Alex McCarthy

[Oldandtired]

Just curious, what's happened to him! Haven't seen him mentioned or anything for awhile now, is he injured, dead,, emigrated, retired, what have you?

[spyinthesky]

Injured I think

[SaintNewForest]

Always gets injured this time of year. Think he fancies the winter off tbh.

Expect him back about Spring-time.

[bobby_charles]

any news on this, how long till he can sling his proverbial hook? surely his contract is almost up and lumley put in a good shift he other night. One can dream of the day he is gone

[FarehamSaintJames]

Out of contract at the end of the season.

Realistically if you were on £30-40K a week to do largely fuck all aside from have a kick about for a few hours during the week and then basically have weekends off too, I’d be pretty reluctant to leave. 😅

[Holmes_and_Watson]

Yup. He had an uptick in form. The club were keen on getting Forster off the books. So they gave McCarthy a good PL starting keeper's wage, while trying to push Fraser out the door.

No reason why he would pass that up. Not his fault they gave out that contract or wanted another type of keeper.

[gio1saints]

Alex would be an excellent back up in the EPL. If he leaves there’s a £40-£50k a week opening for a player who actually might contribute on the pitch the remaining matches. 
Lumley looks capable of covering for Baz so it may be worth the risk. Unsure about our other keepers though. 

[Bakovnetski]

So is Macca a better bet than Joe Lumbly for the close out? In my humble opinion, yes!

[FarehamSaintJames]

McCarthy absolutely terrifies me. The fact he’s classed as a goalkeeper is ironic as he spend more time picking the ball out the net than shot stopping.

Don’t let this clean sheet fool you - he had absolutely nothing to do tonight; and even in amongst the doing nothing he still managed to scare us with some dodgy passing around the six yard box in the second half.

The only saving grace is that he’s clearly not trusted to play with his feet as we were passing and moving forward for 95% of the match tonight. 
He wasn’t even trusted to take goal kicks this evening. 😂

[davefizzy14]

I thought McCarthy did ok tonight and kept a clean sheet. 

[Saint Matty 76]

Will always have time for him after 17/18, but his handful of appearances last year proved that he’s a way off of those days

Be nice if we can get a big 4, or 7 games out of him now so he’ll at least leave in a positive light after just collecting a (giant) pay check for a while

[woodsaint1]

Still think Lumley is the better option.

Bit odd that McCarthy hasnt featured all season and now hes been thrust in. Yes he has PL experience, but its not as if Lumley is short of experience himself.

All that being said, if McCarthy helps us keep a few clean sheets and gets us over the line for automatic, I'll take back all my criticism from the past few years

[sfc4prem]

1 hour ago, FarehamSaintJames said:

McCarthy absolutely terrifies me. The fact he’s classed as a goalkeeper is ironic as he spend more time picking the ball out the net than shot stopping.

Don’t let this clean sheet fool you - he had absolutely nothing to do tonight; and even in amongst the doing nothing he still managed to scare us with some dodgy passing around the six yard box in the second half.

The only saving grace is that he’s clearly not trusted to play with his feet as we were passing and moving forward for 95% of the match tonight. 
He wasn’t even trusted to take goal kicks this evening. 😂

Thanks for the positivity!

[Barsiem]

I'm not a McCarthy fan at all, but he is capable of putting in match winning performances.  Something we've never seen from Baz sadly

[Hodgey]

As Fareham saint noted - our players didn’t want to pass the ball back to him which forced us to go forwards more. Like others say he terrifies me with the ball at his feet so if we are going to limit pass backs he’ll be fine, if we are going to need a ball playing keeper has to be Lumley 

[Dr Who?]

Can someone explain this for me. Here is the team sheet from last night. Lumley on the bench, but Baz gets injured in the warm up, and Lumley did not start, but a keeper who was not even named in the squad does. 🤔 

[SotonianWill]

28 minutes ago, Hodgey said:

our players didn’t want to pass the ball back to him which forced us to go forwards more.

