Liam Roberts - Good enough?

Roberts will come good again . It’s a confidence thing . He was excellent up until December time. But like the rest of the team morale is low. As a keeper it’s obviously more noticeable and he will get unfortunate criticism.

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He doesn’t command his 6-yard box - lots of the goals we have conceded from corners he could have come for, but he stayed on his line. He needs to be more positive when balls come into the box.

he was the second coming when cuts was there and now cuts has left he is floundering :neutral_face:

Maybe but if there was a Butler style CB at the club these corners would be headed away no problem.

You look at the two goals conceded at Plymouth. Maybe Roberts could’ve been off line quicker but the 2nd one certainly should’ve been headed away before it reached the six yard box.

I think his weakness is he struggles to shift his feet quickly enough for low shots so his dives aren’t as quick as they should be. Conceded a few cheap goals this season because of that.

As many have said on here, Liam has gone backwards since Cutler left. When he first broke into the team he looked unbeatable at time and was often MOTM. This season he has rarely been or even considered for MOTM. He doesnt command his area and is weak when he faces low shots.

An experienced GK in January would have been an important signing. I dont believe he has suddenly become a bad player. He has lost some the passion he once showed with the fans which is most likely a sign of his confidence being low. For me, all signs point to having a poor GK coach and no competition for his place. Both of these things are unfortunately the managers decision and making.

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Should take him out and put Dunn in. Just to give the poor fella a rest. Cant be good for any young pro to be left stagnant in a side no matter what a performance is produced. Few games on the bench in the cold to re light his fire and take away the saftey net of playing week in week out.

3 shots on target today and conceded 2. Didnt have much to do at all, but conceding from 95% of shots isnt great at all. Keepers should keep you in games, look at Howard today for an example.

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I know how it looks like, but first goal hard to blame keeper. It was good shoot. Of course he could do better, but I’m afraid that would be something, that could be expected at least one league above. Second goal was a mistake, but from a defender. That third shoot was a good reaction to prevent goal. As a goalie he played well, but team lost two goals. And 2/3 is not 95%, merely 67% :wink:

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I think with most of the goals he has conceded you could say that he couldn’t have done much about them. But his job is to make saves and he isn’t doing it just now.

I don’t think he has won us a single point since September. To make the point, look at their ‘keeper yesterday. Saved a penalty and an outstanding save to deny Oteh a few minutes later. He won Blackpool at least two points yesterday. I’m pretty sure that had the glove been on the other hand so to speak we’d have conceded both of those goals with some saying “but how can you blame a ‘keeper for letting in a pen and it is the defence who should stop a centre-forward getting space eight yards out”. Both points true but you have to expect a professional goalie to make the odd save that digs the team out a few points.

Keates has dropped some howlers in the transfer market this season. Not getting in a ‘keeper to give Roberts a break is one a the biggest howlers that will contribute to an absolutely avoidable relegation.

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Goalie is needed, when defence failed to neutralise the danger and haven’t stopped opponents. Normally it is defence, who is responsible and extinguish all potential goalscoring opportunities. Last game both defenders and keeper could do more. Of course at the end there is luck factor, but sorry, it wasn’t lucky day. Luck, it means how good is player, who will probably score later. Bad striker will miss 8 chances per 10. Good will miss 2 or 1 per 20, but that’s irrelevant. Back to Roberts, he stopped improving, similar to whole team (hard to understand with so big backroom staff). I know his kicking is better, but that’s only small detail. I can imagine keeper, who can’t kick a footy, but caught 90% of shots. There is no player, who will push him to improve his game. Not so long ago Neil Etheridge had Craig MacGillivray, who constantly pushed him to be better. In perfect world Mark Gillespie should be first keeper (or MacGillivray), Roberts his understudy. But that’s not perfect world, Chris Dunn is that pressing player. For the manager it was good and results show it is good indeed, right. If not, someone has to be responsible. Of course budget, but manager or goalie coach who hasn’t identified this as a possible problem.

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I accept he is going through a "dodgy"spell but I hope no one is blaming him for the defeat yesterday. He had no chance with either goal . He also made a very good save to keep us in the game at 0-1.

Look closely at his positioning for the opener.
He is showing 90% of the goal to the player. Still, he can’t be criticised for conceding at his near post :roll_eyes:

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Let’s face facts , he isn’t that good.

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He is absolute tat, he is a big reason we are going down.

I’ve always had time for Roberts but he’s absolutely ■■■■■. I know he’s still developing and I’ve seen things to suggest he’ll be a good keeper, but he’s gone so far backwards I actually think he’s ■■■■■■ as a keeper.

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He had a very brief golden patch where everyone jumped on the band wagon believing he was the next big thing.

Even during that golden patch his footwork and distribution was dreadful.

There are a lot of players described as “going backwards” since the smith era. Does this not represent the levels of coaching rather than the individuals. Especially when you consider the O’Donnells, Etheridges, Sawyers and Bradshaws who were examples of players coached to the best of their ability by the Smith era

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There’s a team “going backwards” at Villa Park, under Smith.

If they give him time they’ll find him the new messiah. Classic case of wanting immediate success at the Villa. It’s a tough league.

I notice that Coventry had David Stockdale in their side on Saturday as an emergency loan from Blues. He would be just what we need to help organise our defence and allow Liam Robert’s to come out of the firing line while mentoring him for next season. Are we still able to take on any more loans?