hamer ??

Hamer appears to have become a better keeper since he was out injured. Plenty on this forum used to cry out that he was a liability and wanted him to be dropped, sold etc. Now after a few weeks out, he's turned into Buffon.

charlton_carl said:

Hamer out for few weeks and everyone forgets how poor he was before Alnwick came in.

Your memory is playing tricks on you @charlton_carl :-) In the five games before he went out injured in the Donny warm up, according to the CL statbank he scored; 7.59 QPR (A) 5.12 Leeds (H) 7.09 Brum (A) 6.89 Wigan (H) and 7.86 Blackburn (A). Granted the five games prior to that were in the 5's ranging from 5.18 to 5.92 but he had hit some form and his overall season average is 6.6 (rounded up) compared albeit to only a three game average for Thuram of 5.22! My choice right now is Hamer if both are fit for selection.

If Thurum really is bad can we blame Hamer?

Played for U21's at Ipswich tonight

Thuram is not what we need right now. I do not trust him at all, he seems to have no command over the defence and even less in the box. I really do hate being negative about our players but as a former goalkeeper (playing to a fairly decent level all be it at a young age) I can't help but criticize him.

He flaps at crosses and his handling is some of the worst I've seen at Championship level. I do not doubt he is a good goalkeeper however his style of goalkeeping is clearly European influenced having played in France and Belgium where the style of football is very different and the ball is on the ground a lot more than playing at Championship level. Thuram may well be a good goalkeeper - i say this rather than completely slate him because he was fairly well thought of at Monaco and attracted interest from Barcelona, however I feel he has been thrown in the deep end a bit and his style is not what we need right now. By his style i mean a love for parrying the ball rather than catching it, staying on his line more often than not and leading with his legs a lot. All of these factors lead to uncertainty at the back, granted it can work in other countries and does so a lot more, it is not what we need at this time if we want to be playing Championship football next season.

Yes, it must be a culture shock to him and possibly the constant threat of an unorthodox attack may be why his handling (which I assume must be to a decent level) is poor at the moment. Given time Thuram may adapt and become a more reliable and commanding keeper once he has got to grips with Championship football (especailly at a club in the relegation zone of the division) BUT we do not have time to wait for him, we need a keeper right now who knows the English game and who has a good relationship with the defence. I think Hamer is ok, definitely our best option right now - unless we choose to bring in a keeper on loan which is highly unlikely considering thuram is on loan.

We need to stack up points now this season or we are going to be in serious trouble (I'm not too pessimistic and believe we are more than capable of getting out of this sticky situation we find ourselves in and can turn our form around) BUT again, we can not afford to have a weak link in the side especially a position as exposed as keeper!

Thuram is a bit unorthadox, especially with his punching everything. Culturally, British fans have a problem with that approach, but it is a valid one.