TV Highlights Oldham Highlights

[DTS]

Im in the Flavs camp.

Darryl does not deal with crosses well and we got found out in the championship with him as the top strikers can put it into the top corner at will. But you cant argue with his achievements for this club. He kept goal bar basically a 10-15 game challenge from Bart for the entire time we were a sucess. You can argue he had a better team infront of him than Mildy has but I could name 20 games right now he saved us in.

Mildy is bigger and commands his box better but the more and more I see him the less I am bothered that he is off this summer back to the west country.

His distribution is woeful. Flavs critics always said he didnt command his box and are probably right but you could never fault his handling.

Mildy for my mind is a good keeper but he is beaten almost everytime by a low shot. That for my mind is as big a flaw if not bigger than Darryls lack of ariel domination.

I would have been happy to have kept Mildy as I think he is more than adequte for the job in hand but to claim he is head and shoulders above Darryl I think is way off the mark.

 

[BrettieAngell]

Been trying to find the video for the Charlton game, but apparently it has "expired". Anyway, from where i was (W Block) and in the replay, it clearly showed Mildy left a massive gap. He could have also got to the ball 1st. It had enough momentum. If Mildy wasn't as slow as a centurion tank he would have made it.

He definitely would have made it more difficult for the striker to score if he hadn't stopped.

 

[Clinton Baptiste]

The truth is they both have their faults. Darryl was weak with crosses but made up for that with excellent shot stopping,agility and his kicking was decent.
Mildey has a bigger prescene, is excellent with aerial balls but his distribution is poor and his starting position questionable at times.
If you could mix the two of them youd have a great keeper rather than the good keepers that both of them are.

 

[BoyWonder2]

Im in the Flavs camp.

Darryl does not deal with crosses well and we got found out in the championship with him as the top strikers can put it into the top corner at will. But you cant argue with his achievements for this club. He kept goal bar basically a 10-15 game challenge from Bart for the entire time we were a sucess. You can argue he had a better team infront of him than Mildy has but I could name 20 games right now he saved us in.

Mildy is bigger and commands his box better but the more and more I see him the less I am bothered that he is off this summer back to the west country.

His distribution is woeful. Flavs critics always said he didnt command his box and are probably right but you could never fault his handling.

Mildy for my mind is a good keeper but he is beaten almost everytime by a low shot. That for my mind is as big a flaw if not bigger than Darryls lack of ariel domination.

I would have been happy to have kept Mildy as I think he is more than adequte for the job in hand but to claim he is head and shoulders above Darryl I think is way off the mark.

No one is belittling what he achieve at this Club, and I will always be grateful for it. He was one of my favourites at the time as well, but I'm a bigger fan of Mildenhall's despite him not enjoying the same success here as Flavs' did.

I think the whole distribution thing amazing, I really do. Our goalkeepers are expected to make a 50/60 yard pass straight to a striker who is isolated with three defenders and is expected to find his feet or his head. When he doesn't do this he gets abused, yet we have players in our midfield that struggle to make 5/10 yard passes properly and when they are misplaced they get encouraged. Mildenhall has also learnt a new kicking technique whilst he has been at the Club with the help of Feds'. With the new technique of kicking the side of the ball, you greatly reduced the surface area of where you can kick. Also, you come at the ball at a completely different angle. The thinking behind kicking the ball like this is it takes away some of the height in favour of distance. Thats why you see more goalkeepers reaching the opposing keepers when they kick out of their hands.

By trying this technique, you will end up "shanking" the ball where the conection isn't true because of the new angle and the reduced surface area. So you lose the distance as well as the height. Its a very effective kick once you have it nailed on, its got Reina numerous assists for Liverpool over the years.

Flavs' distribution wasn't perfect either. Most of the time, when he found touch, it was before the half way line.

Flavs' handling was excellent on shot stopping, but he never tested his handling by coming for crosses and trying to dominate his box. That is when its really tested, and an area I feel Mildenhall is more superior than Flavs', although in general I'd say Flavs' handling had a slight edge.

I'm not saying he is streets ahead, but for my money as a goalkeeper, he is a better all round goalkeeper and does a lot of unnoticed, and oftern unrewarded work whereas Flavs' did the flashy stuff.

 

[DTS]

No one is belittling what he achieve at this Club, and I will always be grateful for it. He was one of my favourites at the time as well, but I'm a bigger fan of Mildenhall's despite him not enjoying the same success here as Flavs' did.

