So for today's result, we have: Ethnic Hungarians 2 - 1 ManYoo. And the American GK (half-Hungarian, btw) saves a PK to keep his team in the game. Pretty good result as far as I'm concerned.
The match report from SkySports was a little rough on Timmy. But at least he wasn't the only one: http://www.skysports.com/skysports/article/0,,7-1105418,00.html
Alan Green (bbc radio) was critical of Howard in his summary of the match, saying that he doesn't communicate enough with his defenders ala Schmeichel. ps that Ronaldo is a diver. His fall to the ground for the Man U penalty was disgraceful.
1-that may be, but howard cannot be faulted for the gaping maw the backline resembled on both goals 2- i watched this one - timmy had little to do in the first half, but had a few hiccups in the second 48' overruns a corner that bounces in front of him, scholes heads off the line to save his ass 50' the D leaves him in dutch, but timmy leaves his line to soon and szabics curls softly around him for the first goal 52' not really timmy's fault but narrowly loses a footrace with kuranyi after the D parts the red sea for stuttgart 80' timmy's highlight as he expertly stops meira's PK but i can agree with kicker on a 3, he did make another togh save to keep manU in late all in all, however, i'd say a good experience for TH - a 5-0 old trafford whooping of panathinaikos ain't exactly gonna get the mental feet wet, ya know? that was a pressure cooker last night
Hey, welcome to the EPL, I know it must be confusing, but, when fouled in the box, players have decided their best chance is to go down in order to get the penalty that they normally deserve, while if you stay up and get fouled you'll never get the PK. Again, welcome, and enjoy your stay, see Robert Pires circa 2003 vs. Portsmouth for more information.
The Stuttgart keeper agrees with you: http://www.skysports.com/skysports/article/0,,7-1105755,00.html
You honestly think it's an EPL thing? Believe me, I'm no big fan of the EPL-- I much prefer Spanish football. Personally, I'd rather the game be played more on the ground and that defenders be somewhat afraid of contact with opposing players. But whatever defects I perceive the EPL to have, diving is not one of them. Diving is much less common in the EPL, where we have constant calls and opinions from "experts" on the footie shows about how disgraceful diving is, than it is in any other leagues I watch.
I know, and Green made more of the defensive weakness in his report than of Howard. But it is interesting in that I think this is the first time that I have heard an "English" (Green is N. Irish) commentator seriously question Howard's ability. Until now it has been overwhelmingly positive, with one or two marginal mistakes outbalanced by penalty saves / generally solid play. My point about Ronaldo's diving is that Ferguson came out with all this crap about how his players don't dive before the Arsenal game, trying to gain the moral high ground. Obviously forgetting that he has Ronaldo and v Nistelrooy in his team, and Beckham was partial to a bit of diving when he was there as well.
Scholes dives when the opportunity arises, too. He's terrible at it, but that doesn't stop him from doing it. And to keep this on topic, Tim Howard's biggest weakness IMO is that he is indecisive, imprecise, and not commanding on corners and long crosses. I think he doesn't read the flight of the ball early enough to make a decisive move for the ball. From the text commentary I read, he did this twice before the goals. His reactions on point blank shots and penalties, however, appear to be outstanding.
I haven't seen the game but seen the goals on FSW World Report, can't tell how the action came about or if Howard was indicisive on the goals, and that is all that counts, doesn't it ? From what i can tell Howard came out to close the angle, yes he could have stayed on his line and wait,..wait for how long,goalkepers are told to come out and close the angle when one on one situations, and that was what it was the case on both goals. Only a moran would fault Howard on the two goals. It would have been nice if he could have prevented one or both goals, lets not forget he is human afterall. Maybe they should keep Barthez. Howard Voted man of the match at 40%, followed by VanN at 19%