[Albion] Jack Butland - broken finger

[Telford Seagull]

I will be happy if Butland is not fit for 20th but Lee Grant is a reasonable keeper and I know nothing of the other keeper Jakob Haaugard.

The only issue that Lee Grant nearly ALWAYS has an outstanding game against us. Haaugard on the other hand is woeful, he played for Wigan last year against us in THE promotion game

 

[The Optimist]

Had he signed or even indicated hat he was going to sign, when first offered a contract, it is a fair assumption that we possibly wouldnt have signed Ryan.

We only offered him a year didn’t we? Quite a clear indication that we didn’t have much faith in him.

Also in the past NSC has praised players for dropping down a level to get regular first team football instead of just sitting on a Premier League bench picking up a nice salary. But when someone dares to not want to sit on our bench NSC gets all put out about it.

(I realise NSC is lots of different people with different views)

 

[Sheebo]

Don't like the Stockdale bashing - he was fantastic for us & this is another case of a player leaving and suddenly being shit according to half of NSC - just like Bridcutt & Buckley who were not having superb on the whole.

Ryan has done well as of late & I like him but only time will tell if he's a vast improvement on Stockdale or not in my opinion.

 

[essbee1]

Don't like the Stockdale bashing - he was fantastic for us & this is another case of a player leaving and suddenly being shit according to half of NSC - just like Bridcutt & Buckley who were not having superb on the whole.

Ryan has done well as of late & I like him but only time will tell if he's a vast improvement on Stockdale or not in my opinion.

Well, Ryan certainly does not seem to have the propensity for howlers on the scale of DS. That alone says it for me.

 

[GT49er]

We only offered him a year didn’t we? Quite a clear indication that we didn’t have much faith in him.

Also in the past NSC has praised players for dropping down a level to get regular first team football instead of just sitting on a Premier League bench picking up a nice salary. But when someone dares to not want to sit on our bench NSC gets all put out about it.

(I realise NSC is lots of different people with different views)

Good point.

 

[Sheebo]

Well, Ryan certainly does not seem to have the propensity for howlers on the scale of DS. That alone says it for me.

Apart from 3 massive ones in his first 3 appearances. Don't get me wrong, I think he's class... but I think DS was tooo - esp at shot stopping and distritibution..

 

[essbee1]

Apart from 3 massive ones in his first 3 appearances. Don't get me wrong, I think he's class... but I think DS was tooo - esp at shot stopping and distritibution..

I agree but DS was making howlers all bleeding season.

 

[HastingsSeagull]

Stockdale still had D&D infront of him in the Championship....... he was good but not anything special and would have been a nice starting Championship, or back-up PL Keeper but that's his level.

Would take Ryan and even Krul over him.

 

[Da Man Clay]

Don't like the Stockdale bashing - he was fantastic for us & this is another case of a player leaving and suddenly being shit according to half of NSC - just like Bridcutt & Buckley who were not having superb on the whole.

Ryan has done well as of late & I like him but only time will tell if he's a vast improvement on Stockdale or not in my opinion.

And Bridcutt and Buckley have certainly proved NSC wrong - although I thought Bridcutt would go on to reasonable things.

 

[Green Cross Code Man]

I agree but DS was making howlers all bleeding season.

Really? That's not my perception. Surely if he was making them all season we'd have struggled to go up automatically and wouldn't have had so many clean sheets?

 

[Pondicherry]

Nobody really knows either way what the clubs plan was with or without him signing a new contract.

We know that the club were not actively pursuing Ryan. Ryan was offered to the club by Valencia because Valencia were in need of some money and he was someone they knew we had previously been interested in. We signed him because we were offered what we perceived to be a good deal at the time. We also know that the club were wanting to loan Walton and that Stockdale was offered a contract of some sort that he turned down.

 

[Napier's Knee]

We know that the club were not actively pursuing Ryan. Ryan was offered to the club by Valencia because Valencia were in need of some money and he was someone they knew we had previously been interested in. We signed him because we were offered what we perceived to be a good deal at the time. We also know that the club were wanting to loan Walton and that Stockdale was offered a contract of some sort that he turned down.

Do we know the club were not pursuing Ryan? Seems to me that all recent signings are the result of scouting and contacts that have gone on for at least a year, and Ryan has definitely said (somewhere) that the club had been talking to him for a long time. As for DS - he was absolutely vital to everything that got us promoted, but I've recently watched the "We're on our Way" DVD - some of his positioning when he let in goals was pretty suspect tbh. Ryan is a clear upgrade

 

[Thunder Bolt]

We know that the club were not actively pursuing Ryan. Ryan was offered to the club by Valencia because Valencia were in need of some money and he was someone they knew we had previously been interested in. We signed him because we were offered what we perceived to be a good deal at the time. We also know that the club were wanting to loan Walton and that Stockdale was offered a contract of some sort that he turned down.

We paid 5M for Ryan, so I can't see the club paying that much for a player Valencia were desperate to sell. Stockdale only cost 1M from Fulham.

 

[Pondicherry]

Do we know the club were not pursuing Ryan? Seems to me that all recent signings are the result of scouting and contacts that have gone on for at least a year, and Ryan has definitely said (somewhere) that the club had been talking to him for a long time. As for DS - he was absolutely vital to everything that got us promoted, but I've recently watched the "We're on our Way" DVD - some of his positioning when he let in goals was pretty suspect tbh. Ryan is a clear upgrade

Paul Barber confirmed at the Holbrook Club recently that Valencia made the approach to say Ryan was available. That's not to say we were not already interested (which we were I believe) but it was that way around rather than us going in with a bid first.

 

[Pondicherry]

We paid 5M for Ryan, so I can't see the club paying that much for a player Valencia were desperate to sell. Stockdale only cost 1M from Fulham.

They needed the money for another deal (according to PB). We thought whatever we paid was good value I presume and it looks like it was at the moment!!

 

[sussex_guy2k2]

I think that he hasnt shown recently that he hasnt regained the form which put him in the England team pre injury. None of those in the England squad have looked good against us neither Hart, Forster, or Pickford

I thought Pickford looked very good against us. It's the second time he's been down this way (with Preston the once, if I remember correctly) and on both occasions he's done his job well.

 

[BensGrandad]

I thought Pickford looked very good against us. It's the second time he's been down this way (with Preston the once, if I remember correctly) and on both occasions he's done his job well.

I thought that he looked adequate rather than an impressive future England prospect when we played Everton.

 

[clippedgull]

I thought Pickford looked very good against us. It's the second time he's been down this way (with Preston the once, if I remember correctly) and on both occasions he's done his job well.

Yes, I agree, great prospect. I have watched him a few times this season via SKY sports and you can see why Everton paid what they did for him.

 

[A1X]

Perhaps someone ought to give Lewis a pair of gloves and tell him to have a go? Might make it to Russia after all.

 

[MattBackHome]

Pickford is the best option for England anyway. He's much better than Butland.