Injuries to Rob Elliot, Karl Darlow and a season-ending injury to Tim Krul have brought about this question, which is staggering considering that Woodman is effectively our fourth choice goalkeeping option.
But there is an alternative in the form of an emergency loan which is a rare but not completely unheard of deal. The normal reaction when thinking of an emergency loan is to look at transfer dealings and point the finger at them. While that may be true in a number of positions at United, it would normally be enough to have three goalkeepers with first-team experience on the books. Only at Newcastle do you find those three players injured all at the same time.
I honestly can’t see us delving into the loan market for this one no matter how dire it may look. There has been no update on Elliot yet as the injury is still being assessed and Karl Darlow isn’t far away from returning. With an international break coming up after the Bournemouth match and a two week gap before our next game, it’s likely we’ll have one, if not two, goalkeepers back for the visit of Leicester.
Which I guess makes my title question redundant as it’s now pretty much nailed on that Woodman will be put in goal at Bournemouth.
So then do you alter our game to protect the young goalkeeper as much as possible? If you were the opposition manager you’d want to test an 18-year-old as much as possible so do we shift focus towards protecting him at the expense perhaps of craving out scoring opportunities, which we’re actually quite good at. Not so good at scoring them though…
There’s lots of questions regarding this and I’m sure a lot of it will become clearer as time goes on. Could it be a case of getting through this game and assessing things again in the international break? Could Woodman replicate what our very own Tim Krul did in Palermo all those years ago?
Time will tell…
OK freddie in Goal, Who is on the bench?
Premandup(Quote)
I think we are pretty fortunate in that this is probably the perfect opponent for this to happen against.
I think Bmouth are knackered with their own injuries, and I fancy that despite this being their home game, I don’t see them coming at us too hard because they will know we can hurt them with our attack. I think their mentality going into the break will be to not loose the game.
It’s far from ideal having to play your 4th choice keeper, and he will need help & protection from his defence. But I think an emergency loan knows they are a short term fix so who cares. Woody could have an opportunity to show what he’s about and to climb from 4th choice.
Sharpy17(Quote)
Pretty sure he’ll be in goal and I have a feeling he’ll be fine. If he can replicate the good work he’s done at Crawley (yes I know it’s a different league ) he’ll be ok. Most importantly though is we don’t get on his back if he makes a mistake, it’s not his fault he’s been called into 1st team action so soon.
Prem , good question, who does sit on the bench?
kimtoon(Quote)
Classic Sharpy quote. “Bournemouth won’t come at us hard as they know we can hurt them with our attack!” Our attack that has scored 12 goals in 11 games?
Bournemouth only play one way and that is going forward most of the time. Whether they’re good enough I am not sure but they certainly looked a decent side in the 2nd half against Southampton. I just hope it’s their 1st half performance that turns up against us.
As for the keeper situation, I would give Woodman a go. He seems to be well thought of so going getting a keeper too come in a nd play would not do him any good imo.
Stuart79(Quote)
Stu – nowt classic about it mate, I hope I’m wrong and you’re right and they try to come after us. But if they do they are very naive. It’s clear we will continue to play the way we are now and chance will continue to come. The law of averages say that those chance will get converted and they are missing players and lack quality.
We made the possession count against Norwich and were unfortunate against Sland & Stoke, but I fancy us against Bmouth.
Sharpy17(Quote)
I should think you fancy us against them too. They will go down and are not a PL quality side. But in all honesty, there’s nothing I have seen to make me confident of a win against them. My first feeling is that we will make them look like Brazil, but I live in hope that we will take a chance or two some time soon. Although I don’t know long we can keep going like this.
Stuart79(Quote)
I for mention that I think it is highly unlikely they will change the way they play because they will be worried about our goal threat, because quite frankly there isn’t one at this moment in time.
Stuart79(Quote)
Stu – there may not have been an end product in the last 2 games, but there has certainly been a threat, and as I say, law of averages say that keep creating chances and they will convert to goals. Any team that can put 6 passed another PL side carries a goal threat.
