Paddy Kenny

[gbalzac]

Anyone see this kid play...He's strong in net and single handedly kept Arsenal at bay. I don't see why he's not a solid candidate to replace Carroll...he's got to be the best keeper outside the Premiership at the moment.

[billyho96]

easy now . . . he's too small and slow for either of us. Yes he was great, but I doubt he could maintain this form for an entire epl season. The level of consitency for a whole year is a bit much to ask.

plus we played a usless 4-6-0 formation, or so it seemed on the telly

[haven]

Kenny is nothing new. He's been a "hot" goalkeeping prospect for more than 3 years. Yet after initial interests and scouting, teams always cool on him.

Billyho hit the nail on the head. Too short. Not athletic enough. That's freaking tough. And for me, it hits home, since I played GK well and didn't get to play in college for precisely those reasons. But they're valid.

Someone like Kenny can look great for a few games, but his physical limitations are a permanent barrier to continued success at the highest level. Feel bad for the guy - he's got everything you need that isn't sheer luck.

[gbalzac]

looked at his bio says he's 185 cm 6'1" and 91 kg or about 200 lbs...I agree he looks a bit overweight but really seemed to me he can play...6'1" seems tall enough. We've been looking at Carlos Kameni who I think is a much better keeper but he's only 5'10.5"

[nicephoras]

I wholly approve. One good game against Arsenal is more than enough to be bought by ManUtd.
Sincerely,

Marco Ambrosio.

[AnotherGooner]

I wholly approve. One good game against Arsenal is more than enough to be bought by ManUtd.
Sincerely,

Marco Ambrosio.

Or maybe your team, Chelsea, could pay ten zillion pounds for him just for the hell of it. :eek:

[haven]

looked at his bio says he's 185 cm 6'1" and 91 kg or about 200 lbs...I agree he looks a bit overweight but really seemed to me he can play...6'1" seems tall enough. We've been looking at Carlos Kameni who I think is a much better keeper but he's only 5'10.5"

It's obviously not just height. Shay Given is a very good GK and is short. But he compensates with his agility and athleticism. Kenny, unfortunately for him, lacks both.

[Sapphire]

Anyone see this kid play...He's strong in net and single handedly kept Arsenal at bay. I don't see why he's not a solid candidate to replace Carroll...he's got to be the best keeper outside the Premiership at the moment.I thought he was solid throughout the game, but he REALLY disappointed in the PKs. Am I being too hard on him, or was he just falling lamely the same direction every time?? . . . and I do mean falling, not jumping, not diving. He looked like he was just going through the motions to get through it--maybe it was nerves? What a disappointment after an impressive game from him.

[nicephoras]

Or maybe your team, Chelsea, could pay ten zillion pounds for him just for the hell of it. :eek:

Umm.........he's a Chelsea player let go over the summer.

[antifan]

I thought he was solid throughout the game, but he REALLY disappointed in the PKs. Am I being too hard on him, or was he just falling lamely the same direction every time?? . . . and I do mean falling, not jumping, not diving. He looked like he was just going through the motions to get through it--maybe it was nerves? What a disappointment after an impressive game from him.
I totally agree, its not like he even dove once, he just seemed to fall over on his fat butt every time. I read that he has a bad hip, but really his performance during the penalties was embarrassing. He could have done better just standing in the middle, he could have at least saved one. A disappointing end to a great performance.

[sendorange]

Kenny was playing with a (right) hip injury, that's why he struggled in the penalties with diving.

[bigtoga]

I think he struggled with the penalties because he committed himself too soon. The Arse kept just barely tapping the ball after they would see which way he jumped. That seems like good scouting by the Arse coaches...

[cleansheetbsc]

looked at his bio says he's 185 cm 6'1" and 91 kg or about 200 lbs...I agree he looks a bit overweight but really seemed to me he can play...6'1" seems tall enough. We've been looking at Carlos Kameni who I think is a much better keeper but he's only 5'10.5"


I don't think I am qualified to make a judgement on this guy, other than to say whenever I see him, he sticks out. In the U.S. we see him maybe once or twice per season in an FA Cup match or in Promotion playoff game.

