Joel Robles

[Ollie d]

No point in carrying on playing Howard if he is gonna leave,its not like he has been single handedly keeping teams out is it? Robles every day for me .

 

[thirdmantackle]

Thought he did ok.
Was far more decisive in and around the box

Not his fault the umpires missed a ball out of play and the crappy defending from Stones and co in front of him

 

[BluePeadar]

De Bruyne injured himself trying to go down easy for a free kick but he seems a nice lad. Hopefully not too bad.

100% with you , he was clipped by Funes Mori and went down theatrically and injured himself.
The only thing to say to that is hahahahaha. Injuries are not funny but players diving and overreacting is pathetic.
Robles shouldnt apologise, about 5 times last City players went down and rolled around like they had an injury only to jump up and sprint away.

 

[jceverton]

But if Martinez didn't want to start him in the league after the first leg, what would he have seen in this leg to change his mind?

To me the more convincing reason why Robles should play is that he hasn't done anything wrong! Sometimes you don't have to prove a positive, disproving a negative is enough.
That's how bad the situation with Howard is now. He should drop Howard because of his shocking performances for last 18 months topped off by the Chelsea and Swansea games. The only way I would still be playing Howard is if we had Bogdan for backup!!

 

[cjuk87]

For his quick precise throws alone i want him in until the end of the season.

 

[RFUS]

Ultimately when you have a player like Howard who has some massive weaknesses (decisiveness, distribution, communication) but you have another player who in fact can list those weaknesses instead as strengths, then it's a no-brainer who should be playing.

 

[Dom1878]

I love him. The best thing about him is the speed at which he collects the ball and gets it out. Tim Howard has a tendency to delay things. He was also quick off the line yesterday.

If Tim Howard is going at the end of the season anyway - why not play Robles - if not because he's a better keeper, but because he can have a run of games and get his confidence up as the 1st choice keeper

 

[Mikey_Fitzgerald]

I don't think he was really to blame for that last night

Did well enough at times

Let's face it, we need a new 1st choice keeper, but until we find him I'm happy for Robles to play over Howard

 

[KevMirallas]

I've seen enough, he's a good goalkeeper. I'd be more than happy to have him as our permanent number one.

 

[BluePeadar]

It is too late for Martinez to drop Howard because if he brings him in and does well Martinez will be in a very tricky spot with managers and fans and players maybe.
If Robles comes in and he does badly then potentially even worse.

The whole situation typifies Martinez reign and position imo.

 

[MikeH72]

I'm not saying he put in a bad performance tonight or anything, but I can't see how he'd be any more likely to start in the league now than he was yesterday. He certainly didn't do much wrong, but I don't see what he did that would make someone who didn't think he should start over Howard change his mind.

Howard's own rotten performances are the reason he should be dropped for Joel

 

[blueblue]

why should howard play any games, lets see what joel can do and start moving forwards

I would always play the back up keeper now and then because one day because of an injury to number one they may not be back up keeper anymore

 

[mlyons]

Ultimately when you have a player like Howard who has some massive weaknesses (decisiveness, distribution, communication) but you have another player who in fact can list those weaknesses instead as strengths, then it's a no-brainer who should be playing.

But if the results aren't better, then what are you gaining? It's not like we looked more effective going forward with Robles launching the attacks, and all his great communication didn't keep our defenders from leaking chances the same way they do with Howard in goal.

I've said for quite a while that the real problem you all have with Howard is aesthetics. He looks bad when he concedes a goal. It might be the same goal that most other Premier League keepers will concede, but they won't look like Flappy McStarjumps before they pick the ball out of the net. Robles conceded 3 goals on 5 shots on target last night, but he didn't look silly doing it, so somehow it's been transformed into a good performance.

Our real problem is that we don't defend well. There's no cohesiveness to what we do without the ball and we invite far too much pressure. It's not because Howard makes everyone nervous -- we've had a few league matches this season where we set up with an organized defense and maintained concentration for the whole 90 minutes and walked away with a clean sheet with Howard in goal, and now we've seen a couple of matches with Robles in goal where we haven't set up with a defensive intent and we've leaked just as many goals. When we actually set the team out to defend well with everyone tracking back to solid defensive lines and putting pressure on the ball, we're a good defensive team no matter who's in goal. When we decide to commit defenders forward with no regard to who will cover the gaps they leave and let the man on the ball have as much time as he wants, then we leak goals, no matter who's in goal.

 

[snipellis11]

He's just a lot better, he comes out and dominates his box and also i have noticed that he is a lot louder and keeps talking to his defense.

 

[Joey66]

Do you really think any of those things are enough to change someone's mind, though?

Let's face it, he played about as well as anyone could who conceded three goals and only saved two shots, but that's still not that saying much. If he wasn't considered good enough to start in the league after the home leg, why would it be any different now?

FGS he was streets ahead of Tim last night you witter on - what goal was he responsible for?
NONE - his distribution was spot on faster - if the ref robs us so be it!