Another Petterson?

No thank you
By Happy saddler
March 8 2005

Merse is on the look out for a new Goalkeeper according to various reports. Looking at his previous choices, this would not appear to be one of his strong points.

Walsall take on AFC Bournemouth this coming weekend. With Saddlers sitting only 7 points clear of Torquay who occupy the last relegation spot and Bournemouth chasing a play off place, this match is pretty important to both sides.

Unfortunately we have a little bit of a problem in the goalkeeping department according to Merse. Sadly, choosing goalkeepers would not appear to be one of his strong points.

According to reports he is now searching frantically for a new keeper after Agility Joe stupidly got himself sent off at Blackpool resulting in a 3 match ban.

The question I ask is why get another keeper? Unless it is someone to back up Coleman.

Young Coleman by all accounts made a decent fist of things up at Bloomfield Road but Merson apparently wants to protect him from the pressure of forthcoming games until we are safe from relegation.

Surely, if Coleman was going to be his first choice stopper next term then the only way to see if he is good enough is by playing him and seeing how he responds to the pressure.

If however, Merson is looking for a new keeper short term then what sort of message does that send out to young Coleman?

Goalkeepers are not an “off the shelf” item. In fact, good goalkeepers are very hard to come by as we have found out. If it is Merson’s intent to get a short term keeper to fill in for Agility Joe then what sort of keeper is he going to get? Another Petterson?

This season we have seen Unconvincing Paston, Confidence Gone McKinney as well as Agility Joe. The last thing we need is another hopeless lollipop between the sticks.

Come on Merse, stick with what you’ve got and give Coleman a chance. He can’t be as bad as the other three.