Matt Ingram

[Mattyqpr]

So in a nutshell...

First choice keeper should be amazing, second choice should be rubbish as they know their standard and wont want to leave and third choice should be a young keeper with no aspirations of playing.

Smithies and Lumley isnt a perfect Combo, not in QPR or the managers eyes. Smithies is a good 1st choice / second choice keeper. Lumley isnt good enough yet or wont be and therefore we are looking for another prospect like this chap from Wycomb.

Give me some examples of two excellent keepers at the same club where both think they should be first choice?

First choice goalkeepers play 90% of the games. You have a number one, a back up keeper who accepts to be involved in cup games only until called upon when he's given a chance to impress and a youngster as a 3rd keeper.

You think having two goalkeepers who both want to play in the Premier League is a good situation? On the pitch I guess so but as a club, we'll be signing a new goalkeeper every 6 months.

[Awin]

or take an alternative view

We sign the lad (i dont think its going to be a massive fee) and he replaces a player on 40k a week. He fights it out with Smithies and whoever is the better player gets the Jersey. If the sub goalkeeper gets unhappy as we have signed neither for large money then by the time they are sold we will in all likelihood make a profit. I actually think its shrewd business by the club personally.

[jmelanie]

Give me some examples of two excellent keepers at the same club?

First choice goalkeepers play 90% of the games. You have a number one, a back up keeper who accepts to be involved in cup games only until called upon and a youngster as a 3rd keeper.

You think having two goalkeepers who both want to play in the Premier League is a good situation? On the pitch I guess so but as a club, we'll be signing a new goalkeeper every 6 months.

I agree and we also have the Pole who although very young apparently shows great potential.

[Ginger Ninja]

Give me some examples of two excellent keepers at the same club?

First choice goalkeepers play 90% of the games. You have a number one, a back up keeper who accepts to be involved in cup games only until called upon when he's given a chance to impress and a youngster as a 3rd keeper.

You think having two goalkeepers who both want to play in the Premier League is a good situation? On the pitch I guess so but as a club, we'll be signing a new goalkeeper every 6 months.

On what planet is there ever a keeper who is happy to sit back and be number 2? Every club has 2 keepers who are pushing for the number 1 spot. Every club.

[Mattyqpr]

On what planet is there ever a keeper who is happy to sit back and be number 2? Every club has 2 keepers who are pushing for the number 1 spot. Every club.

Do you not remember Murphy?

Of course they want to push, that's not the problem. Being realistic is though. It's no coincidence you could go through every squad in the Premier League and Championship and pick the number one out from their squad list in 99% of cases. Why's that?

[nasser95]

Give me some examples of two excellent keepers at the same club where both think they should be first choice?

First choice goalkeepers play 90% of the games. You have a number one, a back up keeper who accepts to be involved in cup games only until called upon when he's given a chance to impress and a youngster as a 3rd keeper.

You think having two goalkeepers who both want to play in the Premier League is a good situation? On the pitch I guess so but as a club, we'll be signing a new goalkeeper every 6 months.

Chelsea, Man Utd, Arsenal, Man City, Tottenham, West Brom, Crystal Palace, Southampton, Stoke City, Watford, Middlesbrough to name a few.

[Tarbie]

Do you not remember Murphy?

Of course they want to push, that's not the problem. Being realistic is though. It's no coincidence you could go through every squad in the Premier League and Championship and pick the number one out from their squad list in 99% of cases. Why's that?

You're forgetting the fact that Murphy wasn't actually that good though!

I think you need 2 decent keepers at a club. Green's clearly not in the picture anymore and every other keeper we have is under 21 and hasn't had enough first team experience to step in long term if Smithies gets injured.

I agree with the points raised by a few that decent young keepers won't want to warm the bench for too long but if you get them at the right price then they can do a job as cover for a year and then be sold on for a profit if they can't challenge the number 1 keeper for the team sheet.

[Mattyqpr]

Chelsea, Man Utd, Arsenal, Man City, Tottenham, West Brom, Crystal Palace, Southampton, Stoke City, Watford, Middlesbrough to name a few.

So Begovic is better than Courtios? Romero better than De Gea? Ospina better than Cech? Caballero better than Hart? Vorm better than Lloris? Need I go on or can you notice the theme? A clear difference in ability between first choice and second choice.

[Tarbie]

So Begovic is better than Courtios? Romero better than De Gea? Ospina better than Cech? Caballero better than Hart? Vorm better than Lloris? Need I go on or can you notice the theme? A clear difference in ability between first choice and second choice.

I think when you are Arsenal, Chelsea, Man Utd, Man City etc. things are a bit different. A top quality keeper will come and play 2nd choice for the prestige of being part of a big club and the chance to win medals. At the same time they will be hanging onto the hope that the first choice keeper may get injured or have a poor run of form and they'll get their chance to impress. At QPR we don't have that luxury.

I think we should still be going after young talented goalies like Ingram. Smithies looks decent but he isn't the best keeper outside the premiership is he? Ingram should be signed on the pretense that if he impresses he will get his chance in the first team. This in turn will put pressure on Smithies to perform to his best. Obviously if 1 of the keepers is complaining about lack of first team football in the summer or next season then you might need to make another change. It's not the end of the world is it?

[peterlund.dk]

So Begovic is better than Courtios? Romero better than De Gea? Ospina better than Cech? Caballero better than Hart? Vorm better than Lloris? Need I go on or can you notice the theme? A clear difference in ability between first choice and second choice.

I don't think we are buying Ingram because he's supposed to be better than Smithies. We are buying him because he has enough ability to push Smithies at the moment, because he's young with potential to challenge Smithies for the no. 1 spot in the future AND because he already has enough first team games to be a more reliable back-up than Lumley in case Smithies should get injured.

Which is very similar to the keeper situations at the previously mentioned clubs. Maybe bar the age.

[nasser95]

So Begovic is better than Courtios? Romero better than De Gea? Ospina better than Cech? Caballero better than Hart? Vorm better than Lloris? Need I go on or can you notice the theme? A clear difference in ability between first choice and second choice.

I would say a lot of those keepers think they could do well as a first choice. Even look at Chelsea last season with Cech and Begovic, or a few years ago with Lloris and Friedel. Ospina played well last season and would probably think he shouldn't have been dropped, Begovic has been very good this year while Courtois has disappointed. Even outside England, look at Madrid with Navas and Kiko Casilla, Barcelona with Ter Stegen and Bravo, you didn't even mention half the clubs I listed there anyways, West Brom have Lindergaard and Foster who are both at the same level, Palace have 3 good keepers all at near enough the same level, Southampton have Stekelenburg and Forster, Watford now have Pantillimon and Gomes. Do you think any of them want to be second choice or even feel they deserve to be? Of course not.

[Shania]

Maybe smithies hasn't settled down south

Could it be that he will be off?

[Kit]

Palace have 3 No 1s !

[Brian Wilson]

Maybe smithies hasn't settled down south

ITK?

[Mattyqpr]

The problem is though signing a goalkeeper who isn't 'happy' to be number two and until you find that, it's a merry go round.

We signed McCarthy for £2m, he got fed up. We signed Smithies for £2m, he was getting fed up. Now we're signing Ingram.

Put it this way, we'll be looking for another goalkeeper in the summer or January because Ingram or Smithies will want out.