Should BPF keep his place.

[beddie]

I only watched on tv last night but he didn’t look out of place. Don’t think he could be blamed for either of their goals. Appreciate it’s only opinion but I thought he did enough to justify starting the next game. What are your thoughts.

[RVclaret]

Played well. Muric is excellent though and hasn’t done anything to be considered worthy of being dropped. Saved a pen in the last game.

[Zlatan]

Was fine last night, he also managed to play out from the back well enough and sometimes IMO better than Muric does. It is good that we can expect both of them to push each other onwards to improve.

We did comment last night though that if we still had Pope we thought we’d be 15+ points clear at the top. All ifs and bits though…

[Casper]

Played well. Muric is excellent though and hasn’t done anything to be considered worthy of being dropped. Saved a pen in the last game.

Great cast

[ŽižkovClaret]

Not a chance in hell, BUT its reassuring to know we have a decent back-up

He should certainly get the cup games, but that's a foregone conclusion really.

[DCWat]

Was fine last night, he also managed to play out from the back well enough and sometimes IMO better than Muric does. It is good that we can expect both of them to push each other onwards to improve.

We did comment last night though that if we still had Pope we thought we’d be 15+ points clear at the top. All ifs and bits though…

I’m not as convinced by Muric as some (as a pure goalkeeper) but I don’t think he’s cost us 12 or more points this season.

I think you also need to consider the points that he has helped us to earn at the other end of the pitch. He’s been directly and indirectly involved in a number of goals that we have scored.

[FeedTheArf]

After the extremely nervy Blackpool game I've finally adjusted to Muric as the 'footballing' keeper. BPF was fine last night but Muric is clearly VKs number 1 and Muric has done nothing of late to consider being dropped.

I'd fully expect BPF to be pushing for a move come January as he deserves to be a number 1 somewhere. I think it's too soon for the young lad from PSG so it would be reliant on us bringing someone in, even an experienced deputy. That said, it goes against every signing we've made so far if we were to bring in an experienced head as number 2 so I'd expect us to keep a potentially unhappy BPF until the summer and look to resolve the situation then.

[quoonbeatz]

He did really well last night, looked comfortable, and it's good to know we've got 2 decent enough keepers for our level. He wont displace Muric just yet thoigh and it's likely he'll want a move in January; whether we'll let him is a different matter.

[aggi]

Muric has conceded 1 in his last 3 matches (including two clean sheets against top 6 teams). Seems a weird time to drop him for the next league match.

[ClaretInLeeds]

No

[Newcastleclaret93]

He defo looks to have improved, he made a truly excellent save in the second half.

I wouldn’t be against him starting he made some beautiful passes no better than the one to Gudmundsson in the first half. He also looked very good at the other elements of the game.

Muric has had a fairly mediocre season and perhaps it’s given BPF the kick he needs.

[SalisburyClaret]

Should he keep his place? Yes.
Will he? No.
He made saves last night that Muric would probably wouldn’t have got near and the game could easily have been over at half time.
Muric has slightly better distribution but as a shot stopper, he’s not in the same league as BPF

[clarethomer]

Played well but no

[ksrclaret]

Stick with Muric.

Some of his errors are verging on the unacceptable (not being able to claim a simple floated cross on his six yard line), but he’s young and he’s already shown he can improve and learn quickly.

[Sheedyclaret]

No

[Tricky Trevor]

No but when we go up Muric is not a PL keeper. I hope somebody is already looking for his replacement.

[Robbo1882]

I would stick with BPF, Muric looks awful, not good on crosses, or a good shot stopper, I have no confidence in him at all

[Devils_Advocate]

I wasn't paying full attention I was flicking between the match and SPOTY but im not convinced the BPF is good enough. Decent enough back up keeper though

[houseboy]

Was fine last night, he also managed to play out from the back well enough and sometimes IMO better than Muric does. It is good that we can expect both of them to push each other onwards to improve.

We did comment last night though that if we still had Pope we thought we’d be 15+ points clear at the top. All ifs and bits though…

Difficult one to prove that though. Problem is as good as Pope is at commanding his box and stopping shots (probably none better really) his distribution is notoriously bad, which is now essential to our game. If his shot stopping had saved us points would his distribution have cost us? Hard to call really.