Sharpy17(Quote)
Alnwick was rated highly as well, and he got off to a torrid start. Young keepers are always under the most pressure of any position and a bad start can be a real set back to individual and team confidence. Hopefully the fact we managed a clean sheet (albeit against Stoke at home) will give the defence some much needed confidence, and the defenders protect him from the early high balls/corners which are always a nervy affair. Freddie has a more forgiving fixture list than Jak did, but I’d still be nervous. Would still like us to go for Valdes, there’s no sense gambling with survival this season imo.
Newkie(Quote)
Newkie – I agree with you more long term and in Jan we need cover. I was only basing my post on the Bmouth game and that Darlow would be back after the Int break.
Sharpy17(Quote)
Everything I have seen so far points to Southampton being an exception not the rule.
Stuart79(Quote)
Sharpy – Aye fair enough. He is supposed to be back, but with our “medical” team and the general luck we seem to have with regards to injury it wouldn’t surprise me if Darlow had a setback or two 😕
Newkie(Quote)
Newkie – if he can see us through the 6 weeks to Jan at least then defo bring Valdes in regardless. LVG doesn’t seem to want him and he wants first team PL footy – seems a no brainer really. If we can get him for a low fee id even just buy him to be honest.
Sharpy17(Quote)
Regarding the keeper loan, I suppose it depends on what we are bringing the keeper in to do. Be under study to Woodman or be the first choice. Personally I would bring in someone like Brad Jones to be under study to Woodman.
Stuart79(Quote)
Stu – thinking more long term, I personally don’t think that Elliott or Darlow are putting or will put any great pressure on Krul for that no. 1 spot and a Brad Jones won’t either. I think Valdes is an upgrade on what we already have.
Sharpy17(Quote)
Sharpy – agreed mate. Krul has not improved much if anything from his early days, which is disappointing. We’ve got two bang average keepers in Elliot and Darlow, and it is, along with your top striker, generally the most important position on the pitch. Valdes was never good enough for that Barca side which he featured in for so many years, but he’s certainly better than what we’ve got. Oh, and having a keeper who can actually pass to our players might actually allow us to play the passing football we’re trying to pull off! He may want big wages, but we’re already paying Colo a bomb and Valdes will be of more use, surely Manure will contribute a bit just to get him out of the club for a bit?
Newkie(Quote)
Long term Woodman is the guy who will put pressure on Krul. I don’t think there’s much point bringing in Valdes to stay on the bench and stop Woodman’s development.
Stuart79(Quote)
Newkie – I just think we are crying out for a commanding keeper and a bit of leadership at the back. I think Valdes would make a big difference to our defence.
Sharpy17(Quote)
Stu – In a few seasons he might, but at such a young age I think Woodman needs a few seasons out on loan first. At 33 I reckon Valdes is perfect to bridge that gap.
Sharpy17(Quote)
Hey Toonsy – great to have you back on board. It’s reflected in the number of comments too. Working from home again?
It’ll be Woodman. The rate our “board” do things. So it’s our 5th choice keeper on the bench. Only at NUFC. Anyone remember Beardsley in goal against WHam? 1-8 was it?
georgio(Quote)
Woodman is too young to put pressure on Krul, too inexperienced. Too many early games could destroy his confidence if we get smashed a few times – which we have been already several times this season.
Giving Woodman and our other keepers the chance to learn off one of the most decorated keepers of his generation is a chance we need to take. He’s won the world cup and the champions league, no brainer for me like.
Newkie(Quote)
Valdes won’t be cheap and I think with Elliot, Darlow and Woodman we have enough. Krul will be the number 1 regardless and I don’t see the point bringing in someone like Valdes when we already have enough keepers when in reality he won’t be number 1. Everything we ear about Woodman suggests to me he’s ready to be number 2/3 and won’t let us down when called upon.
Stuart79(Quote)
If we were sitting in the top half of the table and some 10 points clear of a relegation spot I would certainly play Woodman and not even consider an emergency loan.
