David Forde. At 32 years of age, Forde is an experienced member of our squad. This season, just like the team itself, he has been very poor and has been subject of lots of criticism. Some will say that he's cost us lots of points this season. From the two poor goals conceded at home against Peterborough back in August, to the more recent mistake last month at Brighton following Kazenga Lua-Lua's late free-kick.
I totally agree with his critics. Infact you could say that I am one of them. In League One he was a very good goalkeeper. He had one of the best clean sheet records in our two Play-Off seasons in League One. We had one of the best defensive records in the Championship last season too. However, something has gone wrong this season.
Forde was prone to mistakes before, however he made up for it with heroic penalty saves and good overall performances where he wins us points. The thing is that this season, Forde has cost us more points than he's won us. Jackett has dropped him once or twice this season when his performances haven't been acceptable. Steve Mildenhall, our backup goalkeeper, isn't brilliant either which shows that Forde doesn't have any real competition for the number one jersey.
One thing that Forde is always singled out for is the fact that he's poor when commanding his area. When a corner comes in, he flaps at it or punches it away instead of claiming it. An example of this was on Saturday against Reading, where he cost us all three points. For the first goal, he punched away a corner kick straight out to an attacker on the edge of the box, who smashed the ball in the top corner.
He is also poor at getting down to shots. Against Peterborough at home in August, he let in two goals from 20 yards which were hit very poorly, scuffed you could say. What happened? Forde got down way to slow to it and they both went in the bottom corner. He had a spell out injured earlier in the season, so maybe he's still getting his confidence back. It doesn't help that he's getting abused, but it's very frustrating to see him making mistakes week after week.
You could also argue that he isn't being coached properly. Tony Burns is our goalkeeping coach and he is approaching his 68th birthday. Yes he's experienced, but maybe we could do with someone more youthful to coach Forde. Then again, what do I know? I'm a Millwall fan.
Forde is also the third choice goalkeeper for the Republic of Ireland national team. Shay Given of Aston Villa and Kieran Westwood of Sunderland are ahead of him in the pecking order. Forde has two caps, one of which came against a weakened Italy side where Forde kept a clean sheet. Possibly one of his proudest achivements to date. Ireland must be desperate if Forde is their third best goalkeeper. No, I'm not exaggerating here.
On some Millwall messages boards, fans of the elder generation have described Forde as 'one of the worst goalkeepers in our history'. There's the evidence that he really is poor. There was Premier League interest in him last season. I bet the clubs interested are relieved that they didn't persue their interest. Basically, we need a new goalkeeper in the summer, if not two.
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