It's starting to get on my nerves that if we discuss a Howard mistake people start saying we're a bunch of chicken littles and if we defend what some of us don't think is a mistake, we're a bunch of apologists. Like it or not, it's okay to discuss Howard's mistakes here.
Actually, I was paying particular attention to this, and I thought Howard did a very good job on all crosses and free kicks with the exception of the one play in question, so I wouldn't call it a "consistent" problem. He is only 5 games into his Man United career, I would say that he has had an occasional moment of indecision which is not uncommon with so little experience. You are certainly correct that this is a major part of the English game, so he will want to get on top of it as soon as possible. Ferguson has picked him as his number one, and I don't think he is looking for an excuse to drop him for a mistake.
Same here. I think it's more a reflection of my nerves than Tim's talent. The club never would have signed him let alone started him if they didn't believe he was up to the job. I guess I'm just afraid I'm going to wake up and discover it's all been a dream ...
We have a slight difference of opinion then. The one instance was by far the most prominent, but, IMHO, on several other occasions, Howard was less than full decisive in his decision-making on whether to come for crosses or stay on his line. On some instances, he was decisive. For me, a top EPL goalie will not show that type of indecision more than a few times a season. For Howard, right now, it's a few times a game. For me, that makes it a consistent problem. Agreed. Absolutely, Fergunson wants Howard to suceed as it adds more luster to his genius image. But, he does care more about titles and, I repeat, if Howard's indecision starts resulting in goals instead of near misses, I would expect Fergunson to prioritize winning over Howard obtaining experience.
Speaking of winning titles, ManU sure has looked crappy the last couple of games. I know this has been beaten to death many times over, but I still don't get how a team with all that money has a player like Phil Neville on their depth chart.
I think we are pretty close in our overall assessment. I do think at this point in the season, Ferguson will give Tim a pretty long leash in obtaining experience. He knows that titles are not won in Sept./Oct. (although, they can be lost). I also remember in 1995 when Ferguson sold Hughes, Ince and Kanchelskis from a team that lost the Championship on the last day of the previous season. Everyone thought he was mad, particularly when the lineup full of kids got pasted by Aston Villa on the opening weekend. He stuck with the young players who were 12 points down to Newcastle just after Christmas, but then went on to win the Double. He's been looking for the past four years for a keeper that he can plug into the line up and leave there for the next ten years. I think it says a lot that Howard is getting that opportunity.
I have seen Howards games with the exception of the opening game . Howard has been outstanding in all the games . We here are are watching his every move and talking about his every play,every step he takes . And its ok to talk he is our guy, we love him to death. He has been voted a few times player of the game and the loss to SouthHampton is a reflection on the team performance and not Timmys fault at all. Man U needs to do a better job scoring,Timmy can do only so much.
Look buddy, I just like soccer and am a fan of the USMNT. I am not watching every step Howard takes and I certainly do not "love him to death." While other players on ManU, as well as the coaching, need to improve, it really has nothing to do with the analysis being offered. The point being made is that, in some people's opinion, Howard has a consistent weakness in his game that he needs to improve if he wants to play for a club that is a challenger for the most important titles every year. It's a competitive world and man of the match awards alone won't guarantee anything.
Wow - I just watched the highlight show on Fox, and if there is a product for embarassing anal sweat stains, Tim just became their poster boy.
Funny, but this was often the knock on Brad as well. He has a tendency to stay the line, but with his wingspan you can cheat a bit. Doesn't seem to have hurt his rep, however, but he isn't at Man U.
Sorry - too much information probably. Howard took a knock and doubled over in pain -- the camera was directly behind him and there was a perfectly round sweat stain, uh, positioned perfectly. Gave new meaning to the expression never let them see you sweat...
Some ignorant US fans believe a keeper in a big club can never made any mistakes and GK's like Seaman and Schmeichel never made any mistakes or have bad games in their prime and you have to have godlike perfection with absolute no weaknesses to play for ManU. Oh, Oliver Kahn never made mistakes or have bad games either. That just isn't true. And mistakes does not equal weaknesses. After he reacted quickly and came out and caught 15 crosses in a row clean decisively when most other keepers would punch instead of catching some of them or choose to stay on the line, and then all in a sudden is indecisive on one cross, you can't say that's his weakness. Fields in EPL are wider so the crosses have to be harder and have more bend. It takes time to adjust. Didn't Victor Baia play for some big club at one point of his career? Re-watch the world cup tapes and tell me how good he is. Howard is a very good keeper already. Some US fans either have inferiority complex or just like to over rate foreign keepers.
And some ignorant US fans can't read as they seem to like to make up stuff that people are not saying. Of course he does. Just yesterday, Casillas did a "Howard" several times on crosses. But, one point is that Kahn and Casillas will not get yanked if they make mistakes, even if it leads to a goal, because they have already established a reputation for not making mistakes. A mistake that happens more than once does equate a weakness. Every player has weaknesses -- it's just a question of whether they can improve them, hide them or compensate in other ways. That's the process that I am interested in with Howard. I don't think Howard touched the ball 15 times in this game, much less caught 15 crosses in a row. Once again, Howard as a number of times in all of his EPL games, which I have seen in full, either hesitated to leave his line, stayed on his line when he should have left or misjudged the trajectory of the ball. In my judgment, this constitutes a weakness. Fields in EPL are wider so the crosses have to be harder and have more bend. [/B][/QUOTE] And that's the freakin point. It takes time to adjust. [/B][/QUOTE] Probably. But one never knows for sure whether someone will adjust until they do. I think Howard will adjust (he did excellently on one wicked cross in the brief amount of the ManU game I saw yesterday), but you just don't know. And, once again, the issue is how much time will Fergunson give him. A lot if things continue to go well, not so much, if not, is my guess. Didn't Victor Baia play for some big club at one point of his career? Re-watch the world cup tapes and tell me how good he is. Howard is a very good keeper already. Some US fans either have inferiority complex or just like to over rate foreign keepers. [/B][/QUOTE] Baia is not that good -- which is why he didn't last with Barcelona. I think Howard is a very good keeper and can do better than failing with a big club. That's the point of the discussion -- to give discerning fans something to watch that I think will be key to Howard's ultiimate success.