Give mair the start on Sunday.

[Dean Coneys boots 1,550]

I would give Mair the start on Sunday. He can’t be worse than Long and it would be a massive boost to his development if he plays well. If we have to have a keeper out of their depth- I would rather it was one with potential to improve! 

[NWC 328]

Can't see why not.

Long has got the experience but has not proved worthy. Let's give Mair a chance, he can't do much worse, and it will give him valuable experience to develop. 

[Google Bot 3,995]

He could do worse though, and then we'd end up with both backup keepers confidence being shot which isn't good for the backline.

If we have to endure Long for one more match, then so be it.  If Gunn was out longer, then I think giving Mair a try would make more sense. But for a one off match I think there's more risk than benefits personally.

I don't think Gunn is all that great to be honest, he's allowed shots to go through him as Long has and he's also not the most dominant keeper.  I think that just makes it even more disappointing that Long isn't able to push him for number one spot when coming in.

Edited October 22, 2024 by Google Bot

[Christoph Stiepermann 1,268]

I get why people are saying stuff like this because I don't rate Long either, although I do understand as a Championship club without parachute payments that we're not going to be able to bring in a no.2 who's much better who wouldn't want to expect more starts and want to be on more money. Gunn is one of the best GK's in the league and anyone good at this level will know they'll rarely get a game. 

But on the point with Mair or any of the other young GK's if there's anything you can't accuse our coaching staff of knowing about is whether any of our young players are ready. Thorup has spent his whole career working with young players, Paul Clements was really highly rated and we've also just brought in a very experienced GK coach from Arsenal and none of them have decided any of these young keepers are a better option than Long right now. Some might be better shot stoppers but what if they're not mature enough to deal with the pressure yet? Not just infront of fans but playing it out in front of fans? What if they get bullied during corners? What if they feel one bad game might ruin their confidence? Not every 19/20 year old is Max Aarons or Kellen Fisher, it takes some people longer to mature. There could be any number of reasons we don't know about. As Thorup has shown before with Fisher, Scwartau and Forsyth he will give young players a chance if he thinks they're ready, so I'm content to think there must be a good reason why none of the young GK's are being picked ahead of Long. 

Edited October 22, 2024 by Christoph Stiepermann

[Hucks6 189]

Should have Tom Krul as back up, But I suppose he left because of his wages. He still lives in Mulbarton 

[Branston Pickle 4,168]

6 minutes ago, Hucks6 said:

Should have Tom Krul as back up, But I suppose he left because of his wages. He still lives in Mulbarton 

Is he any relation to Tim? 

[Hucks6 189]

Fat fingers 

[Graham Paddons Beard 2,882]

Just now, Branston Pickle said:

Is he any relation to Tim? 

Yup. Second cousin. I knew his twin,  Tam, who played for Inverness and Kilmarnock. Nice chap. 

[Branston Pickle 4,168]

Easily done - the number of times I mentioned Jonny Rose last season was getting annoying! 

[If wed kept Howie.. 305]

why do all our keepers have to have 4 letter surnames.. Gunn, Long, Mair, Krul, Rose, Bunn, Rudd, Camp, Ward, Watt, Gunn snr..

at least back in the day we used to sometimes stretch to 5 letters... Green, Ruddy, Howie...

 

[GodlyOtsemobor 2,832]

1 hour ago, If wed kept Howie.. said:

why do all our keepers have to have 4 letter surnames.. Gunn, Long, Mair, Krul, Rose, Bunn, Rudd, Camp, Ward, Watt, Gunn snr..

at least back in the day we used to sometimes stretch to 5 letters... Green, Ruddy, Howie...

 

We've had some even longer... 

Gallacher, Crighton, Forster, Theoklitos, Marshall ( X2 ) 😉

[Satriales 1,049]

4 hours ago, GodlyOtsemobor said:

We've had some even longer... 

Gallacher, Crighton, Forster, Theoklitos, Marshall ( X2 ) 😉

It's just Theo these days. For some reason he changed his name. 

