sullivan

[moses]

Have I missed somethiing. There is a line on Twitter about Sullivan playing for Wimbledon in the FA cup...

[dickos1]

If you've missed that he's signed for Wimbledon then yes

[CottyRover]

I'm obviously not keeping up. I'd missed it too.    When did that happen?

[silent majority]

He's on loan, not cup-tied yet, a decision will be made after our game today.

[CottyRover]

Thanks for that info, SM. Sad to think we may have seen the last of Sully in a Rovers shirt, but at the risk of being shot down, I think Gary Woods is doing well enough to keep his place.

[Donnywolf]

http://www.drfc-vsc.co.uk/index.php?topic=235718.msg281830#msg281830

[Filo]

Thanks for that info, SM. Sad to think we may have seen the last of Sully in a Rovers shirt, but at the risk of being shot down, I think Gary Woods is doing well enough to keep his place.

I`ll fire the first shot then, Gary Woods has had next to nothing to do, due to the excellent defence in front of him, and although he`s a decent shot stopper, the other attributes of being a good keeper are not there. For now the pressure is off him due to the consistency of the defence

[dickos1]

Agree to an extent, but he's kept us in a few games this year, brentford, tranmere, colchester, even Shrewsbury, so think he should be due a bit of credit for that

[RobTheRover]

I agree Dickos.  He's done just about everything he has HAD to do, so criticising him for things he HASNT had to do is incredibly churlish.

[Filo]

I agree Dickos.  He's done just about everything he has HAD to do, so criticising him for things he HASNT had to do is incredibly churlish.

Opinions Rob, that`s what it`s all about. It`s my opinion that he`s been fortunate this season in that the defence has offered him great protection, we saw last season how vulnerable he is when the heat is on, I`ve seen nothing yet to make me change that opinion

[dickos1]

Agree about the defence filo, but in the games I've mentioned we simply wouldn't have won if he hadn't have made the saves. He's gained us 8 or 9 points in this games alone

[RobTheRover]

I agree Dickos.  He's done just about everything he has HAD to do, so criticising him for things he HASNT had to do is incredibly churlish.

Opinions Rob, that`s what it`s all about. It`s my opinion that he`s been fortunate this season in that the defence has offered him great protection, we saw last season how vulnerable he is when the heat is on, I`ve seen nothing yet to make me change that opinion

To be fair, Dave, most keepers would have looked rubbish with that defence in front of them.  Chris Kirkland, for example.  Big name keeper, concedes 3 on debut.  Woods has his confidence back after a horrible season last year, so lets try not no knock it out of him, eh?

One thing I noticed on Tuesday night was he is now much more adept at coming off his line to smother loose balls in the box.  He did it 3 or 4 times.  Last season I thought he'd been nailed to the goal line.

[DRNaith]

I think he's improved massively since last season.

He now leaves his line to claim the ball or to close down an opponent.

His distribution is excellent too.

[RoversAlias]

His distribution is excellent too.

It's inconsistent at best. He insists on playing the ball out short 8/10 times but a lot of the time plays it to men under pressure and it's no good. Wastes time when he could have just cleared it straight away, since he often gets it back from a pressured defender.

That said I do think he's improving as the season goes on but he is far from the finished article yet. See his diabolical failure to keep the Bournemouth winner out a few weeks ago.

[MachoMadness]

I'm in the camp that says Woods has been made to look very good by our excellent defence this season. Of course, I'm not going to bash him for what he hasn't done yet, so I'm not banging on about it relentlessly, but I'd be more comfortable if we had someone a bit better there. Woods strikes me as a classic reserve keeper, he won't tip everything into the back of the net but you can't trust him over the 90 minutes and he's a bit of a liability, always likely to fumble or flap at something.

[BigH]

Oh good, another Gary Woods 'is he/isn't he' thread.

Don't want to miss my chance for a two penneth.

I too would have cacked myself playing behind that defence last season if I'd been a young/inexperienced keeper playing against Championship attacks. And it wasn't just the defence. In some games the whole team was garbage and you wondered why we'd ever bothered turning up. Concede a goal and the cause was lost.

