Tim Howard

carolinablue232 · February 23, 2015

agboehm said:
Disclaimer: I'm American. I have a Tim Howard jersey. I've been an Everton fan long enough to remember being confused as hell listening on the radio when Paulo Di Canio caught the ball after Paul Gerrard went down, so, well before Tim Howard.

Some players deserve a certain amount of latitude based on past performance/commitment. It isn't necessarily sentimentality, more familiarity and history providing the belief that poor patches can be worked through and form regained. Lest we forget, Howard has been the starting keeper for 9 seasons, with our worst finishing position in that stretch being 8th. European performances, FA Cup final, and semi-finals, League Cup Semi-Final, 122 clean sheets. He had a good 2013/2014 season, and of course, a great World Cup just 7 months ago.

That being said, I think Howard has used up his latitude and Joel deserves another extended run this season. That doesn't mean Howard should be shipped off immediately. It doesn't mean he can't regain his form and still be a strong Premiership keeper, but you can't ignore his recent poor play.

Well said and well thought out. He should be benched after yesterday. He was outstanding last season and through the World Cup, but I think his age has caught up to him.

I think a keeper like Tim is a bit of an interesting situation as he unorthodox, and perhaps he relied more on his natural athletic ability more than most. With his body aging, he looks like he's now out-thinking himself. There would be no shame in heading home to finish his career. If he does still have it, we haven't seen it since the World Cup. I don't blame him for the goal vs. Chelsea or YB, and he played well overall those two games, but you can't ignore his mistakes anymore.

The only thing I'll add is that I'd be ok if he was sold to one of the MLS clubs over the summer. It would probably be in the best interest of all, and I think I heard NYCFC was interested. Everton would get a bit of cash, and Tim would get to finish his career close to home. I'd rather he not tarnish all the good he's done for Everton by pushing it too long as he clearly is on the decline.

Portland Toffee · February 23, 2015

Why are people writing Joel off, played boss once he got a run of games and kept 3 clean sheets on the bounce. Making some very good saves and started to really command his area, something we criticized him for at first. Actually started plucking everything out the air instead of flapping

If you can't keep your place when playing like that its clear favoritism. What does that tell the players, do the absolute best you can (3 clean sheets) and still lose your place.

anton66 · February 23, 2015

Eric Djemba-Djemba said:
Joel easily did enough to displace Howard.

A cardboard cutout of Howard would have done enough to displace Howard.

Totally agree, Joel was getting better game by game then displaced by probably the worst goalkeeper in the P/L

Goat · February 23, 2015

The other issue now is, lets say Howard is dropped for Joel, it now puts ADDED pressure on the young lads shoulders.

Hopefully it pushes him on, but it could go the other way.

SNova · February 23, 2015

carolinablue232 said:
Well said and well thought out. He should be benched after yesterday. He was outstanding last season and through the World Cup, but I think his age has caught up to him.

I think a keeper like Tim is a bit of an interesting situation as he unorthodox, and perhaps he relied more on his natural athletic ability more than most. With his body aging, he looks like he's now out-thinking himself. There would be no shame in heading home to finish his career. If he does still have it, we haven't seen it since the World Cup. I don't blame him for the goal vs. Chelsea or YB, and he played well overall those two games, but you can't ignore his mistakes anymore.

The only thing I'll add is that I'd be ok if he was sold to one of the MLS clubs over the summer. It would probably be in the best interest of all, and I think I heard NYCFC was interested. Everton would get a bit of cash, and Tim would get to finish his career close to home. I'd rather he not tarnish all the good he's done for Everton by pushing it too long as he clearly is on the decline.

You don't blame him for Young Boys goal? Did you see how far off his line he was?

Kurt. · February 23, 2015

I'm gutted skeletoncrew blocked me now...... Can someone tell him I was right please lol

Kurt. · February 23, 2015

carolinablue232 said:
Well said and well thought out. He should be benched after yesterday. He was outstanding last season and through the World Cup, but I think his age has caught up to him.

