There’s a saying in sport “the best defence is a good offence” but is this the case for West Ham United? For so long we have had to call upon Robert Green to pull off some top draw saves to help table the points, but with his departure and the arrival of Jussi Jaaskelainen to replace him, will he step up to the plate?
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With Green’s ambitions lying elsewhere it encouraged us to look for a replacement, chosen in Jussi who I believe is equally suitable of being just as good as him, if not better on his day. However, since his start to the season I have doubts over his ability, it could be just a slight lack of form or it could be due to psychological hindrance caused by goalkeeping errors, whatever the reason, he just isn’t looking like the same goalkeeper from a few seasons ago, when he was supposedly gathering interest from some of Europe’s top clubs.
I might just be the only person who thinks this but when I see his name on the team sheet in a match day programme I feel assured, but when I see him on the pitch I feel as though I just want the ball to stay away from him and that I’d rather see James Collins dive in front of the ball in act of a goalkeeper.
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So far I feel as though he hasn’t done enough to demand that number one spot, I would like to see a bit of rotation in goal and see if Stephen Henderson can stamp a more permanent mark in the side and really push Jussi to work harder. Look at Manchester United, they have David de Gea as their number one yet rotate goalkeepers frequently with Lindegaard often finding himself between the sticks. Also you have teams such as Tottenham Hotspur who have Brad Friedel and Hugo Lloris, or Manchester City who have Joe Hart or Pantimillon to choose from. Teams are starting to have more than one quality goalkeeper on their books now and I just feel we are slightly behind and unless we start to really push them, quality will be lacking in that position for the next couple of seasons.
This transfer window saw us sign 3 new goalkeepers, yet none of them really grab my attention and make me feel safe at the back and I can’t help but to expect to see maybe one more goalkeeper being signed on loan in January. I mean I am willing to give him time to settle in and impress, I just want to see the goalkeeper I know he can be, he has so much experience and whatever physical aspects he may have lost about his game at the moment, I have no doubt his intelligence and knowledge is vital defensively.
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Who knows, maybe I am being a little trigger happy and targeting possible flaws too prematurely, but on the other hand sometimes actions need to happen sooner, rather than later and in my opinion this is one of them.
Let me know your views on Jussi…COYI!
3 games, 3 goals conceded, 2 clean sheets, 1 error leading to a goal. He didn’t have a lot to do against Villa but made 2 good saves but then conceded 3 away at Swansea including letting Rangel’s cross-shot go underneath him deflecting off his body into the net. I feel his best performance of the 3 was last week against Fulham. He made 8 or 9 saves with a few from close range and showed the sort of quality we’ve seen from him over the years at Bolton.
Green wasn’t a flawless goalkeeper, and neither is Jussi, but what we have here is a very experienced ‘keeper who has played at the top level for over 10 years and been in the top 10 between the sticks in the country for most of that, and on a Bosman is a solid purchase to fill Green’s gloves. And with the promising Henderson as number 2 who also kept a clean sheet and made some good saves in his single appearance in the League Cup i’d say we look alright in that department.
2 clean sheets from 3 games. Yeah you’re probably right. Let’s just judge him over more the 3 games eh? Nice bit of knee jerk reaction. Not a great piece mate.
Bad article. Man City don’t rotate Joe Hart and Pantilimon as Hart is clearly their No.1. Hugo Lloris has yet to even play for Spurs. And Jussi has only conceded 3 goals in 3 games, holding 2 clean sheets. He will be our no.1 for this whole season at least. Of course in the future I would like to see Henderson as our no.1 but at the moment Jussi is our no.1