Tim Howard

Eric Djemba-Djemba · January 26, 2015

Dithering Dougie said:
Ha? He was in no mans land for the goal against City, and against West Ham he gave Valencia allof the goal to shot at and then stayed on his line for the Cole goal when he should have come for the ball. It's not even worth mentioning the Newcastle or Hull games either.

Against City he came off his line because Silva had acres of space in the box. West Ham was down to poor defending rather than him and against Newcastle and Hull he looked dodgy but I can't remember him being responsible for any goals.

Dithering Dougie · January 26, 2015

mkrudden said:
Ahhh it's a good question! I think it would be very unfair drop Robles and it sends the message to Howard that his form has been acceptable if he returns as soon as fit.

That said, Howard for all his faults this season does command his box far better than Robles.

Hmmmm I can't decide.

And just a quick one - I dont think Robles is the better keeper, I just think that Howard has been so poor that his understudy deserves a shot to prove whether he is/can be the better keeper. At the moment there is still a big fat question mark against Robles and only games will prove his worth one way of the other.

Back to list of replacements - don't you think even Ben Foster would be an improvement on Howard at the moment?

I do take your point though, all the experience points towards Howard coming back in because of his proven ability.

To be honest I've never been impressed with Foster ive always thought he's prone to a clanger or to as well, and I've not seen enough of Butland. Cech would obviously be an improvement but given his age, wages and ambition I doubt we'd go for him. Begovic fits the bill but if he's on a free in the summer there'll be a lot of competition and I'd imagine Arsenal might be in for him, but he'd be the one for me.

I think we'll end up going for another young foreign keeper that will hopefully push Howard harder, Robles was brought in to do this but isn't up for the job. Given we'll likely need 1 top class centreback and at least one creative midfield player I can't see us spending big on a keeper for the next year at least, unless we get a good offer from the MLS, but I'd be surprised if they'd go for a keeper over a fading former big player.

RFUS · January 26, 2015

Howard will go straight into the team I think, which is a shame as Robles has been better of late than Howard has been all season, and deserves the chance to keep improving in the first XI. Howard is only going to get worse -- he's 35. Robles is 11 years younger and is growing more confident with each game.

ijjysmith · January 26, 2015

RadioFriendlyUnitShifter said:
Howard will go straight into the team I think, which is a shame as Robles has been better of late than Howard has been all season, and deserves the chance to keep improving in the first XI. Howard is only going to get worse -- he's 35. Robles is 11 years younger and is growing more confident with each game.

Yeah. I think pretty much this too.

Howard will go back in I reckon. For all the wrong reasons. Just because he's 'Tim Howard'. Which apparently has some meaning no matter how bad a season you've had.

People using stats don't need to really. Just use your eyes. In Robles last 3 games, not including the West Brom game as he had nowt to do, has done better than Howard was doing.

DaveR1878 · January 26, 2015

When did Tim Howard command his penalty area? I must've missed that match.

RFUS · January 26, 2015

ijjysmith said:
Yeah. I think pretty much this too.

Howard will go back in I reckon. For all the wrong reasons. Just because he's 'Tim Howard'. Which apparently has some meaning no matter how bad a season you've had.

People using stats don't need to really. Just use your eyes. In Robles last 3 games, not including the West Brom game as he had nowt to do, has done better than Howard was doing.

Don't get me wrong, if Robles was 35 I'd be saying we need to bin him. But he's shown a big improvement in confidence and how he's commanding his area in just a measly run of 4 or so games. On that basis he really deserves a lot more time. His reactions are excellent, his frame is huge and his distribution is a lot better than Howard's (consistently a weak point of Tim's that has never really improved enough). If Robles can keep improving on his weaknesses then I think he can become a very good keeper. Howard, on the other hand, is on the decline.

Walsall Blue · January 26, 2015

Just saying give Robles a chance,Tims a great shot stopper but his all round game ain't the best .He never comes out to catch anything, his distribution is no good cant kick to save his life,just stays on his line 9 times out of 10 to then inevitably pick the ball out of the net, ho yes great keeper i keep hearing ,NOT.In his few games he as played Robles as caught the ball more than times than Tim as all season .In the cup at West Ham he came out and claimed the ball knocking down whatever got in his way, not once have i ever seen Tim do that , because that means venturing off your goal line ,i rest my case .

MikeH72 · January 26, 2015

ijjysmith said:
Yeah. I think pretty much this too.

Howard will go back in I reckon. For all the wrong reasons. Just because he's 'Tim Howard'. Which apparently has some meaning no matter how bad a season you've had.

People using stats don't need to really. Just use your eyes. In Robles last 3 games, not including the West Brom game as he had nowt to do, has done better than Howard was doing.