For this reason alone Mccarthy is a net positive. 

[trousers]

32 minutes ago, Dr Who? said:

Can someone explain this for me. Here is the team sheet from last night. Lumley on the bench, but Baz gets injured in the warm up, and Lumley did not start, but a keeper who was not even named in the squad does. 🤔 

Indeed. I asked the same question last night. There's zero logic, as far as I'm able to deduce, in placing Lumley above McCarthy in the pecking order and then not playing him in the very circumstances that the second choice keeper is in the squad for.... Odd one, although I'm sure there must be a perfectly reasonable explanation we're not aware of.

[Dman]

11 minutes ago, trousers said:

Indeed. I asked the same question last night. There's zero logic, as far as I'm able to deduce, in placing Lumley above McCarthy in the pecking order and then not playing him in the very circumstances that the second choice keeper is in the squad for.... Odd one, although I'm sure there must be a perfectly reasonable explanation we're not aware of.

I wonder if there is a clause of some kind in McCarthy's contract where if he plays x or on the bench of y he gets a balloon payment? 

I'd say its almost certain that he'll get paid a fee to be on the bench (much like they do an appearance fee) and that fee is likley significantly more than it would be for Lumley. 

Basically, commericially, its not worth putting him on the bench which has a cost ramification, when its very, very unlikley he'll play

[Oldandtired]

10 hours ago, FarehamSaintJames said:

McCarthy absolutely terrifies me. 

And Bazunu doesn't? Bloody hell. Can't stop a shot to his left, can't deal with crosses, first touch is terrible in the goal area tippy tappy stakes, need I go on?

 

Edited April 17 by Oldandtired

[Lighthouse]

8 minutes ago, Oldandtired said:

And Bazunu doesn't? Bloody hell. Can't stop a shot to his left, can't deal with crosses, first touch is terrible in the goal area tippy tappy stakes, need I go on?

Probably best you don't because none of that is correct. He can save a shot to his left, but if they're low and well hit from inside the box that's his weakness. It not as if he's letting in daisy cutters from 25 yards out. He can deal with crosses, I don't know where you've got that from and his first touch is usually excellent.

Anyone who thinks McC is a better keeper clearly doesn't remember the end of last season, when everyone said the same, he got his chance and shots were going straight through him. Forest away when he let in four was a particularly low point.

[LeBizzier69]

6 minutes ago, Lighthouse said:

Probably best you don't because none of that is correct. He can save a shot to his left, but if they're low and well hit from inside the box that's his weakness. It not as if he's letting in daisy cutters from 25 yards out. He can deal with crosses, I don't know where you've got that from and his first touch is usually excellent.

Anyone who thinks McC is a better keeper clearly doesn't remember the end of last season, when everyone said the same, he got his chance and shots were going straight through him. Forest away when he let in four was a particularly low point.

I don't disagree with most of this, but isn't he still statistically the worst keeper in the league?

[Gloucester Saint]

4 minutes ago, Lighthouse said:

Probably best you don't because none of that is correct. He can save a shot to his left, but if they're low and well hit from inside the box that's his weakness. It not as if he's letting in daisy cutters from 25 yards out. He can deal with crosses, I don't know where you've got that from and his first touch is usually excellent.

Anyone who thinks McC is a better keeper clearly doesn't remember the end of last season, when everyone said the same, he got his chance and shots were going straight through him. Forest away when he let in four was a particularly low point.

That’s another damning verdict on player recruitment and the issuing of new contracts. To have three keepers that poor on what is probably a combined £75k per week in the Championship is serial ineptitude especially when the first choice all season has been bottom or near bottom of the league stats in some categories. That’s before we even think about signing a player injured for the best part of a year (Stewart) with his contract running out for £10m. 

[Patrick Bateman]

1 hour ago, trousers said:

Indeed. I asked the same question last night. There's zero logic, as far as I'm able to deduce, in placing Lumley above McCarthy in the pecking order and then not playing him in the very circumstances that the second choice keeper is in the squad for.... Odd one, although I'm sure there must be a perfectly reasonable explanation we're not aware of.

