Contrary to what most people seem to think, I thought this was probably Karius' worst performance so far today. Yeah, he finally showed that he can make some saves – but I was never worried about his shot-stopping ability or his bravery because I saw him make some incredible stops at Mainz before. So I was never doubting him in those games where he didn't have a save to make and everybody focused on his trouble with crosses and indecisiveness – which is pretty normal for a young keeper.
Today what worried me was the first goal – it really looked like he forgot he was inside the penalty area and jumped with his hands down, trying not to get sent off. If that is true, it's an unbelievable mental mistake and shows that his head is all screwed up right now. Also, while the saves he did make were all fairly routine for a top-level GK, he did spill the ball once that he should've held, got a ball knocked out of his hand while throwing (fortunately the ref intervened, but you can't always count on it) and looked very off-balance during another fairly routine save. Again, it just tells me he's a bag of nerves right now – even though, somehow, you feel his inner confidence is higher than Mignolet's. The distribution was inconsistent as well, although on a positive note he did make one really awesome pass in the 2nd half – if he can do this more often, that could be a great weapon for us in the future. Still, I don't think he should be happy with this performance; he needs to do better.
Today what worried me was the first goal – it really looked like he forgot he was inside the penalty area and jumped with his hands down, trying not to get sent off. If that is true, it's an unbelievable mental mistake and shows that his head is all screwed up right now. Also, while the saves he did make were all fairly routine for a top-level GK, he did spill the ball once that he should've held, got a ball knocked out of his hand while throwing (fortunately the ref intervened, but you can't always count on it) and looked very off-balance during another fairly routine save. Again, it just tells me he's a bag of nerves right now – even though, somehow, you feel his inner confidence is higher than Mignolet's. The distribution was inconsistent as well, although on a positive note he did make one really awesome pass in the 2nd half – if he can do this more often, that could be a great weapon for us in the future. Still, I don't think he should be happy with this performance; he needs to do better.
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