George Long or Mark Howard?

[Will Brammer]

Who would you have as number 1 for next season for me I think we should go for George Long as i think he is a better more agile shot stopper however his distribution and communication is pretty bad. What does everyone think?

 

[FulwoodBlade]

Howard, our record with him is significantly better than Long. Without looking for significant numbers I always think we win more games with Howard, just look at the end of last year.

 

[Gavlar]

what fulwood said

 

[bartman]

Who would you have as number 1 for next season for me I think we should go for George Long as i think he is a better more agile shot stopper however his distribution and communication is pretty bad. What does everyone think?

I'm amazed that,after the performances of the two keepers last season,you are even querying this.

Communication is a key part of goalkeeping, at the moment it appears that Long isn't as good at this as Howard. As for shot stopping, Howard's positioning is better (obviously he has more experience) therefore he is in a better position so not have to make too many 'wonder' saves. He also comes off his line to catch corners and crosses something which Long is struggling with at the moment.

No debate here really is there

 

[Esablade]

It's Mark Howard isn't it..?

 

[FleaPitBlade]

Long term (see what I did there?) Long will be a very good goalkeeper but right now I'd stick with Howard.

George needs another season or two of regular football lower down the leagues - making his mistakes and learning on somebody else's scoresheet. GK' s are difficult to blood because there's invariably nobody to bail them out when the inevitable mistakes occur. Using Harry as an example, he made the odd glaring error here and there but 9/10 times, Collins or his full backs are around him to cover - GK' s don't have that protection and a team gunning for promotion should be looking to protect itself from the threat of dropping points due to individual errors or naivety.

 

[Will Brammer]

I'm amazed that,after the performances of the two keepers last season,you are even querying this.

Communication is a key part of goalkeeping, at the moment it appears that Long isn't as good at this as Howard. As for shot stopping, Howard's positioning is better (obviously he has more experience) therefore he is in a better position so not have to make too many 'wonder' saves. He also comes off his line to catch corners and crosses something which Long is struggling with at the moment.

No debate here really is there

i think it would he would develop better playing for us and not out on loan, just my opinion anyway

 

[davidpinder]

Howard. Long will go out on loan anyway.

 

[bartman]

i think it would he would develop better playing for us and not out on loan, just my opinion anyway

I know what you mean but he would be better learning his trade elsewhere then coming back to us a better keeper. He ended up being a liability last season and we can't afford that to happen this season.

 

[sitwell]

Clough has already made the correct decision ,cant believe some doubt it.

 

[Bladesmanstan]

For me its mark Howard cos when we went on that winning streak he didn't concede a goal.He has better communication than long and is more experienced than him.However long is more younger and has better reflexes than Howard but when someone crosses the ball in 2 the box he hesitates and punches the ball. I remember last season when we played Bradford and it was his fault for both of their goals...He should go out on loan.

 

[Pierre's PC]

Paddy Kenny

 

[EccyBlade]

Would love to see Long developed at Bramall Lane but we cant afford for him to 'learn' this season at our cost. Needs to go out on loan and get the experience. We need a safe pair of hands and Howard showed he is capable of that last season.

Any thoughts on where you think he would be best placed - Top half team from L2 for confidence, consistency, winning team etc or a bottom half team from L1 for more involvement, shot stopping (hopefully) and chance to prove himself? Personally, I would go for top of L2.

 

[blader]

I'm ambivalent actually. Long struggled, but I think too much is made of our upturn in for coinciding with Howard playing. In that 10 game winning run, I remember 3 or 4 where Howard didn't even have 1 shot to save. Long has a lot to learn but will improve, Howard is a reasonable league 1 keeper but no more. I would probably stick with him for now, but if we went up I certainly wouldn't want Howard as our No.1 then.

 

[JJBlade]

Howard for me, He's done nothing to lose the shirt yet. It's still a bit too early for Long even though he's had plenty of games. His first game was a 4-4 draw with Exeter (I think) and he looked like being beaten every time Exeter went forward, in fact he was beaten every time Exeter went forward.
Long is a good keeper but the defence looks incredibly jittery when he is in goal, he is a bit quiet and probably feels that because of his age and inexperience he has no right to bark orders out at seasoned pro's, but this is exactly what he has to do if he wants to get on.
He has to make that defence believe in him and stop putting them in the position that they do silly things to try to cover for the young kid.

 

[yorkshirecoast]

They are both decent shot stoppers - but in every other area Howard is currently far better than Long - taking crosses, controlling his area, communicating with the defenders. We looked a much better team with Howard. It seems Long will be sent out on loan by Clough and I think that's the right thing to do. Unfortunately Long has gone backwards in the last two seasons and needs to go somewhere else to build up his confidence and improve his technique.

 

[Pinchy]

i think it would he would develop better playing for us and not out on loan, just my opinion anyway

Our task next season is to get promotion, not "develop" George Long or anybody else.

As was amply demonstrated last season, Mark Howard is, at present, the better keeper of the two.

 

[FTPE]

I really wanted long to do well but he's missing all the things that you can't really teach, confidence and presence!
Great shot stopper but he seemed to make our defense nervous and he didn't command his line let alone his box

 

[Flatulent_Bob]

I think Long struggled behind an unfamiliar, disorganised defence and currently Howard is the more accomplished keeper.
These are the difficult decision when blooding a youngster, particularly a keeper when every mistake is more likely to result in a goal against.