Martin said in the post match interview something along the lines of "I wanted to get a look at him and see what he was capable of" - obviously well aware that Preston were going to be demolished in the first half Risky! 

I think we'll see Lumley in personally. 

[Wurzel]

I think when you need someone to be told they are unexpectedly playing 30 minute before kick off you would go for the most experienced option available. it's a totally different  situation in the players head to coming off the bench once the match has started.

I'm pretty sure we'll see Lumley starting the rest of the games, having had time to mentally prepare himself.

[hypochondriac]

Time for Alex to actually earn some of his obscene wages. Chance for him to leave the club as a little bit of a hero. 

[OldNick]

1 hour ago, Oldandtired said:

 need I go on?

 

I dont think so, youve done rather well as you have😇

[OldNick]

18 minutes ago, Patrick Bateman said:

Martin said in the post match interview something along the lines of "I wanted to get a look at him and see what he was capable of" - obviously well aware that Preston were going to be demolished in the first half Risky! 

I think we'll see Lumley in personally. 

Not sure about that, as big match experience may be important where we are now. He has experienced big game atmospheres and we have a few of those to come

[kenneth_kenobi]

And he made 1 save (which he dropped then recovered) and did a risky dribble which he lost the ball but luckily it fell to one of our defenders.  Has to be Lumley surely at the weekend.

 

Edited April 17 by kenneth_kenobi

[Dr Who?]

I liked the look of Lumley at Anfield, well not the picking the ball out the net 3 times, but his overall play. 

[Dr Who?]

6 hours ago, Dman said:

I wonder if there is a clause of some kind in McCarthy's contract where if he plays x or on the bench of y he gets a balloon payment? 

I'd say its almost certain that he'll get paid a fee to be on the bench (much like they do an appearance fee) and that fee is likley significantly more than it would be for Lumley. 

Basically, commericially, its not worth putting him on the bench which has a cost ramification, when its very, very unlikley he'll play

Must be on the same deal as Jack then, he gets his balloon payment last night though, for not being shoehorned into what would be a balanced team! 

[Chez]

6 hours ago, Dman said:

I wonder if there is a clause of some kind in McCarthy's contract where if he plays x or on the bench of y he gets a balloon payment? 

I'd say its almost certain that he'll get paid a fee to be on the bench (much like they do an appearance fee) and that fee is likley significantly more than it would be for Lumley. 

Basically, commericially, its not worth putting him on the bench which has a cost ramification, when its very, very unlikley he'll play

I thought the same (he possibly has a clause entitling him to another contract if he plays a certain number of games  too- another reason why he hasn't figured), but wondered then why McCarthy was on the bench for the first half of the season and not Lumley. 

Very strange that Lumley gets a new contract - suggesting RM rates him - only for him to be dropped to third choice last night. Why offer a keeper a new deal when we are close to promotion if you don't think he's even your second best keeper? I guess McCarty is a dead cert to leave, so RM didn't want to be searching for two keepers this summer. However, Lis will come back, so even if McCarthy and Lumley left he'd of had two keepers. Intriguing situation. We fucked the keeper position up last time we had an opportunity to reset. Are we doing that again?

[Saint_clark]

4 hours ago, kenneth_kenobi said:

And he made 1 save (which he dropped then recovered) and did a risky dribble which he lost the ball but luckily it fell to one of our defenders.  Has to be Lumley surely at the weekend.

 

He didn't make a risky dribble, he received a pass under pressure (no idea why Manning passed it back when the reason Mccarthy took that freekick quickly was to get it moving forward) and then barely dealt with it. 

He also dealt with the ball at his feet several times without incident, passing it well under admittedly mild pressure but that's just being ignored. 

[Lighthouse]

51 minutes ago, Saint_clark said:

He didn't make a risky dribble, he received a pass under pressure (no idea why Manning passed it back when the reason Mccarthy took that freekick quickly was to get it moving forward) and then barely dealt with it. 