The first time I saw him a couple of years ago vs. Nottingham Forest, I thought "cool, a short, fat, unathletic goalkeeper." Truly an inspiration since I am one too (albeit in an +30 Sunday morning league). Then he had a real bad match against Wolves in Cardiff (coincidently, Wolves 'keeper that day had a hell of a game - Oates I thought his name was).

He plays better than he looks, sort of a square peg in a round space. Anyway if you follow NFL football, to me he seems to be the Teddy Bruschi of Sheffield United.

Anyway highlights of Kamani yesterday were quite spectacular. Doesn't matter how short this guy is, if the crossbar was twice as high as it currently is, it looks like this guy can leap to protect it.

[billyireland]

Or maybe your team, Chelsea, could pay ten zillion pounds for him just for the hell of it. :eek:
Trust me, they're wwwaaayyyyy ahead of you.

By the way, forget the rest... BUY SHAY GIVEN. Break the ********ing bank if you have to, sell on the other two and mkae Luke Steele the #2 if that's what it takes to raise the funds, but with Newcastle's horrific defence that he has had to put up with for years, and their very poor season meaning they wouldn't be in a great financial situation (relative to other summers), NOW IS THE TIME! If we got Given and a quality CB to partner Rio, I have no doubts that we could challenge Chelsea & Milan for Europe's best defence, and all our guys still have years in them, unlike Cafu, Stam & Maldini.

[haven]

Trust me, they're wwwaaayyyyy ahead of you.

By the way, forget the rest... BUY SHAY GIVEN. Break the ********ing bank if you have to, sell on the other two and mkae Luke Steele the #2 if that's what it takes to raise the funds, but with Newcastle's horrific defence that he has had to put up with for years, and their very poor season meaning they wouldn't be in a great financial situation (relative to other summers), NOW IS THE TIME! If we got Given and a quality CB to partner Rio, I have no doubts that we could challenge Chelsea & Milan for Europe's best defence, and all our guys still have years in them, unlike Cafu, Stam & Maldini.

I'm not sure it has to be Shay Given, but if we sign a new GK, I want someone that's proven at the highest level. No more shots in the dark for first-team GK.

Given would work. Someone like Hildebrand would work (although he did sign a new contract). Or someone like Toldo would work (since I still believe Howard will ultimately work out).

[billyho96]

Trust me, they're wwwaaayyyyy ahead of you.

NOW IS THE TIME! If we got Given and a quality CB to partner Rio, I have no doubts that we could challenge Chelsea & Milan for Europe's best defence, and all our guys still have years in them, unlike Cafu, Stam & Maldini.

Sadly, you can't put men behind the ball and infront of it. There's a reason the great defensive sides can't score goals. Before the last part of stoppage time in Cardiff, when everyone was dead tired, Chelsea had NOT ONE SINGLE GOAL in open play against 11 men since Robben got hurt.

While I do not know much about Milan's qualification this year in the group stage, I do know that they made it through the group phase last year in the CL after the first four matches (3 wins and a draw) and during those four games they scored a total of 3 goals.

You can't have it both ways. You'd kill for Casillas, so would we. Madrid have him and still bleed goals.

we kill Lehmann and Almunia but the truth is that there maybe 10 guys in the world "definitively" better than either of them, and those boys aren't for sale.

[billyireland]

I know what you mean billyho, but the fact is that all 4 of our keepers (Howard, Carroll, Lehmann & Almunia) are not up to it in terms of keeping the ball out of the net. The latter three have trouble with shot-stopping sometimes, mainly due to lapses in concentration. Despite some good performances, Almunia has made some tres-bizarro blunders, Lehmann hasn't been much better, and Carroll has made soem mistakes at costly times. Howard is different in that his shot-stopping is good, but he is just horrible aghainst corners; I don't think he will ever be up to it here.