The situation we find ourselves in means we really should look for a loan and Valdes is the best choice .
A pity that Darlow is not quite ready to take over as I have not met a Forest fan who thinks Krul is the better keeper.
sidekick(Quote)
Would much rather pay a decent defender Valde’s salary.
Stuart79(Quote)
Agree with that Stuart. Anyone in mind? I’d like it to be a PL defender but have no idea who we’d be able to get.
georgio(Quote)
Anyone see Arma’s second goal on Saturday – real class. Even now I’d rather be able to bring him on than De Jong or Cisse or heaven forbid Riviere.
georgio(Quote)
What about Shawcross?
Stuart79(Quote)
Georgio – We might yet be looking at Riviere to be the answer to our goal scoring problems… No problem, he will score 20.
Stuart79(Quote)
20 in one game Stuart? I’d absolutely love Shawcross but they’d never sell. A bid of over £25m maybe but would he come to a team in the bottom 5?
They might be up for a swap for Colo though 😆
georgio(Quote)
I’ve said before tight **** jabba would not spend 8mil on Evans now forming one the best defences in PL so he’s paying a heavy price no way you would get a PL standard c/b cheaper than that.
on Woodman there is a saying if your good enough your old enough,does that apply to a keeper Ime not so sure imo the staff should know that answer as they are with him daily,its a strange one he should be OK against B/mouth they don’t have the forwards to give him a rough time,a good game to try him in imo
icedog(Quote)
I think they will cobble Elliot back together for the Bournemouth game and Darlow will be rushed back. I can’t see us spending any money. 😛
DJG(Quote)
I refer back to 1. We need somebody on the bench as well as between the sticks. Freddie is one of those who is the other? If Valdes then he will start. Who else is out there?
premandup(Quote)
Prem – and would we get another “so so” Keeper to come in and sit behind Freddie and then become fifth choice? They would be pretty poor to consider it imo. Get Valdes as first choice.
We aren’t going to get Shawcross for less than 15-20 mil. Look at the money Chelsea were offering for Stones. Plus would he even come here? We’d be offering him a big increase when Colo is already on huge wages, not sure the board would consider it unless Mbemba was out for the season.
Newkie(Quote)
Newkie – totally agree mate.
Personally I’d like to see us get either Matip or N’Koulou for CB. Sign Austin up front.
Sharpy17(Quote)
Sharpy – signing either of them two defenders is again going into the unknown. I really don’t think we need anymore defenders without PL experience. They may be good players but if they need time to settle, can we really afford to have just another poor defender in the team that is already struggling? Basically I am saying do we have time to allow them to get use to the PL if they need it?
Stuart79(Quote)
Stu – I don’t disagree with you, I just don’t see who we get in with that mix of experience & quality that we need. Someone like Shawcross would be great, not I don’t ever see that one happening. Jonny Evans would have been ideal & we really missed out there.
I think the decision we more likely to have to make is do we go for experience over quality. We may get an experienced PL CB but they may not be of the quality of Matip or N’Koulou. If that was the choice I think I’d prefer the quality as we may get lucky & they hit the ground running like Mbemba – if not the experience will come.
Sharpy17(Quote)
Aaron Hughes is still playing, sign him up Schtevo 😀
Newkie(Quote)
We got rid of Hughes about 10 years too early!
georgio(Quote)
Newkie – Ron Vlaar is still available on a free as well, but while he has the PL experience, is he better than what we have in Colo?.
Sharpy17(Quote)
I’m not accepting this improving team I’m reading about on here.
The simple facts are, we are very very poor. There’s an underlying soft touch throughout and I can’t see us winning against Bournemouth.
Very worrying times.
Troy Stavers(Quote)
Troy@40, tell it like it is young man.
A draw at best against Bournemouth….
Munich Mag(Quote)
Garde appointed Villa boss. We’ll soon find out what he’s made of then. McClaren or Garde ? ….. McClaren has almost 20 games under his belt now, and the “progress” is taking a while….