He also dealt with the ball at his feet several times without incident, passing it well under admittedly mild pressure but that's just being ignored. 

Nothing is being ignored. We adjusted our game plan so that the defenders and Downes at various times dropped much deeper to take the ball off him and move it forward. He was never put under any pressure by Preston and was only ever asked to play very straight forward passes out that I could have made. In short we did well, as a team, to mitigate the area in which McC is clearly inferior to Bazunu. If that exact scenario with Manning had played out with Baz in goal, you’d be saying, "oh look, he’s made an absolute flap of the only thing he’s not terrible at." It was the one time McC’s major weakness was actually exposed and it showed why we will have to adjust the way we play for the remainder of the season.

[Weston Super Saint]

He's top of the clean sheet league.

[RedArmy]

2 hours ago, Saint_clark said:

He didn't make a risky dribble, he received a pass under pressure (no idea why Manning passed it back when the reason Mccarthy took that freekick quickly was to get it moving forward) and then barely dealt with it. 

He also dealt with the ball at his feet several times without incident, passing it well under admittedly mild pressure but that's just being ignored. 

The way people are going on you’d think Baz was prime Pirlo with the ball at his feet. 

[John B]

1 hour ago, Lighthouse said:

Nothing is being ignored. We adjusted our game plan so that the defenders and Downes at various times dropped much deeper to take the ball off him and move it forward. He was never put under any pressure by Preston and was only ever asked to play very straight forward passes out that I could have made. In short we did well, as a team, to mitigate the area in which McC is clearly inferior to Bazunu. If that exact scenario with Manning had played out with Baz in goal, you’d be saying, "oh look, he’s made an absolute flap of the only thing he’s not terrible at." It was the one time McC’s major weakness was actually exposed and it showed why we will have to adjust the way we play for the remainder of the season.

I just do not understand why we ponce about in the Penalty area when we could start possession further down the field.

 

The more time the ball is in the penalty area there is more chance of an error

[Baird of the land]

It's funny I was thinking about Macca over the weekend and how he was a good shot stopper at his peak. I was wondering if because of that he had declined faster with age than keepers who are great organisers/positional/physically.

Hope it was more of a confidence / injury thing and we see a revival over the run in. (Nice that he got a confidence building clean sheet to start) If so he'd be an upgrade over the poor shot stopper bazanu even if he's less assured with ball at his feet.

[Holmes_and_Watson]

9 hours ago, trousers said:

Indeed. I asked the same question last night. There's zero logic, as far as I'm able to deduce, in placing Lumley above McCarthy in the pecking order and then not playing him in the very circumstances that the second choice keeper is in the squad for.... Odd one, although I'm sure there must be a perfectly reasonable explanation we're not aware of.

I put McCarthy's place in the pecking order purely down to the club having spent years trying to push him out the door. Only when they've absolutely had to, has he reappeared. Punted down the order, until a replacement is needed, and then straight back in.

The end of last season was horrid. So were a lot of bits before it.

Can only hope McCarthy continues to show his professionalism and despite the circumstances, gives us some cracking performances. If nothing else, it's a shop window for him.

Alternate scenario:

Lumley was actually not that well either, and we got an emergency allowance to change it. Lumley to start all the remaining games. 🙂

[Tommy Mulgrew]

I am not aware how pre-match injuries and subs work but could the reason Macca started be this: Baz got injured in the warm-up; if Lumley replaced him we would have no keeper cover on the bench (Macca could not be added to the bench so soon before kickoff); if, by some dispensation that I know nothing about and with PNE’s agreement, Macca replaces Baz, we still have Lumley on the bench.  That, plus Macca’s better pedigree, makes the decision a no-brainer.

It worked well, anyway.

