Get behind Ricardo!

[purpleronnie]

Our record of results since he's been in goal will doubtless speak for itself.

Some of our fans recognise that he's not good enough and others clearly don't bother to look, or blindly believe in whatever Sven puts in front of them.

Which is anyone but Weale when he gets the chance.

How Kirkland ever got selected, given his blatant lack of fitness to perform properly, I will never know.

And now we have another bloke who is totally unconvincing to me, and way below the level of goalkeeper we'll need to be successful.

Trouble is, even if Sven finally saw the light, I wonder if Weale would be sharp enough to return and whether he'd be on a hiding to nothing whatever happened.

Sven has created a weak situation out of nothing, a mistake which, though not the only one, has badly, perhaps fatally, affected our drive for promotion this season.

[lcfc81]

Communication error.

Bamba should be looking to head the ball high, not head a flat cross. In fact, Ricardo would have punched it further.

Why do people just keep blaming Ricardo? He did nothing wrong today.

If he wouldn't have come and Nugent would have scored, everyone would still be blaming him.

Weale is no better. Good teams have good goalkeeepers - QPR (Kenny), Nottingham Forest (Camp), Cardiff (Marhsall) etc. We haven't got one.

The question surely is why is bamba heading the ball when ricardo is going to punch?

In reality (although I've not seen it back) it looked like a cross that should have been pretty easily caught.

Either Bamba got no call and had to head it (then the keeper should be on the line making the shot more difficult through all the players.)

Or He got a call and just does not trust ricardo (a very dangerous thing in any football team).

Either way its not a great indiciment of Ricardo.

I try to like Ricardo and give him a chance, I would never boo him either. It seems to me though that none of the players trust him, any time it goes anywhere near the goal they are desperately jumping in trying to stop a shot. (the Norwich penalty, the header from the throw-in before Portsmouth goal yesterday)

He never comes of his line to close the angle down (Norwich and Coventry goals)

The other thing that plays on my mind is when has he pulled off an unbelivealbe save to keep us in the game? Not very frequently.

The last few home games I have thought that attacking wise we have started ok, then we let a cheap goal in and the whole team looks deflated. King and Wellens had a go at him for his distribution in a game not long ago, bamba was not happy with him yesterday, Bruma comes out not happy with him on Foxes Player. I ask myself when was the last time the players showed such discontent to a keeper? and I seriously can't remember.

[tomtom]

I really want Ricardo to succeed but he was at fault for the goal yesterday,... for all his mishaps though that's been the first one that directly led to a goal

[Fox92]

Either Bamba got no call and had to head it (then the keeper should be on the line making the shot more difficult through all the players.)

Or He got a call and just does not trust ricardo (a very dangerous thing in any football team).

I'm not sure.

And the thing is there were 4 different nationalities between goalkeeper and defence yesterday and although they may all talk English, is it good enough? Some might think that's a dopey comment but I'm still convinced that 4 different nationalitites is dangerous, considering Ricardo has never played in England before.

I really want Ricardo to succeed but he was at fault for the goal yesterday,... for all his mishaps though that's been the first one that directly led to a goal

Bamba is just as much to blame as Ricardo is for the Portsmouth goal.

[Bob Weasel Fox]

ricardo obviously isnt very good - however we must always get behind our players

[acooling08]

Yesterday I saw one team who had a keeper who had just tipped away a bullet header over the bar, and one team with a 3ft 4 keeper who came out and missed the ball.

If Pompey didn't take the lead then the game could have been so different.

I almost want Ricardo to make a blinding error now to open everybody's eyes (SVEN) to how bad he is and get Weale back!!!

[Bob Weasel Fox]

ricardo looks like a mini-me version of Owen Coyle

[The Doctor]

i agree with Fox92 - communication was a problem, which is why i think ricardo's good (well better than usual) performance at scunthorpe was, in part at least, having vitor in front of him, someone he could communicate with easier.

[Kitchandro]

Many people, myself included, are not denying the part Bamba/Bruma played in the decisive cock-up but the goalkeeper should rule the penalty box with authority and yesterday was just the latest example of that not happening.

The fact that others were involved in the mistake doesn't make it any less of a mistake by Ricardo. Wasn't it the last home game he was double punching a ball he should have caught, something he repeated less dramatically yesterday.

Basically he dominates nothing in the air and opponents are going to play on that as Portsmouth did. Result, 1-0 to them. How much more emphaticly do you need a point to be rammed home?

Exactly.

How can anyone say he did nothing wrong yesterday?

