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Matej Kovar Czech Republic flag

2023-24 Performances


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A loan to a club that suits his playing style would be good.. he needs first team minutes.

Agree but find the right club is the difficulty. Goalies tend to be like furniture once they get in the starting lineup.

Don't need to go elsewhere and be the #2 there.

Sparta maybe his best option since he will definitely get game time plus European league exposure
 
Reminds of Peter Cech in his stature, obviously needs a lot of work to be as good but his distribution with his feet was excellent

Funnily enough if we get Onana, we may get a Cudicini/Cech situation in a few years if Kovar develops/gets more experience i.e two very good keepers that probably won't be able to coexist in the same squad.
 
He didnt have much to do in terms of saves, but he also cut out chances before they could become chances, like the claim from the corner, the edge of the box stuff sweeping it up, or diving out to collect James attempted cross. These are things which can nullify an attack for the opposition and make the opposition play differently or hesitate, which is something that opposition wouldnt hesitate to do vs us with DDG in goal.


Just playing devil's advocate a bit, Leeds were not exactly pressing with all their might. Some of those passes were closer than i'd like.

You will be surprised how keepers who are assured on the ball can affect an oppositions press tactics. Its why City werent going all out in the CL final vs Inter, whereas their press against us in the FA cup final was different. Its about knowing who you are playing against.
Feel like that exact pass at 0:15 is the one DDG made to Maguire in one of our big games recently. Maguire lost the ball resulting in a goal and DDG got crucified for that.

Was it Pool? Arsenal? Can't remember.

Are you talking about the Sevilla opening goal in the second leg? If so, its different, more so because DDGs pass bounced twice before getting to maguire.
 
He didnt have much to do in terms of saves, but he also cut out chances before they could become chances, like the claim from the corner, the edge of the box stuff sweeping it up, or diving out to collect James attempted cross. These are things which can nullify an attack for the opposition and make the opposition play differently or hesitate, which is something that opposition wouldnt hesitate to do vs us with DDG in goal.
Bang on. A lot of people still supporting De Gea ignore the part that a fair few of his wonder saves were because of his reluctance to do the exact things you've said which puts him in a position where he has to rely on his reflexes.
 
His few highlights show that the back 4 must enjoy a keeper who is comfortable on the ball. I get annoyed that DDG only had players like Dubravka, Grant, Heaton etc. as backup when clearly they would not succeed him. Kovar may be ready NOW and would save us £50M but we don't know as he wasn't given chances.
Too much of a risk but I would be interested to see it.... will be interesting to see how he performs for the rest of the pre-season, it does feel like one of those situations that we may regret either which way

Funny thing is if he wasn't already our player we would probably have been linked to him as possible new no.1 given the season he had at Sparta
 
Maybe we should keep him and use the Onana money fro something else
 
Make him first choice for the us tour. See how he gets on. It would obviously be hugely risky to make him no 1 next season and I don’t think Ten Hag will, but might as well have a proper look at him instead of playing Heaton.
 
His few highlights show that the back 4 must enjoy a keeper who is comfortable on the ball. I get annoyed that DDG only had players like Dubravka, Grant, Heaton etc. as backup when clearly they would not succeed him. Kovar may be ready NOW and would save us £50M but we don't know as he wasn't given chances.

I kinda agree on this one here. He gives me Courtois vibes and the fact he is already experience winning a league title. Also very familiar with culture of the English game.

It’ll sound outlandish but if we can’t get Onana, I’d like to see him as number. A solid defence ahead of him and the confidence of our manager can propel him. He was definitely identified as a potential good goalkeeper as a youngster. What is changed?
 
I have not seen a lot of him but going by the game against Leeds he seems comfortable with the ball at his feet so I would presume he could be our no.2 and be training with the first team squad next season.
As usual there will be calls for him to go on loan as nothing beats competitive football but if that is the case I struggle to understand why we would be linked with a GK that is younger to be backup to our first choice as surely the same would apply.
We will see what happens I suppose because it looks like Erik plays his main GK in virtually every game anyway so the backup keeper will only play when the first choice is injured.
 
I have not seen a lot of him but going by the game against Leeds he seems comfortable with the ball at his feet so I would presume he could be our no.2 and be training with the first team squad next season.
As usual there will be calls for him to go on loan as nothing beats competitive football but if that is the case I struggle to understand why we would be linked with a GK that is younger to be backup to our first choice as surely the same would apply.
We will see what happens I suppose because it looks like Erik plays his main GK in virtually every game anyway so the backup keeper will only play when the first choice is injured.

Well if you were coming over from Urawa Reds, already with some first team exposure, I think it would be perfectly reasonable that you spend a year getting used to the club, coaching staff, style of football etc while the manager has a look at you. He wouldn't have had the opportunity to train with somebody of the quality and experience of Onana before you would imagine, nor even Tom Heaton in fairness if he were still here.

Kovar on the other hand has been at the club for years, knows the demands, trained with the big names, and now needs to polish his game by playing. It's not as simple as what age they are, the context is important.
 
There is no point in keeping him here. Sell if a good offer coming in, preferably with a nice sell on percentage. Or loan with a view to increase his value further.

