Keighley pointed this out ages ago (in a surprising turn of events). I blame the excitement of taking a point off Leeds - that and posting at 3:15 in the morning.
It was moving like a rocket and took a deflection off Porteous, but don't let that stop anyone singling out Bachman for a slagging off.
Watching the replays back I'm pretty sure it hit Porteous' hand/arm, which took a lot of the sting out of the shot. Not an impossible one to stop but would have been a really excellent save of the type Gomes used to pull out a few times a season. Those are largely out of Bachmann's skillset. The second goal was poor keeping I'd say though. He wasn't helped by his defence but ultimately got beaten by a routine shot from range he could see all the way and which, despite the commentators claiming was right in the top corner, in fact was at a saveable height and not hit that hard. Even after he gets his fingers to it and tips it upwards it only hit the far post about three quarters of the way up. Suspect the difference between saving it or flapping at it like he did was starting position.
Firstly, I'm not a goalkeeping coach, but is there anything particularly wrong with his starting position? Doesn't look it from my limited perspective: Also, "saveable height"? The ball loops up before coming down, and Bachmann is literally at full stretch while up in the air when the ball glances his fingertips.
Watching the replays back it did not take any of the sting off the shot, it just diverted the ball so that instead of going more across goal as Thomas-Asante has aimed for, it is instead suddenly diverted so that it flies in near post.
He's not standing in a bad starting position is he? If that's the case and then he leaps at full stretch and still can barely reach it then what else is he supposed to do ffs?!
Bit of argy bargy after the game at the station it seems .https://www.watfordobserver.co.uk/s...west-brom-fans-filmed-fighting-train-station/
I'm sick of seeing and hearing him being singled out, we are a mediocre team, of mediocre players, in a mediocre league, yet many seem to think that we should have a world class goalkeeper and are happy to pile onto one individual for every bad result. I wonder how they would feel having their daily work output analysed by 15000 people that obviously don't like them.
UncleRon wildly claimed on Twitter after the game that Bachmann was "the worst GK in world football". Hilarious take really.
I am not a fan of Bachmann, but to be fair to the man he does pull off quite a few match saving saves. He is not a top class all round keeper, and he is prone to some serious gaffs, but he is not as bad as he is painted by many on this forum.
He's a pretty average Championship keeper. In an ideal world we'd have better but it's not a priority for me, we need more depth/quality in pretty much every outfield position.
I'm sure you can provide evidence for literally any of these terrible people who are of this opinion/vocally believe this, right?
He’s not the ‘worst goalkeeper in the world’, but let’s not beat around the bush, he’s absolute garbage.
He's not though. He was poor when the whole of the rest of the team was also poor and lacking in confidence under Ismael, but he's been good under Cleverley, and more often than not with us he's been a good Championship keeper. In our promotion season he was arguably better than Foster, or at least there was nothing to separate them.
People (rightly) give him stick, because at the start of the Pozzo era we had the GK position nailed in both the championship and the PL with the fool proof formula of employing a mid-thirties keeper who had played at a very high level much earlier on in their career. It meant we never really had to discuss that position at all, as it took care of itself, there was certainly no need to analyse mistakes and positioning errors after virtually every game. We’ve since inexplicably decided we can scout our own younger keepers, and have proven to be appalling at it, and hence you naturally have fans disappointed in Bachman’s ability, in comparison to the obvious and better alternatives that served us so well.
We will have to agree to disagree on this one I’m afraid. He’s rubbish. Very good at flashy Hollywood saves and thats about it. His distribution is awful, he’s far too easily beaten at his near post particularly and comes across as a bit of a **** with his continued antics to referees. How he was ever made club captain by Ismael is beyond me. I actually agree with you that there wasn’t much between him and Foster, but I think for balance it’s fair to see this was a Foster who’d already checked out mentally and was playing with his pipe out and slippers on. Compare both at their peak and there’s no argument. He would be one of the first 2-3 names I’d replace if we had the means this summer. Edit: Take a look at our defence when he’s in goal - there’s a constant line of communication of our defenders yelling at him to be more decisive and come out to claim balls into the box. One such instance from a game against Wolves in the season we started with Xisco in the Prem comes to mind. He hesitated, there was a mix up at the back and Troost laid into him telling him in no uncertain terms to make his mind up.
It’s probably easier to simply write a post saying you rate Bachmann if this is the alternative! I don’t think anyone on here does or thinks any of those things. Unintentionally though your last sentence is very close to the truth. A very large number of Watford fans don’t like/rate him. I’ve never known the Rookery more jittery or quick to turn on a Watford player than Bachmann in a match. During the Leeds game the Sky commentator even mentioned the home fans getting vocal when Bachmann had the ball at his feet and was trying to pass out. And that’s why I’d have shot of him. Not because I disagree with the analysis that overall he and we are a good match for averageness at this level, but because as long he’s in goal the majority of Watford fans having lost confidence in him will keep transmitting nervousness to the rest of the team on the pitch and giving him dog’s abuse when he mucks up.
Although also in the last couple of seasons I've repeatedly asked people on this forum who we could realistically sign to replace Bachmann - whether an experienced former PL keeper or not - and there has simply been no plausible candidate anyone has been able to name. And as I pointed out above, in our previous promotion season we had Foster who matched that description, and Bachmann was at least as good as him that season, if not a slight improvement.
I agree with your 2nd paragraph, but I would also say Bachmann has regressed the last 2 years. I'm not a Bachmann hater, but I do feel we need an upgrade. who? well that's for the Watford scouts as I don't have time to watch any games apart from Watford matches!
It's true he has regressed a bit, but he's not old for a GK so it's not impossible he regains his form eventually. There certainly haven't seemed many obvious easily obtainable upgrades in the last couple of seasons from the English leagues; there definitely weren't any at all who have matched the type we used to sign of ageing good former PL keeper.
Like Hjw has said, that’s not my job to know every other keeper option, but I can only assume that keepers of very similar ability and experience as Almunia, Gomez and Foster have come along the conveyor belt at the appropriate age after them?