[Weston Super Saint]

30 minutes ago, Tommy Mulgrew said:

I am not aware how pre-match injuries and subs work but could the reason Macca started be this: Baz got injured in the warm-up; if Lumley replaced him we would have no keeper cover on the bench (Macca could not be added to the bench so soon before kickoff); if, by some dispensation that I know nothing about and with PNE’s agreement, Macca replaces Baz, we still have Lumley on the bench.  That, plus Macca’s better pedigree, makes the decision a no-brainer.

It worked well, anyway.

I guess it only worked because Macca was hanging around, despite not even being picked for the bench.

[Holmes_and_Watson]

2 minutes ago, Weston Super Saint said:

I guess it only worked because Macca was hanging around, despite not even being picked for the bench.

Had McCarthy not pushed them out the way, Saints might have spotted Buffon and Cassilas who had also just turned up to watch a match. 🙂

[OnceaSaintalwaysaSaint]

3 hours ago, Lighthouse said:

Nothing is being ignored. We adjusted our game plan so that the defenders and Downes at various times dropped much deeper to take the ball off him and move it forward. He was never put under any pressure by Preston and was only ever asked to play very straight forward passes out that I could have made. In short we did well, as a team, to mitigate the area in which McC is clearly inferior to Bazunu. If that exact scenario with Manning had played out with Baz in goal, you’d be saying, "oh look, he’s made an absolute flap of the only thing he’s not terrible at." It was the one time McC’s major weakness was actually exposed and it showed why we will have to adjust the way we play for the remainder of the season.

Totally agree. Any slight pressure yesterday and he made a hash of it. Can't understand why, after so many years, he is still so useless with the ball at his feet. What does he practice in training sessions? And surely this contract/playing time isn't right. We need promotion and the best people in the role and not giving players shop window time.

If he is going to be our goalkeeper for the rest of the season, we will be a lot more positive. It was noticeable yesterday how Downes dropped back and that the back pass to Mac was a last resort.

 

[Lighthouse]

5 hours ago, John B said:

I just do not understand why we ponce about in the Penalty area when we could start possession further down the field.

 

The more time the ball is in the penalty area there is more chance of an error

It’s part of how we play. I’m sure one of the ‘taters a while back said we were in double figures with goals scored which started with Baz playing it out. We play it around the back because it draws teams in to pressing us, which we then play through. Those spaces created are a large part of why we’ve created so many decent goal scoring chances this season. Actually sticking them in the net has been a different issue but we’ve made the clear cut chances; that double Armstrong goal at Ipswich was a classic example of doing it right. If we spend 20 passes playing it around the edge of their third, that space isn’t there and we become predictable and easy to play against.

[Osvaldorama]

7 hours ago, Lighthouse said:

Nothing is being ignored. We adjusted our game plan so that the defenders and Downes at various times dropped much deeper to take the ball off him and move it forward. He was never put under any pressure by Preston and was only ever asked to play very straight forward passes out that I could have made. In short we did well, as a team, to mitigate the area in which McC is clearly inferior to Bazunu. If that exact scenario with Manning had played out with Baz in goal, you’d be saying, "oh look, he’s made an absolute flap of the only thing he’s not terrible at." It was the one time McC’s major weakness was actually exposed and it showed why we will have to adjust the way we play for the remainder of the season.

That’s not true. In general everyone has been extremely patient with bazunu. It’s not like he’s been given a hard time - despite being absolutely terrible for 2 years now. 
 

Everyone’s just sort of accepted that we have a terrible keeper and is fine with it at this point. 
 

The funny part is that Macca’s distribution wasn’t even much of a step down on Bazunu’s on Tuesday night. Plus the whole team looked much better without fannying about passing it back to him. 
 

The whole situation with the club supporting bazunu at all costs is fucking bizarre. 

[John B]

2 hours ago, Lighthouse said:

It’s part of how we play. I’m sure one of the ‘taters a while back said we were in double figures with goals scored which started with Baz playing it out. We play it around the back because it draws teams in to pressing us, which we then play through. Those spaces created are a large part of why we’ve created so many decent goal scoring chances this season. Actually sticking them in the net has been a different issue but we’ve made the clear cut chances; that double Armstrong goal at Ipswich was a classic example of doing it right. If we spend 20 passes playing it around the edge of their third, that space isn’t there and we become predictable and easy to play against.

