For those who went today, how did he play?

In the 'Team Today' thread I put this

'Whether Budtz deserved to be dropped or not, todays goalkeepering performance was left me feeling the safest I have all season. Took crosses well, commanded his area, quick off his line, kicking was fine and made a couple of excellent saves. Very impressed.'

A solid 8 out 10 performance. One worrying moment after about 10 minutes when there was confusion in the box which led to him and Barker shouting at each other but otherwise he was faultless.

Kicking started off dodgy for first ten minutes.
Let a cross at the back post sail over his head but was fortunate to save the header.
Made good save right on edge of box from a through ball, could have been handball outside the box and a sending off on another day.
They played lots of balls over the top, that would have caught Budtz out of position.

Looks more of a goalie than Budtz and doesn't encourage the opposition to knock hopeful balls into the box which in the past created panic, pressure and goals.

Miles better

Barker's fault not his.

yet another plus point for the day not so bad after all eh

Personally I thought he was one of four players who was responsible for a shoddy piece of defending and don't think the blame could be aimed at one person in general.

Well it would have to be wouldn't it, I ran out of water in me windscreen washer near Watford Gap, guess wh's fault that was
Yup Barker again

Barker sold ALB short...

Can't see how anyone can say it wasn't his fault.

It was just a back pass that ALB made a mess of clearing, he wasn't under any pressure, he had time, he just mucked the clearance up, it was no big deal, they never scored, why try to blame anyone what's the problem.
Now there goal was a different kettle of fish, Big Ben or Ben or Super Big Ben or Super Duper Big Ben, dived in at the touchline on a challenge he was never going to win, conceded a free kick, got booked and guess what the scored off the resultant corner, and where was that nasty Barker when that ridiculous challenge was being made that caused the goal

The free kick sailed aimlessly over the bar ALB didn't touch it,
never a corner.
Who's fault was it, the tosser in black

[quote="LeicesterPoolie"]The free kick sailed aimlessly over the bar ALB didn't touch it,
never a corner.
Who's fault was it, the tosser in black [/quote

I've tried blaming the man in black in the past, they won't wear it, I've tried blaming the Physio at Yeovil, they don't like that either, but if Barker makes a mistake, well they just luv it

So is Barker beyond fault?

What does beyond fault mean
Everyone makes mistakes, but not everyone it seems is allowed to, anyone that is picked to play for Pools and is giving 100% will do for me, whether they are good enough or not is not the players fault, all they can do is try their best.
Now not too long ago because they didn't get on with the manager at the time, not all players were giving 100%, who benefited then
And no I'm not defending the manager at the time.

I just clarified that what was suggested may have been ALBs fault wasn't...it was Barkers.

He's allowed to make mistakes...but to ask somebody not to clarify who made the mistake is insane.

But Barker didn't make the fookin mistake, ALB screwed his clearance up, just because Barker passed it doesn't make it his fault!

I'm sorry, I appreciate the effort that Barker puts in.
I've gone on record as saying without him last season, we would have struggled to get
out of the 4th division.
I've defended him in the past and although I still appreciate his strength and his workrate
I think time is catching him up, he is not what we need in this division.

It catches up with all of us, but what do you suggest Barker does then, refuse to play?
Barker still has a part to play and I'm pleased there seemed to be genuine applause for his efforts when he was subbed and not sarcastic cheers cos he's playing for us after all.

You must be on a wind up? The backpass was short, I am not the only one who thinks so, it's even been mentioned by someone on another thread.

Or either I've gone bonkers.

We will see when/if it's shown in the highlights section on Pools World.

There will never be sarcastic cheers, from the genuine fans, because they appreciate what he has done for us. I take your point that he is not going to refuse to play, he is a good pro, but
surely his role now, is coming on towards the end of a game to help kill time after the game has been won. (by other, more mobile players)

Your post earlier sums the bloke up, how many strikers are in a position to be playing balls back to their keeper. He runs his bollocks of, but he can't do it for 90 minutes any more,
not in this league.

The way I saw the incident is that Barker should have wellied it away from goal. Lee-Barrett could have been on his toes a bit more though and his clearance might have been better..

The thing is, it didn't result in a goal so I'm not that worried about it.

That's more like it, nice one

the way i saw it, the back pass was short and should have been thumped clear given where he was and the amount of people in the box, lee-barrett slipped and then made a bit of a hash of it. the thing i found strange about it was that given LB was back in the team for the first time in ages, barker then had a big go at him. i thought that was sh*t craic and he should have held his hands up, told the lad to keep his head up and and get on with it. especially in his role as "model pro". also what was with him taking about 10 mins to get off the pitch when getting subbed?!

LB looked a bit edgy to start with and kicking not great but got stronger as the game went on. two saves in particular were top drawer, one from close range with about 10 mins to go where it looked like a dead cert for a goal, and another where he came out to edge of box and smothered the ball as someone tried to take it round him. i thought his performances was one of the plus points.

going back to a previous thread i thought we should have beaten them as they were very poor and offered nothing other than a few long ball punts. would have preferred to see both porter and brown on from the start, can only guess he's easy porter back in slowly after injury which makes sense, tho giving him only 5 mins doesn't. every time we broke with pace in the second half we looked dangerous and a full half at least of brown and porter (dare i say even matty who wasn't bad) would surely have got us another goal.

I have to say I'm disturbed by that - it's very bad for team spirit in a situation like that, where I would rather both players held their hands up and accepted part-blame rather than blame the other wholly, as seems to be the case.

I'm not blaming Barker cos it wasn't Barkers fault that's fair isn't it, ALB started waving his arms about blaming Barker, not Barker blaming ALB. Did you all see it on tele last night (soccernight) or were you all at spec savers, they all started laughing at the clearance and couldn't understand how ALB could blame anyone other than himself for a sliced clearance.

Didn't see the program, as I'm out of the area, but who exactly are 'they'
Any keepers amongst 'them'.

There is no way that ball should have gone back to ALB, which would have meant no sliced clearance
and sod all for anybody to laugh at, end of

I like matty robson, I know a lot of people slag him off but he brings something different to the team especially as a second half sub.