Our Goalkeeper

[Mince n Tatties]

Seems to have got his confidence back and looks like a top goalie again.
Funny how things turn out,if Betts hadn't got injured I'm sure he would have kept his place he won towards back end of last season and we wouldn't have witnessed the rejuvenated Button... 049:gif

[Chutney]

Button started well last season, lets not get our hopes up.

[Mince n Tatties]

Button started well last season, lets not get our hopes up.

That's put the mockers on it then.

[cmg]

What is funny is the way fans move from 'utterly useless - get rid' to 'MoM x2' over the course of a couple of games.

Goalkeepers are human(-ish) and have off days like anyone else.
As the great Lester Piggott himself once said after riding a fancied loser (you have to imagine the nasal whine) - "They're not machines, you know. They can't win every time."

[Mince n Tatties]

What is funny is the way fans move from 'utterly useless - get rid' to 'MoM x2' over the course of a couple of games.

Goalkeepers are human(-ish) and have off days like anyone else.
As the great Lester Piggott himself once said after riding a fancied loser (you have to imagine the nasal whine) - "They're not machines, you know. They can't win every time."

Often see Piggott here in Newmarket in the mornings, he always about early to get his papers from local shop.
I led him up a winner once when I was at Thompson Jones stable when he made his comeback,never gave me a drink though,tight wad he is..lol

[ffcthereligion]

He's the only keeper i can remember having who gets praised and referred to as having a good game when he stops shots 9/10 keepers would be keeping out. What does that tell you? I give him credit for the one on one last night though, did well.

[Woolly Mammoth]

What is funny is the way fans move from 'utterly useless - get rid' to 'MoM x2' over the course of a couple of games.

Goalkeepers are human(-ish) and have off days like anyone else.
As the great Lester Piggott himself once said after riding a fancied loser (you have to imagine the nasal whine) - "They're not machines, you know. They can't win every time."

That's why it's horses for courses, and never flog a deceased horse.  :dead horse:

[Woolly Mammoth]

What is funny is the way fans move from 'utterly useless - get rid' to 'MoM x2' over the course of a couple of games.

Goalkeepers are human(-ish) and have off days like anyone else.
As the great Lester Piggott himself once said after riding a fancied loser (you have to imagine the nasal whine) - "They're not machines, you know. They can't win every time."

Often see Piggott here in Newmarket in the mornings, he always about early to get his papers from local shop.
I led him up a winner once when I was at Thompson Jones stable when he made his comeback,never gave me a drink though,tight wad he is..lol

Does he still wear a nose bag. Piggott I mean not Button.

[Mince n Tatties]

He's the only keeper i can remember having who gets praised and referred to as having a good game when he stops shots 9/10 keepers would be keeping out. What does that tell you? I give him credit for the one on one last night though, did well.

Did more  than that his handling and catching crosses.

[Mince n Tatties]

What is funny is the way fans move from 'utterly useless - get rid' to 'MoM x2' over the course of a couple of games.

Goalkeepers are human(-ish) and have off days like anyone else.
As the great Lester Piggott himself once said after riding a fancied loser (you have to imagine the nasal whine) - "They're not machines, you know. They can't win every time."

Often see Piggott here in Newmarket in the mornings, he always about early to get his papers from local shop.
I led him up a winner once when I was at Thompson Jones stable when he made his comeback,never gave me a drink though,tight wad he is..lol

Does he still wear a nose bag. Piggott I mean not Button.

Only at feeding time.

[Carborundum]

He's the only keeper i can remember having who gets praised and referred to as having a good game when he stops shots 9/10 keepers would be keeping out. What does that tell you? I give him credit for the one on one last night though, did well.

Doesnt tell me anything about Button.  He can only save the shots that the opposition directs towards the goal.  In any event, it's rarely clear cut.  Take Piazon's goal against Reading.  It passes the goal line almost precisely in the middle of the goal.  So was there a horrible positional blunder by the goalie or a masterful shot just to the side of the goalies ankles where it can't be stopped?  Or a bit of both with some luck thrown in. I'm not sure.

