16 minutes ago, Davey Baby said:

 

I don't understand posts like these. Who's singling him out for the entire defence being bad? Zouma and Christensen are getting loads of stick, and Dave is a little.

 

Kepa is having a sh*t season. Should we all pretend different?

He's not having a sh*t season and that's what I mean by singling him out.

He's had a bad month or so, he's been fine for most of the season. 

42 minutes ago, Remodez said:

He's not having a sh*t season and that's what I mean by singling him out. 

 

Singling him out would be saying he's solely responsible for our woes, which nobody is doing. All they're doing is saying he's having a sh*t season, which I agree with. Evidently you don't.

Everyone who is wanting him to be replaced...please tell me who is better than Kepa that we can realistically sign?

Everyone who is wanting him to be replaced...please tell me who is better than Kepa that we can realistically sign?

I'd sell two of Romans yachts to bring in Oblak.

11 minutes ago, TrueBlueSeaFC87 said:

Everyone who is wanting him to be replaced...please tell me who is better than Kepa 

Quicker to say who isnt to be honest.

10 minutes ago, TrueBlueSeaFC87 said:

Everyone who is wanting him to be replaced...please tell me who is better than Kepa that we can realistically sign?

Nobody is available until you make a enquiry or a bid, then you never know, nearly everyone has their price.

Edited December 7, 20196 yr by 2211

2 hours ago, Scott Harris said:

Kepa has been sh*t this season, nobody can deny that. But I can't blame him for the goals conceded today.

1st goal = Christensen losing another aerial dual.

2nd goal = Zouma tries to clear and just boots it up in the air. Christensen losses yet another aerial dual.

3rd goal = Kepa passes out to Zouma, Zouma forgets his brain again, lets the ball go past him, Everton win it back and score from some more horrible defending without a single player throwing their bodies in the way to block the ball.

I'm not sure why we are sticking with Christensen and Zouma partnership, our strongest is Zouma and Tomori. 

19 minutes ago, Slojo said:

I'm not sure why we are sticking with Christensen and Zouma partnership, our strongest is Zouma and Tomori. 

When Rudiger is back, I'd go with him and Tomori. Neither fills me with complete confidence, but I feel this is probably the best option we've got at the moment.

1 minute ago, abramovich said:

When Rudiger is back, I'd go with him and Tomori. Neither fills me with complete confidence, but I feel this is probably the best option we've got at the moment.

Our own stability at the back this season has come from Zouma-Tomori, it's not something I think we should ever stick with after a transfer window but it was definitely the best choice this season without Rudiger. Putting Christensen back in the mix then throwing Zouma on the left hand side has seemed to have made a mess of things I think. 

3 hours ago, Cam said:

I was pretty frustrated when we shelled out 70million for him. I get we were in a bind with having sold Courtois...but that was always an exorbitant fee, especially for a keeper who wasn't linked to any other clubs at the time (I know Real had been there in the previous window). I wished at the time we'd have given Bulka a shot. It would have been risky, but I thought he had the talent to take that chance. I do understand the hesitation there....it was probably too big a risk...but to go and spend that fee on a goalkeeper of Kepa's size and build was baffling. If we didn't think we could get a good keeper at a reasonable price, we should have signed someone cheaper and use them as a stop game until we had a chance to explore the market more. Kepa was bought in to help Sarriball...playing from the back..one problem...his passing just isn't very good. He has no command of the area...and despite his shot stopping being his best skill...he finds a way to not stop any shots.

 

The worst part of it. Because we threw away 70million for him, there's absolutely no risk of him being replaced, because no-one would get close to paying a decent fee where we could recooperate a significant portion of our outlay. So we'll be stuck with him. I wanted to like him. I've been waiting game after game to see some big improvement in his game, but he just doesn't seem likely. I hope he proves me wrong.

 

He's Spain's number one. A decent Spanish team will take him. WE'll get decent money but we'll have to take a hit, obviously. If he doesn't want to leave he can sit on the bench, once we've signed a replacement. He'd be a top back-up keeper, albeit a very expensive one!

1 hour ago, TrueBlueSeaFC87 said:

Everyone who is wanting him to be replaced...please tell me who is better than Kepa that we can realistically sign?

Donnarumma of Ac Milan. Swap deal would do plus give them bakayoko on loan for 1 year to make happen, they seem to have liked him. Don't know actually why we didnt go for Donnarumma in the first place as ac milan were looking only for 50 million, he reminds me of a young gigi buffon. 

2 hours ago, Remodez said:

He's not having a sh*t season and that's what I mean by singling him out.

He's had a bad month or so, he's been fine for most of the season. 

I'd have to disagree.

There have been times this season we have dominated games to the extent Kepa has not been called upon a great deal. Sure, he has had some decent games this season but not enough. You need your keeper to win you games - to be an imposing figure and make the difference. Kepa doesn't do that anywhere near enough. I know he doesn't have the luxury of a great defence in front of him but equally the defence doesn't have the luxury of having a world-class keeper behind them to give them confidence. I have always had my doubts on Kepa and even more so now than ever.

