Leno was absolutely worth the money. That part feels beyond debate. £3.6m for a goalkeeper who essentially bought Fulham survival in 2022/23 is one of the great modern bargains, wages included. Without that season, none of the rest of this conversation even exists.
The harder question is whether he is still worth this version of the money, in this version of the team. Goalkeeper decline is rarely linear, and it’s rarely kind. A keeper doesn’t need to become bad to become a problem, they only need to stop being decisive.
Prior to Leno signing a new contract in Oct. '23 he was literally fantastic; since then a waning in performance set in. Surprisingly, last Dec & through early Jan. he returned to his previous form. Freat run.
Yet, his biggest weakness, IMO, is his predilection to go down too often; thus most high shots get past him. Can this be coached out of him? We will see. But regardless he is a very good goalkeeper and we are indeed fortunate to have him.
Interesting piece. He has never been commanding in his box and given the goals we are conceding from set pieces unless the ball hits him on the line he has no hope of saving it. Add to that he now gets beaten from distance more often I can see problems. Also could Luc de F be being groomed as Joa's successor? Could be interesting to see if we are in the market for an upcoming and.coming keeper in the summer.
Solid breakdown of the decline. The stat swing from preventing 9.5 goals to allowing 4.9 extra is brutal, thats essentially a 14-goal differnetial over time. The JoaBernd workaround is clever but ultimately highlights how expensive it is to patch distribution issues when the keeper can't spray balls himself. Interesting to see if they bite the bullet on a true two-way keeper.
Leno was absolutely worth the money. That part feels beyond debate. £3.6m for a goalkeeper who essentially bought Fulham survival in 2022/23 is one of the great modern bargains, wages included. Without that season, none of the rest of this conversation even exists.
The harder question is whether he is still worth this version of the money, in this version of the team. Goalkeeper decline is rarely linear, and it’s rarely kind. A keeper doesn’t need to become bad to become a problem, they only need to stop being decisive.
Bobby Moore wasn't fast either, a quick brain is more important.
He’s worth it in my mind.
Of the keepers below him on the wage list, I’d maybe swap him with Henderson, maybe Raya. But probably not
Prior to Leno signing a new contract in Oct. '23 he was literally fantastic; since then a waning in performance set in. Surprisingly, last Dec & through early Jan. he returned to his previous form. Freat run.
Yet, his biggest weakness, IMO, is his predilection to go down too often; thus most high shots get past him. Can this be coached out of him? We will see. But regardless he is a very good goalkeeper and we are indeed fortunate to have him.
Hi Matt, I hope all is well. Really interesting read. I’m glad I came across this.
Interesting piece. He has never been commanding in his box and given the goals we are conceding from set pieces unless the ball hits him on the line he has no hope of saving it. Add to that he now gets beaten from distance more often I can see problems. Also could Luc de F be being groomed as Joa's successor? Could be interesting to see if we are in the market for an upcoming and.coming keeper in the summer.
Solid breakdown of the decline. The stat swing from preventing 9.5 goals to allowing 4.9 extra is brutal, thats essentially a 14-goal differnetial over time. The JoaBernd workaround is clever but ultimately highlights how expensive it is to patch distribution issues when the keeper can't spray balls himself. Interesting to see if they bite the bullet on a true two-way keeper.