Samir Handanovic

[brehme1989]

Maybe if people weren't criticising him for no reason you wouldn't have to see people defending logic every time.

First goal: nothing to do, shot was coming towards him and the deflection took it to the bottom corner.
Second goal: Attacking player wins header and it goes to the bottom corner almost grazing the bottom post, again, almost nothing a GK can do. You can criticise him only for not attacking the cross but when you look at how many people are between him and the scorer and how far from goal, you just have to blame the defense for letting a header in.

If you really pay attention to this, you will find a complete mess of a defensive reaction. This Ibañez dude was free for like hours.

Short corner. Brozovic runs towards the recipient of the pass and actually has to mark two players, one with the ball and the overlapping corner kick taker. Difficult task to begin with as no help means that he can only cover so much space. A cross is coming for sure.
Then you see Lukaku trailing back to mark the guy Brozovic let free. No clue why this guy was free. The Roma player was already in crossing position. Ashley Young wakes up, but now that guy is double marked with Brozovic covering that side of the cross. Ibañez is still wide open and makes a run. His run is actually spot on but he misses the header. Mancini gets it ahead of Bastoni and it goes in.
Now, if we had someone to actually cover for the run of Ibañez, the ball would have been cleared and no one would complain about Handanovic not stopping a header that was slotted to the bottom corner of the far post.
You can notice Barella who was covering that space decides jn an indecisive manner to help Brozovic in case the ball player makes an inward run for a shot, but he abandons the space he was into, which right into the path of Ibañez. This also does not help Brozovic mark the corner taker who would be one simple pass away from being free for a parallel pass with no defender around since both Young and Lukaku weren't going to mark him on time.

And just like that, you come and blame the goalkeeper. Handanovic actually had a solid game overall, apart from that mini brainfart with Skriniar after the 2-2.

You know you cannot take Handanovic criticism seriously in this place when a Marusic shot that was going 20 meters wide out left hits Perisic's face and goes go the right corner of our goal in split seconds and everyone was jumping to hate on Handanovic for "not trying"

[CafeCordoba]

But that header was saveable, no matter how bottom corner it went. Handa is simply so slow these days that he knows he can't catch it so didn't even try.

Not discrediting all those other notions around the goal, what kind of mistakes were done there. But we cannot just take the blame away from Handa when he's just so freaking late these days.

[brehme1989]

Everything is savable yet everything can also be unsavable. It's a matter of positioning, feet movement and of course, defensive contribution.

This is where the ball dropped:



And this is where Handanovic was when the header was won and he was actually anticipating the free man Ibanez to win it and send it to his left, yet Mancini won it and it went to his right and it was too late to react there:


Unless he could have predicted that Mancini would be the one to head it, he couldn't have moved a step to his right and stop it. Even so, his positioning there is excellent because he is firmly standing in the middle. There's a reason why penalty shots that are shot low and leftwards towards the bottom post with the right foot are considered almost perfect. This was a header of course, but the direction was exactly the same and from closer range, with several potential outcomes as the chances of an attacking actually winning the ball there and making an attempt at goal are less than the 99,99% a penalty kick has.


This silly scapegoatism needs to end at some point. It's one thing to blame him for blunders like Verona and a whole another level to keep nitpicking on conceded goals as if this is Ice Hockey and GKs have a 98% chance of stopping every shot at goal. The same shit was happening to Toldo with fans blaming him for defensive breakdowns that led to easy goals for the opposition. Then Julio Cesar came and because the team was winning he was absolved of having far more blunders and overall terrible positioning for a top GK and some fancy reflex stops were enough to deify him for some. Goalkeeping is not a "highlights reel" job. And it's also a role where conceding goals is part of the job description.

P.S. It's actually Skriniar who loses the header there, not Bastoni that I mentioned earlier.

[Irequis]

The adage "you miss 100 % shot that you do not take" applies for goalkeeper too. The second goal was a very well-placed header to the bottom corner, but the ball didn't travel very fast which allowed Handa to react. We do not know how much was the probability if Handa decided to get up from his rocking chair and made save attempt, but of course it will be 100 % goal if he didn't even try. We are incensed by a player who does not give 100 % and now we lash out fair criticism for Handa who doesn't give his best. Just, just try your best and we will accept if your best is not the enough to prevent the goal, but just try ffs.

[brehme1989]

The adage "you miss 100 % shot that you do not take" applies for goalkeeper too. The second goal was a very well-placed header to the bottom corner, but the ball didn't travel very fast which allowed Handa to react. We do not know how much was the probability if Handa decided to get up from his rocking chair and made save attempt, but of course it will be 100 % goal if he didn't even try. We are incensed by a player who does not give 100 % and now we lash out fair criticism for Handa who doesn't give his best. Just, just try your best and we will accept if your best is not the enough to prevent the goal, but just try ffs.

I get what you mean, but there's nothing wrong with that.

