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6 hours ago, DJMortimer said:

 

Is it? If Liverpool and Norwich swapped goalkeepers would they keep conceding goals at the same rate as before? Or do all the other factors suddenly come into focus?

 

And you are implicitly blaming Dawson for our results there. Your vendetta against one player when the whole team is culpable is what is really weird.

 

 

Liverpool did swap keepers for a better one. 
 

conceded much less goals. 
 

See how it’s supposed to work?

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8 hours ago, DJMortimer said:

 

In Westwood's last four games our record was W0 D2 L2. Then he was replaced and that changed to W4 D2 L0.

 

The idea that our only issue is the goalkeeper is a shameless exercise in scapegoating.

 

Maybe we now should try a new keeper ?

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Dawson is a shockingly bad keeper, I don't know what his shot saves percentage is but it can't be very high. Goals 2 and 3 yesterday were very poor from Dawson, both from very tight angles a keeper should not be beaten from that position. Westwood has to be brought back in before it's too late. Also Dawson's kicking is terrible. 

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16 hours ago, Watford_owl said:

The problem is he dose not command defence and not vocal enough. Difference between a mediocre keeper and an good one unfortunately. I always thought Wildsmith was better than Dawson because of it. Schmeichel was always very good at marshalling the defence. 

 

I sit in the North stand, and for most of the game I can hear him shouting at the team.  Even when we've got the ball he's directing play.  It's such a trope to say he's not vocal when you've got absolutely zero evidence.

 

Everyone was calling for him when Westwood was dropping grenades game after game.  He got in and we went on a good run and he was the messiah.  Now he's going through a rough spell (mostly down to his defence playing like brain injury patients) and people want him gone.  The fans at our club are as big a part of the problem as the players at times.  Ironically cheering our own keeper when he catches a ball or makes a kick simply because they feel he's to blame because they are utterly clueless about the game.  Dawson's kicking is poor when he's passed an absolute horror pass and being closed down, but then again, so is most keepers.  Good defenders don't put their keeper under that kind of pressure, ours regularly pass the book to Dawson.

Just not bothered...

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8 hours ago, SUPER OWLS O.K. said:

You're just making things up now.

 

He fluffed one kick today, the rest of his kicking was fine. 

 

And I'll say it again, Westwood's kicking is shocking but he seems to get a free pass on that for some reason.

 

Spot on.  Dawson struggles to kick when he's passed awful back passes.  His distribution from set plays (ball in hand or rolled out) is actually markedly better than Westwood.  We've got a culture of defenders who pass the book to the keeper at the minute.  Some of the balls Dawson has to deal with that are bouncing, under/over hit and with an attacker closing down are just a joke.

 

A good article about just that from The Athletic:

Quote

 

Analysing Cameron Dawson’s kicking: team-mates are selling him short but technique and confidence must improve

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By Nancy Frostick and Matt Pyzdrowski  Feb 16, 2020comment-icon@2x.png 10  save-icon@2x.png

With Storm Dennis not helping at Hillsborough, Sheffield Wednesday goalkeeper Cameron Dawson could only shake his head in disbelief as he picked the ball out of his net for a second time on Saturday afternoon.

Dawson got a hand to, but failed to keep out, Andy Yiadom’s shot which had come through a crowded box and was flicked on by George Puscas. The game finished 3-0 to Reading, their other goals an easy finish by Yakou Meite and a Sam Baldock penalty in the final minute.

Three weeks ago Dawson had a relieved grin on his face after the 2-1 win over Queens Park Rangers in the FA Cup, knowing he’d just got away with one. In that game, with Wednesday 2-0 up, a 93rd-minute mistake by their goalkeeper had handed QPR a lifeline. His poor clearance landed at the feet of striker Nahki Wells, who promptly stuck the ball into the back of the net.

While time was on their side in that game and Wednesday were able to see out the result, things have slowly deteriorated for Dawson and Garry Monk’s side since.

Indeed, Wednesday have been lacking in many departments since the start of the year and have not helped themselves with a steady supply of defensive errors that have gifted their opponents opportunities.

In back-to-back performances against Barnsley and Luton Town last week, Dawson and then centre-back Dominic Iorfa were at fault as Cauley Woodrow and James Collins both scored from defensive mistakes. Yesterday, there was little attempt to close Ovie Ejaria down before he played the killer pass on the first Reading goal, the second came from chaotic positioning in defence and the penalty was because of another error by Iorfa, albeit an unfortunate one.

Although exasperated at his team’s frequent “schoolboy errors”, manager Garry Monk has stuck by Dawson amid his mistakes and said after Saturday’s defeat that “it isn’t just Cameron in this period, there have been mistakes from other players this season in general. It’s a little bit more than just a [single] mistake at the moment.”

Where Wednesday’s goalkeeping stable looked strong at the start of the season, it is now off kilter. Long-time first-choice Keiren Westwood has been dropped and does not appear to have a future under Monk and Dawson’s form has suffered in line with the rest of the team, leaving the fairly inexperienced Joe Wildsmith and fourth-choice backup Paul Jones as options.