EEZ DER SECRETRY OF DER DEFENSE LAD

Walsall Blue · January 26, 2015

martynedwards said:
Just saying give Robles a chance,Tims a great shot stopper but his all round game ain't the best .He never comes out to catch anything, his distribution is no good cant kick to save his life,just stays on his line 9 times out of 10 to then inevitably pick the ball out of the net, ho yes great keeper i keep hearing ,NOT.In his few games he as played Robles as caught the ball more than times than Tim as all season .In the cup at West Ham he came out and claimed the ball knocking down whatever got in his way, not once have i ever seen Tim do that , because that means venturing off your goal line ,i rest my case .

LinekersLegs · February 3, 2015

https://differentgame.wordpress.com/2015/02/02/tim-howard-leaving-the-comfort-zone/
Statistically, Howard was having an absolute nightmare before his injury. He has the lowest save % of any first choice keeper in the Premier League this season. Adjusting for overall shot quality (using this method) he fares a touch better and ranks 18th out of 20. But last year, Howard’s numbers were really good and it’s well known amongst the ‘serious stats’ community that shot stopping-wise, goalkeeping performance shows no stability from one year to the next. I’ve spent many many fruitless hours slicing and dicing the data to try and make this randomness not so. It can’t be done!

Therefore, natural curiousity (mania) leads me to question why this randomness happens. What are the factors that effect shot-stopping performance? One that I’ve been banging on about for a long time now is a keeper’s positioning. I first started advocating more conservative positioning here later calling the the concept of a keeper staying nearer his line ‘not leaving the comfort zone’.

Rook · February 3, 2015

LinekersLegs said:
https://differentgame.wordpress.com/2015/02/02/tim-howard-leaving-the-comfort-zone/
Statistically, Howard was having an absolute nightmare before his injury. He has the lowest save % of any first choice keeper in the Premier League this season. Adjusting for overall shot quality (using this method) he fares a touch better and ranks 18th out of 20. But last year, Howard’s numbers were really good and it’s well known amongst the ‘serious stats’ community that shot stopping-wise, goalkeeping performance shows no stability from one year to the next. I’ve spent many many fruitless hours slicing and dicing the data to try and make this randomness not so. It can’t be done!

Therefore, natural curiousity (mania) leads me to question why this randomness happens. What are the factors that effect shot-stopping performance? One that I’ve been banging on about for a long time now is a keeper’s positioning. I first started advocating more conservative positioning here later calling the the concept of a keeper staying nearer his line ‘not leaving the comfort zone’.

Everybody knows what Howard doesn't do well. Handle corners and deal with crosses (especially low crosses) around the 6 yard box. It didn't help especially in the beginning of the season where defended corners like grade schoolers and kept getting exposed on the flanks. If you watched the WC one of the reasons why Howard did well was that the US excels at free kick defense, and Klinsmann pretty much set the the defense up around Howard's strength. That is protect the flanks clear crosses and let Howard handle the one v. ones and long range shots. I don't think he's dropped off that much.

Joel has done better as of late (so has the defense). Do I want Joel to start? I would have said yes only he really looked lost in the pen shootout and right now I only care about what we do in Europa, because it might be a while until we get back.

LinekersLegs · February 3, 2015

Rook said:
Everybody knows what Howard doesn't do well. Handle corners and deal with crosses (especially low crosses) around the 6 yard box. It didn't help especially in the beginning of the season where defended corners like grade schoolers and kept getting exposed on the flanks. If you watched the WC one of the reasons why Howard did well was that the US excels at free kick defense, and Klinsmann pretty much set the the defense up around Howard's strength. That is protect the flanks clear crosses and let Howard handle the one v. ones and long range shots. I don't think he's dropped off that much.

Joel has done better as of late (so has the defense). Do I want Joel to start? I would have said yes only he really looked lost in the pen shootout and right now I only care about what we do in Europa, because it might be a while until we get back.

Good point about how Klinsmann set up the US team.

Tbf on Joel I think he was just mentally exhausted by the time we got to the penalty shootout, punch drunk in a way. It seems hard for players who have not been playing regularly to keep concentration and focus for a full 90 mins let alone extra time and penalties. Bet Joel has been working on it, he seems very keen to do well. Perhaps Kev is staying behind with him after sessions so both can practice penalties

USABlue · February 3, 2015

Rook said:
Everybody knows what Howard doesn't do well. Handle corners and deal with crosses (especially low crosses) around the 6 yard box. It didn't help especially in the beginning of the season where defended corners like grade schoolers and kept getting exposed on the flanks. If you watched the WC one of the reasons why Howard did well was that the US excels at free kick defense, and Klinsmann pretty much set the the defense up around Howard's strength. That is protect the flanks clear crosses and let Howard handle the one v. ones and long range shots. I don't think he's dropped off that much.

Joel has done better as of late (so has the defense). Do I want Joel to start? I would have said yes only he really looked lost in the pen shootout and right now I only care about what we do in Europa, because it might be a while until we get back.

I think Howard needs to start the Europa matches because of his experience in "big" games

blue61 · February 3, 2015

USABlue said:
I think Howard needs to start the Europa matches because of his experience in "big" games

Good idea this, Robles could turn out good, a run to the end of the season will show Martinez what Calibre of replacement we need for Howard, who will sadly never improve.