[cmg]

Often see Piggott here in Newmarket in the mornings, he always about early to get his papers from local shop.
I led him up a winner once when I was at Thompson Jones stable when he made his comeback,never gave me a drink though,tight wad he is..lol

Thompson Jones - a very interesting career. Often puzzled me how an education at Eton seems to qualify a bloke for training racehorses - but then I never got further than the local comp.
One of the finest sights in racing was Tingle Creek with SSE up flying the back straight fences at Sandown.

Piggott is my no.2 sporting hero (after JNH) but I don't harbour the illusion that he anything other than a very strange, and probably not very nice, bloke. Some of the stories of his meanness are hilarious.
Never saw anything like him in the saddle.

[Mince n Tatties]

Often see Piggott here in Newmarket in the mornings, he always about early to get his papers from local shop.
I led him up a winner once when I was at Thompson Jones stable when he made his comeback,never gave me a drink though,tight wad he is..lol

Thompson Jones - a very interesting career. Often puzzled me how an education at Eton seems to qualify a bloke for training racehorses - but then I never got further than the local comp.
One of the finest sights in racing was Tingle Creek with SSE up flying the back straight fences at Sandown.

Piggott is my no.2 sporting hero (after JNH) but I don't harbour the illusion that he anything other than a very strange, and probably not very nice, bloke. Some of the stories of his meanness are hilarious.
Never saw anything like him in the saddle.

Had the pleasure of sitting on Tingle Creeks back once,wasn't allowed to ride him out as too heavy,Tom was strict on that.
Nothing could get near him over two miles except at Cheltenham where he never won,the reason we all felt was the first tkme he went there it was lashing of rain,he slipped on walkway and cracked his head,every time he returned to Cheltenham he was on edge.
He won his last race at Sandown age 13,with a breathtaking display of jumping,first time I'd ever seen any emotion from Tom,crying his eyes out he was,and he was a real tough nut(ex military).
Great days they were.
SSE still around in town speaking to him the other day,he teaches kids at Racing School.

[Mince n Tatties]

By the way Tingle Creek was a nasty sod,he kick n bite you in his box if he got the chance..lol

[cmg]

SSE still around in town speaking to him the other day,he teaches kids at Racing School.

Blimey! Hope he doesn't teach the kids EVERYTHING he knows.

[Mince n Tatties]

SSE still around in town speaking to him the other day,he teaches kids at Racing School.

Blimey! Hope he doesn't teach the kids EVERYTHING he knows.

Quite a few ex Jockeys are involved at the racing school,all technical now.
When I was apprentice you were chucked on old hack to learn to ride,and if you weren't good enough to ride horses in a week you were out.
No Racing schools in late 60s.

[Woolly Mammoth]

SSE still around in town speaking to him the other day,he teaches kids at Racing School.

Blimey! Hope he doesn't teach the kids EVERYTHING he knows.

Quite a few ex Jockeys are involved at the racing school,all technical now.
When I was apprentice you were chucked on old hack to learn to ride,and if you weren't good enough to ride horses in a week you were out.
No Racing schools in late 60s.

Do you know mince, I never knew racehorses ate fast food.

[Woolly Mammoth]

Seems to have got his confidence back and looks like a top goalie again.
Funny how things turn out,if Betts hadn't got injured I'm sure he would have kept his place he won towards back end of last season and we wouldn't have witnessed the rejuvenated Button... 049:gif

Goalkeeper and Confidence has to run in conjunction with each other. That is the minimum requirement just to get through a match intact.
Unlike outfield players who have lost their confidence, who can hide somewhere on the pitch, like standing next to an opponent, as if to say don't pass to me I am being marked.
For a Goalkeeper there is nowhere to hide. They are on there own. As a Keeper possess certain characteristics to stand you in good stead, including not allowing mistakes to affect your concentration or resilience, as a keeper can go from hero to zero very rapidly in some people's eyes. It's a specialist position and I would never bring myself to condemn a keeper or write him off, as they have to convince themselves that the penalty area is their front room, and opponents enter it at their peril.
It can be a lonely place for a keeper off form, but they also live to make saves that border on the miraculous.
A genuine unique breed that have to have that extra mental and physical strength and courage just to survive the 90 minutes without drawing attention to themselves for all the wrong reasons.