[TheGunnShow 7,469]

53 minutes ago, Satriales said:

It's just Theo these days. For some reason he changed his name. 

Probably couldn't find the klit.

[A K Narey 257]

8 hours ago, Graham Paddons Beard said:

Yup. Second cousin. I knew his twin,  Tam, who played for Inverness and Kilmarnock. Nice chap. 

His nephew Tum is a big lad who fills the goal, so could be worth a try! 😉

[Nuff Said 6,041]

9 hours ago, Hucks6 said:

Fat fingers 

Ideal qualification for a goalie. Are you any good? We could have an opportunity for you…

Edited October 23, 2024 by Nuff Said

[Jim Smith 2,641]

9 hours ago, Christoph Stiepermann said:

I get why people are saying stuff like this because I don't rate Long either, although I do understand as a Championship club without parachute payments that we're not going to be able to bring in a no.2 who's much better who wouldn't want to expect more starts and want to be on more money. Gunn is one of the best GK's in the league and anyone good at this level will know they'll rarely get a game. 

But on the point with Mair or any of the other young GK's if there's anything you can't accuse our coaching staff of knowing about is whether any of our young players are ready. Thorup has spent his whole career working with young players, Paul Clements was really highly rated and we've also just brought in a very experienced GK coach from Arsenal and none of them have decided any of these young keepers are a better option than Long right now. Some might be better shot stoppers but what if they're not mature enough to deal with the pressure yet? Not just infront of fans but playing it out in front of fans? What if they get bullied during corners? What if they feel one bad game might ruin their confidence? Not every 19/20 year old is Max Aarons or Kellen Fisher, it takes some people longer to mature. There could be any number of reasons we don't know about. As Thorup has shown before with Fisher, Scwartau and Forsyth he will give young players a chance if he thinks they're ready, so I'm content to think there must be a good reason why none of the young GK's are being picked ahead of Long. 

Paul Clements recommended Long. That says all you need to know about his judgment.

[Branston Pickle 4,168]

13 minutes ago, Jim Smith said:

Paul Clements recommended Long. That says all you need to know about his judgment.

And yours. He’s a goalkeeping expert. You’re a keyboard warrior.  I wonder whose ought to be considered as more valid…

 

Edited October 23, 2024 by Branston Pickle

[ridgeman 158]

Whilst I am not a big fan of Long he was left exposed on more than one occasion last night by some woeful defending. Surely someone on the coaching side could see their long early ball and organised the defence accordingly.

[Jim Smith 2,641]

7 minutes ago, Branston Pickle said:

And yours. He’s a goalkeeping expert. You’re a keyboard warrior.  I wonder whose ought to be considered as more valid…

 

I’ve seen enough of his goalkeeping to form an informed view. I’d venture to suggest that a majority of our supporters would side with my view over Clements. 

He may be great in training. He’s obviously a character the coaches like. But he’s a rubbish goalkeeper who doesn’t save things he should. 

[Branston Pickle 4,168]

6 minutes ago, Jim Smith said:

I’ve seen enough of his goalkeeping to form an informed view. I’d venture to suggest that a majority of our supporters would side with my view over Clements. 

He may be great in training. He’s obviously a character the coaches like. But he’s a rubbish goalkeeper who doesn’t save things he should. 

Oh, ok - well, supoorters are never wrong. Are they.

[Ken Hairy 4,319]

10 hours ago, Hucks6 said:

Fat fingers 

Perhaps we should put you in goal then, fat fingers could be helpful? 

Edited October 23, 2024 by Ken Hairy

[Capt. Pants 5,151]

2 minutes ago, Jim Smith said:

I’ve seen enough of his goalkeeping to form an informed view. I’d venture to suggest that a majority of our supporters would side with my view over Clements. 

He may be great in training. He’s obviously a character the coaches like. But he’s a rubbish goalkeeper who doesn’t save things he should. 

