Ruddy

[alysha 0]

[quote user="G"]What level have people played at then? Just curious after looking at this disscussion. I think your right in some cases worrying about your keeper may put doubt and worry in your mind but it shouldn''t affect your performance in a bad way should spur you on to do better imo. Never played in defence though.[/quote]

 

Well, when I younger (around middle school age) I played for a girls team called Red Rose - I played in two different age groups so sometimes played one game after the other. I then got scouted and played for Norwich in the Norfolk Youth Games and from that got asked to join the Norwich City Girls Academy. Unfortunately, this was around the time I had just started high school and I turned them down and stopped playing football for a club all together, as I wanted to see my friends at the weekend instead of committing myself to playing football; I sort of regret that now.

 

I played in central midfield, and can''t remember how much faith I had in our goalkeeper, so despite the high levels I played at as a 12 year old [;)], I can''t relate my experiences to our outfield players and John Ruddy [:)]

[chicken 0]

Hmmm.

I represented my middleschool, high school and university as well as teams in the christian league, evening news as high as 2b and probably my highest level at Wymondham Town. Due to work I now play friendly league.

I am not entirely sure how that will make my opinion worth more or less than anyone elses but there you go.

What I will say is that if you have an incredibly cack keeper or at least one you know is not that great you constantly play with the fear that any shot, no matter how good, stands a chance of going in or at least causing problems. This can lead to quite dire footy at the back, players not listening to keepers calls for fear he will fluff it up and taking matters into their own hands.

Ruddy is not in that league. You only need to look at the players response to him to see that.

Another thing that is quite often vastly underestimated is the quality of a keepers kicking and distribution. The team I run occupationally has a keeper play who has played at a reasonably high level and you can tell. His kicks not only have distance but accuracy as well.

This adds to a teams belief in a keeper because you want to know that ball can be gotten rid of if needs be and accurately if possible.

From what I have seen of Ruddy, if nothing else his kicking and distribution is at least as good as Forsters if not better.

As for who is better - I would say they are on a par. I say that because Fraser is third choice at Newcastle at the moment and yet other than Celtic no one else has apparently shown a great interest in him. To me that is quite telling.

Not nessisarily in a direct comparison but to those that are saying he is miles better than Ruddy. If you look at the teams that were after a keeper this summer: Man Utd, Aston Villa and Swansea for starters. None of them were apparently interested in Forster, nor were Leeds.

So to me that would suggest that Forster is on an even pegging with Ruddy at this point. Forster remember, has experienced one season in League 1 and one season in the Scottish prem.

Ruddy has experienced one season in the Championship and one in the Scottish prem. Pretty even in terms of experience.

Pretty even overall for me. The biggest issue is that if we signed FF we would have two keepers of almost an identical age with another young keeper not far off really being in contention to push Ruddy all the way and who is rumoured to have great potential.

Ideally you would have a more experienced back up to Ruddy, say Maik Taylor or someone of a similar ilk who would help behind the scenes and be an experienced back up should he be needed.