Stockdale

[Working class pride]

Cut the pretention that we're a club looking for promotion - this season. We might have started out with that intention and on that basis the decision was taken to employ/hire DS as our chosen GK to that end.

I genuinely believe that he is good enough and that yesterday was a freak goal.

Football is about opinions and thankfully the only one that matters is CH's and he clearly and firmly has no intention of dropping DS.

Freak goal! I thought freak meant rare. Goal keeping errors have hardly been rare this season. In fact Reading this week as well. Lets stop making excuses eh and face the facts.

 

[London Irish]

H

A manager can be disappointed publically for a mistake but I certainly don't believe it was a mistake. It was hardly a cock up of Ruddy like proportions was it?

I'm not a mistake denier either just calling it as I see it - there is enough quality in DS that he should remain first choice for this season and next when I believe that under CH we'll have another shot at play off contention.

Goalkeepers mistakes are thrust in the spotlight because they lead to goals and nothing is going to change that. The save near the end of the match was bloody amazing and we should be celebrating that.

Seriously? So even our manager is not a good enough source to judge whether Stockdale makes a mistake or not?

I really am baffled now what possible evidence would convince the more extreme Stockdale supporters on here.

The reality is Hughton had a clear choice to say what he did yesterday. He could easily have deflected the question but answered it honestly - it tells me his mistakes are under the spotlight at the club

 

[LamieRobertson]

Do you think Chris Hughton slated him for saying he should be disappointed with his keeping for the goal ?

Let's be honest - it's rare for a manager to make any public criticism of their players. Hughton would have not have done this lightly.

Perhaps you would be kind enough to quote all of what Hughton said re Stockdale....he was probably asked about the goal and personally I don't see his reply as 'slating' ...but it guess it's how you define that word

 

[Barham's tash]

H

Seriously? So even our manager is not a good enough source to judge whether Stockdale makes a mistake or not?

I really am baffled now what possible evidence would convince the more extreme Stickdale supporters on here.

The reality is Hughton had a clear choice to say what he did yesterday. He could easily have deflected the question but answered it honestly - it tells me his mistakes are under the spotlight at the club

I never said that CH wasn't right. He has to say what he feels he wants to. I personally just want to see an angle of that goal from the opposite side to convince me from where I sit in the WSU that it was nothing more than a freak goal. With hindsight would it be better if DS wasn't more advanced and was stuck on his line? Yes. But that doesn't make me want to critcise of lambast him.

The proof of the pudding will be in the eating on Tuesday. Will CH stick with DS? Yes.

 

[Icy Gull]

H

Seriously? So even our manager is not a good enough source to judge whether Stockdale makes a mistake or not?

I really am baffled now what possible evidence would convince the more extreme Stockdale supporters on here.

The reality is Hughton had a clear choice to say what he did yesterday. He could easily have deflected the question but answered it honestly - it tells me his mistakes are under the spotlight at the club

So they should be but CH really needs to highlight the powderpuff qualities of our strikers ability to test keepers, poor management to criticise at one end of the pitch but not the other.

Whether CH chooses to admit it or not Stockdale saved us from getting beat yesterday and CMS contributed to us only getting a draw with his non league finishing.

 

[Barham's tash]

Freak goal! I thought freak meant rare. Goal keeping errors have hardly been rare this season. In fact Reading this week as well. Lets stop making excuses eh and face the facts.

Has DS let in a myriad of goals from mishit crosses at this near post this season then? I must have missed them all.

For me first against Reading was poor - he directly contributed to that, and the weak header he let in due to poor positioning v Brum (I think it was) aside i've been happy with feeling that his saves have earned or won us more points than he has directly contributed to us losing this season.

Opinions opinions.

 

[Captain Sensible]

CMS, gets a pounding on here, everytime Stockdale has a thread about his poor performances. I didn't think CMS did too much wrong, apart from the header, the shot he has was close and he avoided the keeper, the balls to him were all out wide. I don't think he had a good game but he does create space up front. Wolves were not able to crowd us out. He's done no worse than many others in the side, and IMO should have had a goal. Stockdale on the other hand had a great game but he is error prone. If it was one in every 10 matches fine, but it's every or every other match.

 

[Working class pride]

CMS, gets a pounding on here, everytime Stockdale has a thread about his poor performances. I didn't think CMS did too much wrong, apart from the header, the shot he has was close and he avoided the keeper, the balls to him were all out wide. I don't think he had a good game but he does create space up front. Wolves were not able to crowd us out. He's done no worse than many others in the side, and IMO should have had a goal. Stockdale on the other hand had a great game but he is error prone. If it was one in every 10 matches fine, but it's every or every other match.

That's my observation too, but there we go. It is a game of opinions

 

[LamieRobertson]

CMS, gets a pounding on here, everytime Stockdale has a thread about his poor performances. I didn't think CMS did too much wrong, apart from the header, the shot he has was close and he avoided the keeper, the balls to him were all out wide. I don't think he had a good game but he does create space up front. Wolves were not able to crowd us out. He's done no worse than many others in the side, and IMO should have had a goal. Stockdale on the other hand had a great game but he is error prone. If it was one in every 10 matches fine, but it's every or every other match.

CMS I thought battled well.. On his own up front ..pity Baldock is out as they seemed to link well at times

 

[pocketseagull]

Our goal difference is -4, teams around us are about -17. That has to be at least in part down to Stockdale?

