One player whose performance struck me is no other than our GK Pope . Although young and very limited experience in the Premier League ,he is excelling himself as one of the greatest G keepers in this division .
For me he will reckoned international face within a short span of time and play for England .

To be honest I don't think he's really been tested yet. Time will tell...

TheOriginalLongsider wrote:To be honest I don't think he's really been tested yet. Time will tell...

Maybe that's down to the players in front of him. 3 clean sheets in 4 games (two of which were away at Liverpool and Everton) is no mean feat

Argentine ain't he? Getting on a bit and can't imagine he'd be all that agile?

Needs to work on keeping a shot in his arms first time of asking seems to bounce of him all the time however looks a player in the making. If he carries on can we afford to keep him and heaton and just play one of them?

This time next year, maybe sooner, his teeth will look different.

The next Tom Heaton?

Not the finished article. He flaps sometimes and punches when he doesn't need to. Not a criticism mind, just a learning curve. Potentially could be a very good keeper.

I think he's doing just fine.

Aside from anything else, I think it's doing the team good having an outfield player as captain. never been a fan of goalkeeper skippers, they should just stick to positioning the wall and stopping the ball going in the net imo.

CFS wrote:Needs to work on keeping a shot in his arms first time of asking seems to bounce of him all the time however looks a player in the making. If he carries on can we afford to keep him and heaton and just play one of them?

Agree
Shots do tend to bounce off him. Our defendèrs know this and have been quick to cover but attackers will soon spot it. Nonetheless doing a great job.

THEWELLERNUT70 wrote:Maybe that's down to the players in front of him. 3 clean sheets in 4 games (two of which were away at Liverpool and Everton) is no mean feat

He conceded at Liverpool, Pope has really surprised m"me how well he has adapted so quickly.

Hell of a kick on him hasn't he? He was nearly reaching their 18yd box at Goodison.

Nowhere near the finished article but he's doing ok so far. We have Tom's replacement for sure

When Heaton was injured I feared the worst but I should have known Sean would be prepared. I had not seen Pope play but after a few appearances I am loving what I see. First off he is a big physical presence. He is happy to use his size to come for crosses which Tom rarely did and finally his distribution is superior to Toms. Am I saying he is a better keeper than Heaton......No but he has been 100 times better than I expected. Great start to your PL career Mr Pope.

He's doing well - commands his box, saved 2 points on debut with a great save, and had the bottle for Anfield on his first PL start. Agree with the comments about his handling but there's a fair bit to like.

I also think that Lindegaard is a shrewd signing. Not sure what that does for Legzdins, and it is a slap in the chops for the lad, but our goalkeeping set up is doing very well and has been for a while.

UTC!

I said at Ewood I wouldnt be too upset if he ever had to come on in place of Heaton. So he has proved

I might get ridiculed for the statement I'm about to make but it wouldn't shock me if when Heaton is back fit again, we see Pope go to the championship on loan to continue getting game time especially with us now having Lindegaard until the end of the season. He's done just fine so far though and long may it continue. The more game time he gets the better he will get.

colne-claret wrote:I might get ridiculed for the statement I'm about to make but it wouldn't shock me if when Heaton is back fit again, we see Pope go to the championship on loan to continue getting game time especially with us now having Lindegaard until the end of the season. He's done just fine so far though and long may it continue. The more game time he gets the better he will get.

No. You're entitled to your opinion. I think Tom has developed him. I'd be surprised if Tom walks straight back in, barring a mishap or two. Pope has done well!

Popey no doubt doing a great job for us at the moment, still big tests to come, but I don't know if anyone picked up on he's passion at the end yesterday in he's celebration, " very impressive "

alwaysaclaret wrote:Popey no doubt doing a great job for us at the moment, still big tests to come, but I don't know if anyone picked up on he's passion at the end yesterday in he's celebration, " very impressive "

He's properly up for it and that is a fantastic thing. Competition is healthy!

Very glad this thread has appeared, as I don't think Pope has got the credit he deserves for yesterday, and I still think some of the comments on here underplay his contribution.

He didn't have any particularly difficult saves to make, but he did have to come and either catch or punch a number of crosses, none of which were particularly routine. There was one punch in particular in the second half which was absolutely terrific, under real pressure and he got lots of distance on it. There was another cross that he managed to tip away at full stretch at the back post when the forward looked favourite. Even in the first half when Niasse touched the ball over him, I thought he made a pretty good decision to come off his line and rush Niasse, and he certainly made a really good, decisive decision to come and head clear on the edge of the box in the second half, clearing out the defenders who might have caused him to hesitate in the process.

I think its really easy to underestimate how impressive those interventions are, or how difficult they were to execute. There are loads of good shot stoppers out there but the inability to command the area is the thing that prevents many of them from becoming top class keepers. Pope has shown a bit in the last 3 games to suggest that, although he has lots of rough edges, he's got that ability.