I think the whole distribution thing amazing, I really do. Our goalkeepers are expected to make a 50/60 yard pass straight to a striker who is isolated with three defenders and is expected to find his feet or his head. When he doesn't do this he gets abused, yet we have players in our midfield that struggle to make 5/10 yard passes properly and when they are misplaced they get encouraged. Mildenhall has also learnt a new kicking technique whilst he has been at the Club with the help of Feds'. With the new technique of kicking the side of the ball, you greatly reduced the surface area of where you can kick. Also, you come at the ball at a completely different angle. The thinking behind kicking the ball like this is it takes away some of the height in favour of distance. Thats why you see more goalkeepers reaching the opposing keepers when they kick out of their hands.

By trying this technique, you will end up "shanking" the ball where the conection isn't true because of the new angle and the reduced surface area. So you lose the distance as well as the height. Its a very effective kick once you have it nailed on, its got Reina numerous assists for Liverpool over the years.

Flavs' distribution wasn't perfect either. Most of the time, when he found touch, it was before the half way line.

Flavs' handling was excellent on shot stopping, but he never tested his handling by coming for crosses and trying to dominate his box. That is when its really tested, and an area I feel Mildenhall is more superior than Flavs', although in general I'd say Flavs' handling had a slight edge.

I'm not saying he is streets ahead, but for my money as a goalkeeper, he is a better all round goalkeeper and does a lot of unnoticed, and oftern unrewarded work whereas Flavs' did the flashy stuff.

I do take a lot of your points. I am not expecting Mildy to ping a 70 yard pass to feet by any means.

But to the same point I am not expecting him to throw the ball out to Herd and it to be intercepted twice in one game. Or him to keep kicking it into touch or where we have no one at all. And finally I am not expecting him to kick it at Pat Baldwin from 5 yards away.

 

[Yorkshire Blue]

Guess I'm clueless as well.

The reason you can remember all of those vital saves Flav's made during his spell with us, is because he didn't deal with the initial danger. For example, think of his wonder save against McGleish against Northampton in the home leg of the play offs. A truly fantastic one handed save. However, the reason he had to do this is because he failed to deal with the ball into the box in the first place. Had he come out and claimed the cross, like Mildenhall probably would of, then he wouldn't have had to make the save.

Its the same with our defenders. Think of how many diving blocks the likes of Barrett and Clarke have had to do during their spells with us and think how many Dervite had to do. Dervite would go and deal with the initial ball, meaning he didn't have to end up on his arse preventing the shot because he already did it by heading the ball away.

Whilst Flav's was a key part of our side back then, there was numerous goals that could easily be labelled as his mistake by being glued to his line. Just look at the two goals we scored. They was typical of the goals we used to let in with Flav's in goal.

Mildenhall will make more mistakes (i.e. dropping the ball, sloppy punch) because he tries to deal with that initial cross, set pieces etc. You will make mistakes by doing that and it has been picked up on here. Against Yeovil last season at home he came for a cross over the top of one of our players, spilt it and they scored and won 1-0. That wouldn't have happened with Flav's because he would have been glued to his line. He didn't make many mistakes because he didn't come off his line. His handling was excellent, and rarely dropped anything because he rarely came off his line to have a chance to drop anything.

Exactly, although as love is blind don't expect people to acknowledge it.

What i find interesting, is how the point about Flavs staying on his line etc etc, costing us goals. We did have (tall enough) CB's to deal with high crosses.

Also it's interesting how Mildy's faults this year, which have cost us goals and subsequent points go unmentioned.

If a keeper doesn't dominate his 6 yard box, the defence has to play deeper to compensate. This has a knock-on negative effect on the defence and costs many more goals than even you claim Mildenhall has cost us.

 

[IloveShrimp]

Dear oh dear.... if you think Mildy is better than Flahavan you are clueless.

Flahavan was a key player in our promotion winning seasons. I can pick out dozens more vital saves Flahavan made during his time with us which outweighed his mistakes/not dealing with high balls.

I cannot with Mildenhall.

Mildy is better now!

 

[Tommy2holes]

[QUOTEFlavs' is a more "spectaculor" goalkeeper, but in my eyes, Mildenhall is the better allround goalkeeper. ][/QUOTE]

I am more a fan of Flahavan than i am of mildenhall. Lets be honest neither are world beaters thats why they play for southend united. The only goalkeepers i would say have been decent in my time watching the blues are Paul Samsom (solid) and Royce (agile) , but even they had faults.

We did have federici on loan who was top draw but was a loanee.

Mildenhall will not be here next season and i for one will not be too bothered.

For a big man he does not command the area enough and is not very mobile at all.

Not sure it would be a good idea for flavs to return unless it was to be challenging for the number 1 spot against a younger hungrier keeper in the sammy roycie mould.

 

[GBJ]

If a keeper doesn't dominate his 6 yard box, the defence has to play deeper to compensate. This has a knock-on negative effect on the defence and costs many more goals than even you claim Mildenhall has cost us.

