Macca

Macca isn't perfect, as shown when Eastwood arrived, but how much did the Holloway effect have on him. Since the arrival of Hurst Macca's form has improved. However, there is one thing in Macca's favour that many on here forget.

There are 10 players in front of him who should deal with situations, Macca is the last man before the goal. I'd give him one more season to see how he gets on.

Quoted from ska face

A keeper who wants to catch a cross please.

An increasing rarity in this day and age I'm afraid. I reckon almost all goalkeeping coaches now teach keepers to punch rather than catch the ball now, in case it's fumbled or dropped.

Must say, I'm a little bit surprised by how many of us fans would be happy to see him replaced.

Here's the usual disclaimer — he's not faultless, if he was then he wouldn't be playing for us, etc.

We've seen a few good keepers turn out for us down the years, mainly on loan (Dean Henderson the most obvious) but essentially, at this level, you're only going to get imperfect keepers.

Fine, if you want a keeper to command his box, claim crosses and dominate at corners. But then you find out his shot-stopping is weak, or he shanks clearances straight to the opposition.

I'd like to stake a claim and say McKeown has won us more points than he's lost over the years. We know he has bad games, and bad moments. He's human, after all. But, once again, I fear we only tend to remember the bad moments because they stick out.

Only a couple of weeks ago he had an outstanding game against Bolton. We won it 2-1 and, in time, any memory of him playing well in that game get lost.

I say this all as someone who's never gone overboard about McKeown's abilities. I think he's a very reasonable and competent keeper for this club. Nothing wrong with striving for better, but that, as always, comes with risks.

Bring a new guy in and he has a stinker on debut. Then what? We know what we've got with McKeown and, in my balanced view, he's worth keeping hold of.

He certainly needs competition, that's for sure. Maybe Russell hasn't been good for him as a coach. Who knows?

Quoted from Kris2

No, it was when his contract was coming up and Motherwell made him a really good offer to sign for them. Ultimately for family reasons he chose to sign a new deal with us rather than uproot to Scotland. Is this why you whinge about him constantly? One little situation that had more to do with Bignot and things going on behind the scenes than "throwing his toys out the pram", it's worth getting the facts before making judgements. Hurst almost took him to Shrews actually on deadline day but Fenty and Bignot held them up for more money at the last minute after agreeing a fee so maybe you can blame them for the fact he's still at the club.

Really don't understand the vendetta and obsession some people have with the idea of "loyalty". It's a job and if you start hating your boss or the staff at the place you'd probably look to leave too.

Two things, I have no vendetta over Macca, all you will have seen from me is criticism of his well know faults.  Second thing, I made no judgements in this post, I actually ASKED if this was after he had been dropped because I wasn't sure.  But he asked for a transfer either on the day he was dropped, or the day after, can't remember which.

Quoted from Les Brechin

An increasing rarity in this day and age I'm afraid. I reckon almost all goalkeeping coaches now teach keepers to punch rather than catch the ball now, in case it's fumbled or dropped.

Back in the day when I played Centre Half, my keeper would come through me and anyone else in his way to catch the ball in his Penalty area.

Quoted from 123614

Back in the day when I played Centre Half, my keeper would come through me and anyone else in his way to catch the ball in his Penalty area.

With respect the rules and interpretation were different then, and I assume you were playing at amateur level.

You assume wrong.

Who did you play for?

High expectations of a NL keeper here. England's top 3 keepers all have weaknesses and made howlers this season.

Pickford had a real dip in form mid season and has made some big mistakes whilst Pope can't kick a ball to save his life (I know that's 2....)

Quoted from KingstonMariner

Who did you play for?

I played for the Army (Cyprus) team in Cyprus.  We played against every team in the Cypriot 1st Division, who were all semi pros, and beat most of them.  We also played 3 friendlies against the Cyprus National team prior to the 1974 World Cup  I was also approached by Epa Larnaca to play for them in the Cypriot 1st Division, however the Army would not let me sign for them due to security issues.  Because of this I was then told that Epa would buy me out of the Army, find me accommodation for myself and my family, and also get me a part time job.  After weighing things up, I declined to sign for them as  if anything happened that caused me to be able to play for a long time, I would have been stuck in Cyprus, with my wife and new-born baby son, something I wasn't prepared to do. You might say that this is not being a semi-pro, but I disagree and can assure you that these matches were played out in a very competitive manner.