Monday 17 June 2013

Where does Rocky rate against other Championship keepers?

Ryan Allsop has had a great start to his career at AFCB. His penalty save at Oldham has been the catalyst for some excellent displays that have given the team and especially the back four the confidence to record several clean sheets at the end of last season. In the Championship he will have to stop some top class strikers but how does Cherry Chimes rate him against the best shot stoppers in the Championship?

QPR's Brazilian Julio Cesar has to be one of the keepers I am hoping to see next season if he remains at Loftus Road. I just wonder how much larger that goal difference of -30 would have been for QPR is they had kept Rob Green in goal. I can see Cesar leaving QPR though over the summer.

Kasper Schmeichel is a master at making great saves. I can't understand why a Premiership club has not come in for him yet, but there's time yet. He is only 26 and would make a good buy for a top team. Still, teams like West Ham and Fulham have chosen to look elsewhere this summer.

Manuel Almunia at Watford has already played in the Premiership and while all the pundits have raved about Watford's Udinese players, the former Arsenal keeper has been busily doing his work in keep other teams out at the other end.

Rocky could well be our star player next season.

So what has Rocky to do to start challenging these players to be Championship goalkeeper each month? Well, I am hoping that he is working on building that understanding with the back four. We know that Tommy Elphick is loud and clear but the keeper must also call for the ball when it is his to claim. Ryan's kicking, positioning and reactions will be tested like never before.

My only worry is if he does lose his nerve. We haven't really seen him under great pressure yet to stay in the team. It's only this coming season when we will see how good he is. In some ways it is good that we have an experienced back up in Darryl Flahavan ready to step in and challenge Ryan for the keeper's jersey. As for Jalal, I have already said that he needs to concentrate more and Benjamin Buchel still has time to improve.

Where does Ryan start the season against these other keepers? He is bound to be behind them in terms of experience having not played a Championship game, but its all about how quickly he learns, takes responsibility and enjoys playing in bigger stadiums against better teams. I bet it's a challenge he is really looking forward to. Potential player of the year in 2013/14?

Happy Birthday Ryan!!

Those of you keeping up with the latest news will also know that AFCB has just  signed a 16 year old keeper called Jordan Holmes, an Australian, who was on trial with AFCB last Easter.

1 comment:

  1. From what I saw of him last season, for his age I firmly believe he is going to be one of our best....

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