Three Into Number One Doesn't Go
On loan at Hereford
By Tom Bason
November 13 2008
I suppose that 3 does go into 1, but how realistic is it to give Wayne Hennessey, Carl Ikeme and Matt Murray 30 minutes each per match. What happens if there’s a lengthy injury in the opening period- does the keeper still get taken off after 30 minutes, or does Mick McCarthy hope that the referee adds on the exact amount of injury time at the end, ensuring that each keeper gets their 30 minutes?
No, this isn’t feasible, so Mick has to pick one of the three to start, and hopefully finish the match. One player has already been sorted, with Matt Murray set to join Hereford United on a month’s loan. This gives Mick a month’s leeway to sort out between Hennessey and Ikeme as his number one.
So, with an embarrassment of riches at his disposal, who does Mick McCarthy pick as his number one goalkeeper. For me, the best of the bunch is Matt Murray. Outstanding at commanding his box, he is a quality shot-stopper and probably won us more points in McCarthy’s first season than any other individual player. Think back to the Albion game at home that season, when he almost single-handedly repelled Diomansy Kamara and Jason Koumas. While Jay Bothroyd won the plaudits with his goal, it was Murray who effectively won the game. Murray has two main flaws-one his kicking is poor, especially compared to the other two who appear comfortable to kick with both feet, and the major flaw, his injury record. At the age of 27, he has to complete a full season, and averages just 15 games a season for the club. There are hopes that his last bout of surgery will fix any problems in his knee, but I’m not sure that this is a risk that the club are willing to take.
Next up is the current incumbent, Carl Ikeme. Ikeme has always been known to the backroom staff as a player of real potential. After being called up to the bench in the Premiership season following Murray’s injury, a lot was expected. Despite this, it took until September this year for him to make his debut, deputising for Wayne Hennessey during suspension. Ikeme played well in this game, and despite Hennessey being called back for the following match against Reading, Ikeme regained his place, and has kept it since. Despite making a bad mistake away at Norwich, Ikeme has looked solid, and has been a huge presence in the latter stages of recent matches, when coming to collect crosses as Wolves have been hanging on to wins. Unfortunately, while Ikeme has an injury record to match Murray’s, the rest of the aspects of his game do not. Murray, in my opinion, could be, no SHOULD be, England’s number one. With David James struggling for form this season, the next group of goalkeepers, the likes of Joe Hart and Scott Carson down the road are not as good as Murray. Ikeme is a solid goalkeeper, doing a very good job at the moment, and fully deserves his place in the team.
Finally, we come to Ikeme’s closest challenger for the shirt at the moment, Wayne Hennessey. Hennessey is the youngest of the trio, and probably the most unhappy. After a career of unprecedented success so far (it took him a massive 857 minutes to concede his first professional goal, followed by winning Player of the Season in his debut campaign for Wolves, and now being Wales undisputed first choice) he is currently out on the sidelines, watching Ikeme keep goal. There have been rumours of troubles behind the scenes, fires that I am not prepared to add fuel to now. Hennessey’s main strength is his shot-stopping ability and, his Reading aberration aside, does not seem to make many mistakes. His kicking is another asset, with the ability to kick past the halfway line with both feet, something that distinguishes him from Murray markedly. Hennessey’s main weakness is his reluctance to come off his line for crosses, hopefully something that will come with experience.
It cannot be a coincidence that Wolves have three of the Championship’s top goalkeepers in our ranks, and while I cannot pretend to know the inside workings of the club, a lot of credit must surely go the now departed duo of Chris Evans and Bobby Mimms, Academy Director and goalkeeping coach, for bringing through 3 top goalkeepers. Mick and his coaching staff have a decision to make- which goalkeeper will give us the greatest long term rewards. Murray surely has the greatest ability, but is he a safe long term bet given his injury record? Hennessey on the other hand is the most marketable, with many top flight clubs rumoured to be preparing bids for January. Would it be better to let him go in January, pocketing £5 million plus, and gambling on the continued fitness and form of the relatively untried Ikeme, while hoping that Murray’s injury record improves? Personally, I don’t have a clue which decision would be the correct one, and it’s likely that whatever decision is made by Mick and the coaching staff, it will split the fans, just like Mick himself does.
