Which season?
Poll Karius
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Which season?
Huh?
It shows that United are shit and would probably be relegated without De Gea.
Among other things. But I don't care about those.
So if I'm reading that right Pope is having a directly comparable influence to De Gea.
Schaffe, schaffe, Häusle baue: Loris Karius' Liverpool plan
David Lynch@DavidLynchLFC
Biberach an der Riss, the south-German town that Loris Karius calls home, sits a relatively short – in European terms, at least – two-hour drive from Glatten, where his manager Jürgen Klopp grew up.
In ‘The Seven Swabians’, a fairytale popularised by The Brothers Grimm, the people of this region are somewhat harshly characterised through the story of seven travellers who meet a grisly end thanks to their own ineptitude.
And, as Karius points out with a smile at the start of a sitdown with Liverpoolfc.com at Melwood, the unfairly maligned Swabians are also renowned across Germany for being ‘really tight with their money’.
Of course, neither of these traits could be reasonably assigned to Liverpool’s No.1 or his boss and, as the former suggests - “In terms of having the same character as the manager, I don’t really think so…” – the pair in fact have very little in common in terms of their personalities.
But there is at least one Swabian adage, taken from the title of a popular 1964 song sung in the local dialect by Ralf Bendix, that both men would happily ascribe to.
‘Schaffe, schaffe, Häusle baue’ (‘Work, work, build a house’) pays tribute to the ingenuity and diligence shown by Swabians in pursuit of their goals, and has been adopted as a motto by natives of the area.
As such, it is fitting that a shared desire to build something truly special through hard work saw Karius and Klopp's paths converge at Anfield in the summer of 2016.
And, when it comes to Liverpool, it’s not hard to work out their ultimate objective - the house to be built, so to speak.
As the ‘keeper explains: “I spoke to the manager a few times when I came here and we had really good conversations.
“He told me everything about the club; his first experiences, what he thought was different compared to Germany, how he enjoyed his time here.
“He gave me a really good feeling and, of course, I thought this is a manager who can really develop me as a young player.
“I believed in his plan, so pretty quickly I was sure that this was the club where I could take the next step.
“When I spoke with the manager we both agreed that the plan is to bring – eventually – the title back here because that’s what the club deserves and wants so bad.
“That’s what we said was the aim, so we’re working on it every day to not just look at the past but to be part of the history soon hopefully.”
Thankfully for Klopp, Karius had already shown the single-mindedness necessary to achieve such lofty ambitions during the early stages of his fledgling career.
The goalkeeper was just 16 years old when he took the decision to leave Bundesliga high-fliers VFB Stuttgart for Manchester City, a club on the up following Sheikh Mansour’s 2008 takeover.
And just two years later, with his path to the first team seemingly obstructed, Karius took another bold decision in returning to his homeland via a summer loan move to Mainz before making the switch permanent the following January.
For many players, the setback at City would be enough to sow seeds of self-doubt. Not Karius.
“I wasn’t worried at all,” he insists.
“I took a loan first and my decision was to leave permanently just based on that I wanted to break through to the first team.
“I thought I had a good chance at Mainz, I had a young coach who I thought believed in my development in Mainz and could see me breaking into the first team maybe not straight away but in the near future.
“In City, it wasn’t really clear. You had the England national team goalkeeper as a No.1 and I didn’t just want to sit around and wait too long and then maybe miss a chance or opportunity I would regret in the future.
“My plan was clear, I was 18 and said I’d take a step back to make the next step a bit later instead of waiting around.
“I took a little step back, played probably 100 Bundesliga games and then went on to a big club again. So, all in all, it was a good plan and worked out well.”
When the time eventually came to build on the progress he had made at Mainz, Karius once again evidenced the discerning nature so apparent in his on-pitch demeanour.
The Germany youth international’s judgement was not clouded by thoughts of a point-making return to the Premier League; rather his sole focus was on finding a club that represented the perfect fit.
He adds: “It’s not really just the league, the club has to be the right solution. I didn’t set the target that I had to be in the Premier League.
“Of course, it was something I maybe wanted to do but I was happy in Germany, I thought the league was really good there too, but the package [of] Premier League and Liverpool, I just had to do.
“It was the club that made we want to come here, not the league. All the history, it’s a great club with great tradition.”
