Most liked posts in thread: Richard O'Donnell

There was absolutely no reason to drop Hornby to shoehorn him in. He gives me no confidence at all and the defence seem all at sea. The odd great save doesn't cover for his lack of authority at the back..

 

Okay chaps, these two stills were taken from two different games where we employed two different goalkeepers.

One has been criticised on this forum, the other has been praised for commanding the area and instilling confidence in his defence, and yet they are IDENTICAL. One is from Scunthorpe (O'Donnell's last game), the other is Carlisle (Hornby's last game).

Note the similarities:

- Canavan beaten in the air both times.
- Both aerial challenges on the six yard line.
- Both keepers in nearly the exact same position centrally.
- Both keepers in nearly the exact same position on the goal line.

Not being funny, but is someone going to explain why O'Donnell is getting criticised in this thread for conceding the SAME goal Hornby conceded? Credit to 'Adam Vaux' for the stills.

 

You're not wrong.

Have a look at the @trevor post blaming ROD for gifting them both goals yesterday by getting his angles wrong. All worked out from the single wide angle camera that is I follow.

And not a single mention about the shambolic defending for the first goal or the poor backing off for the second, its simply because ROD got his angles wrong.

It's a witch hunt pure and simple. ROD has been no worse (or no better) at his role than 6 or 7 of the starting line ups over the last few months.

 

Scapegoat!


Definitely not his fault we lost today.
Made some decent saves today

 

The defence as a whole looked much better with Hornby behind them.

 

Couldn't agree more.

You can pick literally any name out of that starting line up for criticism tonight.

Richard O'Donnell was probably the LEAST bad of all the players with several good saves.

 

People talk some tripe on here, he’s an average league 2 keeper as his Hornby but hasn’t cost us anything. We are where we are because we have an average squad and have seen some, good, average and poor decisions by the managers we’ve had over the season. You get exactly what hat you deserve over a season in football and we deserve mediocrity, as our performances have been in the main. Some of the wins have papered over the cracks in the squad because you could argue we’re lucky to be as high as we are with the level and f performances we’re churning out.

Which of these players would we trust in league 1 if by some miracle we went up? Not many, if any. Another big overhaul is needed in the summer unfortunately.

 

What an over reaction. Single handedly? Haha. Did you watch us under McCall for 4 months?

 

And therein lies the issue. Not only did T&S change the keeper, they also had to take the captaincy from POC who in the main had become a good leader. We can hardly say the captaincy under O’Donnell has been a success. For me Canavan is the natural leader at the back but blind loyalty prevents that from happening.

 

Couldn't agree more. It's ridiculous that O'Donnell is captain. His 'captaincy' has added nothing to what we do on the pitch. Canavan is the natural leader and if we had Paudie as his vice-captain, not only would we be giving the best candidate the job but he'll be able to tutor POC further on not just in his play but as a role model for what a captain should 'do'.

 

Since he lost the captaincy Paudie's game has gone to pieces and since O'Donnell's return the defence as a whole has looked shaky.

 

Not much between them but dropping Hornby was a little unfair on him

 

Compare him to the FGR keeper.

He looks like Gordon Banks.

 

Nakhi Wells wasn’t to bad and there certainly wasn’t a queue to sign him after he was released by Carlisle. Tbf O’Donnell was due to go to West Brom to be their number 2 but chose us for first team football, also Hornby was number 2 at Port Vale. But if a trend forming, I’d say neither are number 1’s in a promotion winning team we need an upgrade in the summer no doubt but I don’t think Hornby is the answer. Although at Bradford City we know the less you get played the better you are, people actually wanted Doyle dropping for that German keeper once upon a time...

 

As a couple of others have said who weirdly are in the minority nothing more than a scape goat, he was MOM tonight and kept it respectable.

Blaming the keeper for terrible management tactics is sadly not a first on here, there’s only two to blame tonight and that’s the hard to beat imitations of Bowyer.

 

The main difference is that Hornby is much more confident in dominating his goal and his shouting and positioning gave the back four a confidence they lack with O' Donnell, They are both good shot stoppers but it is about players getting used to what a keeper is going to do and Hornby is the better choice, Changing has unsettled the defence and was a rookie mistake by T&S

 

Yet for some reason there was a clamour for dropping Hornby after the odd poor performance. There is little to choose between our two keepers, dropping Hornby was an error of judgement.

 

Possibly because O'Donnell is permanently rooted to his line and never seems to compete for a crossed ball?

 

People keep banging on about ROD being a good shot stopper.. but have you guys noticed he only seems to pull of these so called “worldies” when we are losing.

When Hornby was in goal our defence looked impregnable, tackles flying in, blocks, players diving for blocks as if their life depended on it. ROD returns and our defence has gone back into McCall era defence, Ie just let them run at you and hope they dont shoot mentality.

2 important factors occurred this season which saved this club from relegation McCall getting sacked and ROD getting injured.