Tony Parks interview

[basskadet]

Our goalkeeping coach, Tony Parks, was interviewed in local rag Ham&High today. The article talks about Gomes and how he plans to deal with the now infamous "Delap long throw". Tbh, it is interesting without being overly revealing and basically says what you would expect it to say, that Park's thinks Gomes is a great keeper & will be able to cope with Delap's throws at the Britannia.

What is quite interesting is that they haven't focused on Delap's throw-ins in training & have simply prepared for the Stoke game as they would any other. That is in stark contrast to last year. Our visit to Stoke in 2008/9 was 1 of the last fixtures we played before Ramos departed. We, of course, lost but Gomes's handling of the long throw was 1 of very few positives for us. I distinctly remember him talking after the game saying how the coaching staff had talked at length over the best way to deal with Delap, & it seemed to pay off.

Also, I have to say that I agree with Tony when he basically says he would prefer his keeper to come for most things & make the odd mistake, rather than come for some & not for others, or get caught in 2 minds. Considering the manner of the last few goals we've conceded, specifically against Everton & Blackburn, this comment appears directly aimed at deflecting criticism from Gomes - & the same goes for his Tony's comments over referee's not giving goalies enough protection.

Tony Parks: Gomes can deal with Delap danger

[woody]

it will certainly be a huge test for the big man as it will be the perfect example someone will use to see if gomes has improved or not, but he has to trust the defenders on saturday and don't be coming out for everything as if he does that then on the law of averages he will drop one and they'll score