Super Steve Earle
Well-known member
He is a long way till he's that good-and my hatred of Henderson borders on the psychotic!Too early for Wayne Henderson comparisons?
He is a long way till he's that good-and my hatred of Henderson borders on the psychotic!Too early for Wayne Henderson comparisons?
It's more than a bit crap that it seems to have become acceptable in H Block for adults and kids in the charge of adults to bellow out 'Smith you're shit' or (if he makes a decent save) 'Smith you're not shit anymore' when the poor bugger's doing his best and is being given next to no protection from his deeply dysfunctional defence. It's a cheap shot.
Still don't think he is any where near the standard we need , double save was quality though and they were the least amount of goals he has let in In the league this season
Personally think he played quite well, first goal a free header from about 12 yards in to the corner granted the second looked a scramble and not really sure what went on there. He had one dodgy punch and took too long with some kicks but after getting a shouting from Poyet about that he sped up. This is just knocking him for the sake of it. Some of the shouts from the stand last night were ridiculous.
His distrbution is horrendous!
Agree that for the first goal Burton should never have been allowed to head it. But still think Smith should have saved it. He got a good hand to it. Honestly reckon FDM would have turned it around the post or at least parried it.
Last night it was good.
I'm sure Michel (Gordon Banks) Kuipers would have turned it over the CROSSBAR!? Just like Banks in 1970 against Brazil.
Trouble is, he's making fdm look like Gordon Banks.
Personally think he played quite well, first goal a free header from about 12 yards in to the corner granted the second looked a scramble and not really sure what went on there. He had one dodgy punch and took too long with some kicks but after getting a shouting from Poyet about that he sped up. This is just knocking him for the sake of it. Some of the shouts from the stand last night were ridiculous.
of course he is not a shit keeper......he has no protection and our defenders back off forwards...he is on to a hiding for nothing every game
Spoke to an ex Albion keeper on sunday, granted he played donkey's years ago and hasn't watched the Albion for a while but we got on the topic of Smith (I was commenting on the fact that Scottish and goalkeeping is mutually exclusive). Now he hasn't seen Smith play but does speak to people who have. His comment in the defence of Smith was that he once played behind a very poor back four ... and it was his worse nightmare. as far as he was concerned they may as well have played for the opposition.
With a good defence your decisions on positioning, coming for crosses, palm, catch or parry are made for you. It's a joy. A bad defence means that whether you come for a cross or not, your going to be wrong. Your positioning will be wrong regardless of where you stand ... basically you want to be anywhere but in goal. It's the ultimate loose loose situation. A miserable soul destroying experience that can easily finish a keeper.
His distrbution is horrendous!
To be fair, Smith has looked rotten since he moved down to Sussex. I am sure even he would admit that!
I saw a large number of his games for Motherwell, and he has not done himself any justice down here. He must be close to conceding more goals for Brighton than he did any any of his full seasons in Scotland.
Yes, the Brighton defence are shambolic, and I fully accept that Smith is part of that defence, but by his own standards he has been poor.
He has played at a higher standard than English League One, and easily looked like he was one of the better keepers in the league (so much so that he was on the fringes of the Scotland setup before moving south - goalkeeping wise at least, that is not the old joke that it used to be).
Anyone who has seen his performances for the Scottish B team, or for Motherwell against Nancy in Europe will not recognise the lad that has played in goals for Brighton this season.
Buzz has his head down at the moment, and desperately needs to find some of his old confidence again.
Despite doing his best to hide it, I believe he is one of the best shot stoppers I have seen. After McGhee banished him to the weights room at Fir Park, his kicking was excellent (although occasionally a little squint) - I would take his kicking ability any day of the week if compared to the FDM (I am a fan of the FDM to be clear).
One thing Smith has never done, and I suspect will always struggle to do, is command his box in the way many on here demand. If this is the pre-requisite for an acceptable keeper at Brighton, then he is not the man.
That said - IF he gets his head up, he has the ability to prove to everyone that he could be a very good Championship level goalkeeper for Brighton (or perhaps someone else).
Before I get lambasted I will simply state again that I base this on watching him play over 100 games, at a higher level than Brighton are currently at. To say he is simply not good enough for League One is rubbish, however, given the way the team have played with him in goals I can understand where the comment comes from.
Big question for me is whether we can afford to wait for him to regain his confidence, or whether we need a quick fix. I suspect (like many other positions in the starting team currently) we may need a quick fix!
Agree that for the first goal Burton should never have been allowed to head it. But still think Smith should have saved it. He got a good hand to it. Honestly reckon FDM would have turned it around the post or at least parried it.