Barnsley fans' view of what attributes a good goalkeeper needs... Positioning? NO Reflexes? NO Handling? NO Punching? NO Communication? NO Kicking? YES
Similar thoughts could be made about midfielders. Passing, composure, shooting, creativity, dribbling, not required. Pointing, running around absolute necessities.
Fill in handling, position, and communication YES. Luke Steele is poor at them too. All these are needed in commanding a area.
All of the above. Kicking is noticed though because it's quite a basic attribute. Like teaching a swimmer to breathe.
I don't think Steele's kicking is as bad as made out by some. Certainly can't remember it costing us a goal (ala Schmeichel). I remember Butland's being very similar. But like Jack, Luke has some terrific assets for a keeper and considering he's playing at present with injections into his back, I think he's been the only faultless player since Danny returned. Oh, and Bobby Hassell.
As an ex-goalkeeper, who played at quite a decent standard, I'd like to point out that this thread is too dull to comment on. This is pretty obvious as Jay got involved.
This post did raise a smile and to an extent I agree with the sentiment...Reds fans are overly critical at times, particularly of long standing players where we tend to focus on the bad points and ignore the overwhelming positives (Nicky Eaden being an obvious example) However, Steele's kicking does annoy me I've got to admit. You can't teach agility, or reflexes or bravery or speed of reaction which Steele undoubtedly has in abundance. I would think though, with the amount of time footballer spend on the training pitch that you can teach (or at least significantly improve) kicking. Steele even appears to be a reasonable footballer, his touch is usually decent but I've lost count of the number of times he's found touch from a kick, even from dead balls. There's no excuse in my opinion and one of those bugbears, like players hitting the first man from a cross, that really irritate me.
" players hitting the first man from a cross, that really irritate me. " Watching our games must be murder for you mate.
Yup. You know it's bad when you're not only in a bad mood coming away from Oakwell but it's actually putting you off the sport. If it wasn't for the Bovril I'd have jacked it all in years ago. "Because I'm happy"
Hehe, I'm depressed beforehand, incredulous during, and angry afterwards. A bit like sex with the wife.
Do you think his back problem might have something to do with it? I know he's never been good at kicking, so that wasn't always to blame, but it could be the reason he hasn't improved and may in fact be getting worse. Don't know if you went on Saturday, but he was clearly struggling. There was that free kick he took in the first, right over by the dead ball line. All he had to do was kick the ball to the right, but he some how managed to kick it left and found touch. Pretty funny. That may just have been a mistake, but what happened towards the end of the second half wasn't. He was grimacing when kicking it and even had to get one of the defenders to take a goal kick. He's not just struggling with his aim, he's having problems kicking it at all.
I didn't go on Saturday (not a real fan) so can't comment on that. You could be right though, a back problem certainly wouldn't help as the distance of kicks does require full body exertion. I'm sure his poor kicking pre-dates this injury though. Overall I think he's a decent goalkeeper and I think his qualities are often overlooked. We were lucky that we had someone of Butlands quality to come in because ordinarily we'd be looking at the 'Alnwick' standard as a replacement and I think we really would miss Steele in that event. Can't knock him for not being 6 foot 6 or built like a house, so I give him the benefit of the doubt when it comes to him being outmuscled at set pieces but as I said, his kicking does annoy me.
Chuckling. The conversation with ar lass is the same every other weekend. "Why do you bother if it's so depressing?", "Why don't we go to Meadowhall instead". It's the same when we talk about football as well. Guffaw.
I used to be a goal keeper but could never kick. All my other attributes have now disappeared, so I am currently trying to attain a size of 8 feet tall by 8 yards wide, which will mean I'm impregnable. I'm struggling with the height but the width bit is coming along nicely.