But there really ought to be a shout out on this thread for Billy Mercer, who must be a seriously good goalkeeping coach. We know how much Heaton has benefitted from working with him, but its often forgotten that Lee Grant did so previously and now Pope is showing similar levels of improvement. Robinson also commented regularly how much he enjoyed working with him - he's obviously a vital member of our back room team and a real unsung hero.

claretspice wrote: But there really ought to be a shout out on this thread for Billy Mercer, who must be a seriously good goalkeeping coach. We know how much Heaton has benefitted from working with him, but its often forgotten that Lee Grant did so previously and now Pope is showing similar levels of improvement. Robinson also commented regularly how much he enjoyed working with him - he's obviously a vital member of our back room team and a real unsung hero.

Disregarding the rest of the post, which had valid points; but already discussed over several threads. There must be something about Mercer. He can spot a keeper with talent and seems to improve them. I am, in turn; glad Mercer was brought up. He seems to have that ability to polish rough diamonds.

Glad we ended up getting pope instead of the keeper who went to Brentford forgot his name but pope looks the man in the middle of our goal.

CFS wrote:Glad we ended up getting pope instead of the keeper who went to Brentford forgot his name but pope looks the man in the middle of our goal.

Bentley. Thought he was already at Brentford. I stand to be corrected.

andysisson wrote:He conceded at Liverpool, Pope has really surprised m"me how well he has adapted so quickly.

Huddersfield palarse and Everton ...clean sheets

ExistentialWanderer wrote:Bentley. Thought he was already at Brentford. I stand to be corrected.

Could be right maybe he was at Brentford not 100% sure.

ExistentialWanderer wrote:Bentley. Thought he was already at Brentford. I stand to be corrected.

Wasn't he at Northampton?

Goobs wrote:Wasn't he at Northampton?

I just have a vague recollection we were after Bentley and Pope.

Goobs wrote:Wasn't he at Northampton?

I just have a vague recollection we were after Bentley and Pope.

I think he is a shoe in for Vatican City.

His kicking in the second half was poor but he's good in the air so that's all that matters

Bentley was at Southend and went Brentford, when Button of Brentford went to Fulham.

Bentley was very highly rated, but looks like the Joe Hart of the championship with some silly errors.

Can we please get a better song for him?

TheOriginalLongsider wrote:Can we please get a better song for him?

Ave Maria?

Ave Nick Popeiaaaaa

bringing mercer with him was probably the best thing laws ever did for the club.

quoonbeatz wrote:bringing mercer with him was probably the best thing laws ever did for the club.

Don't forget Leon Cort.

Nick is going to be a top goal keeper. He is better than Tom on crosses and punching and a far better kicker. He as the ideal hight and build for a modern day goalie.
As other have said he needs to improve his handling on shots.
Heaton is still our No 1 but Tom is not far behind

I think the lad has done well thrown in against the big boys in the prem .Hes a little raw though and understandably took a while building confidence .Naturally he doesn't (yet?) have Heatons remarkable handling ability and he does have a slight inclination to punch the ball (somat personally I dislike innkeepers) but he's growing each game in confidence and the City game will be a real character test as they are quite simply in brutal form .

colne-claret wrote:I might get ridiculed for the statement I'm about to make but it wouldn't shock me if when Heaton is back fit again, we see Pope go to the championship on loan to continue getting game time especially with us now having Lindegaard until the end of the season. He's done just fine so far though and long may it continue. The more game time he gets the better he will get.

No chance IMO as Tom will not be ready by Jan 31st which if true means Pope won't get out on loan; also even if Tom is back before the end of transfer deadline there will be a big risk that he (TH) will not be the same keeper we saw before his injury and we would be mad to let go our number 2 keeper.

John Paul the 2nd had a go...

mdd2 wrote:No chance IMO as Tom will not be ready by Jan 31st which if true means Pope won't get out on loan; also even if Tom is back before the end of transfer deadline there will be a big risk that he (TH) will not be the same keeper we saw before his injury and we would be mad to let go our number 2 keeper.

I thought he was back before then. My bad.

Great display of technique here. Eyes closed.

His eyes aren't closed. Pathetic attempt at criticising him.

Great keeper

Are the scouts for big rich clubs just getting lazy ?

How can we find stars like Pope and Heaton, Tarks & Defour.

When did one of the top 5 last find raw talent from the lower leagues and play them week in week out in the Prem ?

Deli Ali, but I'd struggle to think of another.

Billy_Bumface wrote:Deli Ali, but I'd struggle to think of another.

That Daniel agyei at Walsall scored a cracker today maybe we should look at him .....