[Albion] Bart Verbruggen SINGS a 5-year deal

[Sarisbury Seagull]

The goalie rotation was ridiculous. It’s never done, with good reason, it doesn’t work and didn’t for us last season.

It’s clearly not harmed Bart who is absolute class and has the potential to be the best keeper in the world, but it certainly harmed our club’s season along with a number of other decisions RDZ made.

 

[Greg Bobkin]

I said he was a knob in 'lots of ways', but not entirely. The conclusion you made the in 2nd part of your post was all you.

RDZ was stubborn as f*** and he effectively ruined his second season here through his attitude.

Steele should not have been near the first team and cost us SO many points in that season.

It's only my opinion, but I don't think Verbruggen's development would have been in any way harmed by playing every game last season. In fact the contrary. I reckon RDZs arrogance was at risk of harming his development. We're lucky that it looks like he's still on track to be a top keeper. We're lucky that The Netherlands persisted with him.

You know Bart cost us points, too? In fact, the whole team probably did in their own way(s). Neither goalkeeper was a clear 'number one' at the start of the season - hence the rotation.

Bart developed over the course of the season. That's (partly) *because* of RDZ, not *despite* him!

 

[Mustafa II]

You know Bart cost us points, too? In fact, the whole team probably did in their own way(s). Neither goalkeeper was a clear 'number one' at the start of the season - hence the rotation.

Bart developed over the course of the season. That's (partly) *because* of RDZ, not *despite* him!

At the level we're at, goalkeepers are so often the difference between 0, 1 and 3 points.

The amount of soft goals Steele let in, time after time, that practically any other Premier League keeper would have saved, especially Bart, was beyond frustrating.

All keepers make mistakes, it is not a forgiving position. Of course Bart made mistakes. The irony here is that Steele barely ever made a mistake - the countless soft goals he let in weren't mistakes - he just wasn't good enough to save them.

 

[Greg Bobkin]

The rotation last season had nothing to do with "easing a young goalie in". RDZ showed on multiple occasions he had no problem playing young players to the breaking point.

Jason Steele was playing because RDZ wanted the ego boost from Jason Steele getting called up for England. People pretended that RDZ turned March from shit to footballing God so no doubt he wanted to repeat that. But it was easier to pretend RDZ magic when it came to a brilliant player playing brilliant football. With Jason Steele - a far below average PL keeper - it wasn't as easy.

We can sit here all day and pretend that the Dutch national team goalie playing a leading role in Euro 2024 couldn't deal with the pressure of playing against Manchester United in our final, entirely unimportant league game this season. Or we could see it for what it is: we had two keepers, one good youngster and one sub-par never-has-been and the manager, now sacked, decided they should get the same game time, which played a role in the poor results over the season.

The 72% save rate for Bart last season again (6th best out of the 25 goalies with 10+ games) and the 57% save rate from Steele (2nd worst in the league out of the same 25 goalies) doesn't say everything, but it says A LOT.

We went into last season with two inexperienced Premier League goalkeepers, one with potential and one without. And despite the young one dealing with it well and the old one failing to do so, the manager persisted with this dumb rotation scheme for reasons the RDZ cult have to invent, as there's no reality backing the idea as a good one.

Going into next season with a clear goalie hierarchy will benefit everyone, including Jason Steele who will return to what he was signed to do (being prepared for the few times he's needed rather than being thrown to the wolves evey week).

Started early on the spliffs this morning, Swansmann? You don't half past a load of shite with such authority/arrogance sometimes.

And what's with all the 'we' nonsense? You didn't even say that when your stalkee was in charge!

 

[Hiheidi]

Wonder if Steele will want to go back to being second keeper after being first choice.

 

[Flounce]

Compare our treatment of a young keeper in his first season in PL with Burnleys. It appears to me with hindsight that RDZ got it right with rotation that everybody else condemned. Trafford at Burnley was told he was No.1 and played every game, replacing the goalie that got them promoted. He burnt out, was replaced by original keeper and is back in the Championship next season. I’m sure there is more to it than that but that’s how it appears to this outsider.

Quite, I think RDZ played it quite well. My thoughts when I read all the whinging about the rotation went to Trafford at Burnley who looked world class against us early season.

 

[drew]

The goalie rotation was ridiculous. It’s never done, with good reason, it doesn’t work and didn’t for us last season.

