Starting Goalkeeper for next season

[psand22]

Schwarzer for me.  I think Stockdale has shown some promise, but he's not ready to push the Big Aussie to the bench.

[SmithyFFC]

If Stockdale was good enough, surely he'd have been made number one by now?

May aswell cash in on him over the summer. Seeing as his english and young (for a goalkeeper) we'd probably get £10 million for him.

[Mr_Moon]

£2m tops

[SmithyFFC]

£2m tops

Butland, who has only played in League 2, had been linked with QPR for £6 million. Surely Stockdale's worth more?

[Mr_Moon]

£2m tops

Butland, who has only played in League 2, had been linked with QPR for £6 million. Surely Stockdale's worth more?

Don't know, there isn't really a yardstick for transfers in football. Butland's value has rocketed because of England. Stockdale has no international games at any level under his belt.

[Lighthouse]

Swart is becoming slow and more prone to mistakes on crosses. His best days are behind him. Stockdale will simply move on and we will have to have a new keeper anyway. So Stockdale for me.

[Jack Fulham]

Interesting that people say stuff like how long will Stockdale wait to be no1. Their hasn't been any signs of discontent from him yet so I don't see a issue here at all. Stockdale seems perfectly happy being #2 to Schwarzer and perfectly happy to go out on loan. If Stockdale was pissed off i'd understand why you guys are worried he may leave but we've yet to see any evidence of that. Stockdale has performed fantastically when called upon but maybe he is overrated by our own fans but you know, i'd like to see him succeed but I'm just happy with the fact we have two great keepers at our disposal.

[HatterDon]

I'd pick Stockdale, but then I'd hear that it was only because Schwarzer had that one bad game that I was rushing to judgment.

It's simple. Schwarzer will stay. Stockdale will leave. Stockdale will become a regular Premier League GK and will be #1-in-waiting to Joe Hart. When Schwarzer hangs them up, Stockdale will just be hitting his stride, and we'll be deciding between our Hungarian, our Philippino, or a six-fingered Mexican.

The universe will not curl up at the corners if Schwarzer stays for two more seasons. He'll still be an excellent keeper, and he'll certainly be better than any English keeper not named Hart or Stockdale. We'll be in good hands [pun intended] with Tha Big Aussie.

[Berserker]

IMO Stockdale will go out on loan again next season, Swalz will do another year, and then Stockdale will take over as no.1

[TonyGilroy]

If Hodgson thought that Stockdale was a potential England keeper he'd be in the squad.

His judgement isn't infallible but it's well worth considering.

[AlFayedsChequebook]

Stockdale - the most overrated player who never gets a game since Kagisho Dikacoi.

[Lighthouse]

Stockdale - the most overrated player who never gets a game since Kagisho Dikacoi.

But he has played games and played well in nearly all of them. Swart on the other hand has been great up until a few seasons ago. Now he shows signs of being human and looks slow and flaps more than he used to. So the discussion is what is best for Fulham. Nothing more.

[bill taylors apprentice]

I believe Stockdale is premier standard but its a tough old world and we already have a top class keeper in goal.
Working on the idea that Schwarzer has at least one good season in him, maybe its time to cash in on Stockdale and develop another to replace our No1 some time in the future.
Having said that i don't suppose Stockdale's on big money so if he is happy to go out on loan for the season then we all win

[White Noise]

How different do people think their skills sets are and do you think that one of them is more suited to the sort of play Jol wants to see from the side as a whole?

[TonyGilroy]

Joe Hart aside I don't think there's a better keeper in the Premier League than Schwarzer.

There are a few as good and obviously many younger but I think we should keep faith with him. Others think differently but I've seen no evidence of decline.

If and when we need a replacement maybe it'll be Stockdale. We won't actually know how good he is until he gets a run as number 1. My gut feeling is that he won't prove to be quite good enough - lacking in domination and as a result losing confidence. A good shot stopper but a top keeper needs more.

[Mr_Moon]

I'd pick Stockdale, but then I'd hear that it was only because Schwarzer had that one bad game that I was rushing to judgment.

