Jump to content
Sign in to follow this  
Canary Jedi

Ruddy's weakness

Recommended Posts

One thing that''s bothered me about Ruddy for a while...

When Bunn came in for Ruddy last time in the prem, Bunn was beaten a lot by shots just inside the posts. I expected Ruddy to be better once he came back due to his extra height, thinking this would give him a longer reach.

However I see shots inside the post as his main weakness. Yes he can stop shots that are near him, but you don''t often see him diving full stretch and tipping them round the post, in the way say Andy Marshall used to (or Bryan Gunn!)

The goal conceded vs Sunderland shows this. Ok he saw it late but it was not exactly a pile driver. Hopefully my fear will be unfounded. Anyone else have this concern?

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
Careful, you''ll have the John Ruddy brigade spitting feathers.

He''s a good keeper, but not as good as some Norwich fans like to make out. Don''t get me wrong I think we would struggle to do much better than Ruddy, but at the same time I can see why he''s not in the England set up.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
[quote user="Canary Jedi"]One thing that''s bothered me about Ruddy for a while...

When Bunn came in for Ruddy last time in the prem, Bunn was beaten a lot by shots just inside the posts. I expected Ruddy to be better once he came back due to his extra height, thinking this would give him a longer reach.

However I see shots inside the post as his main weakness. Yes he can stop shots that are near him, but you don''t often see him diving full stretch and tipping them round the post, in the way say Andy Marshall used to (or Bryan Gunn!)

The goal conceded vs Sunderland shows this. Ok he saw it late but it was not exactly a pile driver. Hopefully my fear will be unfounded. Anyone else have this concern?[/quote]

No.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
I hadn''t noticed this as a weakness - but every player has them. Still a top keeper in my opinion, and a reassuring presence between the sticks.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
The guy completely shanked his shot off a shin yesterday, it was spinning and came through players - think we can give Ruddy a bit of a break for that one.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
He''s just sooo...slow at getting down to shots and has been now for a couple of seasons. He looks to me like he could do with losing a stone in weight.

The goal he conceded yesterday resembled the bizarre 35 yard half-hit free kick that bobbled past him in the pre-season friendly in Germany.

If he wore a cap it might help - he could throw it on the ball to greater effect than he seems to get through diving these days!!

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
Goalkeepers are never infallible, even the best have at least one weak area. Palace fans would probably have been saying something similar after Redmond''s goal last week.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Mr Angry wrote "Goalkeepers are never infallible, even the best have at least one weak area."

Very true, but if you were Ruddy and knew you were a little slow at getting down to shots surely you''d lose a few pounds of excess wouldn''t you?!

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
We''ll let you tell him he needs to lose weight Ruthers!

He could have done better for the goal but watching it back you can see it almost deflects off a player and he just hesitates fractionally in case it does. Another day it does deflect and he looks great because he makes that slight change. Yesterday he didn''t . Just how it goes.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
If shots outside the post were his weakness, we''d be in real trouble.

Our backup did quite well the few times he played for us, and had good loan spells.

We won the game quite handily. Enjoy it.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
i have no concerns with john, we are lucky to have him and if people watched him over 90 minutes they would see he produces some excellent saves. it always seems to be people with a lack of goalkeeping knowledge that like to criticise him. there is more to good goalkeeping than just saving shots.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
the commentator on MOTD said ''''its gone in''''...implying that it was flukey, cant blame Ruddy for that. However i believe, with no stats to back it up, that JR is prone to spilling shots that he could be reasonably expected to collect. I could well be wrong, just what i believe.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
Some good points above. Of course he is a good keeper, and yes we are lucky to have him. I think he is a formidable presence in the area which the opposition take note of...however...

To be clear it is not just about the Sunderland game - anyone can make a one off mistake. It was the Sunderland game that brought this thought to the surface again. My concern comes from seeing him over a number of seasons and 90 minute games (not just the highlights).

I hope he proves that my concern is unfounded this season and regularly pulls of saves from shots either side of him and not just the ones within his reach!

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

He has recently pulled some some excellent savers to shots along the ground towards the corner.

This was a strange one. He obviously moved late, as he was unsighted, and a mishit shot which bounced more than once is a difficult shot to assess for a keeper.

If you have to blame anyone, who failed to mark Watmore? He was in acres of space. I can see why AN was furious.

It''s another goal conceded from a set piece or cross, and players going missing.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
Not at all, I repeat that we are lucky to have him. This is a discussion forum right?