A look at Wednesday’s primary candidates for the position shows there is not much on paper to separate Dawson and Westwood as shot stoppers. They have save percentages of 65.7 per cent and 67.4 per cent respectively this season in the league, while Dawson’s clean sheet rate (30 per cent, six in 20 games) is slightly better than Westwood’s (28 per cent, four in 14).

Interestingly, each player’s weakness is the other’s strength. Westwood has made mistakes particularly when claiming the ball in the air, punching and commanding his area. Dawson has looked capable in those moments but has come under fire recently for his kicking, an area of Westwood’s game that is fairly strong.

With kicking as the focus and helped by goalkeeping analyst Matt Pyzdrowski, here The Athletic explores what has been going wrong for Dawson and why he is having trouble when the ball is at his feet and making effective clearances.

Open play, rather than dead-ball situations, is where Dawson struggles

It’s important to start talking about Dawson’s kicking by acknowledging that he does not have any problem when kicking a dead ball from goal-kicks or free kicks.

In those situations, the 24-year-old’s technique is strong. He is very accurate, gets good distance on his kicks and often hits the channels wide of the central area of the pitch to allow Wednesday to build an attack. The same is true when Dawson collects the ball and distributes from either a throw, a drop kick or when he rolls the ball out in front of him and can strike a stationary target.

In itself this is good for Wednesday, given their style as a direct team usually playing with a target man who is able to hold up or flick on the ball. Whether it is Steven Fletcher, Atdhe Nuhiu or new signing Connor Wickham, Wednesday usually have a physical presence who is willing to get on the end of Dawson’s distributions from dead-ball situations. To use examples from recent matches, in the 1-0 midweek defeat to Luton, Dawson effectively found Wickham with a number of goal kicks (as shown below), which the Crystal Palace loanee then attempted to flick on.

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Later in the game, substitute Nuhiu was able to flick Dawson’s goal kick (this time delivered into the right channel) on for Wickham, although it got cut out.

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Despite the generally frustrating performance at Kenilworth Road, it was one of Dawson’s better displays with kicks from dead-ball situations as 42.9 per cent of his kicks into the final third were successful and 41.4 per cent into the opposition half found their mark.

Against Reading, Dawson’s dead-ball kicking was even more accurate in spite of the challenging conditions. Fifty per cent of all his deliveries into the final third and the same number into the opposition half were a success as he looked to pick out 6ft 5in striker Nuhiu.

Where Dawson is getting into trouble, then, is when he hits a rolling ball — most often passed back to him by one of his defenders. A number of factors are affecting his kicking from open play but his distribution suffers most when he is rushed by opposing players closing him down. It is not unusual for goalkeepers’ mechanics and technique to alter when they are put under pressure by an onrushing striker, but their confidence and the quality of the ball fed in to them when an opponent is bearing down on them is key.

The Wednesday defence are not helping Dawson kick effectively 

Since the turn of the year, the Wednesday defence has not been helping Dawson avoid situations where he has an opponent rushing towards him as he clears the ball, especially from the left side of the pitch. As a right-footed player, Dawson is typically better at putting his laces through a moving ball — even with a defender closing him down — when it comes to his right side. As with any player, passing to feet is also key for allowing Dawson to shape his body to clear the ball effectively into the channels and relieve pressure or start an attack.

Where Wednesday’s defence have been hindering Dawson, then, is in the quality and accuracy of their passes to him when they are themselves under pressure — which just shifts the burden on to Dawson.

Confidence has dwindled throughout this team since Christmas with only one win in their 10 league matches and players are increasingly turning out and passing backwards when they are met with pressure rather than stepping forward and playing positively, as shown in the two pass maps from Saturday’s match.

The first image shows all of Wednesday’s forward passes over the 90 minutes, the second all their passes played sideways or backwards. Unsuccessful passes are in yellow.

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Wednesday’s defence are often playing haphazard passes back for Dawson to try to clear and relieve pressure.

The stills below show Julian Borner, operating on the left of a back three against Luton, sending the ball back to Dawson while getting closed down by James Collins.

As the first image shows, Harry Cornick is also applying pressure, but where Borner could turn out to the byline he chooses to feed the ball back to his goalkeeper.

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Where Dawson encounters problems is in adjusting his body shape to track across and clear the ball from where Borner eventually delivers it — some five yards or so to the left of Dawson’s starting position above. With Cornick and Collins applying pressure, he is forced to kick first time with his left foot and his clearance is not a good one as it goes high and central, falling to Luton midfielder Pelly Ruddock (shown in the third image) in a fairly similar position to where Borner played the initial backpass from.

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What makes a good clearance from open play is important to note here. In this situation if Wednesday are looking to relieve the pressure imposed by Luton, Dawson needs to kick long, high and wide. Height gives the defending team time to reset, while avoiding central areas is important to prevent the ball immediately coming back via a header and putting the defence on the back foot again.