It’s clearly not harmed Bart who is absolute class and has the potential to be the best keeper in the world, but it certainly harmed our club’s season along with a number of other decisions RDZ made.

You're quite right, the selfish decisions of a number of players to get themselves injured really affected our season!!!

 

[Flounce]

Started early on the spliffs this morning, Swansmann? You don't half past a load of shite with such authority/arrogance sometimes.

And what's with all the 'we' nonsense? You didn't even say that when your stalkee was in charge!

Do NSC now have to approve new fans before they can support us? I’ll second Swanny’s application if so

 

[Han Solo]

Started early on the spliffs this morning, Swansmann? You don't half past a load of shite with such authority/arrogance sometimes.

And what's with all the 'we' nonsense? You didn't even say that when your stalkee was in charge!

Do you have any countering arguments to what you percieve as "load of shite"?

It doesn't quite seem like it when you avoid the topic of discussion and resort to personal attacks instead.

 

[GT49er]

Less than four weeks ago

Yes, and? No retraction from me - and anybody who is still convinced that rotating GKs last season didn't cost us points is, frankly, a bit of a prat.

 

[Flounce]

Yes, and? No retraction from me - and anybody who is still convinced that rotating GKs last season didn't cost us points is, frankly, a bit of a prat.

Are you saying that a few of the thrashings we got against in form teams with Steele in goal would not have happened with Bart and his confidence would not have taken a big knock if they had happened? If he’d gone off the boil like Trafford because of it he’d probably not be the Netherlands keeper imo. Put me down as a prat as I think RDZ handled it well and Bart was told it would happen when he signed

Who actually knows for sure though?

 

[GT49er]

Are you saying that a few of the thrashings we got against in form teams with Steele in goal would not have happened with Bart and his confidence would not have taken a big knock if they had happened? If he’d gone off the boil like Trafford because of it he’d probably not be the Netherlands keeper imo. Put me down as a prat as I think RDZ handled it well and Bart was told it would happen when he signed

No I'm not.

Who actually knows for sure though?

Can't argue with that - though I'm sure NSC can find an idiot that will, somewhere!

 

[WATFORD zero]

Yes, and? No retraction from me - and anybody who is still convinced that rotating GKs last season didn't cost us points is, frankly, a bit of a prat.

You still think Sanchez is a better keeper than Verbruggen ? Fair enough

 

[nwgull]

No, FFS don't keep Rushworth back as our no.2 - loan him out to a lower PL team, maybe Spain or Italy (top level) or top Championship at least. Steele is a perfectly adequate no.2 and won't let us down if called upon through injury or suspension, so long as Hurzeler doesn't piss off Verbruggen by insisting he plays out from the back like Pirlo and then dropping him because Steele apparently does that better, resulting, quite reasonably, in Verbruggen wanting out. Hopefully our new manager has more sense in dealing with GKs than the last one.
Sell Verbruggen for a hefty wedge next summer, and replace him (at more or less no cost) with either Rushworth or Beagle, and cash in on t'other.

I cannot agree more. Having a young talent like Rushworth getting splinters in his arse is a complete waste of an asset and does absolutely nothing for his development.

Keepers rarely get injured or suspended, and if that happens an experienced pro like Steele can be trusted to do a job for a game or two.

 

[Han Solo]

Are you saying that a few of the thrashings we got against in form teams with Steele in goal would not have happened with Bart and his confidence would not have taken a big knock if they had happened? If he’d gone off the boil like Trafford because of it he’d probably not be the Netherlands keeper imo. Put me down as a prat as I think RDZ handled it well and Bart was told it would happen when he signed

Who actually knows for sure though?

Ok so everyone is now going to rotate young keepers because otherwise they will end up like James Trafford?

Man, if only Anderlecht had known this magic trick!

But nah, they went with another solution. Hendrik van Crombrugge started the 22/23 season for Anderlecht, played poorly and had a bottom five save percentage.

So Anderlecht said, "ok, lets put him on the bench and this young lad in the team". And the young lad swiftly turned out to be better, so they started him every game for the rest of the season. And he didn't turn into James Trafford; he earned himself a move to the Premier League.

But as you say - who knows? Maybe we would have needed to pay £40m rather than the £20m if the Anderlecht management had gone with the (apparently) optimal way of introducing young goalies: taking game time from them and giving it to the shite backup goalie. Or maybe giving him the chance and showing him full confidence was the right way to do it. We'll never know.