Had he stayed on his line, or caught it, or punched it properly, it wouldn't have been a goal. Of course that was his fault.

[The Doctor]

Exactly.

How can anyone say he did nothing wrong yesterday?

Had he stayed on his line, or caught it, or punched it properly, it wouldn't have been a goal. Of course that was his fault.

and had bamba let him catch/punch it rather than heading it away from him, it wouldn't have been a goal.

[Kitchandro]

and had bamba let him catch/punch it rather than heading it away from him, it wouldn't have been a goal.

1. He was coming through not just Bamba, but a Portsmouth player as well. There was no way he would have caught it.

2. There was no way he would have caught it

3. He can't catch.

4. Catching is not his strong point

etc.

Plus, if in doubt, you should always deal with it yourself. It wasn't a great header but Ricardo should have stayed on his line. Then it wouldn't have been a goal.

You are just being biased cos you feel sorry for Ricardo.

He did the wrong thing. If you come out of your goal, you catch it, or punch it well away from goal, yes?

It was clearly his fault.

[Mack]

Our record of results since he's been in goal will doubtless speak for itself.

Some of our fans recognise that he's not good enough and others clearly don't bother to look, or blindly believe in whatever Sven puts in front of them.

Which is anyone but Weale when he gets the chance.

How Kirkland ever got selected, given his blatant lack of fitness to perform properly, I will never know.

And now we have another bloke who is totally unconvincing to me, and way below the level of goalkeeper we'll need to be successful.

Trouble is, even if Sven finally saw the light, I wonder if Weale would be sharp enough to return and whether he'd be on a hiding to nothing whatever happened.

Sven has created a weak situation out of nothing, a mistake which, though not the only one, has badly, perhaps fatally, affected our drive for promotion this season.

This is absolutely spot on.

Fixed something that was not broken with an inept player. Got to say it's been a bad error of judgment.

[tomtom]

ricardo looks like a mini-me version of Owen Coyle

That's it !!!!!!!!

I've been trying to think who he reminds me of

[Lisburn Fox]

I agree get behind Ricardo! so next time he proves he can't catch a ball we have someone on the line next time : ),

I'm not on a downer as the season started so badly if you would have offered survival in Oct we would of taken it. I do think this defeat reomves the small chance we had of sneaking inti the top six. Mainly due to the fact that it is unlikely that all the results will go our way again, like they did yesterday. had we won we would have been 7th and teams would be wary of us in the run in.

[somebum]

As with all Sven's thinking, its about a decade out of date. The world according to Sven "This guy saved penalties against us when I coached England - he is available! He is a fantastic goalie"

Newsflash you clown, clocks tick.

[acooling08]

It's so hard to get behind a player who is fvcking shit.

I really want Ricardo to do well, but the more I see of him, the less and less confident I get.

[CupidStunt]

Ricardo has shown us he flaps about more than a 90 year old's prostitutes fanny

i find it unbelievable a keeper with his record and number of caps for Portugal cant catch a ball

we cant all be wrong, i just wish the ****er would break a finger or summat

[Donut]

Its not fair for Ricardo to shoulder all the blame....he cant defend from the front (Yakubu) he cant affect the game going forwards (ok well maybe marginally).

BUT

The fact is, he is looking more and more like a weakness and teams clearly know this by aiming every throw in, corner and free kick at him, pressuring him knowing he isnt going to come and catch the ball, they know he will punch and most probably pick up an easy second ball on the edge of the box or even worse the ball will fall to an attacker to tap in.

The communication aspect is an issue no doubt

Wouldnt things be so much easier if Ricardo DIDNT come for anything? if he stayed back on the line at every aerial ball? At least that would give the two centre backs the license that they can go and attack it in the air without second guessing whether the keeper will come and having the keeper back on the line wouldnt leave a tap in? Just think the defenders would be more comfortable with the responsibilty its up to them to clear the ball.

[acooling08]

Ricardo has shown us he flaps about more than a 90 year old's prostitutes fanny

i find it unbelievable a keeper with his record and number of caps for Portugal cant catch a ball

we cant all be wrong, i just wish the ****er would break a finger or summat

Sounds harsh but I agree.. I'd love for Ricardo to break a finger so we can get Weale back. Not just for a keeper who can catch but to instill confidence back into the defence. Sven would still play him though, he is soooo stubborn with playing his underperforming players it is unreal.

[Stig the Lawnmower]

Our record of results since he's been in goal will doubtless speak for itself.