Karius’ innate resolve has since received its sternest test.
The 24-year-old traces the struggles that blighted his first campaign at the club back to a broken hand sustained in pre-season, bemoaning 'probably the worst timing you can get'.
But now, as he nears the end of a second season that has seen him reclaim the number one jersey, keep eight clean sheets in his last 15 outings, and make some memorable saves, the German looks back on his lowest moments as key learning periods.
He explains: “That’s how it is sometimes. The years before, it always went my way – I was never injured, played three years through in a row, always played good, no negative things at all.
“That’s part of being a professional football player, there can be a spell where it’s maybe not so perfect.
“It was a new experience but now I can say I learned a lot from the negative stuff and developed mentally as a person, took it with me and grew with it.
“Sometimes it doesn’t go so quick and as a goalkeeper you have to be patient and just wait for it.
“If I didn’t believe it then I would maybe have said in the summer that we need a solution but I believed in it 100 per cent, that’s why it was always clear for me to fight my way back into the team.
“I’m happy that I was patient.”
With Liverpool set to face Roma in the first leg of a Champions League semi-final tie next week, Karius has the chance to cap a season of notable personal growth with the biggest prize in European football.
But, even should the Reds enjoy what would represent a dream end to the campaign, their goalkeeper’s sights will remain fixed on the plan he and Klopp set out almost two years ago, and the work required to make it a reality.
He explains: “I hope there’s more to come, I’m pretty sure there’s more to come because I’m 24 years old, so for a goalkeeper it’s still quite young.
“I think I can improve in every part of my game, I have so much time ahead and I think there’s space for improvement in every single direction.
“I’m working every day to get better, the games help a lot because you can’t compare training to games.
“I’m pretty sure there’s a lot of space for improvement still.”
Or, as they say in Swabia: Schaffe, schaffe, Häusle baue.
David Lynch@DavidLynchLFC
Biberach an der Riss, the south-German town that Loris Karius calls home, sits a relatively short – in European terms, at least – two-hour drive from Glatten, where his manager Jürgen Klopp grew up.
In ‘The Seven Swabians’, a fairytale popularised by The Brothers Grimm, the people of this region are somewhat harshly characterised through the story of seven travellers who meet a grisly end thanks to their own ineptitude.
And, as Karius points out with a smile at the start of a sitdown with Liverpoolfc.com at Melwood, the unfairly maligned Swabians are also renowned across Germany for being ‘really tight with their money’.
Of course, neither of these traits could be reasonably assigned to Liverpool’s No.1 or his boss and, as the former suggests - “In terms of having the same character as the manager, I don’t really think so…” – the pair in fact have very little in common in terms of their personalities.
But there is at least one Swabian adage, taken from the title of a popular 1964 song sung in the local dialect by Ralf Bendix, that both men would happily ascribe to.
‘Schaffe, schaffe, Häusle baue’ (‘Work, work, build a house’) pays tribute to the ingenuity and diligence shown by Swabians in pursuit of their goals, and has been adopted as a motto by natives of the area.
As such, it is fitting that a shared desire to build something truly special through hard work saw Karius and Klopp's paths converge at Anfield in the summer of 2016.
And, when it comes to Liverpool, it’s not hard to work out their ultimate objective - the house to be built, so to speak.
As the ‘keeper explains: “I spoke to the manager a few times when I came here and we had really good conversations.
“He told me everything about the club; his first experiences, what he thought was different compared to Germany, how he enjoyed his time here.
“He gave me a really good feeling and, of course, I thought this is a manager who can really develop me as a young player.
“I believed in his plan, so pretty quickly I was sure that this was the club where I could take the next step.
“When I spoke with the manager we both agreed that the plan is to bring – eventually – the title back here because that’s what the club deserves and wants so bad.
“That’s what we said was the aim, so we’re working on it every day to not just look at the past but to be part of the history soon hopefully.”
Thankfully for Klopp, Karius had already shown the single-mindedness necessary to achieve such lofty ambitions during the early stages of his fledgling career.
The goalkeeper was just 16 years old when he took the decision to leave Bundesliga high-fliers VFB Stuttgart for Manchester City, a club on the up following Sheikh Mansour’s 2008 takeover.
And just two years later, with his path to the first team seemingly obstructed, Karius took another bold decision in returning to his homeland via a summer loan move to Mainz before making the switch permanent the following January.
