This is purely a topic to start a conversation and gather opinions before anyone starts going crazy.
When we first signed Howard I was very pleased to see the arrival of an experienced keeper coming into the ranks and still am very happy he is at the club, I think we will all underestimate his influence on the training ground and changing rooms. I also believe he is a good shot stopper, but I have to admit I always thought Watson was a relatively good shot stopper. I think Watson has been hard done by this season as all his appearances came when our back 4 were younger and weaker and hasn’t started a game with the Onariase & McGahey centre back pairing. And in terms of distribution I think they both need work. Shame we aren’t in any cups to see what Watson can give us with a solid back four, as with Howard being 33 he won’t last forever. Would like to get some opinions on the matter and thoughts of the goalkeeper position long term.
Very interesting topic hawks11, agree with all you say. Howard seems to have the same positives and negatives as Watson. Infact they could almost be the same keeper with a 12 year age gap. The one thing we can’t tell from the radio or ifollow is how much talking Howard does to his back four. Let hope his communication is top notch and Watson picks up good habits in that aspect of the game.
Howard has his flaws but his saves don’t all go back out to the striker for tap ins. He’s slow sometimes but he clears the danger more often than not. While far from perfect he’s miles ahead of Watson and was a desperately needed signing. At 33 he’s not the long term answer but it was clear long ago that Watson was never going to be.
Well I feel that most regular forum members already know my views regarding Scunthorpe keepers, as far as which of a poor choice should be our number one, I think that Watson just tilts my opinion.
Watson is poor with dealing with ground shots, and does not control his goal area enough, but is in my opinion quicker to react when saving shots, except does not deal with low shots very well, but is slightly better cutting out crosses.
Whereas Howards positional play is very poor, he is rooted to his goal line at all times and too many of our defensive problems are because he never deals with crosses, and if the defender does not clear these, too many goals result from them. He is very slow in deciding to move to the ball, and his punching results in the ball going in any direction, he appears to have threepenny bit type knuckles. Howards kicking is not good, but after saying that, Watsons is the same, far too many kicks would be better suited to Wigan or Hull KR.
At the end of the day, all these problems associated with both keepers point to the goal keeping coach, who fails to try and correct a few of them. Makes me wander why Mussa has a spell before matches of pumping crosses into the certre of the goal area which are collected by the keepers coming out and catching the ball, but in games, this never happens, if we can see these problembs, WHY CANNOT MISSA ??????.
I’ve been unimpressed by Howard, he’s not great on crosses & his kicking’s poor. For Watson, I think he has all the skills, he just needs to work out his decision-making which seems to be the biggest cause of problems in the past.
A bit of time out of the team will probably have done Watson good, as would the chance to play behind a more stable defence.
Howard has positional issues and it’s fait to have some disappointment in that from an experienced pro, but he’s yet another goalkeeper who has conceded fewer goals per game and has more clean sheets than Watson in the same season. Watson’s defenders can point to changes in defence for that, but the fact remains that Watson has a worse record when compared to teammates in the same position and I don’t think it’s coincidental.
Johnstone made some amazing saves when he was with us but also made some enormous gaffes – I remember one game when he mishit a clearance and was lobbed from about 50 yards. He had clear potential but had a lot to learn. Remind you of anyone?
It could be a coincidence but we don’t need to score 3 to win since Howard came. He has also played behind Rowe, Onarise, Bedeau and O’Malley – not a lot of league experience there. Seen little or no improvement in Watson for 3 seasons, will he get any better now? Certainly agree that GK coaching needs looking at. Howard a big improvement IMO.
Is that pen stat saying Howard has saved 1 out of 1? Because I’m pretty sure he conceded one on his debut or shortly afterwards.
I don’t think stats tell you much with goalkeepers anyway. Look at the Palace keeper at the weekend: made some brilliant saves and one howler. Numbers like these ones don’t really tell the story.
Well I feel that most regular forum members already know my views regarding Scunthorpe keepers, as far as which of a poor choice should be our number one, I think that Watson just tilts my opinion.
Watson is poor with dealing with ground shots, and does not control his goal area enough, but is in my opinion quicker to react when saving shots, except does not deal with low shots very well, but is slightly better cutting out crosses.
Whereas Howards positional play is very poor, he is rooted to his goal line at all times and too many of our defensive problems are because he never deals with crosses, and if the defender does not clear these, too many goals result from them. He is very slow in deciding to move to the ball, and his punching results in the ball going in any direction, he appears to have threepenny bit type knuckles. Howards kicking is not good, but after saying that, Watsons is the same, far too many kicks would be better suited to Wigan or Hull KR.
At the end of the day, all these problems associated with both keepers point to the goal keeping coach, who fails to try and correct a few of them. Makes me wander why Mussa has a spell before matches of pumping crosses into the certre of the goal area which are collected by the keepers coming out and catching the ball, but in games, this never happens, if we can see these problembs, WHY CANNOT MISSA ??????.
Surely Mussa is doing all the right things, but when it comes to match time the goalies seem to ignore the coaching, and there’s not a lot that can be done about it we can hardly drop all the goalies, the one position where the players hold all the cards.
I think Howard has had as many clean sheets in 10 games than Watson has had in his first team career, Rory will hopefully improve but remember Howard hadn’t played for a long while before coming here and though maybe stays on his line a lot that was a big problem with Rory also, Rory had a great game against Carlisle, and Howard had a great game against Orient, I personally think Howard has made the defence more confident but Rory needs to go out on loan because he could be a good goalkeeper but with a more experienced defence, I haven’t been disappointed with Howard personally and apart from maybe getting caught on his line a few times he has played well and only a goal in the swirling wind at Exeter can you really say was a keeper error.
As being suggested Howard remains on his line instead of catching crosses and,as teams do their homework on the opposition,it is obvious to expect most set pieces to be aimed in the six yard box,Teams are already doing it and will continue to do so.
Neither – new keeper needed asap. Must be someone they can sign on loan to get through this season!
As for Mussy, I can’t believe he tells them to stay on their line. If a goalie comes for crosses they usually get a free kick even if they miss the ball!!
Watching it again, I am starting to think that Howard is a worse keeper than Watson. At least Watson makes some decent saves among all the mistakes. Howard’s mistakes aren’t as glaring but equally he doesn’t do anything do offset them.
.
