Goalkeepers

[Paplane]

My least favourite criticisms of smith. His distribution was obviously poor but he was being asked to do way to much with his own ability and that only created pressure on him. He can kick it long fine when not under pressure to pass it.

The vocal thing is a lazy criticism given no one is on the pitch and you can’t hear what he's saying. Pantillimon’s main strength aside from his height is how loud he is and you can see that but that doesn’t make Smith quiet. I also think smith is a better shot stopper and was fine coming for crosses. It wasn’t his fault we were terrible at set pieces and it didn’t improve when he got dropped.

I think that's a reasonable critique.

But, Warbs and now AK have decided he's not ready to be 1st pick so his game must be lacking in certain respects. Seems AK doesn't even think he's 2nd pick material for some reason.

He's young, has extensive 1st team experience now - I can't see why he shouldn't be considered as Pants' backup.