For many players, the setback at City would be enough to sow seeds of self-doubt. Not Karius.
“I wasn’t worried at all,” he insists.
“I took a loan first and my decision was to leave permanently just based on that I wanted to break through to the first team.
“I thought I had a good chance at Mainz, I had a young coach who I thought believed in my development in Mainz and could see me breaking into the first team maybe not straight away but in the near future.
“In City, it wasn’t really clear. You had the England national team goalkeeper as a No.1 and I didn’t just want to sit around and wait too long and then maybe miss a chance or opportunity I would regret in the future.
“My plan was clear, I was 18 and said I’d take a step back to make the next step a bit later instead of waiting around.
“I took a little step back, played probably 100 Bundesliga games and then went on to a big club again. So, all in all, it was a good plan and worked out well.”
When the time eventually came to build on the progress he had made at Mainz, Karius once again evidenced the discerning nature so apparent in his on-pitch demeanour.
The Germany youth international’s judgement was not clouded by thoughts of a point-making return to the Premier League; rather his sole focus was on finding a club that represented the perfect fit.
He adds: “It’s not really just the league, the club has to be the right solution. I didn’t set the target that I had to be in the Premier League.
“Of course, it was something I maybe wanted to do but I was happy in Germany, I thought the league was really good there too, but the package [of] Premier League and Liverpool, I just had to do.
“It was the club that made we want to come here, not the league. All the history, it’s a great club with great tradition.”
Karius’ innate resolve has since received its sternest test.
The 24-year-old traces the struggles that blighted his first campaign at the club back to a broken hand sustained in pre-season, bemoaning 'probably the worst timing you can get'.
But now, as he nears the end of a second season that has seen him reclaim the number one jersey, keep eight clean sheets in his last 15 outings, and make some memorable saves, the German looks back on his lowest moments as key learning periods.
He explains: “That’s how it is sometimes. The years before, it always went my way – I was never injured, played three years through in a row, always played good, no negative things at all.
“That’s part of being a professional football player, there can be a spell where it’s maybe not so perfect.
“It was a new experience but now I can say I learned a lot from the negative stuff and developed mentally as a person, took it with me and grew with it.
“Sometimes it doesn’t go so quick and as a goalkeeper you have to be patient and just wait for it.
“If I didn’t believe it then I would maybe have said in the summer that we need a solution but I believed in it 100 per cent, that’s why it was always clear for me to fight my way back into the team.
“I’m happy that I was patient.”
With Liverpool set to face Roma in the first leg of a Champions League semi-final tie next week, Karius has the chance to cap a season of notable personal growth with the biggest prize in European football.
But, even should the Reds enjoy what would represent a dream end to the campaign, their goalkeeper’s sights will remain fixed on the plan he and Klopp set out almost two years ago, and the work required to make it a reality.
He explains: “I hope there’s more to come, I’m pretty sure there’s more to come because I’m 24 years old, so for a goalkeeper it’s still quite young.
“I think I can improve in every part of my game, I have so much time ahead and I think there’s space for improvement in every single direction.
“I’m working every day to get better, the games help a lot because you can’t compare training to games.
“I’m pretty sure there’s a lot of space for improvement still.”
Or, as they say in Swabia: Schaffe, schaffe, Häusle baue.
I'm hoping this game isn't decided by goalkeeping excellence or ineptitude....
If you look beyond the ostensible subject of Hart, I think this piece by David Preece in today's Times is quite an insightful look at some of the things that lead to keepers either declining or progressing. Sobering reading in the case of Ming, hopefully constructive in the case of Karius:
Joe Hart’s decline over the past two years has been plain to see and Monday night’s error was just the latest in a litany of mistakes that has damaged the West Ham United and England goalkeeper’s reputation.
A simple gather from a shot by Xherdan Shaqiri, the Stoke City midfielder, was made slightly trickier by a deflection but it was Hart’s reaction that was the clear sign of a lack of trust in himself.
The ball bounced just in front of him and instead of staying low and moving forward to gather it into his midriff, the 30-year-old decided to use a technique more often seen in volleyball to shovel the ball away from goal.