Ok, facts and figures -

Our last 3 seasons @ L1 level -

- 09/10 - Conceded (so far) 68 goals
- 08/09 - Conceded 61 goals
- 07/08 - Conceded 55 goals

It would appear, with Flavs in goal, we conceded less.

Personally, i think Mildy is ok, a pretty basic keeper at L1 level. Flavs still has that edge on him.

FWIW, i like Mildy, but of late he's started being a bit to casual, and lax imo.

 

[OldBlueLady]

Ok, facts and figures -

Our last 3 seasons @ L1 level -

- 09/10 - Conceded (so far) 68 goals
- 08/09 - Conceded 61 goals
- 07/08 - Conceded 55 goals

It would appear, with Flavs in goal, we conceded less.

Personally, i think Mildy is ok, a pretty basic keeper at L1 level. Flavs still has that edge on him.

FWIW, i like Mildy, but of late he's started being a bit to casual, and lax imo.

Me too, I also just simply dislike the way he berates everyone no matter what the situation of the goal being conceded. Flavs was a lot more dignified on the pitch, plus he did have a much nicer bum! ;)

 

[RobM]

It's a bit unfair to compare Dervitte with Barrett. Dervitte could read the game so well, he seemed to be able to see into the future at times! Class act. Barrett, however, is more Thunder And Lightning. Not afraid to get stuck in where it hurts. So it's like comparing apples to oranges. In a French way, of course.

In my Ideal World, they'd both be in my team.

 

[Sean 2]

I reckon he stuck a bet on for Oldham to score first! Awful, even i could've saved that that. He ain't fit to lace Daryll's boots.

Part of the reason we're going down. He's meant to save shots, not get out of the way of them.

 

[Yorkshire Blue]

It would appear, with Flavs in goal,Prior in central defence we conceded less.
.

Corrected.

BTW you appear to have erroneously missed out the 2006/07 season.

For the record we conceded 80 goals that year, with Flahavan playing all 46 league games.

 

[GBJ]

Corrected.

BTW you appear to have erroneously missed out the 2006/07 season.

For the record we conceded 80 goals that year, with Flahavan playing all 46 league games.

Oh i see. So when things go well it's the defence who are to thank, but when it goes pair-shaped it's the keepers fault?! lol. Good one.

I purposely left that season out, as it was the CCC season. Not L1. Mildy has never played CCC so the comparison can't be made.

 

[canveyshrimper]

Oh i see. So when things go well it's the defence who are to thank, but when it goes pair-shaped it's the keepers fault?! lol. Good one.

I purposely left that season out, as it was the CCC season. Not L1. Mildy has never played CCC so the comparison can't be made.

Neither as a team is the sum of all its parts. There is no doubt that our defence was much better with the experience and know how of Spencer Prior, and more credit should have been given to him during the promotion years, while Eastwood may have been the catalyst, Prior was the glue that held the team together.

IMO nether Flahavan or Mildenhall are particularly good goal keepers, certainly if you compare them with the likes of Royce, Sansome, Stannard, Cawston & Roberts. If I am pushed then I'd say that Mildenhall is marginally a better keeper than Flahavan, but there really isn't much between them, both journeymen who'll play most of their football at division 3 level at best.

 

[GBJ]

Neither as a team is the sum of all its parts. There is no doubt that our defence was much better with the experience and know how of Spencer Prior, and more credit should have been given to him during the promotion years, while Eastwood may have been the catalyst, Prior was the glue that held the team together.

.

Okay, i'll buy into the fact Prior was the glue that held out defence together. Fair game.

However, Mildy has had Dorian Dervite and Sean Morrison play in front of him, okay, not largely experienced, however both look set to go onto bigger things. Probably two of the best CB's we've had since....well Prior i suppose.

He's also had Barrett and Clarke play in front of him, two solid L1 defenders.

 

[Yorkshire Blue]

Oh i see. So when things go well it's the defence who are to thank, but when it goes pair-shaped it's the keepers fault?! lol. Good one.

I purposely left that season out, as it was the CCC season. Not L1. Mildy has never played CCC so the comparison can't be made.

LOL.

If league difference is so important, why did Flahavan conceding more at a lower level in League Two than Mildenhall did in League One?

Spencer Prior was the one who sorted out the defence. His aerial and organisational ability turned us into one of the best defences around. That was fairly obvious to me watching at the time, the stats back it up as well. To be honest I remain incredulous that people still dispute it.

 

[RobM]

Sodje with him helped as well.

 

[Yorkshire Blue]

Sodje with him helped as well.

Definitely, but it was Prior who fixed and ran the defence.