 

[BensGrandad]

CMS is getting unfounded criticism as yesterday he was desperately missing a support player and both him and COG need this to play off their flicks etc.

 

[sussex_guy2k2]

Do you think Chris Hughton slated him for saying he should be disappointed with his keeping for the goal ?

Let's be honest - it's rare for a manager to make any public criticism of their players. Hughton would have not have done this lightly.

I've just seen what Houghton said and honestly I'm disappointed by his comments as a fan. As I said, I would want my goalkeeper being aggressive and making an effort to come out and claim crosses. It was a completely miss-hit cross - as a team you would get punished by an incident like that maybe once every 2 or 3 seasons at the most. If Houghton sits Stockdale down and says he shouldn't have been so aggressive in his positioning, that he should have stayed right on his line when the ball was essentially on the right touch line, then I would worry that he'd be undoing a lot of the improvement that we've seen in Stockdale over the last couple of months with regards to his decision making and his desire to come and claim crosses.

And honestly, he should be sitting there praising the guy for keeping us in the game on 4 or 5 separate occasions.

 

[sussex_guy2k2]

CMS is getting unfounded criticism as yesterday he was desperately missing a support player and both him and COG need this to play off their flicks etc.

That's what happens when the ball bounces off you with every touch. Unfortunately, that's more likely to happen when the CBs bypass the ball players in midfield and lump it up to you to run after like a little puppy seeing his first tennis ball.

 

[theboybilly]

Stockdale should, and will start at Millwall.

CMS should be nowhere near the team bus

 

[Acker79]

There are people on both sides of the stockdale divide who seemingly refuse to acknowledge that someone can have a mixed performance. Either they focus on the mistake that cost us two points, and refuse to acknowledge the great saves that retained that one point, or they focus on the saves that earned us a point and will bend and stretch to deny he even made a mistake to cost us two points.

 

[Mo Gosfield]

Stockdale has made inexplicable mistakes all over the penalty area. He has rushed to the edge of his area, with no chance of getting there. He has rolled the ball to the opposition. He has positioned himself poorly for free kicks. He has pushed saves straight back to the opposition for goals. He has been beaten low to his right hand, over and over again. He has made so many errors this season so far, that most of us have lost count.
On the other hand, he has made some incredible saves ( mostly with his left hand ) that have clearly saved points. Yesterday, he made two tremendous saves but also threw one into his own net, at a critical point of the game. It was his fault, he came off his post too soon. There were no Wolves players up with the play. He didn't need to create that space.
I have seen a lot of keepers at this level and most of them don't make the number of mistakes that Stockdale does. David Marshall came here and made a string of good saves and then Stockdale gifted them a point. Keepers are paid to make good saves.
I'm afraid that the level of mistakes are outweighing the positive contributions. It is difficult to remember but I would guess that the negatives are outweighing the positives by 7-8 points.

 

[London Irish]

J

CMS, gets a pounding on here, everytime Stockdale has a thread about his poor performances. I didn't think CMS did too much wrong, apart from the header, the shot he has was close and he avoided the keeper, the balls to him were all out wide. I don't think he had a good game but he does create space up front. Wolves were not able to crowd us out. He's done no worse than many others in the side, and IMO should have had a goal. Stockdale on the other hand had a great game but he is error prone. If it was one in every 10 matches fine, but it's every or every other match.

There are reasons why Hughton tends to start CMS rather than O'Grady (or Baldock as central striker before his crock) - and you've basically covered it. I thought CMS did well in unsettling the Wolves defenders at times but he has to be better in taking some of his chances to get a new contract - jury is just as out on that as to whether Stockdale can stop throwing them in the net every few games.

Again poor Hughton - amazed that some would chose Stockdale over him - but in reply to Icy's point our very sane and level headed manager did say CMS must take his chances after yesterday

 

[Finchley Seagull]

I don't understand the stick Stockdale gets on here. Anyone who seriously thinks he cost us two points yesterday as opposed to saving us one is so biased their opinion should be ignored. He could have done better with the goal but he kept us in the game before that and made an incredible save at the end to earn a point.

On the other hand, Kuszczak, who lots of people go on about on here, made a mistake for our goal and was lucky to get away with pushing the ball back into play for our disallowed goal. If you want to look at what cost us two points yesterday, it was the chances we missed (especially CMS).

Having seen the Reading first goal, it looks more Ince's fault than Stockdale's. People keep going on about how few mistakes Kuszczak made for us. However, on the terms of what is called a mistake for Stockdale, he probably made lots more. It seems it is what Kuszczak wasn't blamed for on here is now being marked as Stockdale's fault by a minority on here who are very vocal. No doubt I'll be slagged off by London Irish and others for supporting the team but I am allowed an opinion.

 

[London Irish]

Lol Finchley I just hope you don't slag me off for supporting the Brighton manager's very nuanced view on Stockdale and CMS - I think I am achieving the impossible feat of out loyalisting you

 

[Hungry Joe]

Stockdale made some excellent saves before and after his howler. Is he a bit too prone to costly mistakes as Adam Virgo thinks? Possibly, time will tell. What is often overlooked though is how exposed he is. I'm a big fan of both Joe Bennett and Bruno, but at least once a game they get completely done and a wide player has far too much time and space to put in a killer ball.