So although Dawson has bought Wednesday some time with this kick, it is still in a fairly dangerous central area and is still within their half, allowing Luton to reapply pressure.

Watching footage from Wednesday’s last 10 games shows the back four and deep lying midfielders pass to Dawson on a regular basis to relieve pressure in this way and as such their opponents are reading the situation and adapting to hassle players on the ball at every opportunity. While the goalkeeper will still take responsibility for ineffective clearances, in Dawson’s case he is not being helped by a systematic problem in the team that invites pressure.

When there is a clean ball back to a goalkeeper, it is relatively easy to strike through the ball with your laces when under some pressure. But along with inaccurate back passes, bouncing balls are also problematic for good clearances.

In the example below, Barry Bannan does Dawson no favours by volleying a ball back toward the penalty area while under pressure from Ruddock. Dawson is forced to track over and deal with the ball at an awkward height with Cornick and Collins both looking as though they will close him down.

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But while Collins closes in on Dawson, Cornick reads how the goalkeeper adjusts his body shape in preparation to play the ball left to Borner and tracks across to the German. In this case, Dawson’s decision not to hit a bouncing ball seems wise but Wednesday rarely play out from the back — knocking it long to their aerially capable centre-forwards is the norm — and that shows as the under-pressure Borner then plays fellow centre-back Tom Lees into trouble by knocking a pass in the air back across the centre of the pitch (shown below).

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Rushing kicks and clearances has become a habit 

There are occasions when Dawson does not help himself, rushing his kicks when he could take an extra touch or two. The still below shows an example from the 5-0 home loss to Blackburn Rovers a month ago, where Lees has passed back to Dawson and under limited and fairly slow pressure from Adam Armstrong, he swings too early and shanks the clearance high and into the middle of his own half.

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It’s unclear why Dawson feels he has to rush his kicks, other than it being a mental process in the knowledge that Wednesday typically pass back to him when they are under pressure and are requiring a fast transition from being on the back foot to moving up the field in attack. A goalkeeper reading the situation in front of them is vital and a poor example for Dawson is the goal Wednesday conceded against Barnsley last weekend.

Where Fernando Forestieri tries to shield the ball back to him to kick, which is again inviting pressure from the opposition, Dawson opts to use his weaker left foot rather than clear the ball into the stand with his right. The clearance falls centrally to Woodrow because Dawson closes his body too early, isn’t able to strike through with his laces and instead has to use the side of his foot to bend the ball to get a good connection.

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When goalkeepers are wide of a central position, they will often have to side-foot the ball but to avoid skewing the clearance into dangerous areas as shown above, it is important to keep the body open and play the ball as wide as possible up the line.

Below is an example from the Luton match that shows Dawson is more accurate when hitting a moving ball if he takes a touch. After receiving a pass in to his right from Lees, Dawson takes a touch across his body, realising that although Collins is pressing, he has time to do so, and then distributes the ball using his left foot to the right wing.

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Taking that extra touch not only relieved the pressure on Lees, it triggered a Wednesday attack. Dawson’s kick was accurate, long, high and wide and was met by target-man Wickham, who flicked it on to Liam Palmer.

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Not all situations require, or can accommodate, a touch but reading the situation is important for Dawson when it comes to distribution.

Confidence and conversation are key to a revival 

If Monk is to stick with Dawson as his first-choice goalkeeper then the defensive unit will need to work collectively — as well as Dawson putting in plenty of practice — to refine the delivery for, and the execution of, clearances. Building confidence throughout the team is the biggest task for Monk and that extends to Dawson in those situations when he is rushing clearances unnecessarily.

Of course, Westwood and Wildsmith remain options but with Dawson signing a new four-year contract less than a month ago, investing time in a player who might be an integral part of Wednesday’s long-term future could be key.

“The manager since he has been here has told me that [it’s possible to secure the No 1 shirt],” Dawson said after signing his new deal. “Nothing is guaranteed in football, I know that’s how it works. I just need to keep putting the performances in. That’s something which I will back myself to do. I will really try over this next period to try and improve myself, keep growing — hopefully the team grows and we can all grow together. Personally, I feel this season I have made some big strides in my game, things I have changed from last season, but there are still lots of things to work on.

“I am the sort of character who is desperate to improve all the time, I am always looking at new ways, changes I can make, to bring something new.”

 

Just not bothered...

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10 hours ago, McRightSide said:

There’s definitely two camps on here...

 

a Dawson in the first XI camp and a Dawson out of the first XI camp

 

whats interesting is the second group acknowledge both poor performances and decent ones (you see it in the ratings threads over the weeks) but the first camp outright refuse to acknowledge any accountability on the part of Dawson for all the goals we’re shipping...unless it’s a cataclysmic error

 

strange

 

There are two other camps and they both think you might need to grow up a bit.

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