Premier League

Nolan and Bowyer discuss Roberto

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Kevin Nolan singled out West Ham goalkeeper Roberto for criticism after his performance in the 3-2 loss to Newcastle United on Saturday.

The formers Hammers captain stated that Roberto should have done more to stop Federico Fernandez putting the Magpies two ahead in the 22nd minute and should have done better when it came to Jonjo Shelvey’s free-kick in the 51st minute.

“I think the goalkeeper has to really really be looking at himself for that one and again this one…” said Nolan on Sky Sports’ The Debate (23:02, Monday, November 4th) while analysing Newcastle’s goals against West Ham on Saturday.

Lee Bower appeared to have a bone to pick with Nolan over his criticism as he quickly said: “That’s too polite” which Nolan nervously laughed at before agreeing with.

OPINION

It seems Bowyer believes Roberto deserved a lot more criticism his way and it is easy to see why. Nolan opted to slam Roberto by simply saying he’ll need to look at himself, which is the politest way of suggesting a player should have done better.  While the Hammers were defensively suss across the board against Steve Bruce’s side, Newcastle did manage to carve out enough space to have 12 shots on goal (Source: BBC Sport), Roberto has to do better. The 33-year-old has more than enough experience, he has played over 100 times in La Liga, to suggest he should be able to keep out a basic free-kick as it’s not like Shelvey put a lot of spin on the ball in order to beat him on Saturday. Roberto has played seven times for Manuel Pellegrini’s side since arriving at the London Stadium and has managed to concede 13 goals as well as keep only one clean sheet. The veteran’s clean sheet came in the 2-0 victory over Newport County in the EFL Cup, and considering Newport are a League Two side and didn’t exactly create many chances against the Hammers, it’s not exactly something to brag about.

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