Sir Alex in for Akinfeev

Think you're all being a bit harsh on Fergie when it comes to keepers. He is after all the man who brought Schmeichel to the club. What I think SAF struggles with arguably is something that wouldn't affect 99% of other clubs and that is finding a keeper who has not just talent but the temperament to cope. Now that's a bit more difficult to spot.

Having said that I'm hoping he was just being polite in regards to Akinfeev :nervous:
 
RonaldoVII said:
Lloris looked far better for Lyon.
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He certainly had a cracking game an Anfield.

As for Akinfeev, he's a much better keeper than he showed yesterday. He was appalling against us, flailing at that long ball early on, nearly allowing Scholesy's shot to bounce over him, miskicking on a number of occasions and making it very easy for Valencia for the goal. Looked to me like he either was ill (as had been suggested) or was trying too hard because of all the reports in the Russian media about Fergie being after him.

But, even though he's a better keeper than he showed, I still don't see anything that suggests he'll be a better keeper in the PL than Foster (who he really reminds me of) or even his back up for Russia, Malafeev, who would come alot cheaper.

Oh, and I agree that goalkeeping is a real blind-spot for Ferguson - he's bought some stinkers over the years with one obvious exception.
 
ralphie88 said:
Oh, and I agree that goalkeeping is a real blind-spot for Ferguson - he's bought some stinkers over the years with one obvious exception.
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I can think of 2 pretty notable exceptions...

and barthez had some pretty good games between his little episodes of madness
 
bassline999 said:
Best future goal keeper of any generation in my eye's. thought he was potentially the best young goalie in the world for a few years now. he wants to play for us aswell! bring it on, this keeper could be the greatest EVER!
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So you've seen him, what, twice a season at most then?

You're going just a bit OTT.
 
Akinfeev is not all that much better than Foster in my opinion. I think he is just as poor at claiming cross, neither truelly command the penalty area and neither are superb with their kicking.

Akinfeev is marginally better than Foster, I wouldn't waste money buying something similar to what we already have. I think there is a lack of real quality goalkeepers around the globe. Neuer has alway impressed me when I have watched him, although last time I see him was in the Euro U21 tournament in the summer and he was pretty impressive.....very dare I say it Schmeichel like at times. Though I don't know how he has played since....
 
bassline999 said:
Best future goal keeper of any generation in my eye's. thought he was potentially the best young goalie in the world for a few years now. he wants to play for us aswell! bring it on, this keeper could be the greatest EVER!
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I've not seen him very often (2 and a half times i think) and every time I've seen him I've been very impressed by his reflexes and reactions but less than impressed with his command of the area and aerial ability. Whilst he may well develop into one the the best 'keepers on the planet if a 'keeper can't handle the ball being in the air then he can't handle the Premier League. Simple.

We may as well just stick with Foster and save ourselves a lot of money than go for Akinfeev.
 
cj_sparky said:
Akinfeev is not all that much better than Foster in my opinion. I think he is just as poor at claiming cross, neither truelly command the penalty area and neither are superb with their kicking.

Akinfeev is marginally better than Foster, I wouldn't waste money buying something similar to what we already have. I think there is a lack of real quality goalkeepers around the globe. Neuer has alway impressed me when I have watched him, although last time I see him was in the Euro U21 tournament in the summer and he was pretty impressive.....very dare I say it Schmeichel like at times. Though I don't know how he has played since....
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Our new goalkeper doesn't need to be much better than Foster ability-wise. He just needs to have a better match temperament.
 
fatboy said:
He just needs to have a better match temperament.
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Which is difficult to tell at his young age particularly as he hasn't played for a big club in one of the main leagues of Europe. Although he has 37 caps for Russia.
 
As I've said in this thread before, I don't rate Akinfeev all that highly, but he had another good game against us today.

I have this feeling Fergie might make a move for him. Him and Krasic were outstanding.
 
MST3K said:
he was the difference today, stop after stop and it felt like it needed to be something perfect to beat him.

agreed with johnmufc, krasic and him were standouts, dzagoev had a brilliant moment there for the goal.
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Dzagoev is an excellent finisher. Fantastic technique when striking the ball, but he's still very young and, as such really fades in and out of games. He was pretty anonymous apart from the goal, as he has been in the Champions League so far this season. Excellent prospect, just not the finished product.

Krasic looks top quality though.
 
He was very good, but we played to his strengths. Plenty of nice saveable shots for him to showcase his shot-stopping, not much to do with his feet and hardly tested on crosses whatsoever. He was good, yes, but as Ralphie has said I don't think he is really much different to Foster, certainly not different enough to spunk £20m on.
 
