Jan 14, 2018 5:12 pm

warksclaret wrote:He has performed better than any of us could have expected. The one thing I have noticed though is that shots on the floor going close to him are rarely saved by his hands. Really relies on his feet rather than getting down using his hands

Hardly a surprise considering his height is it?

mohamed69 · Post by **mohamed69** » Sun Jan 14, 2018 6:15 pm

Heaton's better at shot stopping, reading the game, decision making, positioning and distribution. Pope is only better at claiming crosses and looks a little shaky in his decision making sometimes. Easy choice for me when Tom is fit.

superdimitri · Post by **superdimitri** » Sun Jan 14, 2018 6:43 pm

If you think Heaton is bad in the box when it comes to catching/punching crosses, have you seen Lee Grant?

holdyourfire · Post by **holdyourfire** » Sun Jan 14, 2018 6:51 pm

When any keeper has to pump it long,it then becomes 50-50 ball.

Ooogeorgeorgeoghani · Post by **Ooogeorgeorgeoghani** » Sun Jan 14, 2018 6:59 pm

Pope has beeen brilliant always in the right place and sometimes makes good shots look poor due to positioning, he can welly it way up the pitch too when he wants too, definantly a premier league keeper , however Tom Heaton is Better , never palms the ball back into play or makes rash decisions .pope will only get better though

SalisburyClaret · Post by **SalisburyClaret** » Sun Jan 14, 2018 6:59 pm

Heaton is discouraged for coming for crosses by the management team - they expect the defenders to deal with the first ball

Pope gets a different deal because of his height

Goalkeeping distribution is about clearing your lines first and foremost - in that department Heaton is just superb, I've seen him mis-kick a back pass less than 5 times since he's been here

superdimitri · Post by **superdimitri** » Sun Jan 14, 2018 7:39 pm

Are you sure pope will only get better? There is no guarantee any player will improve and at 25 he may be young for a goalie but many goalkeepers are already playing at the top level when they are younger. You can't presume that he will improve.

mohamed69 · Post by **mohamed69** » Sun Jan 14, 2018 7:42 pm

I think he will get better. Goalkeeping is as much mental as physical and he has limited experience in the top flight.

cricketfieldclarets · Post by **cricketfieldclarets** » Mon Jan 15, 2018 12:32 am

tiger76 wrote:Sounds at fault for their goal today sadly,like the rest of the squad he is going through a dip in form hopefully just temporary.

Apart from the fact it was hit from close range, through 2 defenders at about 70mph you have a point!

tiger76 · Post by **tiger76** » Mon Jan 15, 2018 12:43 am

cricketfieldclarets wrote:Apart from the fact it was hit from close range, through 2 defenders at about 70mph you have a point!

Have seen it on the highlights,probably is harsh but when a keeper gets beaten at the near post it will always look bad as Liverpool's keeper did also.

HiroshimaClaret · Post by **HiroshimaClaret** » Mon Jan 15, 2018 4:46 am

Ooogeorgeorgeoghani wrote:Pope has beeen brilliant always in the right place and sometimes makes good shots look poor due to positioning, he can welly it way up the pitch too when he wants too, definantly a premier league keeper , however Tom Heaton is Better , never palms the ball back into play or makes rash decisions .pope will only get better though

If memory serves, Heaton did indeed `palm the ball back into play` and on more than a couple of occasions. I believe when this did happen, Mee has been there to clear it away. As brilliant as Heaton is, at 25, Heaton couldn`t get a spot in the Cardiff City team. Pope is playing in the Premier League.

Lancasterclaret · Post by **Lancasterclaret** » Mon Jan 15, 2018 7:53 am

He wasn't beaten at his near post, he was beaten by a shot that he got his foot too and almost managed to deflect it past the far post, and he was certainly unsighted.

Inchy · Post by **Inchy** » Mon Jan 15, 2018 1:09 pm

Being beat at the near post is not always the keepers fault

it is not always possible to palm the ball to safety

UpTheBeehole · Post by **UpTheBeehole** » Mon Jan 15, 2018 2:18 pm

Pope was at no fault for the goal on Saturday.

Bardsley however, whose body shape was all wrong and invited the shot, was definitely at fault.

superdimitri · Post by **superdimitri** » Mon Jan 15, 2018 2:22 pm

You can't really blame a keeper for a 1-0 defeat even if the goal is their fault. Its simply the teams fault for not scoring, an issue we clearly have when we go behind.

However his kicking on Saturday really didn't help, in fact his kicking never helps. Its so bad I feel like we should have a player taking goal kicks like back in the Beresford days.

nil_desperandum · Post by **nil_desperandum** » Mon Jan 15, 2018 2:25 pm

UpTheBeehole wrote:Pope was at no fault for the goal on Saturday.

Bardsley however, whose body shape was all wrong and invited the shot, was definitely at fault.

This is true, but one could also ask what Defour and Gudmundsson were doing, since they weren't providing any cover / support for Bardsley at all.
We can all agree however, that Pope had virtually no chance with the shot - unless he got really lucky.

UpTheBeehole · Post by **UpTheBeehole** » Mon Jan 15, 2018 2:37 pm

nil_desperandum wrote:This is true, but one could also ask what Defour and Gudmundsson were doing, since they weren't providing any cover / support for Bardsley at all.
We can all agree however, that Pope had virtually no chance with the shot - unless he got really lucky.

The goal came from us losing possession when Gudmundsson swung a cross in level with their penalty box.

Hennessey catches and rolls the ball out to their right side to Zaha, who advances. Defour goes over to our left hand side of the pitch to close down. Ball gets knocked forward 20 yards. Tarkowski gets outmuscled and Benteke knocks it into the channel first time.

It's now a one on one in that channel. Bardsley stands off and backs off Sako. Body shape is facing our goal. Not square on or providing any kind of barrier. Shot gets drilled in. Goal.

Defour can't be blamed at all. Gudmundsson is pictured inside our box as the goal goes in. 18 seconds since his cross is caught.

It's clearly Bardsley's awful defending which allowed this goal, no blame on anyone else from me.

nil_desperandum · Post by **nil_desperandum** » Mon Jan 15, 2018 3:32 pm

UpTheBeehole wrote:The goal came from us losing possession when Gudmundsson swung a cross in level with their penalty box.

Hennessey catches and rolls the ball out to their right side to Zaha, who advances. Defour goes over to our left hand side of the pitch to close down. Ball gets knocked forward 20 yards. Tarkowski gets outmuscled and Benteke knocks it into the channel first time.

It's now a one on one in that channel. Bardsley stands off and backs off Sako. Body shape is facing our goal. Not square on or providing any kind of barrier. Shot gets drilled in. Goal.

Defour can't be blamed at all. Gudmundsson is pictured inside our box as the goal goes in. 18 seconds since his cross is caught.

It's clearly Bardsley's awful defending which allowed this goal, no blame on anyone else from me.

MOTD analysts highlighted Defour's role in the goal.
As you say it was a "one on one". never easy for the fullback.

UpTheBeehole · Post by **UpTheBeehole** » Mon Jan 15, 2018 3:39 pm

nil_desperandum wrote:MOTD analysts highlighted Defour's role in the goal.
As you say it was a "one on one". never easy for the fullback.

It's easier if you get in the right position for it. Bardsley never was.

UpTheBeehole · Post by **UpTheBeehole** » Mon Jan 15, 2018 3:40 pm

nil_desperandum wrote:MOTD analysts highlighted Defour's role in the goal.
As you say it was a "one on one". never easy for the fullback.

It's easier if you get in the right position for it. Bardsley never was. Didn't get goal side, and because of that he offered zero protection. Might as well not have been there.