It has always felt to me that if you’re a home grown product, you are permitted a sort of buffer against fan criticism or critique. If you’re a super bloke with it you almost have a cloak of invisibility. Critchlow has been roundly criticised for his last two performances but Mike Cooper who to my mind hasn’t been great since the Sunderland away defeat is barely mentioned. Instead the defence are criticised as a whole. It feels to me like it’s become a serious heresy to criticise or comment on Mike Cooper and I personally wouldn’t start a thread for the sake of the brickbats on here …. despite not rating him personally. He has some good attributes, don’t get me wrong, but he is way below the standard of keeper I’ve experienced supporting Argyle for 45 years. We cut him slack because he’s local, young and a super guy by all accounts. And yet he picked the ball out of the net 80 times last season - the worst record in league 1. Not his fault though.
On the other hand I thought Alex Palmer was prem standard. So many games we owed the points to some outstanding keeping from him.
l probably don’t need to answer your question because it will never happen. Just a pressing hope on my part. Sentiment will probably continue to prevail.
Can't help but agree with this to be honest. Cooper has been fantastic at times but there's always a suggestion that he lacks conviction in gathering crosses. We suffered with it horrifically last season and I thought we'd managed to mitigate it with solid defensive cover this season, but we're not stopping those crosses coming in now we've lost Galloway. I think he's been a huge loss for us - almost like Liverpool losing van Dijk a few seasons back.
Nothing against Cooper at all, he's a fantastic keeper but I agree with the comment above that suggests homegrown players seem to be given more chances than other squad members. He makes great saves at times, but there's still too many goals that fly past him and leave me thinking "how did he not get that?".
For me, we either invest a bucketload in trying to sort out that defence properly, or we look at getting in a keeper with more presence and conviction with balls into the box. I think Palmer would be a fantastic addition, and I'd definitely support it.
For more evidence - look at how well Lincoln did with him last season.
Palmer has been a key player for Lincoln this season, making a whopping 57 appearances in all competitions, including every League One fixture.
The goalkeeper kept 19 clean sheets in League One, and was undoubtedly a contender to be named in the League One Team of the Season.
Source:
https://footballleagueworld.co.uk/w...r-at-west-brom-after-lincoln-city-loan-spell/