A goalkeeper confident in his ability would have held on to that ball. Hart, though, in being as cautious as possible, inadvertently made his life more difficult by using a technique that was harder to perform. As the ball was spinning due to the deflection, the timing of his contact had to be perfect, or, as we saw, it will become a mess. Even then, he didn’t take the opportunity to smother the ball with his upper body and arms and Peter Crouch beat his swinging foot to the ball.
To many, the origin of Hart’s most troubling professional period would be traced back to when a weakness diving low to his left was exposed by shots from Gareth Bale, of Wales, and Iceland’s Kolbeinn Sigthorsson at Euro 2016. Those two disappointments were then compounded by Pep Guardiola highlighting deficiencies in his game by acquiring two goalkeepers for Manchester City whose build-up play using their feet was far superior.
So what has happened to Hart? To really understand that, we need to go farther back than those games against Wales, and fatefully, Iceland, to a time when he was seen as being at his peak.
The first Premier League title won by Hart at Manchester City in 2011-12 came at a time when Massimo Battara was part of Roberto Mancini’s coaching staff. The relationship between goalkeeping coach and goalkeeper can be a very personal one, but rather than enforce the strengths that Hart already possessed, Battara focused on what he thought Hart needed to improve and, in his mind, that was dealing with crosses and distribution.
Those four seasons under Mancini and Battara were followed by another league title, under Manuel Pellegrini in 2013-14, and it was from there that the slide began. Some footballers get to a point when they think that they know what is best for themselves but a player can fall into routines that stunt progression.
When they stop trying to push forward, they don’t just stand still, they get passed by. In not working on weaknesses, they become overly reliant on their strengths to get them through. And once those strengths begin to fail them, confidence becomes an issue.
In those years after Battara’s departure, deficiencies gradually became more exposed and Hart’s confidence inevitably took a hit. Guardiola shining a torchlight on what he saw as a substandard technical and tactical ability with his feet brought self-doubt that chipped away at Hart and those doubts manifested in other areas of his game.
Looking back at Hart’s time at Torino, he often positioned himself too close to his near post when the ball was out wide, causing him problems with any deep crosses.
In the opening league game for West Ham this season, he was drawn towards the edge of the six-yard box as Paul Pogba, the Manchester United midfielder, easily curled a shot from 25 yards past him, when a deeper starting position would have given him time to move his feet easily across.
In the 3-0 defeat by Brighton & Hove Albion, another curling shot from outside the box, this time from José Izquierdo, was almost saved by Hart, who got a hand to the ball but without moving his feet in the ball’s direction. There were instances of rash decision-making in one-on-one situations when a calmer head was needed.
If Hart is to go to the World Cup as Gareth Southgate’s third-choice goalkeeper then his experience is pegged as the reason for his inclusion. The only problem with that is his recent experiences haven’t been positive.
Perhaps he is deserving of a place due to his involvement in the qualifying games, but it is Jordan Pickford who better fits the template set out by the England manager of how he wants his team, and his goalkeeper, to play.
If anything should happen to Jack Butland and Pickford, will we be more confident in Nick Pope, who has been brilliant for Burnley this season, or in Hart, whose head is full of doubts and who has errors fresh in his memory?
For Hart to find some form he must make a permanent move to a club where he can settle and commit to focusing on the weaker aspects of his game, rather than relying on the strengths that he used to have.
● David Preece, a former Darlington and Aberdeen goalkeeper, is now a coach and a writer for the Sunderland Echo.
Joe Hart’s decline over the past two years has been plain to see and Monday night’s error was just the latest in a litany of mistakes that has damaged the West Ham United and England goalkeeper’s reputation.
A simple gather from a shot by Xherdan Shaqiri, the Stoke City midfielder, was made slightly trickier by a deflection but it was Hart’s reaction that was the clear sign of a lack of trust in himself.
The ball bounced just in front of him and instead of staying low and moving forward to gather it into his midriff, the 30-year-old decided to use a technique more often seen in volleyball to shovel the ball away from goal.
A goalkeeper confident in his ability would have held on to that ball. Hart, though, in being as cautious as possible, inadvertently made his life more difficult by using a technique that was harder to perform. As the ball was spinning due to the deflection, the timing of his contact had to be perfect, or, as we saw, it will become a mess. Even then, he didn’t take the opportunity to smother the ball with his upper body and arms and Peter Crouch beat his swinging foot to the ball.