If he leaps like a salmon and claws one round the post at the weekend I''ll be delighted. I hope he has it in him :-)

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
[quote user="Canary Jedi"]I am :-) doesn''t mean my brain switches off ;-)[/quote]

So you''re actually claiming to have one??

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
[quote user="ruthers1"]He''s just sooo...slow at getting down to shots and has been now for a couple of seasons. He looks to me like he could do with losing a stone in weight.

The goal he conceded yesterday resembled the bizarre 35 yard half-hit free kick that bobbled past him in the pre-season friendly in Germany.

If he wore a cap it might help - he could throw it on the ball to greater effect than he seems to get through diving these days!![/quote]

Are you for real? Do you think AN would be playing him in goal if he was a stone overweight. This is not your Sunday morning pub team you are talking about.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
Ruddy''s positioning is normally very good which in turn means he rarely needs to dive full length to stop shots. he''s a big guy so getting down low will be more difficult for him than say Bunn who couldn''t take high balls in the way Ruddy does.

He makes some very good one on one saves due to his presence and he anticipates well, I was his biggest critic when he first played for us - remember Watford and Leicester -as he appeared to have defects in his technique. There are not too many keepers in the country I would have in his place now though.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Thanks "The Great Drinkell" for a well reasoned and intelligent response.

And it''s a very good point. I was beginning to wonder if sensible discussion is prohibited here ;-)

You could be right. I''m also sure he had learned a lot from his last Premier League experience where out of nowhere someone can produce shots of quality far in excess of the Championship.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
Some points for you.

Strikers are encouraged to go for the top or bottom corners. Logic dictates that these are the hardest places for a keeper to reach.

Strikers are also encouraged to try and shoot far post - this is because the keeper should be positioned near to the near post and be almost unbeatable there. However this means the far post could be well beyond their reach. Plus a shot across them is harder to catch and a save could fall at the feet of an attacker - as per Martin''s goal.

Finally, another thing that strikers often practice is hitting shots that bounce just infront of the keeper. It can throw them as a shot with swerve and power can bounce unpredictably. Either way if the keeper sees it early he may be tempted off his line and try and catch it before its bounec or they try and predict the bounce.

I''d hardly describe it as a weakness! Most penalties are scored in that way.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
Ha ha yes chicken I realise the fault in my logic: "that''s why strikers shoot there!"

The only thing is sometimes we are in games where the opposition keeper pulls off miraculous saves. Was it MacGreggor who was like superman against us once?

Ruddy - and I will put this on the record - HE IS AWESOME AND WE ARE LUCKY TO HAVE HIM ... Now for the but ... How many times have we heard it said "If it wasn''t for your goally..."

There are some - remember away vs Liverpool under Lambert where he pulled off an awesome last minute save? (From Saurez I think)

But the shot was central not in the corner ;-)

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

[quote user="Canary Jedi"]Ha ha yes chicken I realise the fault in my logic: "that''s why strikers shoot there!" The only thing is sometimes we are in games where the opposition keeper pulls off miraculous saves. Was it MacGreggor who was like superman against us once? Ruddy - and I will put this on the record - HE IS AWESOME AND WE ARE LUCKY TO HAVE HIM ... Now for the but ... How many times have we heard it said "If it wasn''t for your goally..." There are some - remember away vs Liverpool under Lambert where he pulled off an awesome last minute save? (From Saurez I think) But the shot was central not in the corner ;-)[/quote]

 

Alan McGegor may have had a great game against us but he had a stinker yesterday. Ruddy has had many games where he''s made match winning saves (Cardiff away was one of them) just because he''s let one in where he was unsighted does not mean he has a weakness for shots in the corner. You are being hypercritical.

 

 

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
There have been quite a number of occasions where Ruddy has been singled out as one of the key reasons that we have picked up points before now.

For those sorts of comments you are best off speaking to opposition supporters or folk who are more objective.

The thing is, one of the key aspects of a goalkeepers game is keeping hold of the ball. This may sound silly but how many keepers do you see flap at things? Push the ball away rather than catch it?

Ruddy is damned good at holding onto stuff. He is good at taking hold of crosses.

However the one thing I always say to my strikers - HARD AND LOW!

Any keeper will struggle to get down quickly.

If the only way Ruddy is being beaten is by shots to the corners then he is doing everything right so far as I am concerned. It is then down to the defenders to make hitting those corners harder.

Ruddy may well not be world class, but I ask you to name three English keepers better than him. Hart is one, but there is no way in hell that Foster is better than him.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
Sign in to follow this  

×
×
  • Create New...