I think a keeper like Tim is a bit of an interesting situation as he unorthodox, and perhaps he relied more on his natural athletic ability more than most. With his body aging, he looks like he's now out-thinking himself. There would be no shame in heading home to finish his career. If he does still have it, we haven't seen it since the World Cup. I don't blame him for the goal vs. Chelsea or YB, and he played well overall those two games, but you can't ignore his mistakes anymore.

The only thing I'll add is that I'd be ok if he was sold to one of the MLS clubs over the summer. It would probably be in the best interest of all, and I think I heard NYCFC was interested. Everton would get a bit of cash, and Tim would get to finish his career close to home. I'd rather he not tarnish all the good he's done for Everton by pushing it too long as he clearly is on the decline.

Honestly mate, why is it so difficult to just say 'he's not good enough' ?

OkieBlue · February 23, 2015

PeterPrinciple said:
This season. But really this season came from nowhere. He was great this past summer when he led a bunch of inferior footballing ragmuffins into the round of 16 and made something like 15 saves to almost carry his squad into the round of 8 at the WC. He was the keeper for a 5th place finish in the league a year ago.

I'm an American and I bought into the notion that Howard was a great keeper from his Summer performances.

That 16 saves stat looks a lot more impressive than the actual performance. I'd give a chunk of that credit to the back four and a poor performance by the Belgian forwards. Most of the shots were pressured into shooting to a small area of the goal in which Howard was already positioned. I do, however, give him credit for actually collecting the ball, coming off the line a couple of times, and even dealing with a corner into his area. Thing he has failed to do throughout this season.

He's been awful. I have seen one solid performance from him this entire season, and it was one of the Wolfsburg games. Robles needs to be our primary keeper from here on out.

Chang Elephant · February 23, 2015

Who is this Peterprinciple lunatic ?

1878doyle · February 23, 2015

Dodgey keeper !!!

Del · February 23, 2015

Just another in a long list of American "Soccer" players who failed to make the grade

Gutting that he's been our number one for so long, Always an error waiting to happen

SNova · February 23, 2015

Made my blood boil when he laughed after a miss kick.

Steverton · February 23, 2015

I'm an American and a first year supporter of Everton because of Howard. Throughout the season it has become increasingly difficult to continue to support him, and at this point he can't be considered anything but a liability. Forget the stats, if you just watch them both play Robles is clearly performing better right now (whether he is the long term solution is another discussion) and I think it would be a disservice to the team and the fans to continue to play Howard in front of him.

As for whether or not new American fans will continue to support Everton without him, I can really only speak for myself. To be honest I don't think his World Cup performance brought in that many new American supporters. But I think considering the fact that I'm still here after how poorly both Howard and the team have performed says enough. You lot know the saying, "Once Everton has touched you.."

StatesideBlue3 · February 23, 2015

Steverton said:
I'm an American and a first year supporter of Everton because of Howard. Throughout the season it has become increasingly difficult to continue to support him, and at this point he can't be considered anything but a liability. Forget the stats, if you just watch them both play Robles is clearly performing better right now (whether he is the long term solution is another discussion) and I think it would be a disservice to the team and the fans to continue to play Howard in front of him.

As for whether or not new American fans will continue to support Everton without him, I can really only speak for myself. To be honest I don't think his World Cup performance brought in that many new American supporters. But I think considering the fact that I'm still here after how poorly both Howard and the team have performed says enough. You lot know the saying, "Once Everton has touched you.."

I think most Evertonians like you and I are true Blues and care more for the club than Howard, which is why some of the anti-American fan banter in this thread can be tiresome for me. Every country has good and bad, smart and dumb fans.

RaleighBlue · February 23, 2015

StatesideBlue3 said:
I think most Evertonians like you and I are true Blues and care more for the club than Howard, which is why some of the anti-American fan banter in this thread can be tiresome for me. Every country has good and bad, smart and dumb fans.

Well, in an awful lot of cases American fans are defending Howard long past he's proved that he's turd. We are not a persecuted minority here.

England fans get it much worse.