I think the point is our coaching team, who see and work with the squad everyday, can't think Mair or any other of our young keepers are ready yet. There must be a reason Thorup was happy for Long to have an extended contract.

There's certainly an element of blame on Long for all our recent goals conceded, but likewise our defending has been woeful with Fisher and Doyle particularly poor.

[Segura 101]

Got to love fan logic - give an untried kid who I imagine very few of us have seen play a start over a seasoned professional with over 200 games on his CV, just because he's let in a couple of soft goals whilst not being match sharp.

For all the criticism of Long I don't see too many people recommending a better and realistic Gk we could get in as second choice - whilst Stoke's GK has been impressive, there's no way he would here to be second choice.

[Pyro Pete 2,384]

Considering the club have just given Long a new three-year contract, the chances of him being dropped after two games are zero.

Edited October 23, 2024 by Pyro Pete

[Satriales 1,049]

I really hope Mair becomes a great player for us, but clearly they don't feel he is ready at the moment. Then again if Long gets injured, or sent off during a game, it's Mair's time to shine.

[shefcanary 3,074]

Given his opening 15 minutes last night, perhaps we should drop Cordoba too! If we're looking for a scapegoat, I have a track record of pointing the finger at Centre Backs! 😉 

[Google Bot 3,995]

9 minutes ago, Pyro Pete said:

Considering they club have just given Long a new three-year contract, the chances of him being dropped after two games are zero.

If Thorup felt it was the right call I don't think the contract would make any difference to be honest. 

He's pulled newly signed players mid-game due to their performances, plus Long himself must want to be pushing for the number one spot rather than just settling as a second rate/backup keeper.

[king canary 8,933]

17 hours ago, Google Bot said:

He could do worse though, and then we'd end up with both backup keepers confidence being shot which isn't good for the backline.

If we have to endure Long for one more match, then so be it.  If Gunn was out longer, then I think giving Mair a try would make more sense. But for a one off match I think there's more risk than benefits personally.

I don't think Gunn is all that great to be honest, he's allowed shots to go through him as Long has and he's also not the most dominant keeper.  I think that just makes it even more disappointing that Long isn't able to push him for number one spot when coming in.

Yeah I largely agree with this.

Long is absolute pony but from a psychological stand point dropping him for Mair here would be problematic to say the least, when Gunn is only expected to miss one more game and it risks Mair having a...mare, which as you say could leave us with two backs ups sharing zero confidence. 

[MC_NCFC 281]

13 hours ago, Satriales said:

It's just Theo these days. For some reason he changed his name. 

Changed it as he knew all good GKs have four letter surnames. 

[Christoph Stiepermann 1,268]

11 hours ago, Jim Smith said:

Paul Clements recommended Long. That says all you need to know about his judgment.

Possibly within the parameters of who would be available, cheap, would be happy to sit on the bench most games, be competent with the ball at his feet and a good influence in the dressing room. He's not good enough for the Championship, you won't hear me argue that, but neither are most Championship backup keepers that's why they do the role they do. Most of them would be solid competition at a L1 club but for some they prefer being clear backup at a higher level for whatever reason. We've also been a bit spoiled with GK's for as long as I can remember and some of our no.2's have been pretty good as well but those that were either moved on quickly if they couldn't dislodge the no.1 or were here when we were a PL/parachute payment Championship club which we aren't anymore. 

He's a poor shot stopper which means he's a total liability, but then you have someone like McGovern who was a good shot stopper but a total liability when it came to commanding his box with corners or crosses. Mark Bunn always had a clanger in him and didn't make any save you wouldn't expect him to make, Rudd was injured half the time, Lee Camp was shocking in every game he played, Nyland the same, we were lucky we never had to stick Stuart Nelson in goal either etc. I've also seen us play plenty of Championship games against clubs missing their first choice GK and thinking that their keeper is poor. It's just where we are right now, a  good Championship GK isn't going to come here for low wages and sit on the bench all season and if the young GK's aren't ready then they aren't ready. Let's just hope Gunn is back sooner than expected.