Hladky

[Shed on tour]

That cushioned touch with the ball when way out of goal in the 1st half was unbelievable. Better first time control than some of the outfield players. Think us Town fans just looked on in awe.

[Ricco]

Absolutely unbelievable. And knowing the consequences if he gets it a little bit wrong, shows the confidence the man has and confidence is the number one thing for how good a goalkeeper is!!

[valleyroad]

Hladky was the best goalkeeper St Mirren had since the early 80s when we had 2 guys Billy Thomson and Campbell Money who were both class keepers.
He's improved since being at St Mirren. He's more aggressive on cross balls and makes his presence felt a lot more than he did when at St Mirren. Struggled a touch with this when first coming into the Championship, bit like De Gea at ManU when he arrived. Ipswich have really worked on that part of his game.
His shot stopping is top drawer and his is superb with the ball at his feet.
Well able for Premiership. Was really surprised when Old Firm never went for him in Scotland when his contact ran down at St Mirren.

[Andym]

To think he looked scared to have the ball at his feet at the start of the season, now he looks more than comfortable.
And as ValleyRoad says, he is much better at coming for crosses now. I still think he could command the area a bit further, but the two weaknesses have improved so much.

[Bluemike]

Our best keeper by far

[Ricco]

Our best keeper by far

Hear hear.

It makes me even more angry to think he was only given 5 League starts before being dropped to a Walton panic buy (I believe, and not bashing Walton), and it makes me even more amazed that at his age, and with his talent, he stuck with us. He completely deserves what is going on at the moment, he's done enough already to guarantee that he will play the rest of his career at the level he deserves.

As for commanding his area, all goalkeepers struggle with that and even some at the very highest level really struggle with it, it is the hardest part of the game by far, shot stopping is the easiest (though even Onana can't do that).

[shabba]

Our best keeper by far

Hear hear.

It makes me even more angry to think he was only given 5 League starts before being dropped to a Walton panic buy (I believe, and not bashing Walton), and it makes me even more amazed that at his age, and with his talent, he stuck with us. He completely deserves what is going on at the moment, he's done enough already to guarantee that he will play the rest of his career at the level he deserves.

As for commanding his area, all goalkeepers struggle with that and even some at the very highest level really struggle with it, it is the hardest part of the game by far, shot stopping is the easiest (though even Onana can't do that).

He was not brilliant those 5 games, but the team was not either and KM hadn't come in an worked his magic on us/him at that point.

On a side note........Ben Foster was saying recently that he thinks most premier league GK's would struggle in the lower leagues, yes they'd make saves but he said EVERY freekick anywhere inside your half is coming into the box - with a bunch of lumpy large players attacking you/it. You don't see that as much at the higher level, we rarely deliver a freekick in as a cross like that unless its very close to goal and even then it could be a along the floor cutback.

[Ricco]

He was not brilliant those 5 games, but the team was not either and KM hadn't come in an worked his magic on us/him at that point.

He wasn't, but good grief, 5 games, really?! He conceded two in each of those games, granted, but then Walton came in and conceded 5 in his first match

It's just different for keepers in my experience/opinion, they need games to settle. Outfield players can hide a bit, particularly forwards and are allowed to make far more mistakes before they are criticised.

On a side note........Ben Foster was saying recently that he thinks most premier league GK's would struggle in the lower leagues, yes they'd make saves but he said EVERY freekick anywhere inside your half is coming into the box - with a bunch of lumpy large players attacking you/it. You don't see that as much at the higher level, we rarely deliver a freekick in as a cross like that unless its very close to goal and even then it could be a along the floor cutback.

He's completely right about the differences, though most PL goalkeepers are more than talented enough to adjust quickly enough I'm sure, he's probably wrong about that, but some would struggle as they just don't like it up 'em.

Every level of football can be distinctly different, even at the levels I was playing at. When at a decent standard, the game is far easier to read and is more predictable, the ball comes off the boot as the player means it and they conduct themselves professionally. Crosses can be taken above attackers heads, shots are from the edge of the area, or outside the area, and come at pace (which is far far easier to deal with), attacks are swift, crisp and you have space to work, you defend space and use your angles. At poor levels, the game is completely different, especially if the conditions are poor. No team can attack with pace, so you end up with play slowly moving forward, followed by the whole ball chasing team, who don't even have the tallent to get the ball about chest height. You're then wallowing around on the ground against a box full of fat lumps who slice and scuff the ball more often than they connect, and feel no remorse if one of their flabby, talentless stumps send you to the hospital. It's horrible and the reason I stopped playing, if I can't commit enough time to playing and therefore play at a decent level, then I won't play. Playing without protection against useless thugs and ending up like Cech or worse is not enjoyable. I'm guess what I'm saying is there are many forms of football and it takes a keeper a run games to adjust to a certain form.