Thursday 15 March 2018

A tough part of the season for Begovic

As we head int the last eight games of the season, there is more pressure on one position than any other in my opinion. Goalkeepers are always highlighted when they get caught out, and against Spurs I felt a bit sorry for Begovic, because the pitch was very wet and the ball simply wasn't sticking that well at all.
Begovic will want to get things right against WBA.
Perhaps it was a day when Begovic should have punched and just have been extra cautious at times. He did not anticipate the cross well enough for the first Spurs goal and Arsena's Petr Cech was similarly annihilated by the press the other day when he was beaten to a similar cross on the floor. But judging when to fully commit or not is never easy when defenders are also trying to get to the ball. We saw Steve Cook and Begovic bump into each other in the first half from one cross, and that kind of incident doesn't help a keeper who is facing one of the best strike forces in the league.

Eddie Howe has been very loyal to Begovic and now is probably not the right time to lose faith in a keeper who has had a good season. But the amount of goals against have increased and not just with the Tottenham game. The main thing for Begovic is for his defenders to be confident that he will make the right decisions. I don't think Begovic is far away from having another great game, he just needs to look back at how good he has been this season and see if he can just get a game behind him where he has not let anything in.

These games now are more demanding than ever on a goalkeepers's concentration. What Eddie Howe needs is a keeper that isn't going to get overly excited or too cautious but just plays the game with his head - I certainly know Begovic hasn't lost that ability anyway having headed away against Spurs when he had to come out of his box. I expect you can remember that funny incident.

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