This season it's different. I agree with what's been said on here; he's a decent shopstopper, makes himself big on the one on ones (Sully's influence no doubt), but he flaps at crosses (when he comes for them) and he doesn't command the box or defence. He's got to work at this to have any chance of making a decent career. Rob Jones has been a great help to him - marshalling the defence, commanding the box etc - but it also helps that he's in a team that has the wherewithall to turn games around. Subconsciously, Woods knows that if he drops a clanger and lets one in it's not going to be the end of the world.

[DonnyOsmond]

His distribution is excellent too.

It's inconsistent at best. He insists on playing the ball out short 8/10 times but a lot of the time plays it to men under pressure and it's no good. Wastes time when he could have just cleared it straight away, since he often gets it back from a pressured defender.

Something Saunders has told him to do, so you can't really blame Gary for doing what he's told.

[jonnydog]

In my opinion Woods is the player who has developed the most this season. Yeah, some will say the reason is the 4 in front of him. But he has a job to do and he does it, the clean sheets we've had speak for themselves, and I for one will give him the credit he deserves.

 

[Spud]

Saunders spoke in his programme notes (olham game) about Gary playing it short and taking back to try and draw the opposition out, due to his "excellent distribution".
Deano obviously has a lot of faith in him, to me he's improving all the time. But hey let's blame him every time we lose eh? That should help him along.

[glosterred]

He will probably now be able to play tomorrow for AFC V MKD

COYR

[hoolahoop]

Thanks for that info, SM. Sad to think we may have seen the last of Sully in a Rovers shirt, but at the risk of being shot down, I think Gary Woods is doing well enough to keep his place.

I`ll fire the first shot then, Gary Woods has had next to nothing to do, due to the excellent defence in front of him, and although he`s a decent shot stopper, the other attributes of being a good keeper are not there. For now the pressure is off him due to the consistency of the defence

Excellent observations and I agree with you totally, when I actually see him catching a ball properly then I will look at changing my opinion of him. There are far too many weaknesses in his game that need ironing out.

[glosterred]

Playing today

COYR

[donnievic]

Dont know how anyone can moan about Woods kicking and passing,i would say its one of the best in the club,when playing it short he know doubt been told too and when he kicks it long off the floor he usually finds a man

[MachoMadness]

Sullivan's had barely anything to do today but it seems his kicking's improved a thousandfold.

[CusworthRovers]

Woods had an 'off' defence infront of him yesterday and let 3 in. There is always some truth in a good defence will naturally create a good keeper and vice versa

In his defence he was blameless yesterday, and made some good saves. He came out and punched crosses and to be fair I had him has our best passer with Blake. You can see why Deano rates his distribution yesterday. 10/10 for that and got nearly every one bang on. He normally gets a lot right, but when the odd one go's astray (as it would on the law of averages), he's suddenly shocking at kicking it out.

[Sammy Chung was King]

Sullivan did well the little he had to do,but he's definitely slowing down,with his reflexes and getting round the box,i was hoping Wimbledon would win,they made a great game of it,he's been great for us in the past,but unfortunately time has caught him up.

[RobTheRover]

Beaten by two balls into the top corner.  No shame in that for a 42 year old.  I doubt many keepers would have stopped the first, and the second was lucky (yeah OK, he flicked it but had no idea it was gonna loop like that).

[Sammy Chung was King]

No he couldn't really do anything with the goals Rob,but his mobility round the box isn't there any more,he could still do a job at that level good luck to him,i always rated him highly for us,especially the promotion season and the first few in the Championship,there wasn't many better than him,even if he came back to us,which i don't think he will,he doesn't seem to be in Deano's plans,though least he's had some game time if we did need him.

[MachoMadness]

I actually thought he looked a bit leaner than he has been. Although I agree, it was a bit pitiful watching him try and scamper around his penalty area at times, but what can you do when the man is 42. No blame attached to the goals, both of them right in the postage stamp, but I wouldn't have him back, not even over Woods.

While we're on about veteran keepers, apparently Andy Warrington has been a bit of a revelation for Rotherham this year. We could do worse, in fact I think he's better than what we have at the moment!

[Sammy Chung was King]

I Thought we let him go too soon at the time Warrington,but Sullivan did a great job for us,he looks in good shape for his age