Richard O'Donnell

Nah Gary Walsh just looked in his 40s from his kid 20s

 

Buffon?

 

BIG NEV!

 

No he was GONE !!!

 

How about Eric (green bit eric) McManus. He was only 32 when we signed him but looked about 83

 

I am really not getting this suggestiin that there is something mentally wrong with ROD.

He is an average 4th tier keeper, prone to the odd error, nothing else to it.

 

Agreed but whatever the reason, he’s 2nd choice .

 

No 32 year old goalkeeper is done, especially at this level, 38 year old Matt Gilks and 33 year old Kyle Letheren with their L2 promotion winner medals for 20/21 show you aren't done by RODs age. They just need a bit of mental strenth. Letheren, he had a bad last 4 or 5 seasons really, yo-yoing between none league and league two, without having a lenghty run in goal since being at Dundee in 2014. Gilks had only 50 league games over the last 3 seasons before coming back in for promotion last season. Adams brought in Letheren after an average run in NL with Chesterfield, gave him the confidence to go and help them with promotion.

I don't think ROD or Hornby are great keepers, both all round games are very average for 4th tier but both will do a job with the talent in front of them, which seems a massive improvement already on last season. O'Donnell had the 10th best shot stopping percentage last season in L2 with 71.3% of his shots on target saved, which is better than I thought it would be given under McCall, teams were peppering us constantly. Hornby was 23rd, saving 65.95% of shots on target.

But the teams that went up, shots on target save percentage below....
Gilks at Bolton with 74.6%
Griffiths at Cheltenham with 71.9%
Cambridge used two keepers, Mitov at 73.2% and Burton (main starter) at 70.3%
Letheren at Morecambe with 70.3%

ROD was in the ball park if not better statistically than some of keepers that were in promotion teams, even after spending the first few months in a losing side. If Adams can help ROD even marginally improve the way he helped Letheren come back from none league to be a promotion winner, I don't think the GK role will be one we've worried about come May.

 

Neville Southall played at the age of 42 for us in that never to be forgotten game against Leeds in the Premiership I believe.

 

Hornby is showing signs of becoming a good keeper and OD as long as he is willing to accept it is a good back up we are well served in that area

 

Who talked about retirement aged 32/33? I never did. You seem to be getting a tad confused.

I can also list more than 10 keepers who were way way passed their best aged 34.

 

There are exceptions. A few do. But Buffon is the greatest of the modern era. 99% of pro keepers are done by late 30s.

 

I couldn't believe it at the time. I had just landed in Campbell's Bar when someone said to me "you will never guess who is in goal today".

 

Good work but these type of stats are meaningless in giving a clue to keepers capability.
I could stop a belting shot with my rear but couldn’t catch a cross with a carp landing net

 

.How very true NM, how very true.

 

Not a witch hunt, it’s called discussing a player’s capabilities based on observational judgement.

Thats what I go by..I can’t speak for others.

“A witch-hunt is an attempt to find and punish a particular group of people who are being blamed for something, often simply because of their opinions and not because they have actually done anything wrong.”

Perhaps on the above Collins definition, he has an opinion I disagree with?

 

Or some blame comical defending and flapping keepers together being wholly responsible. I do!

 

On. The. Money.

I saw him blamed for us finishing 15th last season, even though he had one of the higher save percentages in the league. His distribution is poor and he should come for crosses from corners(it’s not as easy from open play regardless of what some think on here as you don’t know when the player will pull the trigger) but he’s league 2, it’s the old cliche of he wouldn’t be at this level if he didn’t have weaknesses. It got to a point last season people started to ignore the gaping floors in our defence, midfield and tactics by the managers and just lumped it on R’ODs return. If we are so reliant on our keeper to keep us in games then we have got serious issues.

 

Interesting to see the stats of games whilst the dynamic duo were our management team.

Results when Hornby was between the sticks v results when ROD was between the posts
Would that be a reasonable guide?

Anyone?