Tim Howard

maccavennie · August 29, 2015

He was superb today. Difference between a 0-0 and a 3-0 defeat that we wouldn't have complained about.

I'm a big critic of his but he was superb in everything he done today, saves, kicking, when to mix it up and not play short balls which tend to put us in the [Poor language removed]

peteblue · August 29, 2015

The lad won the point.........

allen · August 29, 2015

peteblue said:
The lad won the point.........

I just opened this thread to say the same thing.

I hope his critics remember this. This match proved he's still got it. There were at least three occasions where I'd resigned myself to us going a goal down.

RFUS · August 29, 2015

allen said:
I just opened this thread to say the same thing.

I hope his critics remember this. This match proved he's still got it. There were at least three occasions where I'd resigned myself to us going a goal down.

I've been a big critic of his but I won't forget this.

Mainly because Tim Howard in 2015 being so good that he wins us a point almost single-handedly, is such an incredible shock that I will probably never be able to forget it.

ilikecheese · August 30, 2015

The big concern for me is the very leaky defense we are playing. We have some boss individual players, but as a unit they've been poor.

Hate to get all 'stat'y, but through four games we're averaging giving up 6 shots on target. Last year it was about half of that for the season.

Howard was great today, but if he's gonna get peppered like that, we are in for a long season. Tighten it up boys.

4737carlin · August 30, 2015

ilikecheese said:
The big concern for me is the very leaky defense we are playing. We have some boss individual players, but as a unit they've been poor. .

True this, as pointed out on MOTD he has made more saves than any other premiership keeper this season, which also means he has had a lot more to do, we need to tighten right up

Matthew Martinez · August 30, 2015

Just to reiterate what's already been said by loads of us, credit where credits due, Tim was rock solid today.

maccavennie · August 30, 2015

ilikecheese said:
The big concern for me is the very leaky defense we are playing. We have some boss individual players, but as a unit they've been poor.

Hate to get all 'stat'y, but through four games we're averaging giving up 6 shots on target. Last year it was about half of that for the season.

Howard was great today, but if he's gonna get peppered like that, we are in for a long season. Tighten it up boys.

Agreed mate, defensively we were awful ( except Howard ).

For me that's up to Martinez who unfortunately I really don't think has a clue how to set up a team to defend in a way how we would say is orthodox ( pressing, keeping tight lines etc )

We look awful at the back, and I mean seriously awful when on a different day Howard doesn't make those 3 saves and we are getting beat too easily 3-4 nil.

The Esk · August 30, 2015

maccavennie said:
Agreed mate, defensively we were awful ( except Howard ).

For me that's up to Martinez who unfortunately I really don't think has a clue how to set up a team to defend in a way how we would say is orthodox ( pressing, keeping tight lines etc )

We look awful at the back, and I mean seriously awful when on a different day Howard doesn't make those 3 saves and we are getting beat too easily 3-4 nil.

We defend too deeply and we can't keep a "shape" - sitting on the half way line today I had no idea what formation we were playing....

ilikecheese · August 30, 2015

the esk said:
We defend too deeply and we can't keep a "shape" - sitting on the half way line today I had no idea what formation we were playing....

Looked like the same we've always played 4-2-3-1.

The Esk · August 30, 2015

ilikecheese said:
Looked like the same we've always played 4-2-3-1.

Yes, but it never looks like that in real play, we are very undisciplined in keeping a shape - the back four never play in a line, as a result frequently the defensive CM's are dragged out of position, the attacking midfield (for want of a better description) drop too deep and leave Lukaku very isolated.

Not being negative, but that's the pattern we fall into if we don't get players moving quickly ahead of the ball.

ilikecheese · August 30, 2015

the esk said:
Yes, but it never looks like that in real play, we are very undisciplined in keeping a shape - the back four never play in a line, as a result frequently the defensive CM's are dragged out of position, the attacking midfield (for want of a better description) drop too deep and leave Lukaku very isolated.

Not being negative, but that's the pattern we fall into if we don't get players moving quickly ahead of the ball.

I see...wasn't accusing you of being negative. My worry is that we are easy to attack. Not defending as a unit. McCarthy covered everything his first season here. Is it me, or does he seem to have lost a step?

mlyons · August 30, 2015

For the first half hour, I thought we kept switching back and forth between the 4-2-3-1 and a diamond 4-4-2 every five minutes or so. Koné would shift from right wing to left sided striker, Cleverley would tuck inside, and McCarthy would push further up for a little while, and then they would shift back again after a few minutes. It looked like we abandoned that diamond shape before the first half ended, though -- I'm sure replacing Cleverley with Mirallas meant we couldn't do it any more.

KevMirallas · August 30, 2015

Fair play to him.

Thomas69 · August 30, 2015

He tends to play better when he sees more shots like he did today. I only get concerned when he doesn't get enough touches. Got a lot of touches today along with a point. (is that a beard I see?)