It's simple. Schwarzer will stay. Stockdale will leave. Stockdale will become a regular Premier League GK and will be #1-in-waiting to Joe Hart. When Schwarzer hangs them up, Stockdale will just be hitting his stride, and we'll be deciding between our Hungarian, our Philippino, or a six-fingered Mexican.

We're linked with Ochoa again??

[White Noise]

Joe Hart aside I don't think there's a better keeper in the Premier League than Schwarzer.

There are a few as good and obviously many younger but I think we should keep faith with him. Others think differently but I've seen no evidence of decline.

If and when we need a replacement maybe it'll be Stockdale. We won't actually know how good he is until he gets a run as number 1. My gut feeling is that he won't prove to be quite good enough - lacking in domination and as a result losing confidence. A good shot stopper but a top keeper needs more.

I agree with this. I think the latter scenario is made more likely by Jol's access to good young continental players. He will pluck another Tim Krul out of the pack and make us look at Stockdale in a different light when youth is no longer the deciding factor. Really hope for Stockdale's sake that he makes it as a Prem No.1  but there are far too many young Englsih keepers who seem to lose track of their early promise.

[AlFayedsChequebook]

Stockdale - the most overrated player who never gets a game since Kagisho Dikacoi.

But he has played games and played well in nearly all of them. Swart on the other hand has been great up until a few seasons ago. Now he shows signs of being human and looks slow and flaps more than he used to. So the discussion is what is best for Fulham. Nothing more.

I would contest that Schwarzer has not lost much, if anything.

What is impressive is that this season, despite having far less cover than ever before, he has looked solid and made few mistakes.

At the current time, Schwarzer is one of the best goalkeepers ever to play in the premier league. Stockdale has done well in spurts, but it takes more than being younger and promising to oust one of Fulham and the premier league's finest goalkeepers.

I agree with Tony in that Stockdale catches the eye with his shot stopping, whilst Schwarzer's all round game and confidence is excellent. As far as I am concerned, Stockdale is far from a guaranteed excellent goalkeeper than many suggest he is. He might turn out to be one, but I would not be surprised to see him fail to live up to the sky high expectations when he eventually becomes no.1

[HatterDon]

How different do people think their skills sets are and do you think that one of them is more suited to the sort of play Jol wants to see from the side as a whole?

Schwarzer's strengths -- apart from vast experience and toughness -- are his command of the area, his amazing shot-stopping skills, and until recently, his positioning.
Schwarzer's weaknessess are his decisiveness once he has the ball in his hands and his distribution skills. This past season he was a bit better at the latter, but the season before his clearances caught more defenders than attackers.

Stockdale's strengths are his agility, his quick decision-making, and his distribution -- especially the length and accuracy of his kicks, not to mention the fact that he has a clear idea of WHERE he's going to distribute, so there's not this "I'm going to hold the ball until everyone is covered and THEN I'll kick. The other advantage is his youth and the fact that regardless of how good he is now, he'll only be getting better over the next 9-10 years.
Stockdale's weaknesses -- whan compared to Schwarzer is his command of the area. I put most of this down to the fact that he's started for only about 4 or 5 weeks at a time. During those stints, he has performed brilliantly enough to be selected as the club Player of the Month.

I come from the school that says that you're better off getting rid of a player a season early rather than a season late. There's still a market out there for Schwarzer. If we wait until the continuing erosion of his skills is such that he is obviously NOT up to Premiership quality, then we'll be in the uncomfortable position of acquiring a new goalkeeper from a position of weakness.

For all of those who think I'm trashing Schwarzer because he's an Australian, let me announce that before I started typing this, I said 5 Hail Fosters, and a half dozen Waltzing Matildas.

[Admin]

Surely if Stockdale is to have any part of our future then now is the time...

Why the hell would you replace a world class goalkeeper when he is still playing like a world class goalkeeper? Mark will hold that position until the day he hangs up his gloves, that's why Stockdale hasn't been given a chance.