Almost all our shots were straight at him aside from Macheda's effort. And he didnt even try to come out and make a difference on Scholes' goal. The ball was crossed in his 6 yard box and he didnt come off his line :lol:

Mind you he made less mistakes on the night than Van Der Saar. If Foster had played like VDS tonight he'd be getting slagged off big time.
 
A Shay Given-esque performance by him tonight. Looked flashy even though majority of the shots were easily saveable. Impressed me solely when he came out to block Rooney but you'd expect that from him. Could have marshalled his defence a lot better because they were completely weak when it came to crosses.
 
Allforone said:
He has excellent distribution for a keeper...which is an underrated asset for a keeper to have...
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Not really, he kicked the ball out of touch alot, all the shots were at him, quality shot stopper mind, but I still think we should be looking for a more complete all round keeper.
 
Allforone said:
He has excellent distribution for a keeper...which is an underrated asset for a keeper to have...
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Commentators said that as well.

He then went on to kick out of play three times, and they said that around 2/3's into it.
 
I've not seen enough of the guy to make a sound judgement on his overall gk ability but from what I have seen I don't think temperament and playing on the 'big stage' would be a problem for him.
 
Well, less so than Foster at least. But then again, he's the captain of CSKA. What did he do exactly when we were all over them in the last 15 minutes of the game and actually started to put some good crosses into the box? When we scored goals? Did anyone see him shouting at and organising his defence?

He made solid contact with all the shots towards the middle of the goal and blocked Rooney's rebound. But as the captain of the side you're expecting him to do more than just get on with the game and allow things to happen as they are, when his side is taking a nose dive.
 
He had a decent game today but I do not think that he s United material. Imo if he comes to OT he ll not be better than either Foster or PIG..
 
Raees said:
Not really, he kicked the ball out of touch alot, all the shots were at him, quality shot stopper mind, but I still think we should be looking for a more complete all round keeper.
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Twice is not a lot....As for a more all round keeper...like who exactly? I dont even think i said we should sign him anyway all i said was he had good distribution for a keeper which he quite clearly has...
 
Not sure that a few performances is quite enough to judge him, although he seemed pretty 'comfortable' on the big stage. Not sure about his ability on crosses which would be a deal breaker in the prem against the likes of Bolton.
 
Allforone said:
Twice is not a lot....As for a more all round keeper...like who exactly? I dont even think i said we should sign him anyway all i said was he had good distribution for a keeper which he quite clearly has...
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Next years world cup, the likes of Lloris, Adler, Neuer, Akinfeev..maybe Foster himself will all be tested.

Personally the only keeper in the world I'd go for unequivocally is Buffon, he's the real thing, complete as they come, wouldn't mind Cesar but Gigi is the one we should go for.
 
Raees said:
Next years world cup, the likes of Lloris, Adler, Neuer, Akinfeev..maybe Foster himself will all be tested.

Personally the only keeper in the world I'd go for unequivocally is Buffon, he's the real thing, complete as they come, wouldn't mind Cesar but Gigi is the one we should go for.
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Casillas?
 
Raees said:
Next years world cup, the likes of Lloris, Adler, Neuer, Akinfeev..maybe Foster himself will all be tested.

Personally the only keeper in the world I'd go for unequivocally is Buffon, he's the real thing, complete as they come, wouldn't mind Cesar but Gigi is the one we should go for.
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i agree but isn't buffon having some serious ongoing injury problems and needs an operation?
 
Raees said:
Next years world cup, the likes of Lloris, Adler, Neuer, Akinfeev..maybe Foster himself will all be tested.

Personally the only keeper in the world I'd go for unequivocally is Buffon, he's the real thing, complete as they come, wouldn't mind Cesar but Gigi is the one we should go for.
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We'll never get Buffon hed cost a bomb for a start and he must be getting on abit now anyway....Havnt seen enough of Lloris to judge same with Neuer...Adler looks good but again he needs to prove it on the big stage...

The only area of question i have with Akinfeev is his ability to deal with crosses...his shot stopping, distribution and such are top bracket from what ive seen of him for Moscow and the Russian national side...also being a captain at such a young age especially being a keeper shows he has something about him...
 
Raees said:
Next years world cup, the likes of Lloris, Adler, Neuer, Akinfeev..maybe Foster himself will all be tested.

Personally the only keeper in the world I'd go for unequivocally is Buffon, he's the real thing, complete as they come, wouldn't mind Cesar but Gigi is the one we should go for.
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well come world cup time, only one of adler or neuer will get the nod with the other probably seeing no time for the whole tournament. such is the riches of german GK's.
 
What got me was the way he kept kicking balls out of play though.
 
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