its not irelevant. YOU compared the two.
He actually changed the way he keeps goal when we went up to the prem.
he did not revert back to being a sweeper keeper( your term) when we went down either. Dont suppose you can tell me why? You think he was at his best playing that way - but a keepers job is to keep the ball out of the net and a strikers job is to score goals. by a simple thought process of 'how can i do better' the game developes and moves on and evolves. But hey if you think that Paddy Kenny keeps goal the same as Fatty Foulkes what do i know?
I said if I was pushed, I'd choose Bunn. That's not exactly a in-depth comparison and it isn't what I was getting at anyway. I don't care if we've got Cheryl Cole in goal currently, I still don't want Paddy Kenny in our goals.
When he first arrived, the two things for me that set him apart were his ability to clear up behind the defence (sweeper keeper) and his terrific shot stopping ability. In that 02/03 season, he made several excellent saves - key, important, game changing saves. He was also sweeping up behind the defence - which to an extent allowed us an experienced but slower centre defence pairing of Page and Murphy - in a super effective way. 02/03 Paddy, :thumbup: for me.
After that season, I don't think he hit those heights in the immediate seasons afterwards. That's when I began to notice the weaker areas of his games. It's like strikers: whilst they're scoring, you notice little else (Cressy); when the goals dry up, you notice the areas of weakness (Ched). He started making fewer key saves and several times in one season - maybe 04/05 - goals were scored via headers in the six yard box which I think is a pretty massive issue in this league in particular.
Promotion season. I would suggest that was the strongest defence in front of him since 02/03. By this point, his poor aerial ability is overshadowing the other good parts of his game. I don't particularly think Kenny hit the heights of 02/03 in the promotion season despite the end result for United. I will give him kudos for staggering through the end of the Hull City game but his antics at the end of the game - taunting the Tigers' fans - was rather stupid and the novelty of Kenny having banter with the opposition fans has worn off slightly. We had the cock-up against Norwich on Boxing Day which was the most high-profile error so far.
Premier League season. If a team stays up, they stay up because their goalkeeper stands up to be counted. I'm sorry folks but I can't recall Kenny making a string of saves in any Premier League win of ours. I invite you to remind me of one. His best performance seems to be away at Bolton where we lost ... we needed the saves to be key saves. This was also the season when the business with his wife started up; I don't know the in's and out's of it but it sounded as if he was a bit silly in all that. Not the antics of a professional Premier League player. He stupidly tried to dribble round Andy Johnson (Everton home) and gave away a stupid penalty for 1-1. A 1-0 win that day would have kept us in the Premier League. Another high profile error.
Back in the Championship. More like 03/04 and 04/05 than 02/03. His goalkeeping style may have changed but I want to see a goalkeeper making key saves and commanding his area in the Championship. He doesn't seem to be doing any of these on a regular basis. Enter Blackwell.
His best defence in front of him ever for me. Lots of clean sheets - fair play but I fancy that defence was part of the reason - but I still can't recall him making many key saves. His aerial ability - my biggest issue with him - does not seem to be improving. Involved in a catastrophic cock-up at Hillsborough that costs us a Sheffield derby - bad strikers can become legends in that game (Asaba, D'Jaffo) but errors are not easily forgotten - and is at fault for first goal at the Lane defeat to the unclean. Concedes a goal at Wembley that was decent hit but that is when the best keepers make the saves IMO. Makes stupid decision re: cough medicine and is banned for 9 months.
I admit that I thought he was an excellent goalkeeper when he first arrived but more and more since then, the negative sides of PK have shown themselves. His aerial ability, his declining number of key saves and his very questionable decisions on and off the field. I think we need a new goalkeeper. Do I think Bunn is the answer? No. Would I prefer him to Kenny? Yes but not by much.
Maybe he is just a player that I don't rate in the same way as a lot don't rate Monty and Henderson. I just don't see Kenny getting us promoted unless he has a super good defence in front of him.