03 Jun 2025 16:15:07
Afternoon Ed001.
Do you think the new keeper will be better than Kelleher? I know he did well for us at times but was never going to replace Ali
Cheers
Drogie.
{Ed001's Note - I am not the right person to ask, I didn't really rate Kelleher.}
03 Jun 2025 17:27:23
I've only seen Mamardashvili play for Georgia in last summers Euro's, but he was outstanding. Kept them in games single handed at times. Reminds me of a Courtois type keeper though. He's a great shot stopper and he was good a claiming crosses if they were too near to him. Georgia didn't really push on high enough to know if he's any good as a sweeper keeper, and he also was under clear instruction to 'whallop' any back passes into the channels for Kvaratskhelia and Mikautadze; who are Georgia's only good players, so they were trying to bypass the rest of the team!
Mama is absolutely massive by the way, he must be nearly as tall as Peter Crouch. Very imposing for opposition players when they look up and see a guy who covers half the goal with his wingspan alone. I don't know how to quantify if he'll be better than Kelleher because he was the opposite; he was very good at coming off his line quickly and playing a short passing game around the back in a possession game, but not the best shot stopper. They're very different, but I like Mama and think he'll be a good no.2 for next season.
03 Jun 2025 17:28:54
I'm with you on Kelleher as well, Ed. Decent keeper, but I was always nervous when he played. I really hope he does well at Brentford, as he seems a smashing lad, but I fear his weaknesses may get exposed when he's playing week in week out, and not having VVD in front of him. I sincerely hope I'm wrong.
{Ed001's Note - I think he will improve playing regularly, but I still don't see him as becoming top class.}
03 Jun 2025 17:29:07
For those curious I've watched mamar enough to give a good idea of his toolset.
He's not a 'sweeper keeper' type who comes off his line early. He's very much a traditional stay on your line and focus on saves kind of keeper. He's a big guy with a big reach so he covers a lot of the goal and is pretty agile.
Strengths - long shots have to be pretty phenomenal to get past him, he commands his box pretty well is not afraid to challenge someone for a ball in the air and rarely parries the ball back into dangerous areas.
He's pretty good in 1 on 1 scenarios but not at Allison's level (who is? ) . Great reflexes
Weaknesses - not great with the ball at his feet but I imagine that won't matter anyway since slot doesn't like his keepers going long anyway. Punches rather than catches and tends to be reactive rather than proactive
He's most similar to keepers like courtois or oblak rather than neuer or Allison. But if I compare him to any keeper from history it would be francesco toldo, which is definitely not a bad thing as he was a superb keeper.
03 Jun 2025 17:34:54
From reports and the Eds here, Marmadashvilli's main weakness is his kicking. For him to replace Alisson in the future, if we're going to keep playing the same way, he needs to work on his distribution.
However, working with Tafarel and Ali will give him the best chance to do that.
And at less than £30m, if he doesn't work out, he still has a great resell value.
Personally, as long as Ali's form doesn't drop off significantly, I'd like him to extend his contract again (maybe next summer) as I think he's the best goalkeeper we have had in my lifetime - the first GK I remember was Mad Bruce, and he's probably No 2!
03 Jun 2025 17:41:36
He has good reflexes but im not convinced he has good positioning so he is always making "worldy" saves. His distribution needs work too
lets be honest, we have been spoiled rotten with the best all round keeper in the world for years who made everything look easy - nobody is going to come close to living up to that
Kelleher has been a more than adequate backup though imo and i think he will excel as a number 1 with some consistent game time.
03 Jun 2025 18:11:56
Mamardashvili is below average kicking it long but still reasonably serviceable. It's playing it short that he is shockingly bad at, he just has very little composure passing and receiving the ball. He just doesn't look the right kind of keeper for us at all.
03 Jun 2025 18:31:44
Well I watched Mignolet kick it for long enough and anything has to be better than that.
03 Jun 2025 19:12:51
Mignolet, I still remember when he delayed and delayed kicking out a back pass that it went out for a corner.
03 Jun 2025 19:13:50
I love, Kelleher. But a lot of that is maybe through green tinted specs. His kicking isn't as crisp as Becker's, he can ping a ball. CK kinda just floats a ball upfield, no power or precision behind it. He was still a big part of our success, will always be a legend for that to me.
03 Jun 2025 19:26:09
Delighted for Kelleher to get to move away, was a great No2 but you have to trust that the club who see him every day know whether there are better options out there and have brought in a replacement with a view to Ali moving on. That’s good enough for me.
03 Jun 2025 20:31:21
It’s starting to be Slot’s squad isn’t it? Looks like a big turnover in playing staff is underway.
03 Jun 2025 22:59:22
One thing about Marma's distribution. His kicking might not be fantastic but his throwing is next level. Regularly ping the ball to a player on the half way line.