Shay Given

[pedro25]

I'd snap up the Wolves keeper when they drop and let Sunderland or similar have Given in a heartbeat.  Would help drop the wage bill also.

[PaulWinch again]

I'd snap up the Wolves keeper when they drop and let Sunderland or similar have Given in a heartbeat.  Would help drop the wage bill also.

Hennessey? you serious? he's bloody terrible.

[eastie]

Id snap up jarvis from wolves and maybe team up johnson with dann in defence as they were outstanding together for blues until dann  was injured.

[Mazrim]

Gordon and Kuszczak will be Bosmans this summer.

[Percy McCarthy]

I wonder what has changed tactically from the time we were really good at defending set-pieces, to the last two years, when we are unbelievably shit at it?

[PeterWithesShin]

I wonder what has changed tactically from the time we were really good at defending set-pieces, to the last two years, when we are unbelievably shit at it?

Maybe having Carlos at RB really did help at set pieces as it meant when defending set pieces we had 3 CB defending, as well as Carew who was useful back there.

[TheSandman]

I wonder what has changed tactically from the time we were really good at defending set-pieces, to the last two years, when we are unbelievably shit at it?

I think it is because we have switched from man to man to that useless zonal marking. Space never scored a goal.

[eastie]

Steve walford was a decent defensive coach- something sadly lacking recently even though we have a manager who played there for club and country.

We seem to have an overload of coacheswho were midfielders and maybe need a specialist defensive coach, martin laursen would be a good choice.

[Percy McCarthy]

Zogman: Almost correct, but the wrong way round, as you know. ;-)

[Rip Van We Go Again]

I'd snap up the Wolves keeper when they drop and let Sunderland or similar have Given in a heartbeat.  Would help drop the wage bill also.

Hennessey? you serious? he's bloody terrible.

Agree.
He's been a complete nightmare this season, numerous balls-up's.

[Vanilla]

I used to think the same about Brad Friedel. But, look at his performances for Spurs this season. Villa keepers are under so much pressure these days due to a weak midfield and poor defending. Given is a top goalkeeper.

Have to agree with that. You only have to look at De Gea at Manure. When they were wobbling at the beginning of the season he was getting all the stick. Now they have hit their stride and he is barely called upon, everyone is starting to think his performances have improved, when really he could spend most of the games picking his nose.

[supertom]

Every keeper makes mistakes. For me, and most pundits would say the same, Givens had a good season. He's had an awful defence in front of him and he's made some cracking stops. We haven't conceded masses of goals in fairness. Our defensive record is one of the "best" outside the top 8 and in fairness, that's largely down to Givens shot stopping because we've looked poorly organised. The set piece issue shouldn't be put on his shoulders, because we had the problem last season. Something isn't right. Our senior defenders have been largely woeful (Carlos aside), whilst youngens will always make errors.

[SoccerHQ]

Same as Friedel for me.

Pretty good shot stopper and exactly like Friedel usually parries the ball back into the six yard box but rarely comes off his line and when he does he didn't cope well at all yesterday.

Trying to think of the last keeper we had who'd come off his line and claim crosses on a regular basis...Sorensen would either do it all the time or never in games, Bozzy was frequently routed to his line, I'd have to say David James but of course as in the cup final he'd do it on one occasion too many.

[Villanation]

Given's top class for me. He's not a big guy so getting off his line is more difficult. If he's  "great shot stopper" I'd rather him stay on his line and try to make a save than come up painfully short when punching a cross.

If he's coming up 'painfully short' in any area of his game (which he is) then he's hardly 'top class' is he?

It's not like we're in the position to be that picky about a lot of positions so it's not the end of the world, but Given is precisely what I thought we were getting the summer. A fantastic shot-stopper who is very mediocre at most other aspects of goalkeeping.

You are saying given is very mediocre at most aspects of goalkeeping ? This coming from someone who last summer was singing the plaudits of brad guzan- ridiculous dave !
shay given is one of the few reasons we are out of the bottom 3 right now and saved us many points this season.

You never wanted him here in the 1st place.

Agree with this, in fact if you look across the season and how many times Given has stopped what would have been absolute nailed on goals Villa would be getting relegated right now, I would agree he is starting to look a bit dodgy of late, such as the cross yesterday, but then again where is the man's defence.

[SoccerHQ]

Yesterday would have been a good time to play Guzan.

Given is good at shot stopping but Stoke don't shoot.

Brad would have been better dealing with the rough stuff.

In 35 yrs watching villa guzan is the worst keeper on crosses i have ever seen down here -stoke would have had a field day against him.

Admittedly he has improved since last season but not good enough to be a number one keeper at premier level in my view.

You're having a laugh, Guzan was excellent THIS season at the Britannia.