No more just the big blond backup - The comrade Lunin thread

I have no problem with that.

I just cant see how the club justifies Kepa. He's not at all that much better.

 

I think it depends on how Courtois recovers from the knee injury. Before that happened it didn’t look like he would be slowing down within a year or two.

 

Agreed, happy for him too, he’s been patient, he’ll have a decision to make for sure.

 

Andriy Lunin has the SECOND best save percentage (85%) in UCL this season. ⛔️🧤 pic.twitter.com/9tieGeRZkH

— Madrid Zone (@theMadridZone) March 8, 2024

 

We will need him to up that to 90% vs Shitty

 

Nah. We need 100%. Scoring against them is a tall task.

 

Both Jude and Vini will score over the 2 ties

that much im certain of

 

This is more like it, positive stuff, no disputing City is a very very good team, but so are we, it will not be easy but I’m feeling good about this tie.

 

Its his time to shine.

Hope Flo is writing up his extension as we speak.

 

He has done incredibly well this season, but his long term trajectory at this club may be defined by the games to come in this season. He needs to have some big Champions League performances to alter the long-term plan of the club at the position.

 

We won't see Tibo any time soon. I can't think of any decent GKs in the market. Lunin has to be the man for the job.

 

Not impossible, he’s already one of the main reasons we’ve made it this far, getting past Leipzig, ( and personally I don’t think we can judge keepers just on CL performances alone, lots of luck involved there as everyone knows, consistency over a season should also count, especially if we win the league).

I’m not sure what the long term plan of the club is with regards to keepers past Tbo, right now Lunin fits as good as any other, don’t think we’ll be keeping Kepa, the club just invested in a youngster, is he the long term plan? asking because I don’t know him and he seems very young

 

Lunin has already made borderline world class saves. I dunno what some people want more from him.

For me, I'd make Thibo earn his spot next year. If he wants out, then the team can move on. If Thibo regains his form and Lunin wants out, sell him with a buyback good for at least 2 years. Then get him back once Thibo slows down.

 

He is weak in the air. And for me, he takes way too much time on the ball and proceeding to lose it after. One thing to note is that with Kroos on the pitch, he is the one to guide him to move the ball quicker and into the right space.

We’ll see how he does in the CL big games. Has been stable so far, some mishaps here and there (especially at the beginning, but that was expected). I think if he can prove to be reliable in those crucial games, might be another Navas situation (assuming Tibo does not get back to his old self).

 

To be blunt, if he gets shredded against Man City, I think that could have an impact whether the club believes he’s the long term answer after Courtois. Conversely, if he puts in a few world class performances in the champions league, there is also the other extreme possibility that he benches Courtois going forward.

Either way, it makes sense to renew him given the uncertainty with Courtois and based on what Lunin has already done, but his performances going forward could determine the size of the renewal

 

Courtois conceded 4 in one match against City.

Lunin has been great. If we lose it's most likely because of how our manager set us up than Lunin making multiple errors but you never know

 

This isn’t to say he wasn’t still world-class, and obviously I can’t add all the context of the defense, but I do think Courtois had dropped a bit of a level in 22/23 compared to the insanely goat level he showed in 21/22. It wasn't just the City game, we did concede slightly more in every competition. In part, he was also overshadowed by Ter-Stegen who had a career year.

All the more reason to renew Lunin and hope he continues to show a level genuinely competitive with Courtois long-term. We will see if he can do it on the biggest stages.

 

I disagree. I think he's at least average in the air.

Weak is Kepa.

 

Agree. Stats don't tell the whole story, but this shows that he can't be totally terrible in the air:

🧤🇺🇦 The most aggressive goalkeeper at claiming crosses in the top 5 leagues is Andriy Lunin.

Lunin's Cross Claim Attempts over Average % (CCAA%) is 7% - meaning he is 7% more likely to attempt a claim than the average 'keeper - and has successfully claimed 29/31 attempts (94%).… pic.twitter.com/NXkCXt4OlX

— Madrid Xtra (@MadridXtra) March 20, 2024

 

Agreed, I also disagree with the idea that he takes too long with the ball at his feet and then “loses” it, for me this is the one and only area that he is superior to Tbo, much more accurate with distribution, long or short but especially long, and he actually plays the ball into midfield to start plays far far more often, it’s good to see something a bit different.

 

That’s fair, just less than ideal.

Here is hoping he keeps improving his game. We will need it.

 

Exactly. In fact, I'm actually very impressed with how comfortable Lunin is with the ball at his feet. It's a joy to watch and very helpful for the game we want to play. Courtois does a decent enough job at it too btw, but doesn't pass the eye test at all, haha. Looks quite sluggish at times with the ball at his feet, and it frightens me. But hey, Courtois is Courtois, the definition of elite. Very happy with these two!