Munich Mag(Quote)
Munich – nearly 20 games?! – that’ll be 11 then 🙄
Oh and let’s not let truth get in the way of a good ***** fest – we tried to bring Garde in but the assistance he wanted weren’t given permission to leave the clubs they were at, so Garde opted out.
Sharpy17(Quote)
I think we will be allowed an emergency loan if we want it. If those idiots haven’t planned for this contingency when Krul went down then they want shooting. They knew that Elliot had had very recent long term injury problems and there is a history of major injuries at NUFC for whatever reason.
Bringing in an experienced Keeper will not stop Woodman’s growth as he would not play for the first team except under extraordinary circumstances. He would be out on loan again when our keeper situation eases. I repeat, teenage keepers do not play in the PL except in emergencies. They get loaned out to get experience as was the case with Butland and our own Timmy-the-hoof. Alnwick was not a teenager, he was just *****.
You don’t need to bring up the prodigy at Milan either. He is being talked about as the second coming of Buffon or better so I think he is an exception.
I am with Newkie that they will try to patch Elliot up for that one match and then if Darlow is not fit go the emergency route for after the International Break. My reasoning is that I have no faith in our MD to have made other plans.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
MM: Troysta thought we would beat the Scum (as did I). He also thinks we will win the Euros. I am guessing he thinks aliens will come down and take the France, Germany and Spain teams away.
The easy prediction judging on the last 3 years of results is to say we will not win. Our away form has been atrocious. However, this is probably a must-not-lose game even at this early stage. Bournemouth and Norwich are the teams we will probably be fighting to stay up.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
Could we possibly play a straw man GK? Then use my innovative 1-6-3 formation to attack! attack! attack!!! Keep the ball in Bournemouth’s end and hope they don’t start lobbing wor goalie…..
GeordieTwo(Quote)
Garde will be a good appointment given enough time. To save them will be difficult however. I think he will do it. He would have been great for us as well. Now comes the hard slog for everyone. 27 more matches. How many points in it for us? Possibly 25? 30? Very dicey.
GeordieTwo(Quote)
I am planning to patent the 1-6-3 formation and calling it the Geordie Two. Did you see Villa pull a Geordie Two on Spurs? Very brave indeed.
GeordieTwo(Quote)
That’s the kind of headline we’d all like to see. 😆
GeordieTwo(Quote)
I predict that Villa will be relegated and Garde won’t be there at the end of the season. I would also stick my neck out and say that fat Sam won’t be at Scum at the end of the season. He slaughtered the players in his post match interview yesterday saying he couldn’t believe they went for the win?! Hold on Sammy old pal, why didn’t you instruct them to protect the draw!!. I reckon he’ll walk to keep his record of never being relegated in tact.
Sharpy17(Quote)
But Sharpy, what’s changed with Garde? His assistants aren’t allowed to go with him now but he hasn’t pulled out of this job. He wasn’t even offered the job here. The club thought NUFC was too big a job for him.
The reason Villa might be relegated is because they have a ***** squad and have let their three best players leave. As for Garde, there’s every chance he will do a better job for Villa than McClaren is doing for us. Is it possible to do a worse job?
Stuart79(Quote)
I hope you’re right Sharpy. Villa, mackems and B’mouth.
I have a feeling that Sam will get them some points though, once he sorts the defence and plays the Allardyce way. Hope I’m wrong. Hopefully Villa.lose again tonight, I can’t see them beating Spuds away.
DJG(Quote)
Well i think it Will be Sunderland and Bournemouth too go down with one of us , Villa ,Norwich and Watford . The deciding factor could be witch teams invest the best in January . I think it will be Norwich too go ,Villa will get a fresh impetus with Garde and we will get just enough wins between now and January then Ashley will invest again too protect his tv money for next season , Watford are a beter team than Norwich and Will just about scrape through at the end of the season.Our escape begins down at Bournemouth this weekend that win will ease the nerves and boost the confidence of our Squad .