Now if he did what Manninger did in that Muntari goal in the derby, shit, I'd crucify him:


Had he not given up - which was genuinely the correct decision, his defense collapsed and the goal was free - he'd probably stop this shit misplaced tap in and Muntari would enter Derby blooper zone for years to come

But these Handanovic goals you keep blaming him aren't actual mistakes or anything. You display elements of people who do not watch a lot of football when you say these things.



You also underrate the fact that goalkeepers do not tend to jump towards the post, it's just not done. I'll give you a better example here. Donnarumma is someone who generally likes to jump at shots in general.




If you go to 1:40 in the above video, you will see an Udinese corner kick. The header from Becao was slotted in the near post of Donnarumma, clearly within reach for him, no visual obstruction there, the correct foot (right foot) rooted just in time, yet you can see from the replay that when the keeper sees where the ball is, which is visibly in goal but very close to the post, he hesitates and changes his mind on diving for it. It's just a well executed header, you can only stop those if you are extremely well positioned, which is mostly circumstantial in such cases. This is why you need stellar defending in crosses, it can lead to easy goals that you would think are very easy to stop for a goalkeeper, but direction and placement are more important than acceleration in some situations.

[William]

Thanks for posting that muntari goal Brehme, I needed some cheering up!


That said, I think others like myself are just all a bit tired of seeing him become more static. Even if there’s no chance (in his head) that he thinks that he’ll get the shot I’d still like to see him make the effort to try rather than stand there like a cabbage.

There’s been a lot of times over the past season or so where I’ve been like prime JC would have gotten to that. I’m sure even prime Handa would have too. I don’t think anybody is disputing that he is on the decline so, if we didn’t have muppets in the boardroom, we should be thinking of replacing him from next season and doing something similar to the Toldo/ JC transition where he gets the CL games or something.

[ADRossi]

The one thing I've noticed is that he's been much more animated over the past few games than I can ever remember seeing him. After Roma's first goal yesterday he was noticeably livid with the defense. He's usually not like this.

[Universe]

Definitely. When Sottil scored that fucking stupid volley against us for Cagliari, he just stood there like a fuckhead, watching the ball fly 30cm past him before going on his knees and beating the ground, like Sneijder used to do in his tantrums.

[Pimpin]

the guy has dipped in quality considerably, whether you guys like it or not, he has cost us alot this season.

[thoriq_r9]

I think he himself more than anyone else realized he could have done better in some of the goals conceded. The reactions he displayed were probably meant for him too. He probably thinks his old self would be able to save them.
Not saying the defense were not in fault tho, we've been leaking shots left right center. In our wins, we just simply outscored and created more chances than our oppositions.

[varmin]

Handanovic is in obvious decline and if someone denies it, he is either biased or blind.

[brehme1989]

Decline is one thing. Saying he sucks and that he routinely costs us goals on the other hand is being delusional.

He's still a top 10 goalkeeper in the world.

[brehme1989]

Sucks, use Radu please.

[NeonBlade]

Another legendary save today, that if let in, could've given these bastards more ideas.

[CafeCordoba]

Nothing much to do, apart from leading the defence. But oh my what a vintage Handanovic save in the end to that Chiesa shot.

[William]

Nothing much to do, apart from leading the defence. But oh my what a vintage Handanovic save in the end to that Chiesa shot.

See I would argue that the shot was almost straight at him, from his standing position all he had to do is fall to the correct side with his hands a bit out. Didn’t feel he had to do a great deal.

Definitely an important save but one we’d be expecting he make.

[brehme1989]

See I would argue that the shot was almost straight at him, from his standing position all he had to do is fall to the correct side with his hands a bit out. Didn’t feel he had to do a great deal.

Definitely an important save but one we’d be expecting he make.

And your argument would be dismissed by pretty much everyone capable of making the judgement call.

This is exactly why you people do not grasp what makes a good or great save and what is a bad save. A human cannot pull off what you keep demanding from this guy and when he makes killer saves it's nothing.
Yet when Julio Cesar stops that Messi shot, it's jizzing all over and talking about thr greatest save ever and imagining that it was the hardest thing ever (it was a very good save but not a physics defying one that you keep expecting from Handanovic).

This was probably the save of the season.

When this guy finishes playing goalie, his species will come collect him and take him back to his home planet. Appreciate him while it lasts.

[YoramG]

Wonderful, wonderful save on Chiesa towards the end.

I'm super critical of him lately but I'm so happy to heap praise on him too. He really deserves a title with us.

[Batman]

Stepped up big time when it mattered the most. Thanks Capitano, keep it up and you will lift the trophy.

[NeonBlade]

See I would argue that the shot was almost straight at him, from his standing position all he had to do is fall to the correct side with his hands a bit out. Didn’t feel he had to do a great deal.

Definitely an important save but one we’d be expecting he make.

Except

(1) Handanovic was going in the opposite direction before Chiesa hit the ball

and

(2) He saved it with one hand and didn't palm it directly back into traffic.

C'mon bro...