Yes I understand that but I just feel we should refine it slightly to reduce the chance of errors and to surprise the opposition as well as reducing the panic among fans like me

[Dman]

8 hours ago, Lighthouse said:

It’s part of how we play. I’m sure one of the ‘taters a while back said we were in double figures with goals scored which started with Baz playing it out. We play it around the back because it draws teams in to pressing us, which we then play through. Those spaces created are a large part of why we’ve created so many decent goal scoring chances this season. Actually sticking them in the net has been a different issue but we’ve made the clear cut chances; that double Armstrong goal at Ipswich was a classic example of doing it right. If we spend 20 passes playing it around the edge of their third, that space isn’t there and we become predictable and easy to play against.

We're better than all but 4 teams in the leauge - there's absolutely no evidence that we wouldn't have scored more if we played a direct ball into che and had runners off him. 

Ipswich, as an example, have scored more (all be it only 1 more and have played a game less) and have a pretty direct style. 

[david in sweden]

I think it was a surprise to Macca to suddenly come in at a few minutes notice, but the only reason I can think is that he is a more 

experienced squad member and not unfamiliar with the circumstances.   Perhaps ..it was more of a shock for Joe to be faced with the problem 

as he would not have been "mentally prepared " to suddenly be starting the game.    I think Lumley has shown himself to be competent in his

Cup games, and he may be the only fit goalie on the books - come August, but... I would have thought that a quick look at both men's faces

would have told RM who was .."best prepared for the task" on the night. 

 

Macca will leave in the summer, (and the club will be a tad richer without having to pay his " reputedly high salary " ), and so we need to see if

Joe is " up for it " in the longer term,  if we are to trust him in Bazunu's absence -  especially if we do get promotion back to the Prem. 

What better time than now.?   In these circumstances..... I'd choose Lumley for Saturday.

 

 

[saintant]

32 minutes ago, david in sweden said:

I think it was a surprise to Macca to suddenly come in at a few minutes notice, but the only reason I can think is that he is a more 

experienced squad member and not unfamiliar with the circumstances.   Perhaps ..it was more of a shock for Joe to be faced with the problem 

as he would not have been "mentally prepared " to suddenly be starting the game.    I think Lumley has shown himself to be competent in his

Cup games, and he may be the only fit goalie on the books - come August, but... I would have thought that a quick look at both men's faces

would have told RM who was .."best prepared for the task" on the night. 

 

Macca will leave in the summer, (and the club will be a tad richer without having to pay his " reputedly high salary " ), and so we need to see if

Joe is " up for it " in the longer term,  if we are to trust him in Bazunu's absence -  especially if we do get promotion back to the Prem. 

What better time than now.?   In these circumstances..... I'd choose Lumley for Saturday.

 

 

Assuming Macca leaves in the summer we need to sign a new number 1 keeper and demote Baz to second choice with Lumley as cover for injuries.

[SotonianWill]

17 hours ago, Osvaldorama said:

That’s not true. In general everyone has been extremely patient with bazunu. It’s not like he’s been given a hard time - despite being absolutely terrible for 2 years now. 
 

Everyone’s just sort of accepted that we have a terrible keeper and is fine with it at this point. 
 

The funny part is that Macca’s distribution wasn’t even much of a step down on Bazunu’s on Tuesday night. Plus the whole team looked much better without fannying about passing it back to him. 
 

The whole situation with the club supporting bazunu at all costs is fucking bizarre. 

I don’t hate Bazunu, however the stats (which I normally despise) don’t lie, this season and last. He simply cannot save a shot low to his left as seen again against Watford. I agree with you on your last point, but I can see why some may cling onto this. We mustn’t continue spending such big money on unproven goalkeepers.