[alf_resco]

Muric is a good FOOTballer; he's very ordinary with his hands. Sheff Utd discovered very quickly that he hasn't a clue when you pepper the 6 yrd box with high crosses. He's also very slow to get down eg Boro goal. I'm sure he must have made some fantastic/ flying saves this season but right now, I can't recall many, if any. It's the back four that are keeping the goals against down.

[Sleeping Cat]

Thought BPF looked rejuvenated with improved distribution last night. I don't think he should retain the no 1 spot ahead of Muric based on this one match but he should be knocking on the door.

Muric has excellent distribution and is capable of pulling off god saves at crucial moments, but he is also quite erratic and error prone. He's poor at claiming crosses into the box, got lucky with a penalty not being award in the first minute at QPR, was positionally poor and got beaten at his front post for the boro goal. He has his faults and is not untouchable.

[beddie]

I like Muric but for such a tall well built lad I just can’t understand why when the ball comes in from free kicks, more so from corners he doesn’t take out every man and his dog to take that high ball. Personally I think BPF should start the next game after which VK can decide if he deserves to keep his place.

[ClaretPete001]

I don't really understand the psychology of denying there is a problem with Muric. It's almost daring people to disagree by taking a deliberate and disingenuously polemical stance.

Muric has a serious problem with crosses into the box and physical challenges in the air. He has struggled in a number of games but you would have to be willfully blind not to have seen that for 20 minutes in the second half against Boro he seemed to completely lose the plot.

He isn't getting punished because the team in front of him is so dominant in the division. He has many virtues but against better teams who have more possession he is going to have to do much better.

I thought BPF played well but United are a counter attacking team they don't pressure teams so it's hard to judge.

[jdrobbo]

Not for me. You don’t change a winning side. BPF plays at Bournemouth for me.

[NottsClaret]

BPF looked to have improved quite a bit last night, but we don't have much to go on as he hardly ever plays. His distribution was pretty good and generally got most things right. Reassuring anyway, that he's a decent back up.

[RVclaret]

I don't really understand the psychology of denying there is a problem with Muric. It's almost daring people to disagree by taking a deliberate and disingenuously polemical stance.

Muric has a serious problem with crosses into the box and physical challenges in the air. He has struggled in a number of games but you would have to be willfully blind not to have seen that for 20 minutes in the second half against Boro he seemed to completely lose the plot.

He isn't getting punished because the team in front of him is so dominant in the division. He has many virtues but against better teams who have more possession he is going to have to do much better.

I thought BPF played well but United are a counter attacking team they don't pressure teams so it's hard to judge.

Don’t think people have dismissed or are ignoring his flaws, or denying due to poly grams like you suggest.

Many people recognise he’s overall been a net positive for this team (this means he contributes more than he doesn’t). I can’t think of many, if any, points he’s personally cost us? Can you point them out for me? I could very quickly list you some match / point winning saves and many goals resulting from his distribution.

You talk about ‘the team infront of him is so dominant in this division’ - while true, it’s also dismissing the role he plays in helping towards that dominance. His ability to sweep behind the high line and elite ball playing ability are huge assets for our dominance. He adds another dynamic to the system. Pep has always used this kind of keeper, Valdes, Bravo and now Ederson.

He will need to improve several key areas if he’s to make it in the PL, but we aren’t anywhere close to being there yet, as there’s still half a season to go.

[Spike]

NO!

[ClaretPete001]

No point in pointing fingers but as you have replied you could compare and contrast your first statement of:

"Muric is excellent though and hasn’t done anything to be considered worthy of being dropped"

with

"Many people recognise he’s overall been a net positive for this team (this means he contributes more than he doesn’t)"

I agree with the second statement but not the first. Muric is not excellent and he has given cause for concern, however, at this point he is delivering a net positive performance.

I tend to think that at he age of 24 if you haven't got the intrinsic personality and competitive instincts to dominate your box then half a season is unlikely to make a difference. I suppose we are about to find out.

[TPClaret]

No. Muric is key to how we play. He is so good on the ball. You can see why City have the option to buy him back. He starts off so many of our attacking moves.

[Robbo1882]

Don’t think people have dismissed or are ignoring his flaws, or denying due to poly grams like you suggest.

Many people recognise he’s overall been a net positive for this team (this means he contributes more than he doesn’t). I can’t think of many, if any, points he’s personally cost us? Can you point them out for me? I could very quickly list you some match / point winning saves and many goals resulting from his distribution.