 

Edited December 7, 20196 yr by Nibs

I'd have to disagree.
There have been times this season we have dominated games to the extent Kepa has not been called upon a great deal. Sure, he has had some decent games this season but not enough. You need your keeper to win you games - to be an imposing figure and make the difference. Kepa doesn't do that anywhere near enough. I know he doesn't have the luxury of a great defence in front of him but equally the defence doesn't have the luxury of having a world-class keeper behind them to give them confidence. I have always had my doubts on Kepa and even more so now than ever.
 

Entirely agree Nibs. He is a typical good, but not great, keeper. Can pull off great saves in the way all keepers can do occasionally but has fundamental flaws which rear up far too regularly.

1. Poor command of his area
2. Poor distribution
3. Weak wrists

Great keepers can get away with maybe the second of those three but never the other two, not even one of them.

9 minutes ago, loz said:

Entirely agree Nibs. He is a typical good, but not great, keeper. Can pull off great saves in the way all keepers can do occasionally but has fundamental flaws which rear up far too regularly.

1. Poor command of his area
2. Poor distribution
3. Weak wrists

Great keepers can get away with maybe the second of those three but never the other two, not even one of them.
 

I actually like his passing except those ones where he blatently gives a simple pass away to the other player. 

Does that make sense? 😶

I actually like his passing except those ones where he blatently gives a simple pass away to the other player. 

 

Does that make sense? [emoji55]

So you like two out of three of them!

 

The problem with it, for me at least, isn't just howlers where he gives it away but more some of the short passes he plays which get to their intended target but them leaves them instantly under pressure. Its almost as if he doesn't look.

 

21 minutes ago, Slojo said:

I actually like his passing except those ones where he blatently gives a simple pass away to the other player. 

Does that make sense? 😶

No, because he does it every game.

Even his passing is shocking. For some reason some believe it's good but everything thats not a simple five yard pass or so he messes up time and time again.
Again today on several occasions, one costing us a goal.

Kepa got pointed out by Frankie after the game. Everyone knows that Zouma and Christensen are not really world class, but Kepa was brought in as a new world class keeper. He simply isn't playing to the expectations, this isn't his first season and I can argue that he looks worse than a year ago.

Personally I didn't think it was that bad but a world class keeper will have at least once in a while a game where he really is the difference and wins the team a point at least. Kepa didn't have that game yet this season and hasn't been as good as his transfer fee suggests he would be. He is clearly not at the level of Ederson, De Gea, Schmeichel, Patricio...

I hope for the best of everyone that he doesn't end up looking like a panic buy in the end.

This is the first time in two decades that we've had a goalkeeper who is merely ordinary. The exorbitant price fee is an additional millstone around a substandard player's neck.

Considering this, plus my lack of inherent understanding of how to be a goalkeeper, I don't know how to react to Kepa. Is every shortcoming a problem or something to be expected from an average player? Should I react to every mistake or consider it a knee-jerk response to anyone who doesn't live up to the quality of Petr Cech?

The thing is, I keep hearing "you should ignore the £71m transfer fee as that's not his fault".

But there is no getting away from the fact that he IS the worlds most expensive keeper by some distance and as supporters, we should expect that for that, we have got the best or very close to the best. IMO, he is not even close.

3 minutes ago, Nibs said:

The thing is, I keep hearing "you should ignore the £71m transfer fee as that's not his fault".

But there is no getting away from the fact that he IS the worlds most expensive keeper by some distance and as supporters, we should expect that for that, we have got the best or very close to the best. IMO, he is not even close.

Yeah, I would be expecting Buffon or Neuer in their primes for that money

 

I accept the argument that its not down to him what his fee is. We did pay over the odds because of the situation with Courtois. However for that price you are expecting a quality keeper, not necessarily the best in the world but certainly top 5. I wouldn't put Kepa in the top 15. He isn't even top 5 in England.

 

 

39 minutes ago, Nibs said:

The thing is, I keep hearing "you should ignore the £71m transfer fee as that's not his fault".

But there is no getting away from the fact that he IS the worlds most expensive keeper by some distance and as supporters, we should expect that for that, we have got the best or very close to the best. IMO, he is not even close.

There isn't but sadly that price was mostly down to circumstance. Courtois left us in the sh*t, and we had to get a replacement last minute, at the time Kepa was the best option, and they knew they could inflate his price through the roof, they had all the chips at the bargaining table. 

It was a big call, and last season I dare say it looked like it was paying off, this season it’s gone backward.

 

7 hours ago, TrueBlueSeaFC87 said:

Everyone who is wanting him to be replaced...please tell me who is better than Kepa that we can realistically sign?

I’m not even close to being ready to give up on Kepa, but if we do move on, I think realistic targets could include:

Onana

Donnarumma

Bulka

Strakosha

7 hours ago, loz said:

7 hours ago, TrueBlueSeaFC87 said:

Everyone who is wanting him to be replaced...please tell me who is better than Kepa that we can realistically sign?

I'd sell two of Romans yachts to bring in Oblak.

Genuine question here.  Because Kepa’s height and command of his area are two big topics of debate, I did the honors of looking up Oblak’s height, and by way of that, came across ter Stegen’s as well.  All 3 are the same size.  I don’t watch a lot of La Liga, but obviously know that Oblak and ter Stegen are class keepers.

How well do they command their area?