To many, the origin of Hart’s most troubling professional period would be traced back to when a weakness diving low to his left was exposed by shots from Gareth Bale, of Wales, and Iceland’s Kolbeinn Sigthorsson at Euro 2016. Those two disappointments were then compounded by Pep Guardiola highlighting deficiencies in his game by acquiring two goalkeepers for Manchester City whose build-up play using their feet was far superior.
So what has happened to Hart? To really understand that, we need to go farther back than those games against Wales, and fatefully, Iceland, to a time when he was seen as being at his peak.
The first Premier League title won by Hart at Manchester City in 2011-12 came at a time when Massimo Battara was part of Roberto Mancini’s coaching staff. The relationship between goalkeeping coach and goalkeeper can be a very personal one, but rather than enforce the strengths that Hart already possessed, Battara focused on what he thought Hart needed to improve and, in his mind, that was dealing with crosses and distribution.
Those four seasons under Mancini and Battara were followed by another league title, under Manuel Pellegrini in 2013-14, and it was from there that the slide began. Some footballers get to a point when they think that they know what is best for themselves but a player can fall into routines that stunt progression.
When they stop trying to push forward, they don’t just stand still, they get passed by. In not working on weaknesses, they become overly reliant on their strengths to get them through. And once those strengths begin to fail them, confidence becomes an issue.
In those years after Battara’s departure, deficiencies gradually became more exposed and Hart’s confidence inevitably took a hit. Guardiola shining a torchlight on what he saw as a substandard technical and tactical ability with his feet brought self-doubt that chipped away at Hart and those doubts manifested in other areas of his game.
Looking back at Hart’s time at Torino, he often positioned himself too close to his near post when the ball was out wide, causing him problems with any deep crosses.
In the opening league game for West Ham this season, he was drawn towards the edge of the six-yard box as Paul Pogba, the Manchester United midfielder, easily curled a shot from 25 yards past him, when a deeper starting position would have given him time to move his feet easily across.
In the 3-0 defeat by Brighton & Hove Albion, another curling shot from outside the box, this time from José Izquierdo, was almost saved by Hart, who got a hand to the ball but without moving his feet in the ball’s direction. There were instances of rash decision-making in one-on-one situations when a calmer head was needed.
If Hart is to go to the World Cup as Gareth Southgate’s third-choice goalkeeper then his experience is pegged as the reason for his inclusion. The only problem with that is his recent experiences haven’t been positive.
Perhaps he is deserving of a place due to his involvement in the qualifying games, but it is Jordan Pickford who better fits the template set out by the England manager of how he wants his team, and his goalkeeper, to play.
If anything should happen to Jack Butland and Pickford, will we be more confident in Nick Pope, who has been brilliant for Burnley this season, or in Hart, whose head is full of doubts and who has errors fresh in his memory?
For Hart to find some form he must make a permanent move to a club where he can settle and commit to focusing on the weaker aspects of his game, rather than relying on the strengths that he used to have.
● David Preece, a former Darlington and Aberdeen goalkeeper, is now a coach and a writer for the Sunderland Echo.
hi all,
my preference would to stick with Karius in this situation. In an ideal world id like to see us sign Becker, but there is absolutely no chance of us getting him for anything like a reasonable price from Roma due to his reputation, the lack of top notch goalies out there, and what has happened with Salah this season.
A bit of confidence in his has also worked wonders; since being told that he is the number one, his performance level has gone up massively, and other areas of the pitch need to be prioritised for reinforcement/stronger rotation options
my preference would to stick with Karius in this situation. In an ideal world id like to see us sign Becker, but there is absolutely no chance of us getting him for anything like a reasonable price from Roma due to his reputation, the lack of top notch goalies out there, and what has happened with Salah this season.
A bit of confidence in his has also worked wonders; since being told that he is the number one, his performance level has gone up massively, and other areas of the pitch need to be prioritised for reinforcement/stronger rotation options
I'll admit I ain't seen much of him, but what I have hasn't exactly been great. Imagine spending 70m on him and he's a load of turd.
Th great thing is, you don't need to imagine it! You can simply look back at our signings like Markovic and let the frustration and anger boil over for real.
Not that I will try to build a case for Markovic here. But I feel definately more confident that we will splash these amounts without being sure that they will solve a problem these days.
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