Some of our fans recognise that he's not good enough and others clearly don't bother to look, or blindly believe in whatever Sven puts in front of them.

Which is anyone but Weale when he gets the chance.

How Kirkland ever got selected, given his blatant lack of fitness to perform properly, I will never know.

And now we have another bloke who is totally unconvincing to me, and way below the level of goalkeeper we'll need to be successful.

Trouble is, even if Sven finally saw the light, I wonder if Weale would be sharp enough to return and whether he'd be on a hiding to nothing whatever happened.

Sven has created a weak situation out of nothing, a mistake which, though not the only one, has badly, perhaps fatally, affected our drive for promotion this season.

It's ridiculous to lay the blame of our recent run of results on Ricardo. It seems to me it's been since we lost Chris Powell and gained Dietmar Hamaan. Powells obviously a better defensive coach. By the way, can't see Hamaan list on the OS. (thats why I have trouble spelling his name)

[Arnar Gunnlaugsson]

Anyone else think that we were unlucky not to get a free kick when they scored? On the football league show they showed a replay from behind the goal and a pompey player jumped straight into Ricardo's back which sent the short arse flying, leaving him on the floor while Nugent put it in the empty net. No one can claim that it was shoulder to shoulder and he was clearly impeded so....free kick surely?

I'm not a massive Ricardo fan and I don't have any confidence in the bloke but at least he knows what to do when he has the ball at his feet. Weale's kicking left a lot to be desired. Remember that phase where he tried to plant his kicks on gally/dyer on the wing? 9 out of 10 would go straight out for a throw and all of a sudden we would be defending again. Failing that he would just hoof it down the middle and hope that it didn't come straight back. Ricardo gets his head up and tries to pick out players which he did all game yesterday. When we were pushing forward at the end he was dinking it to Mee / Naughton who were carrying the ball. Most keepers in that postion would just try to hoof it as far up the pitch as possible. I can see why Sven prefers him in that sense because he fits in with the 'build from the back' mentality that we play with.

I want to see Weale back as much as the next person but Ricardo IS improving, slowly but surely. I do think that given time (which Sven is more than happy to give him) he could be a decent player for us, after all you don't play for Portugal 79 times if you are absolute dog shit. Didn't the commentators say during the Derby game that it was his first league game in nearly 2 years? He was always going to be rusty after that. The business end of the season is the wrong time for him to be getting back into the game though.

[B52]

As with all Sven's thinking, its about a decade out of date. The world according to Sven "This guy saved penalties against us when I coached England - he is available! He is a fantastic goalie"

Newsflash you clown, clocks tick.

And how old are goalkeepers? He has already showed he's got extremely good distribution. Weale isn't close to what Ricardo does. The only problem with Ricardo is that the four defenders change constantly and they have problems with themselves(Bruma?).

Weale is also extremely poor in communication. He showed that under a lot of matches before Ricardo came.

Somebum and every other that thinks Weale is better than Ricardo. Where were you when Weale got a lot of stick before tha last two matches he did great? Couldn't catch a long shot, couldn't communicate, needs defenders he played with for a long time and so on.....

Next question (to marbelladave because he is one of the few here I can rely on regarding analysing without the thing called feelings):

marbelladave, can you have a look and see how Bruma is positioning himself or if it's Bamba that doesn't know what to do on the left side?

[Alf Bentley]

It's ridiculous to lay the blame of our recent run of results on Ricardo. It seems to me it's been since we lost Chris Powell and gained Dietmar Hamaan. Powells obviously a better defensive coach. By the way, can't see Hamaan list on the OS. (thats why I have trouble spelling his name)

Charlton haven't exactly prospered since Chris Powell went there, sliding down to mid-table in L1...of course, there may be other explanations for that and it may not be his fault, but the same probably applies to us, too

[seenitall]

Blimey - a goalie let one in - you never see that at other clubs and Weale never let any in!!!!!!!!

[bettso]

As the op on this topic, I have to say that on Saturday, Ricardo has completely lost my confidence.

Yes it was a poor header by Bamba, but I know for a fact, Weale wouldn't have come out for that and it wouldn't have been a goal.

I also will stick up for Sven at any opportunity as he IS a world class manager but as all managers do at some point, they drop a right bollock.

Our good run came to an end when Ricardo took over. He's had a chance and it's not worked out.

Please, please, please can we hammer the club and get this div out of goal before our play off hopes completely disappear.

Thankfully the results went in our favour on Saturday so we're still in with a chance, but if Ricardo stays in goal, we'll finish mid table at best.