Guzan

[eastie]

Newcastle fans watched him week in and week out for years and take a look at what their fans thought of him leaving - he was a legend on Tyneside.

Richard Dunne was Manchester City's fans' player of the year four years in a row (until Steven Ireland came along). The comparison gets stronger and stronger.

Fans can get attached to a player even if they have their flaws.

Incidentally, I'd be very surprised if you could find a single Newcastle fan who would swap Given for their current keeper.

I may  go to a Newcastle fans forum to get their reaction to that dave? Are you talking about krul compared to given at his peak or as a. 36 yr old?

[Dante Lavelli]

Guzan seems to be very vocal.  This is a key characteristic, or at least an under-rated characteristic.
I have a hunch that Given is less so as a fair few goals last season seemed to stem from confusion although Collins may have also been culpable.

Early days but with Vlaar and Guzan there seems to be a definite leader (Vlaar) and better communication generally.

Sorry Pauliewalnuts beat me to it on the communication front.

With regards to how a player is perceived by fans I think Dunne and to an extent Given took on cult status at Man City and Newcastle as each player joined with little reputation and made themselves at the club and therefore the fans will forgive more.  A similar cult status could easily develop with some of our current crop, whereas some players when they arrive with established reputations are not so easily forgiven. 

[john e]

Eastie, read what I said again.

I said Guzan's 'all round' game is already bette than Givens has ever been.

Given has never commanded his area well and has never come for crosses.
His big asset has been his shot stopping, but that has begun to fade.

Given has been a top keeper the last decade, but lets not get carried away thinking he has been 'world class'. He has been no better than Friedal and Shwarzer, but he has been no Van Der Sar or Peter Cech.

but none of them were as good as John Burridge, he was the greatest -  FACT

[Legion]

Bosnich was better. As were Rimmer and Spink.

[eastie]

In 34 yrs of watching villa bosnich was the best in my view.

[Dave]

Newcastle fans watched him week in and week out for years and take a look at what their fans thought of him leaving - he was a legend on Tyneside.

Richard Dunne was Manchester City's fans' player of the year four years in a row (until Steven Ireland came along). The comparison gets stronger and stronger.

Fans can get attached to a player even if they have their flaws.

Incidentally, I'd be very surprised if you could find a single Newcastle fan who would swap Given for their current keeper.

I may  go to a Newcastle fans forum to get their reaction to that dave? Are you talking about krul compared to given at his peak or as a. 36 yr old?

If they could pick a keeper to go in goal for their next game, Given or Krul I reckon the majority would pick Krul. As would I.

I also think that if I could have a 21 year old version of either keeper, I'd take Krul as well.

[Dante Lavelli]

In 34 yrs of watching villa bosnich was the best in my view.

Until they changed the pass back rule.  That ruined him in my opinion.  To this day I doubt he knows whether he is left or right footed.

[dave.woodhall]

In 34 yrs of watching villa bosnich was the best in my view.

Until they changed the pass back rule.  That ruined him in my opinion.  To this day I doubt he knows whether he is left or right footed.

The back pass rule came in at the start of 1992-93. Until then he'd played one game for us. On his day he was the best we've had for a long time but I still give Jimmy Rimmer the edge for consistency.

[Percy McCarthy]

Sam Hardy. Now can everybody stop being silly.

[ozzjim]

Bosnich was a hell of a keeper.

Also, on the kicking thing, I watched the highlights of the United cup win on youtube, and was amazed that one of our goals came from a Bossie ground kick clearance.

On Given, I think he has always been massively over rated, surprisingly by the self appointed best fans in the world. Who came before for them? Pavel Srnicek? Shaka Hislop? No wonder Given is revered like a god, he could stop a ball! A massive reason that we have conceded so many goals from set plays since O'Neill left has been the keepers not coming to deal with the ball. Friedel was helped enormously by having 3 centre halves, Heskey/ Carew on the front post and them screening it off. When we tried to play normal full backs and the big men didn't play we had no answer. Last season some great saves, but a lot of goals conceded through no command of his box at all. He is like a magnet to that line. Given "appears" a truly spectacular keeper, but much of that IMO has been down to saving thing that could have been prevented getting to that point. Time will tell, but Guzan looks a better goalkeeper in my opinion. If they were both complete unknowns and you were scouting them on their performances for us over the last 12 months, you would be recommending Guzan.

[DrGonzo]

I can't see Given getting back in, except maybe for the "Pick a product placement Cup" game against the millionaires.  Our defence has looked a different kettle of fish since Shay recieved the boot.  A keeper who will come off his line, he's clearly learnt much from Brad #1 but he'd rather catch than punch.  The Brad #1 is dead long live the Brad #2!

[The Left Side]

He made some great saves early in the first half

[Steve R]

Does it really matter how good a player was 4 or 5 years ago? On current form - but that is only 2 games a piece - Guzan looks much the better player. Then again, over the 2 games that he's played, Guzan looks like one of the best in the League.

I'm no great fan of Given, never have been. From seeing him play against us for Newcastle, his main skill actually seems to be the ability to run the clock down when you are 1-0 up. He didn't get much chance of that last year.

Either way they will both be Villa players at least until the end of the year. If that's not long enough to work out whether we still need Given then we may as well toss a coin.

If Guzan proves to be the man then Given's salary/contract make him an obvious target for increasing headroom on the wage bill for the next round of bargains.

Not getting an contract elsewhere in his brief spell as a free agent means nothing. Guzan could have been sticking out for similar wages to those he had last season, he was hardly a household name anyway.

I wonder if Lambert knew of and rated him, or took advice from elsewhere inside VP.

Either way, it occurred to me during the Swansea game that we had a very good defence on the pitch which came at a total cost of 6 mill or so.

Fucking brilliant.

[eastie]

Had a look on a Newcastle forum and there seems to be a view that shay is near enough finished expressed by a few , several mentioned him getting injured badly by harewood 6 yrs ago and never being the same keeper since.

The feeling is that they certainly wouldn't want him back now as they have krul and that in time krul could prove to be a better keeper- still a lot of affection for shay with many saying the best keeper in their history but somewhat tarnished his reputation in the manner he left.

As I said , I'm happy we have 2 good keepers and if brad continues his current form then he will hold the shirt, we seem to now have a squad with a strong bench and healthy competition for places and that bodes well for the future- happy times.

[joe_c]

Always felt in his previous appearances that there was an element of "minding the shop" about him and that it was accepted by all parties that he'd be out when the current number one was available again. That no longer seems the case, I think he definitely looks the part now, partly because I think he's clearly been working on his weaknesses but also from the confidence that being the manager's first choice brings.