Patches O Houlihan

I tracked down that World's Best Goalkeeper rating article at everybodyscoccer.com (1st January 2024) Everybody Soccer returns with its installment of the top goalkeepers in the world. Goalkeepers are rated on their form with club and country, taking into account their success in shot-stopping, distribution, cross-management, and ability to improv on a broken play. To view past rankings, you can click here to see the prior lists in a spreadsheet or visit the list of the top 24 goalkeepers under 24 years old. Now anybody can write a list. So I'll let you pull it apart and see if you can find fault. I've highlighted players we have been linked with Allison - Liverpool, Brazil Jan Oblak - Athletico Madrid, Slovenia Manuel Neuer - Bayern Munich, Germany Thibaut Courtois - Real Madrid, Belgium Ederson - Man City, Brazil Gianluigi Donnarumma - PSG, Italy Arnau Tenas - PSG, Spain Emiliano Martinez - Aston Villa, Argentina Alphonse Areola - West Ham, France Marc Ter Stegen - Barcelona, Germany 11. Unai Simón - Athletic Bilbao, Spain (26) 12. Kevin Trapp - Eintracht Frankfurt, Germany (32) 13. Kepa Arrizabalaga - Real Madrid, Spain (29) 14. David Raya - Brentford, Spain (28) 15. Dominik Kotarski - PAOK Salonika, Croatia (23) 16. Alex Remiro - Real Sociedad, Spain (28) 17. Justin Bijlow - Feyenoord, Netherlands (26) 18. Gregor Kobel - Dortmund, Switzerland (26) 19. Andriy Lunin - Real Madrid, Ukraine (24) 20. Iñaki Peña - Barcelona, Spain (24) 21. David de Gea - Free Agent, Spain (33) 22. Edouard Mendy - Al-Ahli, Senegal (31) 23. Illan Meslier - Leeds United, France (23) 24. Mike Maignan - AC Milan, France (28) 25. Keylor Navas - PSG, Costa Rica (37) 26. Wojciech Szczesny - Juventus, Poland (33) 27. Luca Zidane - SD Eibar, France (25) 28. Péter Gulácsi - RB Leipzig, Hungary (33) 29. Aaron Ramsdale - Arsenal, England (25) 30. Lukasz Fabianski - West Ham United, Poland (38) 31. Hugo Lloris - Tottenham, France (37) 32. Walter Benítez - PSV Eindhoven, Argentina (30) 33. Kasper Schmeichel - Anderlecht, Denmark (37) 34. Matheus - SC Braga, Brazil (31) 35. Pau López - Marseille, Spain (29) 36. Rubén Blanco - Marseille, Spain (28) 37. Lukas Hradecky - Bayer Leverkusen, Finland (34) 38. Anthony Lopes - Lyon, Portugal (33) 39. André Onana - Manchester United, Cameroon (27) 40. Rui Patrício - Roma, Portugal (35) 41. Bernd Leno - Fulham, Germany (31) 42. Jordan Pickford - Everton, England (29) 43. Franco Israel - Sporting CP, Uruguay (23) 44. Maarten Vandevoordt - Genk, Belgium (21) 45. Salvatore Sirigu - Nice, Italy (37) 46. Pepe Reina - Villarreal, Spain (41) 47. Paul Bernardoni - Konyaspor, France (26) 48. Robert Sanchez - Chelsea, Spain (26) 49. Mathew Ryan - AZ Alkmaar, Australia (31) 50. Sam Johnstone - Crystal Palace, England (30)

Apparently Bijlow was rated the world's 17th best keeper back in January. He is currently 2nd keeper for the Dutch but is pushing for the no1 jersey: That's why he has been approached by Liverpool, Manchester United and Atletico Madrid and turned them down. He wants to be first choice, play every week and nail down that Netherlands place. We are currently probably the 28th-40th most powerful/richest club in the world. If you bear in mind that the super clubs will have multiple top level keepers we are punching above our weight with this guy. Something has got to give, and in this case it is that he has been in collisions a bit too often. Feyenoord supporters have accused him of being too brave. No wonder RM wants him.

You know you have a problem when Raheem Sterling is captain of the bomb squad, and you have committed to paying him another £50 million between now and June 2026.

I was there, and he did. Gillingham were 3-0 up, and packed the final third. Because we didn't have our first team out, they were trying whatever they could, and that included putting it in the mixer. I don't remember him even getting his head on one. The only player who made a difference that day was Charley who played like a man possessed. But even I can see that it doesn't look likely to work out for him at Saints.

He didn't at Gillingham

No pressure! 😁

Personally I think that Edozie needs to go on loan to the Championship. His skillset is not going to regularly beat PL defenders, and even when he does, historically he hasn't been able to find a Saints player with a pass - and that will only get harder playing against better defenders. Sulemana - do we need a specialist psychologist or trainer for him? He's been hopeless for us, but you see glimpses of a very special player in training videos. I guess only RM & his staff can really answer that. Dibling got pushed off the ball a bit against Newcastle, but hopefully he'll learn from that. SAA I also think is worth having around. If one or both of Edozie & Sulemana depart for cash then I can see us getting a winger. What concerns me is that against a big solid defence at St James's Park, Archer and Arma (and to a lesser extent BBD) looked swamped. We needed a big strong physical centre forward (not Tall Paul). In that situation last season a fully fit, athletic Ross Stewart would have been just the ticket. But of course there is a big question mark about that this season. That's why if funds are limited I would prefer a solid centre forward before a winger.

Charley was

I could see the argument that we don't have a Tadic. Would your opinion change if we swapped Alcaraz for Victor Hugo? Do you think Fernandes might be able to provide some creative output? Will signing Big Les allow Flynn to play up a bit more? He created 3 chances at Newcastle.