While I'd prefer Howard from a fan point of view who wants to win the league, there is certainly a case in the longer term benefits of using Long IF the new defence is settled.

 

[davidpinder]

I think Long struggled behind an unfamiliar, disorganised defence and currently Howard is the more accomplished keeper.
These are the difficult decision when blooding a youngster, particularly a keeper when every mistake is more likely to result in a goal against.

While I'd prefer Howard from a fan point of view who wants to win the league, there is certainly a case in the longer term benefits of using Long IF the new defence is settled.

Exactly why he needs sending out on loan so that his mistakes aren't for us and he can gain experience and develop into a good keeper.

 

[Revolution]

Clough has already made the correct decision ,cant believe some doubt it.

I have to say, Sitwell, you were ahead of the curve on this one. I thought that Long was the least of our problems at the start of last season, but when I saw the back to back Oldham and Tranmere home games - where Clough's improvements were having some impact but were a work in progress - I really saw what you meant about how Long's lack of command of his area and defence and lack of confidence was affecting our results. It was no co-incidence we took off when Howard came in.

It is not all over for Long though. His career path is not dissimilar to Paul Tomlinson's - good first season, then a step back and lost his place. Tomlinson recovered and became a solid keeper at Bradford, so maybe Long will improve too, and hopefully do so whilst he's still with us.

 

[Blade58]

Howard for me. George L will have his day all in good time

George W on the bench, who hopefully will step up to the plate and be one of the next big players to progress through the academy

Go George

 

[sheffielder]

Here we go again....

Long does not command his area which can improve. I wonder if this would improve now there is some more leadership in the team.

Howard is not a shot stopper and won't improve. There is a reason that he has never been number 1 anywhere and he is not good enough if we get promoted.

George could do will a spell away with a club in the same divsion because some people will never give him a chance at the moment.

 

[stannyblade]

Howard without a doubt

 

[bartman]

I'm ambivalent actually. Long struggled, but I think too much is made of our upturn in for coinciding with Howard playing. In that 10 game winning run, I remember 3 or 4 where Howard didn't even have 1 shot to save. Long has a lot to learn but will improve, Howard is a reasonable league 1 keeper but no more. I would probably stick with him for now, but if we went up I certainly wouldn't want Howard as our No.1 then.

But don't you think it was because Hopward was organising the players in front of him better than Long and communicating with them as well led to him having less to do? With Long in goal, the defence sat deeper as they didn't trust him which brought the opposition on to us.

 

[bartman]

Here we go again....

Long does not command his area which can improve. I wonder if this would improve now there is some more leadership in the team.

Howard is not a shot stopper and won't improve. There is a reason that he has never been number 1 anywhere and he is not good enough if we get promoted.

George could do will a spell away with a club in the same divsion because some people will never give him a chance at the moment.

Harsh on Howard. Keepers tend to reach their prime in their 30's and in my opinion ,improved as the season went on.

I think the fans have given George a chance but, Orient away apart, he was poor last season and needed to be taken out of the firing line.

Agree that we would need a better keeper if we go up and we would probably need an experienced back up as well as Long and Willis may not be ready for the step up.

 

[Jimmy23]

Bruce Grobbelaar

 

[Balham]

Of the two, it's Howard for me. If you could combine the two you'd have a great keeper: take Howard's organisation, communication, decision making and dealing with crosses and Long's shot stopping and positioning. I have some serious reservations about Howard's shot stopping - if I was him I'd be disappointed with a couple of the Hull goals in the semi final as they were at a saveable height and close enough to him.

I'm still not sure if Long will ever reach his potential as his lack of communication is a real problem. It's almost symptomatic of a lack of confidence: a lot of the time I got the feeling that Long didn't make a decision last season as he was scared of what would happen if he got it wrong. Take Gillingham at home: Maguire's backpass was awful but had Long not hesitated for that split second, he might have been able to beat McDonald to it. Don't get me wrong, I think he'll be a solid pro keeper for a long time to come but I just have a feeling that it won't be at United.

There's a real opportunity for Willis to make a name for himself too if Clough's willing to blood him in the JPT games. I know Foxy is a fan of George II so I hope that's the case.

 

[sheffielder]

Harsh on Howard. Keepers tend to reach their prime in their 30's and in my opinion ,improved as the season went on.

I think the fans have given George a chance but, Orient away apart, he was poor last season and needed to be taken out of the firing line.

Agree that we would need a better keeper if we go up and we would probably need an experienced back up as well as Long and Willis may not be ready for the step up.

If he can't stop shots at his age, he never will. Given, his experience saw him through last season but if you want to name games, Swindon away should have been stopped.

Long kept 26 clean sheets the season before so there is a player in there. I think the usual berating of our youngsters from the crowd killed his confidence last season when he didn't start as the problem, he just ended up being it.

 

[Flatulent_Bob]

Exactly why he needs sending out on loan so that his mistakes aren't for us and he can gain experience and develop into a good keeper.

What side and at what level will he have to go inorder to get that experience whilst been guaranteed a starting place?