You talk about ‘the team infront of him is so dominant in this division’ - while true, it’s also dismissing the role he plays in helping towards that dominance. His ability to sweep behind the high line and elite ball playing ability are huge assets for our dominance. He adds another dynamic to the system. Pep has always used this kind of keeper, Valdes, Bravo and now Ederson.

He will need to improve several key areas if he’s to make it in the PL, but we aren’t anywhere close to being there yet, as there’s still half a season to go.

Are you his agent? the goal we concede against Middlesbrough, the shot is to his right he starts to go down with his right arm extended but when the ball is near him he bends his arm, the bloke is an absolute joke, and the incident where Roberts gets a red card should not have happened if he didn't come out to claim the ball and cause a panic in his own area.

How you can defend him is beyond me.

muric1.GIF (65.13 KiB) Viewed 3111 times

muric2.GIF (87.36 KiB) Viewed 3111 times

[TPClaret]

We’re top of the league. Just get behind the lad. .

[clarethomer]

I was watching the Keepers warm up from the minute they came out (got their mega early)

I was impressed by BPF in his kicking range and ability to use his feet- was kicking with both feet really accurately. Very similar to Muric.

Never saw anywhere this level of range in the game. Making a pass over THB or Beyer out to Roberts/Maatsen could have given Utd something else to think about.

I also thought we started far too deep on a few occasions - not saying this was the keepers doing but again, we had times where it was a bit de ja vu from earlier in the season where the back were pressed and mistakes happened.

Genuinely - I don't think there is much between them but I think Muric edges it because he is faster at what he does. He has the confidence to make those longer passes from the back (although BPF did make a few centrally long ones that were quite effective).

Not sure anyone could have saved the first goal. Not sure about the 2nd as not seen that from an angle which makes it clear. No fault for BPF last night in any of the goals. He's done well and good to know that he can come in when required.

[BurnleyFC]

To answer the OP - yes, but he won’t.

[RVclaret]

Are you his agent? the goal we concede against Middlesbrough, the shot is to his right he starts to go down with his right arm extended but when the ball is near him he bends his arm, the bloke is an absolute joke, and the incident where Roberts gets a red card should not have happened if he didn't come out to claim the ball and cause a panic in his own area.

How you can defend him is beyond me.

muric1.GIF
muric2.GIF

Well firstly the goal is completely down to Benson giving Boro a (completely unexpected) one on one. The keeper is backtracking from his naturally high position due to unexpected nature of the ball the Boro player is latching onto. Muric ends up trying to predict Watmore going to his left, is left wrong footed (hence can’t get down quick enough) and it’s a well taken finish in the end. All neutral match reports I read and pundits on the EFL show said it was a well taken goal, not one mentioned the keeper. So is it me defending him or you, and others, constantly attacking him?

[claretgimmer]

I`m not a Muric fan but as a former member of the GK`s union i think he just got his angles slightly wrong and realizes he can`t reach the ball although he did go down in instalments !!

[Robbo1882]

We’re top of the league. Just get behind the lad. .

you're right we are top of the league, but the question is should BPF keep his place and it' a resounding YES he should because Muric is the weakest link in the team.

[warksclaret]

I dont think Muric will get dropped but the wonderful thing about last night is against a top 5 potential PL team with 6 of their starting 11 having played in the World Cup, he had a very good game. No fault for the goals and several outstanding takes and saves, and excellent distribution. Muric will have watched it and now knows he is having to play for his shirt. Well done VK for giving him the chance-but shows the manager, who fielded a strong 11 has faith in him. Even more now

[colne-claret]

Was fine last night, he also managed to play out from the back well enough and sometimes IMO better than Muric does. It is good that we can expect both of them to push each other onwards to improve.

We did comment last night though that if we still had Pope we thought we’d be 15+ points clear at the top. All ifs and bits though…

I don’t think we score as many though if Pope was still here. Swings and roundabouts and that. Muric is great for us offensively. Just need the right balance.

[Selby Claret]

Well firstly the goal is completely down to Benson giving Boro a (completely unexpected) one on one. The keeper is backtracking from his naturally high position due to unexpected nature of the ball the Boro player is latching onto. Muric ends up trying to predict Watmore going to his left, is left wrong footed (hence can’t get down quick enough) and it’s a well taken finish in the end. All neutral match reports I read and pundits on the EFL show said it was a well taken goal, not one mentioned the keeper. So is it me defending him or you, and others, constantly attacking him?