Since Bart is still young and inexperienced, I suppose the NSC people who thought it worked well last season want more of the same next year. Personally, I hope Hurzeler goes with the Swansman way (play the good keeper) rather than the NSC/De Zerbi route. I don't want to see the "goalie rotation" again. Ever.

 

[Flounce]

Ok so everyone is now going to rotate young keepers because otherwise they will end up like James Trafford?

Man, if only Anderlecht had known this magic trick!

But nah, they went with another solution. Hendrik van Crombrugge started the 22/23 season for Anderlecht, played poorly and had a bottom five save percentage.

So Anderlecht said, "ok, lets put him on the bench and this young lad in the team". And the young lad swiftly turned out to be better, so they started him every game for the rest of the season. And he didn't turn into James Trafford; he earned himself a move to the Premier League.

But as you say - who knows? Maybe we would have needed to pay £40m rather than the £20m if the Anderlecht management had gone with the (apparently) optimal way of introducing young goalies: taking game time from them and giving it to the shite backup goalie. Or maybe giving him the chance and showing him full confidence was the right way to do it. We'll never know.

Since Bart is still young and inexperienced, I suppose the NSC people who thought it worked well last season want more of the same next year. Personally, I hope Hurzeler goes with the Swansman way (play the good keeper) rather than the NSC/De Zerbi route. I don't want to see the "goalie rotation" again. Ever.

Nope but Bart did look shaky playing De Zerbi ball early doors and I’m not convinced you can compare the Belgian league with the PL for keepers and the quality of their top six clubs. Top PL clubs regularly score a hatful against mid/lower league clubs. As I said though who knows for sure, I was OK with what RDZ did under the circumstances and he did go with Bart at season’s end.

I will join the pitch forkers if it continues next season though as Bart is now clearly our number one, he wasn’t when he arrived here…imo, which is worth f*** all in fairness

 

[WATFORD zero]

Personally, I hope Hurzeler goes with the Swansman way (play the good keeper) rather than the NSC/De Zerbi route. I don't want to see the "goalie rotation" again. Ever.

Those well known master tacticians, Hurzeler, De Zerbi and Swansman. Pretentious, Moi ?

 

[nwgull]

Ok so everyone is now going to rotate young keepers because otherwise they will end up like James Trafford?

Man, if only Anderlecht had known this magic trick!

But nah, they went with another solution. Hendrik van Crombrugge started the 22/23 season for Anderlecht, played poorly and had a bottom five save percentage.

So Anderlecht said, "ok, lets put him on the bench and this young lad in the team". And the young lad swiftly turned out to be better, so they started him every game for the rest of the season. And he didn't turn into James Trafford; he earned himself a move to the Premier League.

But as you say - who knows? Maybe we would have needed to pay £40m rather than the £20m if the Anderlecht management had gone with the (apparently) optimal way of introducing young goalies: taking game time from them and giving it to the shite backup goalie. Or maybe giving him the chance and showing him full confidence was the right way to do it. We'll never know.

Since Bart is still young and inexperienced, I suppose the NSC people who thought it worked well last season want more of the same next year. Personally, I hope Hurzeler goes with the Swansman way (play the good keeper) rather than the NSC/De Zerbi route. I don't want to see the "goalie rotation" again. Ever.

I agree. Does anyone think we’d have loaned out Beadle to relegation-threatened Massive or Rushworth to his various clubs without there being the understanding that they’d be going there as regular first-choice keeper?

If Bart’s confidence was really so tender, do people really think he’d have been selected for the Dutch national team to make his debut against France in a competitive qualifier a few months before we bought him.

 

[Greg Bobkin]

Do NSC now have to approve new fans before they can support us? I’ll second Swanny’s application if so

Clearly not. My point was that he wasn't a supporter last time around.

 

[Greg Bobkin]

Do you have any countering arguments to what you percieve as "load of shite"?

It doesn't quite seem like it when you avoid the topic of discussion and resort to personal attacks instead.

OK, I could almost categorically say that a professional football manager wouldn't choose a player purely to get an ego boost when said player got chosen for their national team.

I also seriously doubt that Bart's lack of experience was NOTHING to do with the rotation.

Better?