I’ve been a bit of a harsh critic of Handa lately, rightly or wrongly, but last night I thought he put in an excellent performance.
However, when I spoke to my brother this morning he is adamant that Handa could have saved the deflection. Thoughts? Upon looking at the goal I’m still convinced there was absolutely nothing he could do.
No way he could have saved it. Yes, he could, if he knew it will be deflected. You can't change your center of mass from moving towards top right corner to sudenly change your entire momentum to left side.... Impossible for any human.
I'm not saying he could have done better, but what he is a lazy goalkeeper, nobody could deny that. I have also mentioned in match threads that his positioning is a lot to be desired for a goalkeeper of his experience, and besides of that he seems like an awkward person to me. He does some weird things and is too mute for a captain.
He was our most consistent player throughout the years and was the biggest reason that we were not worse than we have been (and we know how shite we were for an entire decade), but that doesn't mean that he shouldn't get the blame in particular occassions.
Hopefully we find a proper successor to him because time has come, and if we keep pushing further then he may be the weakest point of this team sooner than later.
Old man came through when it mattered, easily MOTM.
I liked that completely unnecessary, boyishly cocky dive to save a ball towards his left side when it wasn't even going to be a corner. He was in great mood today.
Vintage Batmanovic. He has made some mistakes this season but his performances against Napoli and Milan should be special mentions in case we win Scudetto.
That sequence of saves is one of the best I saw in recent memory from any goalie. I would love more than anything he lifts the trophy for us at the end of the season. If anybody deserves it its him.
He deserves as much credit as the goal scorers. Made crucial saves when we were only 1 goal up. Would have been a totally different game if he didn't make those saves.