Exactly what i was going to post

[Devils_Advocate]

When BPF played/kicked the ball his distribution was good (Pope's isnt that bad either) but I noticed that often the first touch or the speed of thought about what to do was just a fraction slower than Muric and that hesitation meant that often our options to play out wasn't as good. I think it also rubbed off slightly on the defenders and there was a couple of times under a good press from Utd they didnt risk going back to BPF when I think they would have used Muric to help relieve the pressure.

These are small things and if all you are doing are judging if his kicking is good then you wouldn't notice but I think we were a little more hesitant and on the back foot more in our defensive third and I think over a run of games this would have more of a negative impact to the way we play than we might gain from the odd catch of the ball.

[quoonbeatz]

I don't think BPF was any slower than Muric is, the difference was that utd were more clued up and quicker to cut the space than our regular opposition. He played some really good longer balls to our full backs and wingers and his short passing was a bit truer than Muric's (albeit there was less of it) - Muric tends to top the ball which gives it a bounce and makes it move a bit slower when going short.

Would I keep BPF in? No. Muric hasn't done anything to lose the shirt over. We know that both of them are prone to a rick now and again and whilst he hasn't been 'excellent' the positives Muric brings outweigh the negatives for now. He's young and has improvement in him - it's up to him and our coaches to work on the areas that we can all clearly see need it.

[Stproc]

I think we should play them both

[Devils_Advocate]

It wasnt much but I noticed a few times the ball got stuck in his feet a little or he had to watch the ball onto his foot and then shape his body to play it out rather than doing it all in one action. I also noticed a couple of times our defenders seemed to have an extra millisecond of thought around should they use BPF where its natural for them to just pass back to Muric when they are under a lot of pressure.

Little things but they add up especially when we play better teams who press better. I probably noticed it more because it was against Man Utd where every second (or millisecond) count more than against the Championship teams.

Not a criticism at all of BPF cos I think he played well and was solid when it came to being used by the defence but its more highlighting that the level Muric is at in this area does make a difference and us being a strong team who have a lot of the ball I think this attribute adds more value than if we were a struggling team like we used to be with Dyche most of the time

[Lancasterclaret]

I think what really struck me about last night was just how bad Dubravka was

[boyyanno]

BPF impressed me last night. Good shot stopper and he claimed a very good cross into the box under heavy pressure at one point, his long kicking was fantastic (probably better than Muric's) as evidenced by that long ball to JGB in the first half. That being said I thought his shorter passing game didn't look quite as good as Muric. Muric does misplace the odd pass here and there though, but we have got away with it largely when it's happened.

I don't think either are a good enough to be a PL keeper. I've said all the way through the season that Muric needs a patch of games where he is consistent (no errors), he can't have had a run of more than 5 games between making an error so far which is pretty poor. I'd rather have an average goalkeeper that made few errors than someone who can be a 5 one week and an 8 the next, based on the feelings towards Jensen I'd say the majority of the fan base agrees and he made fewer errors over the course of a season than Muric already has. Albeit Jensen's tended to be absolute clangers.

[FCBurnley]

From what I saw last night BPF is a better shot stopper but Muric distribution is better. Take your pick. BPF is at least a top quality back up

[Rileybobs]

I’ve been pretty vocal about Muric, but I wouldn’t drop him for BPF in the league. There’s no need to rock the boat, we’re dominating the division as it is. Also, BPF isn’t going to be our number one if we’re promoted so I don’t think this serves much purpose.

That said he had a very fine game last night - his passing was good, he confidently claimed a cross and he made a couple of saves that I don’t think Muric would have done.

[Vegas Claret]

did nothing wrong, played well and was head and shoulders above the clown at the other end

[agreenwood]

His distribution isn’t close to Muric’s. It was noticeable how square and close Harwood-Bellis & Beyer came to receive the ball from him. His longer balls weren’t as accurate as Muric’s either on the occasions he tried to pick out the full backs/wingers.

If he was as good with his feet as Muric is, he’d be playing. He’s a decent enough shot stopper, so i can’t believe for a minute that Kompany would sanction the signing of a £3-4m keeper if he already had what he wanted in BPF.

Whether some people like it or not, Kompany values Muric’s ability on the ball enough to take the hit on some other aspects of his game.

[Middle-agedClaret]

Yes.