[Albion] Jason Steele is not giving up his spot easily

[Mellotron]

Excellent shot stopping last night, but am I the only one to think he was uncharacteristically shaky with ball at his feet?

Bar the superb assist, of course.

 

[SeagullinExile]

There was quite a bit of talk, upon the signing of Bart Verbruggen, about how we wouldn't spend that money on a keeper to just give him the odd Cup game, and that he'd be first choice between the sticks when the Premier League season kicks off.

I think Jason Steele has other ideas about that - it was a great performance from him last night both with his feet, which we've become accustomed to, but also in keeping Albion's clean sheet.

I'd be surprised if he isn't starting against Luton in a couple of weeks' time.

He made some great saves, his distribution was a bit shit at times though. Passed the ball straight to Brentford on more than one occasion.

 

[hans kraay fan club]

He made some great saves, his distribution was a bit shit at times though. Passed the ball straight to Brentford on more than one occasion.

Five times

 

[The Wizard]

Excellent shot stopping last night, but am I the only one to think he was uncharacteristically shaky with ball at his feet?

Bar the superb assist, of course.

First 15/20 he was but I think a lot of the reason he appeared shaky is the lack of the normal ball players in front of him, normally he has Dunk/Caicedo who are pivotal to that intricate passing we do, he gave the ball away more often than usual but given the above and the fact it’s only our second warm up game with a mashed up squad it’s not surprising.

Will take some time for the new boys as well, there was a few times Steele couldn’t play that trademark drilled low ball to beat the press because Pedro wasn’t coming deep enough (he was good when he did but will take some learning I think)

 

[SeagullinExile]

Five times

Yeah. I was being diplomatic!

 

[Tom Hark Preston Park]

Curiously, Steele and Verbruggen share a birthday (18th August). Steele will be 33 next month. Verbruggen will be 21. Succession planning right there!

 

[US Seagull]

Given the armband when Gross went off. Yes, he gave the ball away a bit but not as much as Webster who will struggle for game time this season on that showing.

I was only watching on my phone in the car (no, I wasn't driving), which made it hard to see exactly what was going on (and I missed the start of the second half since we had to stop at a rest stop), but I'm pretty sure the armband went to Webster when Gross came off and then to Steele after Webster came off. I remember noticing Webster wearing the armband at one point because he had the bloody thing on upside down.

Edit: Ah, here you go:

To be fair, from Adam's POV, it's the right way up. Bless him.

 

[mile oak]

unquestionably no. 1 for me

 

[US Seagull]

I was surprised that we didn't see Verbruggen at all in that game.

 

[Badger Boy]

So long as Steele doesn't ever go for a wonder in the way that Flekken did last night, we'll be fine!

 

[albion534]

I reckon Bart will be our cup and or European keeper and take over the spot of No.1 by Christmas. Steele is good, but he performs too many Everton Performances.

 

[Zeus]

I’m pretty confident Steele starts as no 1 prem keeper and unless he’s making howlers will still be there at the end. Could see Bart playing the cups but will be interesting to see if that extends to Europe.

 

[AlbionBro]

Steele is not good enough to be our first choice keeper.

He is however a phenomenal back up keeper. Great attitude, good on the ball, clearly really important in the dressing room.

But technically, he is not a top level shot stopper. He will surely get a run of games, but he will not end the season as our number 1.

Well the lad looked pretty sharp last night as was up there for man of the match, in my opinion.
He was locked in like I have not seen since the Dutchman.
Love his fight.

 

[Cheshire Cat]

Is Sanchez staying or going?

Can we play more than one keeper at a time?

 

[Lindfield by the Pond]

I only saw the second half and I’d give him MOTM for it for his saves. His passing out was well below his usual standards on a few occasions..straight to a Brentford player.

Think I remember one you are talking about, but I saw that one as outfield player (Pedro) not yet tuned into the space the ball was played into.

 

[trueblue]

I love the way some people have decided a goalkeeper they’ve never seen in meaningful action is definitely better than one who’s been playing out of his skin for the best part of a season.

 

[BHA Fan93]

I love the way some people have decided a goalkeeper they’ve never seen in meaningful action is definitely better than one who’s been playing out of his skin for the best part of a season.

Was just reading all the comments and was about to post this myself, all we have seen of him is concede 3 goals in 45 minutes against Chelsea but all of sudden he’s better than steele? Who by the way was one of if not the best player on the pitch last night. For everyone that’s saying that Bart will be No.1 soon on what basis are you judging this on? I’m very curious.

 

[Simster]

Was just reading all the comments and was about to post this myself, all we have seen of him is concede 3 goals in 45 minutes against Chelsea but all of sudden he’s better than steele? Who by the way was one of if not the best player on the pitch last night. For everyone that’s saying that Bart will be No.1 soon on what basis are you judging this on? I’m very curious.

Have you both actually read the whole thread? The first 20 posts are fI'll of people saying the gloves are Steele's to lose.

 

[Silverhatch]

CONFIDENCE is an incredible performance aphrodisiac. Bart’ll have to be the nuts to dislodge JS.

 

[Baldseagull]

We have (I think) potentially up to 25 cup games across the 3 competitions, so even if Steele starts in the PL, there'll be plenty for Verbruggen to do!

Maximum of 6 Carabao Cup games, we join in the 3rd round as a European competition qualifier.
Maximum of 6 FA Cup games.
Maximum of 15 Europa League games, if we finished second in group and went into playoffs and progressed to the final.
Could end up playing a couple more than 15 European games I think if we end up going into the Europa Conference league but I am not sure if we would enter a second play off in the Conference if we lost the play offs in the League.

On the other hand, we are only certain to have 8 cup games.