Brad Guzan

[Greg N'Ash]

he's been unlucky i guess with big brad. Most people thought he was a bit iffy, but until they get a proper chance you never know. He'd probably get far more chances now with Given's injury record but i wouldn't blame him if he wanted to try his luck elsewhere.

[pauliewalnuts]

As per usual we are in a position where the player has the upper hand.

You can't really do a lot about that. If he doesn't want to sign his contract, if he wants to keep his options open, it's up to him, and to be honest, you can't really blame him.

[Shrek]

As per usual we are in a position where the player has the upper hand.

You can't really do a lot about that. If he doesn't want to sign his contract, if he wants to keep his options open, it's up to him, and to be honest, you can't really blame him.

But it's how often it's happening, Cuellar, NRC, Guzan, Ash were/are all in the driving seat when discussing contracts.

[dave.woodhall]

As per usual we are in a position where the player has the upper hand.

You can't really do a lot about that. If he doesn't want to sign his contract, if he wants to keep his options open, it's up to him, and to be honest, you can't really blame him.

But it's how often it's happening, Cuellar, NRC, Guzan, Ash were/are all in the driving seat when discussing contracts.

That's football. It happens everywhere.

[pauliewalnuts]

As per usual we are in a position where the player has the upper hand.

You can't really do a lot about that. If he doesn't want to sign his contract, if he wants to keep his options open, it's up to him, and to be honest, you can't really blame him.

But it's how often it's happening, Cuellar, NRC, Guzan, Ash were/are all in the driving seat when discussing contracts.

Young was never, ever going to stay once Man U showed interest.
Cuellar has barely played of late.
NRC chose to reject the contract he was offered.

It's not just a case of "offer a contract, everything will be fine" - once you offer the deal, you're stuck with it. That means you sometimes end up paying the likes of Habib Beye 40k a week till the age of 35 to do fuck all.

Guzan has played a handful of first team games in a few years, and has just put together two decent performances. I hope the chap does well, but it's not like we've stumbled upon the new Peter Shilton and we've got to throw him a deal quickly.

[Ad@m]

As per usual we are in a position where the player has the upper hand.

You can't really do a lot about that. If he doesn't want to sign his contract, if he wants to keep his options open, it's up to him, and to be honest, you can't really blame him.

But it's how often it's happening, Cuellar, NRC, Guzan, Ash were/are all in the driving seat when discussing contracts.

Young was never, ever going to stay once Man U showed interest.
Cuellar has barely played of late.
NRC chose to reject the contract he was offered.

It's not just a case of "offer a contract, everything will be fine" - once you offer the deal, you're stuck with it. That means you sometimes end up paying the likes of Habib Beye 40k a week till the age of 35 to do fuck all.

Guzan has played a handful of first team games in a few years, and has just put together two decent performances. I hope the chap does well, but it's not like we've stumbled upon the new Peter Shilton and we've got to throw him a deal quickly.

And equally, had the club offered him improved terms prior to his recent run in the team I bet there would have been a fair few fans saying it was a waste of money offering a better contract to a reserve that never plays and doesn't appear to have what it takes to cut it at first team level.

[dave.woodhall]

Another thing to remember is that once you've offered a big contract to one current player you've raised the bar for the rest. "If he's worth 20k I'm worth 25," and so on.

[pauliewalnuts]

As per usual we are in a position where the player has the upper hand.

You can't really do a lot about that. If he doesn't want to sign his contract, if he wants to keep his options open, it's up to him, and to be honest, you can't really blame him.

But it's how often it's happening, Cuellar, NRC, Guzan, Ash were/are all in the driving seat when discussing contracts.

Young was never, ever going to stay once Man U showed interest.
Cuellar has barely played of late.
NRC chose to reject the contract he was offered.

It's not just a case of "offer a contract, everything will be fine" - once you offer the deal, you're stuck with it. That means you sometimes end up paying the likes of Habib Beye 40k a week till the age of 35 to do fuck all.

Guzan has played a handful of first team games in a few years, and has just put together two decent performances. I hope the chap does well, but it's not like we've stumbled upon the new Peter Shilton and we've got to throw him a deal quickly.

And equally, had the club offered him improved terms prior to his recent run in the team I bet there would have been a fair few fans saying it was a waste of money offering a better contract to a reserve that never plays and doesn't appear to have what it takes to cut it at first team level.

Indeed.

[darren woolley]

I would keep him he has come in and done a good job while Given's been out.

[philthebar]

I prefer him to Given.

Comes for the high ball (misses a few) commands the area and takes pressure of the centre halves (is it a coincidence that they have played better in front of Guzan)

[Shrek]

My point is, we have the likes of Cuellar who haven't been given a look in, even when Collins has been utter shite.
I understand how it works with contracts but we seem to discard players then suddenly realise, actually they are useful when their contracts are about to run out.

I just hope AM can sell Collins and persuade Cuellar to extend his contract.

Regarding Guzan it's catch 22, he behind Given but a lot younger so what do we do? We have played our best games without Bent or Given, coincidence?

[Legion]

When is Given expected back?

[picicata]

Whatever happens we need a good second keeper as it is obvious that he will get a fair few games each season, something that is only likely to increase as Given gets older and even more injury prone.

As it is I think Guzan has done very well since he has come in and that he clearly communicates with his defenders far more effectively than Given does.

[Aston Manor]

Sorry to the poster who mentioned it earlier (too green to remember names...) but yes I wasn't aware that he was out of contract at the end of the season and I thought he had signed a new one. Which makes it even more certain to me that we should cash in if we get the chance. If he is holding out for a better deal I'm not sure it is just about an extra few quid - although that will help. He probably realises that he needs to be playing regularly especially as his main contenders for the US jersey are all getting older.

If he hasn't signed a contract now I think he wants a move and explains why he's playing better than any other time he's come in. He's always had the quality but his weaknesses were always shown up eventually. Which is why he's sitting on the bench more often than not.

This isn't an anti-Guzan thing because if we still had the squad of a few seasons back I think he'd be happy to bide his time and we would be quite happy to get him an extra 5 k a week to warm the bench. Things have moved on now though and I think we need to cut our cloth accordingly. Offer him to someone now, see if they'll bite, if not he'll sit on the bench until the summer with us paying dead money for a reserve. That's the situation that got us to where we are now (albeit in a totally different way I guess).

[Greg N'Ash]

there's no point.  We won't get squat for him in January AND have to find a replacement who will probably cost us what we make on  Guzan or more. Brad's wages till the end of the season are dead money, already budgeted for, and we'd probably have to pay up the rest of his contract to persuade him to leave so its best to let him see out his contract. At least we know we have a reliable reserve 'keeper till the summer if Given gets crocked again.