Onana if it works out, will be here for a long time. Suzuki if we sign him will be second, and Heaton is third. Kovar needs to play.
 
There is no point in keeping him here. Sell if a good offer coming in, preferably with a nice sell on percentage. Or loan with a view to increase his value further.

Onana if it works out, will be here for a long time. Suzuki if we sign him will be second, and Heaton is third. Kovar needs to play.

Heaton will leave as soon as we sign our no.1 and no.2 goalkeepers I'm sure. He's been professional since he's been here and is one of our own - if Luton want him as no.1 then we'll let him go.
 
Heaton will leave as soon as we sign our no.1 and no.2 goalkeepers I'm sure. He's been professional since he's been here and is one of our own - if Luton want him as no.1 then we'll let him go.
As we should, we have more than enough options so there is no need to keep him any longer.
 
Heaton will leave as soon as we sign our no.1 and no.2 goalkeepers I'm sure. He's been professional since he's been here and is one of our own - if Luton want him as no.1 then we'll let him go.
Reckon he’ll stay as a coach or just be no3. Probably on comparatively low wages and very experienced, seems to be a good egg as well.
 
Well if you were coming over from Urawa Reds, already with some first team exposure, I think it would be perfectly reasonable that you spend a year getting used to the club, coaching staff, style of football etc while the manager has a look at you. He wouldn't have had the opportunity to train with somebody of the quality and experience of Onana before you would imagine, nor even Tom Heaton in fairness if he were still here.

Kovar on the other hand has been at the club for years, knows the demands, trained with the big names, and now needs to polish his game by playing. It's not as simple as what age they are, the context is important.
I take your point but it seems like our no.2 will need to be a player in his early to mid 30s that will be content with only really getting a game when our first choice is injured.
It will be hard to find one with quality but if the first choice gets a big injury then we will need one.
 
Feel like that exact pass at 0:15 is the one DDG made to Maguire in one of our big games recently. Maguire lost the ball resulting in a goal and DDG got crucified for that.

Was it Pool? Arsenal? Can't remember.
De Gea's ball was slower and bouncing, to the extent that by the time it reached Maguire there were three opposition players all closer to him than any of the opposition players were to Bennett in this video. The only similarity was that in both scenarios the ball was played slightly behind where the recipient was moving to.
 
I take your point but it seems like our no.2 will need to be a player in his early to mid 30s that will be content with only really getting a game when our first choice is injured.
It will be hard to find one with quality but if the first choice gets a big injury then we will need one.

For one year it will be fine, it might not be the long term solution of course.
 
He played 30 times for Prague last season.

He needs United game time, IMO.

Admittedly, it’s a bit of an unknown amount of games but potentially all league cup games and early rounds of the FA Cup plus any dead rubbers in the CL if we qualify early enough
I’m afraid there won’t be too many dead rubber in the CL.
I’d send him on loan to the championship
 
Yeah, rumor is that he really wanted to go to Luton. I guess it's his last chance to play at a high level so understandably.
Hadn't seen that rumour but seems odd given he came here and basically hasn't played (and would have known that on signing). Maybe he was only open to PL teams and Luton don't have much money
 
Shouldn't be sold, think his value would be much higher if he plays at a better level next season.
 
Wonder where he will be next season, can't see another Czech loan as good progress, don't want him to stay as #2 and get no game time, I think PL may be a step too far at the moment, perhaps a top Championship team?
 
Can't believe he's 23, thought he was still 20. Yeah he should be getting regular games now, either on loan or permanent, he looks alright but probably not the level we need.
 
Not been tested much in terms of saves but his ball playing and command of the box seem top
 
One and a half games for Kovar and two (well, one and a half again) clean sheets. He's a bit of a dark horse for becoming our future no. 1 is Kovar I think, if Onana doesn't work out. He's absolutely MASSIVE too. Coming off the back of a brilliant season at Prague.

Although I fully expect that since we are signing Onana, that's the goalkeeper that Ten Hag is going to hang his hat on.

Wonder who will be in for him on a loaner because he has got to have some admirers at this point. I'm sure the Czechs would have him back but he will be setting his sights higher now.
 
He hasn't been able to prove himself as a shot stopper as we've not allowed many chances this preseason but his distribution looks top class. I'm impressed how confortable he is playing with his feet, looks a proper modern keeper. We should be looking to loan him to a bigger league than the Czech league. He's not really young anymore at 23 but some keepers are late boomers so if we can manage to get him a loan to the championship, eredivise or primeira liga I think we could sell him for a good fee next summer.
 


Not a lot of saves to make by the looks of things but my god, its unusual to see a goalkeeper in out kit be so calm on the ball.
Whether he gets sent off on loan again to a higher quality team, or be an understudy to Onana and play in cups - I'll be content.
Feel it would be far too premature to sell him - from a player quality stand point as well as transfer fee.
 
He just looks like a very well rounded keeper.

Need to loan him again, or sell if a decent fee comes up. No need to keep him as second choice, he needs games to keep improving and continue his progress.
 
Dave is gone but suddenly there could be long term candidates for the GK spot. If Suzuki arrives he could be in for a fight, in order to secure any place.
 
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