Axel(Quote)
Stu – what’s changed is that Garde has been out of the game for a while now & knows he needs to get back into management/coaching soon before he’s overlooked completely. But he’s joining a club full of championship players, that is up for sale and won’t have much money invested in Jan either. There best chance of staying up would have been Nigel Pearson in my opinion.
Axel – I have us finishing 16th mate. Not great but not relegation.
Sharpy17(Quote)
Hadaira now off injured in the U21 game. When McClaren said he was going to look at the reasons why we have so many injuries I didn’t know that’s all he was going to do, look.
Stuart79(Quote)
I sometimes wonder what you eat and drink, Sharpy, I really do.
Stuart79(Quote)
Sharpy17@43 ………20 games, as I mentioned 🙄
1 W Gateshead
2 L Club Atlas
3 W Sacramento Republic
4 L Portland Timers II
5 D Sheffield United
6 L York City
7 L Borussia Münchengladbach
8 D Southampton
9 L Swansea City
10 D Manchester United
11 W Northampton Town
12 L Arsenal
13 L West Ham
14 L Watford
15 L Sheffield Wednesday
16 D Chelsea
17 L Manchester City
18 W Norwich City
19 L Makkems
20 D Stoke City
Munich Mag(Quote)
Stu – funnily enough I’ve never given you that much thought. But if I did, I’d be fairly certain you’d complain about whatever it was you were fed or watered 😉
Sharpy17(Quote)
There you go – 2.23.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
We would have had 3 or 4 if Guzman was in goal on Saturday.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
Be careful what you wish for when starting an 18 year old ‘keeper as well. We have no idea what we have there and could blow his confidence. He has played 11 games for Crawley FFS and some people have him starting ahead of Elliot. YCMIU.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
Munich – right so you’re classing those Mickey Mouse friendlies that McClaren had no input or say in whatsoever.
Sharpy17(Quote)
Look at Villa’s starting 11 and you see the task that Garde has taken on. It has relegation written all over it.
I would suggest that only Lescott and Grealish would have a chance of making our team and I am not even sure they would… and we are 3rd bottom. Maybe Sinclair but only because Colback is injured?
Eric Sykes(Quote)
A tea spoon of reality once a day usually does it for me. But I guess you are happy with your milk and honey.
Stuart79(Quote)
Sharpy17@62. Yes.
Who was in charge for those “Mickey Mouse” games, when we were also absolutely pish by the way. Doris the tea lady ?
Munich Mag(Quote)
Injuries already mounting. Lots of pressure for McLaren. Let’s see how he handles it. Our squad is thin and now with injuries completely insufficient. Not enough spending on good defenders for years now. That is a killer in the Prem. Ask other poor defensive teams like Sunderland and Villa.
GeordieTwo(Quote)
We only spend on young MF and attackers because they produce the highest returns when sold on. It’s a big indicator of the Ashley approach. Quick profit ahead of building a winning side.
GeordieTwo(Quote)
2-0 Spurs now.
GeordieTwo(Quote)
Anyone care to predict when we’ll win our first silverware under Ashley?
GeordieTwo(Quote)
Yeah but Grealish is a boy who is barely out of school, yet Stan Collymore talks about him like he is the new saviour. Sums Villa up, men against boys. Delle Ali is good though. 🙂
I don’t know what Garde is doing there, if it’s true that we were after him and he turned us down to go there, then maybe it’s just as well we didn’t get him. (But I don’t know that he was offered the job).
DJG(Quote)
This is where the extreme optimists should weigh in.
GeordieTwo(Quote)
ERIC
I would say Sinclair has been their best player tonight. Maybe that’s because he’s in a team of average cloggers, I don’t know. Rudi Gestede is on now. He reminds me of Riviere, although I said that and he scored a couple last time. 😛
DJG(Quote)
Stu – just coz I don’t see things as bleakly as you doesn’t mean I see everything rosy either – there is a viewpoint between those 2 ends of the spectrum you know.
Sharpy17(Quote)
I wonder what kind of money Garde will have in January? It had better be a lot.
GeordieTwo(Quote)
G2 – I think we could win the Championship again one year under Jabba.
Stuart79(Quote)