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Slipperduke

The Camden Cad
Joined
Aug 24, 2004
Messages
4,333
Location
North London
Even as I type these words, I can hear the scraping of a thousand knives being hastily sharpened in the offices of England’s national newspapers. By the time I’ve hit ‘send’ on my email, be assured that this country’s sports editors will have plunged them all into Rob Green’s back. Football can be very cruel.

First things first, it was an awful, awful mistake. Green can’t blame a bobble off the pitch, as Paul Robinson did back in 2007, he can’t blame the ball, he can only blame himself, and he won’t be the only one. There is no excuse for a professional goalkeeper who fails to control a shot like that, and even less for someone who somehow contrives to let it spill over the line.

But this is an occupational hazard for a goalkeeper. Every footballer makes mistakes. The only problem is that when a goalkeeper gaffes, it usually results in a goal. Late on in the game, Peter Crouch manage to spank a simple header miles over the bar by swinging the back of his skull at it. A top professional making an inexcusable technical error. But will anyone remember it? No.

They won’t remember it because we never remember the sins of outfield players. We don’t remember Steven Gerrard missing an open goal in a must-win game against Russia. We don’t remember Rio Ferdinand being outmuscled by a diminutive Japanese striker. We forget because there is no obvious result of their error. Green will not be so fortunate.

There is something dark in the English mentality, a twisted demand for a scapegoat to hide the flaws of others. But Green is not the reason that England failed to win. They dropped points because they weren’t sharp enough in front of goal, because they let their supremacy slip after a bright start and because they weren’t good enough to capitalise on a poor American defence.

This performance had positives. Emile Heskey’s display, his miss notwithstanding, was another riposte to those who fail to see what he brings to a team. Gerrard’s tenacity, both in front of goal and, 80 yards back, defending his own. The array of chances that were created in the closing stages of the game, a far cry from the lethargic meanderings of the McClaren era and the last days of Sven Goran Eriksson. Above all, it wasn’t a defeat. When you open your tournament against the strongest other team in the group, sometimes it’s ok not to win. Algeria and Slovenia, while they must be respected, will not present as much of a threat.

There is a time for blame and a time for inquests, but it is not now. Green made a mistake. We all do. Let’s not sacrifice the confidence, and potentially, the career of another player simply to obscure the wider issues. England could have done better, but they could also have done much worse. And there’s a long way to go yet.
 
The thing is, Green only got the job because James is gaffe prone.

At least if we pick James we got the brilliance as well, whereas with Green it's just the gaffes.
 
The thing is, Green only got the job because James is gaffe prone.

At least if we pick James we got the brilliance as well, whereas with Green it's just the gaffes.

I thought James wasn't playing as he wasn't 100% fit. Green did make a good save against Altidore in the second half, which will do his confidence the world of good.
 
We should have expected no less from a keeper who statistically, last season, made more mistakes that directly led to opposition goals than any other Premier League keeper. He shouldn't have started but then again he didn't pick the team.

Nor did he make an error like that on purpose. Nor did he miss an absolute sitter when clean through on goal. Nor did he .... you get the drift.

Unfortunately an easy scapegoat sells papers and fills up the airwaves of radio phone-ins.
 
And on the subject of mistakes by out field players not being remembered... what about the fact that Gerrard made such a pigs ear of closing Dempsey down and giving the Yank the space he needed to get the shot off?
 
as long as james dont replace green or their will be more blunders, stick with green or give hart a chance.
 
Should of been Joe Hart, he had the most clean sheets this season and the best record and that was with Birmingham City's defence. Very good write up there Slipperduke, but its like most football fans we always have a scapegoat whether it be club football or international we like to find someone to blame when we don't win. That mistake would of been completely forgotten if we had of won the game.
 
Didn't feel confident when I found out green was in goal, dont rate him. But he shouldn't be hung out to dry because of a freak mistake.
 
I thought James wasn't playing as he wasn't 100% fit. Green did make a good save against Altidore in the second half, which will do his confidence the world of good.

Altidore should never have had that much space at the near post to aim at though.
 
Should of been Joe Hart, he had the most clean sheets this season and the best record and that was with Birmingham City's defence. Very good write up there Slipperduke, but its like most football fans we always have a scapegoat whether it be club football or international we like to find someone to blame when we don't win. That mistake would of been completely forgotten if we had of won the game.

It was a no brainer for me.

David 'Collimate' James 39 years young playing for a Portsmouth side that were relegated.

Rob Green in a West Ham side that only just avoided the drop themselves.

Joe Hart a young man who would thrive on this sort of spectacle, playing in a Birmingham side who had their best top flight finish and picking up the player of the year award.

Hart all day long for me.
 
Keep watching this and every time I see his hand right by the ball then he kinda pulls it away before diving, unlikely but if he hadn't pulled his hand away he might still have been able to bat the ball away. Weird what instinctive reactions do!!

greenlol
 
Didn't feel confident when I found out green was in goal, dont rate him. But he shouldn't be hung out to dry because of a freak mistake.

He shouldn't be hung out to dry because of a freak mistake, he should be hung out to dry because he isn't any good.
 
Yeah, this was the difficult thing about this column. I've never rated Green as an all-round goalkeeper. It sounds silly now, but I've always thought he's a fantastic stopper. It's all the other bits of his game that let him down. His positioning, his angles, his crosses.

Still, it was a silly mistake and he doesn't deserve all this media nastiness.
 
Typical media though, they hang the noose out for Green and claim James should have been in the team all along. James will play, do something similar later in the tournament and the media will roll out the Calamity James line, hang him out to dry and claim that Hart should have played all along. They just pander to what the man in the street wants to hear, let's all find a scapegoat, it's embarrassing at times and one of the reasons I never buy newspapers.

But yes, I was as surprised as anyone when Green was selected, I thought he was clearly No. 3 (well, about No. 5 actually but there's only three there).
 
Keep watching this and every time I see his hand right by the ball then he kinda pulls it away before diving, unlikely but if he hadn't pulled his hand away he might still have been able to bat the ball away. Weird what instinctive reactions do!!

greenlol

It gets worse every time.
 
Typical media though, they hang the noose out for Green and claim James should have been in the team all along. James will play, do something similar later in the tournament and the media will roll out the Calamity James line, hang him out to dry and claim that Hart should have played all along. They just pander to what the man in the street wants to hear, let's all find a scapegoat, it's embarrassing at times and one of the reasons I never buy newspapers.

But yes, I was as surprised as anyone when Green was selected, I thought he was clearly No. 3 (well, about No. 5 actually but there's only three there).


Id love to see personal character assassination of sports reporters from time to time , equal the balance i think , also their editors :D
 
Usually agree with you Slip but no way can Green continue. His back 4 wont have any confidence, and he is another disaster away from costing us a place in the next round. No keeper should make a mistake like that and he should be punished.
 
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