Meanwhile to answer the question of just how good Shay Given is all you have to do is refer to Arsenal's match against Newcastle a couple of weeks back - that could, and indeed should have been 5 or 6-0 to Arsenal, but Given put on what Andy Gray called 'one of the finest displays of goalkeeping in Premiership history' which held Arsenal to a 1-0 win (iirc the goal came after Given was on the groun following anotehr diving save). Don't worry about how he does againsto ther top players and teams, either. In the calendar year 2004, with a Cb pairing of Kenny Cunningham & Andy O'Brien/Richard Dunne in front of him, Shay managed to not concede even one single goal against Brazil, Holland, the Czech Republic, Romania and France. To further display how much of this was down to him, the only time he went off in any of these matches was against the Czechs for the last 5-10 minutes (oddly enough it might have been for Paddy Kenny, but maybe it was for Nicky 'Sh!t' Colgan) and we conceeded. The general concensus on the Ireland board is that he is our best and most important player - moreso than Duff or either Keane. He is a former EPL GK of the year, is relatively young (28, I think), and without him Newcastle would almost undoubtedly have the most goals conceeded in the EPL this year.

Think I've said my piece.

[billyho96]

I know what you mean billyho, but the fact is that all 4 of our keepers (Howard, Carroll, Lehmann & Almunia) are not up to it in terms of keeping the ball out of the net. The latter three have trouble with shot-stopping sometimes, mainly due to lapses in concentration. Despite some good performances, Almunia has made some tres-bizarro blunders, Lehmann hasn't been much better, and Carroll has made soem mistakes at costly times. Howard is different in that his shot-stopping is good, but he is just horrible aghainst corners; I don't think he will ever be up to it here.

Meanwhile to answer the question of just how good Shay Given is all you have to do is refer to Arsenal's match against Newcastle a couple of weeks back - that could, and indeed should have been 5 or 6-0 to Arsenal, but Given put on what Andy Gray called 'one of the finest displays of goalkeeping in Premiership history' which held Arsenal to a 1-0 win (iirc the goal came after Given was on the groun following anotehr diving save). Don't worry about how he does againsto ther top players and teams, either. In the calendar year 2004, with a Cb pairing of Kenny Cunningham & Andy O'Brien/Richard Dunne in front of him, Shay managed to not concede even one single goal against Brazil, Holland, the Czech Republic, Romania and France. To further display how much of this was down to him, the only time he went off in any of these matches was against the Czechs for the last 5-10 minutes (oddly enough it might have been for Paddy Kenny, but maybe it was for Nicky 'Sh!t' Colgan) and we conceeded. The general concensus on the Ireland board is that he is our best and most important player - moreso than Duff or either Keane. He is a former EPL GK of the year, is relatively young (28, I think), and without him Newcastle would almost undoubtedly have the most goals conceeded in the EPL this year.

Think I've said my piece.

Ireland can't score either though can they ;)

Given has let in 44 goals, Carroll and Howard 17

also . . . remember the Casillas analogy

[billyho96]

Honestly, I think Almunia has the skills to be salvaged, what he needs is coaching. Arsene has been fairly criticized for his defensive strategies, particularly that "zonal marking" scheme . . . by people far more knowlegdable than me. Almunia can stop shots, he's quite good.

Remember, not only the penalites, but the header 5 minutes from time he nipped over the bar. He just doesn't know when to come off the line and when to stay on it. That has to be either coaching or communication with your CBs.

Funny, actually on the pbp thread during the game, someone said you needed to pull the nails out of his feet holding him on his line, five minutes later he was off it and they were wanting to nail them back down. :eek:

[billyho96]

without him Newcastle would almost undoubtedly have the most goals conceeded in the EPL this year.



no one has conceded more goals than Newcastle (out of the bottom three) other than Fulham