Do you think our business has been performed by blind scouts this summer? Or last summer? Or last January? There's an argument that the last woeful window we had was January 2023: When yes our transfer business was performed by an ego maniac intent on shooting both his feet off with a double barrelled shotgun

Crouchie's Lawyer a few posts back made a great arguement against this which I agree with: BBD plays best from the left, Arma plays best from the right. Both players can play well together (see Blackburn & last game vs Newcastle) if we play 5-3-2 you'll need to drop one for your new winger, and that would leave one of them AND Archer on the bench. Alternatively we play 4-3-3 with BBD and Arma wide and Archer up the middle (or Stewart, or miraculous deadline day loanee) So where does the winger fit there? We currently have 6 good options for 3 midfield spots, plus Dibling, SAA, Edozie, Sulemana & Larios. Maybe the last 2 or 3 of those might find other homes but either way I think £20m is better spent on a 2024 Pelle than a winger we don't need. Feel free to make your argument that I am wrong

'Southampton has millions to spend on Bijlow' Seems like a good solution for everyone. Great club with a coach who uses the same ball possession principles as Slot, which Bijlow feels comfortable with, and they have enough money to pay a good transfer fee and to meet Bijlow's salary demands. At Feyenoord he is the absolute top earner and (+ to a lesser extent due to the departure of Lopez and Pedersen) a lot of salary is suddenly freed up to continue with 1-3 direct reinforcements (incl. new goalkeeper) and a possible extension of Geertruida. [76 upvotes] Indeed. There is a good chance that he will just stay fit now and everyone will kick themselves later, but Feyenoord cannot continue to take that gamble. Wellenreuther is a very solid keeper who also makes mistakes now and then but is relatively reliable and comfortable with a high line in front of him. I wonder what we will wear behind him. [32 upvotes] I don't really think so. Southampton is my second club that I follow, so I can confirm the things that I say. They need a goalkeeper who is ready to go right away, and preferably someone as a temporary stopgap until Bazunu is fit again. He is the project that Southampton have invested a lot in and the number 1 for the long term. Bijlow's injury history really doesn't fit in with that.[6 upvotes] Well, I still prefer Bijlow as first keeper, but his injuries have become a continuous issue. I honestly think he is better than Wellenreuther, but unfortunately it is probably the best for both parties [25 upvotes] He is, but he also earns a lot more than Wellenreuther and Feyenoord can no longer afford to have him out again, while his salary could have also been used to pay for good field reinforcements. [10 upvotes] Great opportunity for Bijlow. He is a better keeper than Wellenreuther but his salary is increasing, so a departure is logical. Hopefully he will actually become the first keeper there and he will remain injury-free. Also like a nice farewell in De Kuip. Real club man and still successful with multiple titles, cups and Cruijff cups. Will miss him. [6 upvotes] Southampton have blind scouts? [1 upvote] ------------------ I think it may be a mis-interoperation to just describe this discussion as "Southampton have blind scouts?" Only quoting this line is like away fans reading Wade's entertaining pre-match rant and believing all Saints fans hate their city 😉

Watching videos of Victor Hugo just now a thought struck me: Maybe KWP was reticent to commit to Saints because he expected us to have an underwhelming transfer window and effectively be fighting with one hand tied behind our backs for the season. RM seemed more confident that Bednarek would commit to a contract but he may have been worried too. So the question is; does the addition of BBD, Archer, Fernandes, Big Les, Bijlow, and possibly Hugo change their thinking and persuade them to stay? Our new midfield has the potential to be quite handy... and I'm reasonably happy with the defence if Bednarek and KWP stays. Plus it feels like Saints always try to pull a rabbit out of the hat on deadline day and we still have a PL loan available. I guess to sum up I think our odds of staying up have improved a fair bit in the last 10 days, and we did OK at Newcastle with the old squad and newbies not used to our play. Am I being a 'Lego Head loving happy clapper' or is there room for some positivity?

"Chips without mayonnaise is not chips.” ™

Not a fan of Morgan Schneiderlin then?

We both know that if we go down he'll be proving that he can do it on a cold, wet windy morning in Cobham

Bijlow... Russ likes a keeper who can play out

Maybe we can get Captain Jack to put in a good word with Dayenne & Lucy? You know what they say "Two Nuns, are better than Nun"

She appears to be a keen supporter of the Oranje

His stats suggest few goals, and few assists. But you can see how his play would create plenty of chances ie the pass that creates an assist

I don't know about Ugochuckwu, but Fernandes favours left midfield.

So I had a look at his stats for last season: He played 17 games and had 8 clean sheets. Feyenoord lost twice in the games he played. Pretty good! BUT Timon Wellenruther was his deputy when injured. He played 19 games and had 11 clean sheets and there were no league defeats on his watch. Wellenruther seems to have got the nod as the No1 at Feyenoord this season despite Bijlow winning his spot back for the last game of last season. The chap who clearly knows the story posts on here:

The club might have played this quite well. Signing McCathy didn't cost anything; just a wage/signing on fee. He is clearly a good stand in when required, and capable of making saves. If we had recruited a No1 and then gone looking for a No2 there's no way we would have got a 2nd as good as McCarthy. Especially when you consider his experience with the team. Fingers crossed we get a year or two before our new Dutchman picks up an injury 🤞

His Wikipedia page is also a worry concerning injury when you read his club career history. I looked back through the Euro 2024 games. He wore 13 and was sat on the bench for Netherlands throughout the tournament

The Reddit posters have stated that he has broken bones. A wrist in training last year for example as a result of being "too brave" The player has claimed he has tried to adapt his game so that he is at lower risk of injury