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Richinns wrote:IMO there is a lot of bull written here.

Poke is one of the best keepers in the division - FACT.

As much as I concur with the general sentiment, as is the usual situation with all things written with the word 'fact' at the end (why is it always in CAPITALS?), what you have expressed here is an opinion.

Stevens can't even seem to nail down a place at an, effectively, BSS club. Seems harsh on the boy. That is, of course, assuming that he hasn't taken up David Moyes on his very kind offer.

Matt.

Richinns wrote:IMO there is a lot of bull written here.

Poke is one of the best keepers in the division - FACT.

Can you honestly say that you are confident with Poke in goal when we are under the cosh? He is a very good shot stopper but there are definitely areas of his game that are lacking - distribution is poor and he isn't confident in commanding his area.

As for the second bit, if we're looking at facts, 15 other keepers did better than Pokey last season, including the two sides that were relegated.

Disagree Nick.

Poke dominates his box "when" his confidence is in tact. Keepers thrive on it and fall flat on their faces without it. Injuries haven't helped his cause but once he's fully fit and the team are performing better his qualities will return. He has the ability to play higher but general belief and confidence has been missing each time he's had a chance. Poyet destroyed him at Brighton, it can be a long road to reveovery for some keepers, I've seen it all too often.

All players thrive with confidence and i agree with Dave regarding Poyet.

IMO Poke is a very competent keeper who i believe could play in a higher division. I ve certainly not seen many better at Plainmoor last season. Poke made some extremely important saves including a great penalty save against Rovers. Even Bobby O looked a bit low in confidence when he first arrived and it took him several games to become fully fit and command between the sticks.

I would say that Kenny Veysey is doing a good job with all the keepers he's had and please remember that when keepers dont come for crosses or corners it could be because they are under instructions not too. Bevan was always criticized for not making any efforts on crosses, why- because Buckle told him not to.

I think Poke has consistently been one of the top League Two keepers in his time with us. Sure, he may not be of the same all-round standard as Bobby but then he was the best League Two keeper in his time with us, one of the best League Two keepers for many years. Comparing the two would be like comparing any current Premier League keeper with Peter Schmeichel - a little unfair!

As for the talk of commanding his area and coming for crosses, as SBP says, a lot of this is down to tactics. So long as the keeper and defenders know what to expect from each other this isn't a problem. Rather have Poke standing back and allowing the defenders to deal with things than have him charging out and injuring himself or others when they aren't expecting it like Gomes at Spurs did.

Poke's a pretty steady keeper, we've been lucky in recent years that we've had some good ones and he's one of them. Said in last pre season we needed to be slightly patient with him because his confidence was shot by Brighton and in the early matches of last season Poke made a cluster of errors he wouldn't usually do.

Don't see him really being a cause for debate to be honest. He's probably not the absolute best in the league but he's more than adequate.

And Martin Rice has not conceded a goal for what seems like ages. With him between the sticks and Pokey as back-up we should have no worries at all..

OhJimmyJimmy wrote:Maybe we dined out for too long on bobby?

I do agree that last time poke was here he was good - in the BSP.

He has fallen short since. He is an ok shot stopper but simply does not inspire confidence in me, so what must his centre halves think in front of him? Our achillies heel is the last ten mins of games where we invite pressure, capitulate, and very often concede. A strong commanding, vociferous goalkeeper who comes and clears up avoids that and gives confidence to defenders - and I don't believe that Poke is up for that.Added to that is the fact that Ricey is poor, I don't know if he has perked up in ps games but he isn't a real option should poke be injured. We are pinning our hopes on poke not getting injured - and he's injured........

The first bit of this is difficult to accept and simply miles off the truth IMO. So the fact that we sat back last season for the last 10 minutes of games (and the rest! - Some we sat back straight after kick off! ) is Pokes fault because he can't command his area? I reckon it may have something to do with Ling and his desperately sh*t tactics that on jimmy. Oh, and the fact that Downes and Saah apart, everyone else (apart from McKenzie) who came into defence to deputise were pants.

I agree he has problems with commanding his area and being more dominant but generally speaking he does the business most weeks under severe pressure.

Don't usually agree with Andy's assessment of players, but this is spot on.

Lloyder5 wrote:Don't usually agree with Andy's assessment of players, but this is spot on.

Join the club mate..........

It's a large club growing in numbers.

Cheers anyway Lloyder!

bobby is playing at that level for a reason the same as cech and de gea play at premier level, players who play in league two are normally there for a reason, i think some people on here are being very unfair on pokey,he is more than adequate in this league and as someone else said he kept us in several games last season and kept us from getting well beat on a few occasions, he is far better than bevan and ricey put together. what some of you expect i really dont know. good job the pole up the road dont play for us now ask any city fan he is a real clamity jane.

No probs!

Calamity Kryjzak (sp?) Is worth the entrance fee alone. **** ing hilarious at least twice a game. I thank God every week that we have Poke rather than that **** knuckle.

Matt.

Getting back to the original OP .... I see that both Joe Oastler and Danny Stevens played for Aldershot at the weekend .... and one of them actually scored and it probably isn't the one you were thinking!

CP Gull wrote:Getting back to the original OP .... I see that both Joe Oastler and Danny Stevens played for Aldershot at the weekend .... and one of them actually scored and it probably isn't the one you were thinking!

Well I'd be surprised if either of them scored