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Originally Posted by Tin Monkey
Would that include 19 year old Ikeme?  |
No, because he was signed on loan with a commitment to be played every match.
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Originally Posted by Tin Monkey
Perhaps we should be asking why Alcock is being paid to be a full-time member of our squad if Coley doesn't think he's good enough to play more than a game or two?
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The point is that most professional teams have an experienced, first-choice keeper and a young protege, who is largely nothing more than a reserve-team goalie. You can do this for this position, as opposed to an outfield position, because the first-choice keeper is unlikely to miss more than a couple of games in a season due to suspension or injury. In an outfield position, a back-up centre-half or striker or whatever will be expceted to start a number of games in a season in his regular position due to injuries/suspensions, he will most likely also start a few games of the season out of his preferred position (and there are plenty of examples of this at Stanley) and he will also feature in some matches when he has been brought on as a substitute. Goalies are very rarely brought on as a substitute other than when the first-choice goalie has been sent off (though I'm sure you also remember a Lancashire Cup final a decade ago!) and they are never played out of position, so your second-choice keeper can be much younger and much more-inexperienced than your second-choice outfield players.
We were very lucky last year to have two very good keepers, but had Jamo not been sent off in the first match of the season, JK would probably have remained the young understudy and not have earned his England caps. The difference between JK last season and Allcock this season is experience and the fact that Jamo would only have been suspended for three games anyway so it was worth taking a chance on JK. Allcock looks a solid keeper, but one who will develop into a really good one - he is some way behind David Stockdale who was York City's young trainee keeper who came on to play against us. Points are at too much of a premium given our league position to take a chance on a young, inexperienced, though promising goalie.