On Ikeme, the HR manager at my work is Carls auntie (he is from castle bromwich), obviously she is chuffed to bits about recent events but one thing she told me about him was very interesting. He can run the 100m like an olympic ahlete, could be handy in games when the keeper goes up for corners and needs to get back in goal quick time.
toomb's twitter
We are priveledged in having three very good keepers and I have no strong opinion on who is the best - they are all very capable.
Hennessey is next choice for me though he really needs to beef up a bit and take more control at corners. As a long term prospect he looks the best bet to me and one that we may well regret losing.
Ikeme to me looks OK but kinda competetent but very ordinary. Clearly he outshines Hennessey on corners.
his injury record speaks for itself.
i remember graham taylor remarking that he had been told neil masters was a good player.he said that he couldn't tell as all players on the treatment table look much the same.
lets face it,matty is only good when he's playing,which,as we all know isn't often.
i can't think that any other club are going to come in for him because of his injiry record,so,if he stays fit he will eventualy get his chance.if not,then do we want to keep paying him to be treated for yet anther injury?
i haven't seen enough of carl to make up my mind.he's done ok for the most part and is worth his placeat the moment.
wayne is my No 1.he can only get better as he learns more.
i trust his fitness and his kicking.
he does need to bulk up a little.having said that,matt has all the bulk anyone could want but it doesn't seem to have been much benefit does it.
Apparently the only reason we rejected was due to Murray not quite being 100%.
Hennessey will definately be sold in January to Spurs!
So, the big question is.....How much?
Ikeme has earnt his place and has settled down well in the last three games after a nervous start. It's up to Hennessey to fight his way back into the side, just because he's been dropped doesn't mean there's automatically a problem there, and all these made up rumours help no-one, especially Hennessey. The rumours defy logic anyway, because if he was off in January we've probably knocked £2m off his price by leaving him on the bench, and if it was already a done deal we'd have known about it by now, these things don't stay secret for long.
I think we should do whatever it takes to keep Hennessey and keep him happy, I do not understand why he is not in the team at the mo.
We have seen the best of Matt and its good, but I believe that Hennessey can only get better and in the long term be a much better player who is more likley to stay fit.
Quit yo jibba jabba.
Love Life Love Keogh!
Watch this space...
Pundits rave about how players like Fabregas always have a mental picture in their head of where every player is on the pitch, Matt Murray has the same. He knows where everyone is in the box when the ball comes in, if he didn't he wouldn't take as many crosses as he does, he'd end up running straight into players and missing it completely. But because he has that mental picture he knows when to come and when to stay, you cant teach that.
Hennessey commanding of the box will improve with experience, confidence and when he fills out but he'll never be as good as Murray at it, which is what wins it for Murray in the 'who's the better keeper?' debate.
It's an interesting argument/problem though, do you pick the best keeper (Murray) and risk losing both the other two, or do you go with the one who isn't quite as good but is more likely to play 46 games a season and then risk losing your best keeper who moves on for first team football and knowing our luck will go onto play 350 top flight games and get 50+ England caps in the next 10 years.
Personally I'd give Steve Kemp a chance to work his magic and go with Murray once he's match fit as I don't think it's any coincidence that since Barry Holmes left, our treatment of injuries has improved. I mean Mark Davies has been fit for the longest period in the last 3 years, Ikeme's fit after long term injuries, Jarvis is ahead of schedule, Kightly only missed one game with a hamstring strain, if that was Barry Holmes he'd have been out for 6 weeks with his wait and see approach and even Sicknote Gobern is on the verge of playing for the reserves.
toomb's twitter
It would be inbteresting to see how George Ndah would have done with Steve Kemp.
The guy seems to have been a bloody liability for years.
Clearly, we don't need high value goalkeepers. From Moxey's perspective, Hennessy is the one we'd get good money for now, whereas we are better off getting Murray fit and playing for us again because he needs 18 months injury free to restore his value.
So it looks like Ikeme and Murray, with Hennessy going in the transfer window. Whether the club has caused his unhappiness or is he a surly g.it, one way or another I think Hennessy will be off. The upside of that is we get good money in, and maybe we'll see a couple of new signings in the transfer window.