Joey

This Kennet lad is prolific so I've only had a look through his tweets from the last week, but I can't find anything about Reina. Be interesting to see what he's said. He comes across as a bulls***ter with a spreadsheet though.

Leadership thing could be massive. I'm convinced that the 09/10 fall from grace was mostly caused by losing Hyypia and Alonso. Carragher's gone, Reina's probably going, and Suarez could go. I know Luis isn't your typical Butcher-style leader, but he's a winner, and that sets a great example to the rest of the team. I think it was Sean Rogers on the Anfield Wrap who talked about how Carra's will to win in training is ridiculous. Apart from Gerrard, I can't think of anyone in the squad that applies to if Pepe and Suarez leave.

Exactly. The last thing you want is a keeper greeting every situation with the thought "what if the player with the ball does something out of this world?". He'd go mad and never leave his line. We got done by an exceptional piece of skill. Sometimes you have to take it on the chin.

I remember a Chairman of some small-ish Spanish club saying that just because a Real Madrid goal is shown on telly 40 times, it doesn't mean they've scored 40 goals. There's a danger we're amplifying Reina's mistakes and not paying attention to MIgnolet's because we naturally pay more attention to the former.

Was it the warm up?

Aye. Sad to see him go, and I'm still not convinced that Mignolet's the better keeper, but if Roger's has made his mind up, there's no point keeping Pepe on the bench. If Cudicini's anything to go by, he'd be useless in six months.

Have you got a link for the Downing stuff? I've had a suspicion for a while that he'd be the sort of player that Rafa would rate.

I agree that he doesn't make the full-stretch saves that he used to, and he has made a few errors recently that he wouldn't have made in years gone by. I just think that the importance of that part of a goalkeeper's game is overstated. And though he's playing poorly by his own standards, there's no reason to think he can't regain his earlier form, and there's a lot of reasons to think that Mignolet won't be able to handle the step up. And seeing as I'm banging on and I've already put my foot in it: you should look in to coaching. You clearly have a desire to learn about football and to question orthodoxy.

On Pepe: Shot-stopping is over-rated, and mistakes when attempting to save a shot play a far bigger part of people's perception of a GK's worth than they should do. Reina was - and still is - one of the best keepers ever. He rarely makes the showy, fingertip saves that Cech makes. But his long distribution, and his ability to sweep, are better than anything I've ever seen. He also puts his c**k-ups behind him within seconds: James and Dudek would carry them with them for months. Mignolet might be better, but who knows? I doubt James, Freidel, Kirkland, or Dudek looked s*** for whoever we signed them from. As you pointed out, Mignolet is a lot busier than Pepe. But there's nowhere near the scrutiny on a Sunderland keeper as there is on an LFC keeper. Could he handle the beach-ball incident being played for a month on SSN? Being the laughing stock of the country for a month even though there was nothing he could have done about it? We don't know until happens and by then we could be stuck with either playing a keeper whose lost all confidence or Brad f***ing Jones.

I'm glad. Statistical posts like yours can be very insightful. I hope my s***ting on your first effort doesn't stop you producing more. I'm part of the goalkeeper's union so I get unreasonably agitated when Pepe's discussed.

Sorry that I was so rude. I genuinely was impressed with the effort that went in to your post. I disagreed with the content, but made an a*** of making that point in a civil manner.

I'm afraid you're right. I had a point I wanted to make - which I'm not sure warranted making - and I made it badly.

Jesus Rory, the effort that's gone in to that is incredibly impressive. I'm afraid I don't think it's as insightful as you hoped it would be.

Pretty much, yeah. I honestly think he hasn't been that bad, just not as good as he was for the three or four years after he signed. And some of the stuff he's been slated for hasn't been his fault. The criticism after the City game was ridiculous. He did the right thing and got done by a piece of incredible skill. Why does it have to be irreversible decline? He's not old for a keeper and if it's losing Valero that's the problem, signing a new keeper won't make a difference,

Brendan Rodgers = a div Lads in the office = infallible football geniuses Stick the stats up.

Has he really been that bad? I know there's been a few more but the two 'mistakes' I remember are the goal against Arsenal in Hodgson's first game when the ball came out of the sun and the City game this year when Aguero(?) scored from a ridiculous angle. Neither were a sign of an incompetent keeper. He's also been slated for his ability to play the short ball under Rodgers, but I reckon that's as much to do with the full-backs not getting in to the right positions.

Haha! I hope to f*** to not. TBH I applaud them trying to wring every penny of value out of what they spend. It's the only way we'll get back in the Champion's League without two or three of the teams above us all turning to s*** at the same time. Just don't think there's any value in getting shut off Reina. He did. We're not in the position to carry to a mediocre keeper. They were.

The club seems to going down the path of 'value'. If Reina's wages are what's reported then I can see why they'd want to bring in someone cheaper. If they think Mignolet's more cost-effective, then fair enough if that means an improvement elsewhere in the squad. Experience tells me that finding a decent keeper is very hard and the savings are unlikely to cover the cost of signing someone who makes up for the drop in quality between the nets.

Someone made the point earlier that we seem to ruin keepers (though I'm not sure how much he saw of Freidel at Columbus Crew). I think it's more that it's a huge step up. You might have less to do, but you're under extreme scrutiny. If you throw it in the back of the net for Sunderland you've only got the locals questioning you. If you do it for Liverpool, it must seem like the whole country is questioning your ability. James and Dudek both buckled under the pressure of becoming a national talking point. For all the mistakes Reina's made, he's never let that get to him. It's one of the many things I admire about him.

It's not an entirely coherent article, but there is a point to be made about the relative cost of English players compared to foreigners. Where I think he goes wrong, is by putting it down to greed: the Championship is one the wealthiest leagues in Europe and the teams are playing for a place in the wealthiest league in Europe. It's perfectly rational for them to want more money to compensate them for losing a good player. In most cases they don't need the money as badly, and letting them go means they have less chance of reaching the Premier League gravy train. Not sure about what he's saying on Coates. He was partly bought for potential, partly to be 4th/3rd choice. Carra's form held up and neither Agger or Skrtel got injured, so he didn't get he opportunities. It's unfortunate for him but not the end of the world for us either.

I'm more worried about replacing Reina than Suarez. In the last twenty years we've almost always had a top-class striker (Fowler, Owen., Torres, then Suarez) but Reina is the first decent keeper we've had since Grobbelaar. United and Arsenal.have both had the same problem. I also think Reina's decline has been overstated. He seemed infallible for a while, so it;s understandable that people think there's a problem when he makes a mistake but he's still very, very good. Cech had a similar drop in form after he banged his head but seems seems to be back to something like his best.

He'd look boss on Match of the Day. Then we could all blame Ayres for not signing him when we had the chance.

They do have the ball. And occasionally score. Valdes isn't judged on what he does when Barca are knocking it about in midfield for hours on end.

Not sure I understand you're point. Seeing as I didn't make any effort to expand on my own, I'll do it now. If you play for someone s**** - like Stoke, or Newcastle - as a goalkeeper you'll see a lot more of the ball. More chance to make saves that look good on telly - though that's not your aim - and more chance that when you have to make a save, you're not doing it cold. Keeper's normally get raved about because they a make a series of spectacular saves for some mediocre team against a big club - that isn't the life of a Liverpool GK. Begovic might be a great replacement for Reina, but to judge him you need to see him every week. One thing to consider though: everyone's rightly concerned about losing Suarez, but over that last 20 years we've had more seasons with a s*** goalie than with a s*** main striker. The same goes for United and - especially - Arsenal.