No knee-jerking here. I've said since the start of the season that I don't think he's ready to be a No.1 at League One level and I wouldn't hammer him for yesterday on that basis. Mistakes are going to happen.

He reminds me a bit of James Dungey, who always looked a bit on the small side in goal and never really commanded his area like a potential top keeper would. I wanted him to make it too as one of our own but it didn't happen because he didn't quite have the all-round package.

Cooper IS our No 1 keeper.Get used to it and support him.

1. I know he is.
2. I am used to it.
3. Posting an opinion on an internet messageboard does not equate to a lack of support. Surely as our resident negative ninny you can see that?!

No knee-jerking here. I've said since the start of the season that I don't think he's ready to be a No.1 at League One level and I wouldn't hammer him for yesterday on that basis. Mistakes are going to happen.

He reminds me a bit of James Dungey, who always looked a bit on the small side in goal and never really commanded his area like a potential top keeper would. I wanted him to make it too as one of our own but it didn't happen because he didn't quite have the all-round package.

Cooper IS our No 1 keeper.Get used to it and support him.

1. I know he is.
2. I am used to it.
3. Posting an opinion on an internet messageboard does not equate to a lack of support. Surely as our resident negative ninny you can see that?!

At last you get it! Posting an opinion does not equate to a lack of support!!!!! so why the insult?

Um, pretty sure I've never said posting an opinion counts as a lack of support. I'll await proof of where I have, though, and I'll gladly hold my hands up if you can dig it out.

As for the insult, I guess in these hyper-sensitive days 'negative ninny' does count as an insult so I humbly apologise for that, oldage.

That's why i rarely use forums. It is a forum where you post your own opinions but sometimes it can get the better of some other forum posters.

Anybody picking out individuals after the Fleetwood performance are pretty {Bad language removed by Site Admin} up to be fair. The whole 16 players are to blame not any one single player.

it has been evident for several weeks that cooper makes several good saves a game and is good with his feet/distribution. he looks technically good as you would expect from a modern academy coached player.

But critically he lacks the physical presence and experience to be commanding in his area to impose himself on teammates and crosses/corners etc. Not his fault. just a fact. This has cost us goals that should have been avoided.

it is great that he came up through the academy but when compared with Palmer for example there is only one winner.

[quote="Brechin Hedge")

...But critically he lacks the physical presence and experience to be commanding in his area to impose himself on teammates and crosses/corners etc. Not his fault. just a fact. This has cost us goals that should have been avoided.
[/quote]

Can you give a few examples of the goals that you think should have been avoided, please? It sounds like you think there have been quite a lot.

it has been evident for several weeks that cooper makes several good saves a game and is good with his feet/distribution. he looks technically good as you would expect from a modern academy coached player.

But critically he lacks the physical presence and experience to be commanding in his area to impose himself on teammates and crosses/corners etc. Not his fault. just a fact. This has cost us goals that should have been avoided.

it is great that he came up through the academy but when compared with Palmer for example there is only one winner.

There certainly will be next Saturday if they are selected, even if it goes to penalties, because they will be in opposition.

[Biggs]

it has been evident for several weeks that cooper makes several good saves a game and is good with his feet/distribution. he looks technically good as you would expect from a modern academy coached player.

But critically he lacks the physical presence and experience to be commanding in his area to impose himself on teammates and crosses/corners etc. Not his fault. just a fact. This has cost us goals that should have been avoided.

it is great that he came up through the academy but when compared with Palmer for example there is only one winner.

I’m as certain as I can be with my very limited goalkeeping knowledge, that Cooper will play at a higher level than Palmer.

The distribution aspect is huge at the top level, and Cooper is a 10/10 for me in that regard.

The experience will come, but he has the things that you can’t coach easily (same can be said for Jephcott with his positioning and finishing).

Palmer is great, but it’s unfair to compare two goalies at two totally different stages. And when one is ours, and could make us a ton of money or 100s of appearances.

Someone earlier touched on Michael Cooper..
I never understood in past couple years why we not lend him out to other League 2 or non league team..would hv done him world of good.
Now we got.. what was always gonna be.. Confidence problem at some point

His devopment been mishandled tbh.

Why are there so many Argyle managers on this format. There were 16 players on duty on Saturday who were played off the park by a better team. So why are you blaming the youngest player on the pitch. This will not do his confidence any good.I have watch the Greens for over 60 years and I’ve seen much older keepers than Mike Cooper who were crap and let Argyle down. So give the lad a chance and if his confidence has been shattered just give a rest.

perhaps this Cooper issue nicely illustrates the wider debate on what the club's aspirations should realistically be.

Does the club:

1-develop the youth system to bring through and actually play youngsters some of which hopefully will be local lads. For this to work fans and directors need to realise there is a long term strategy in place to be home grown, accept this will likely mean less success (what is success?) but sustainability and not demand instant success with constantly changing managers

or

2-keep requiring directors to pump money in to try to buy instant success through buying/paying players with no guarantees of success, no continuity and living with continual reliance upon outside investment.

Argyle have invariably adopted 2 and slipped from a tier 2/3 club to a tier 3/4 club over the last 50 years. The Exeter Perryman/Tisdale model is 1 and was/is a very successful example of a club living within its means whilst accepting its policy of home grown is the best measure of success.

it has been evident for several weeks that cooper makes several good saves a game and is good with his feet/distribution. he looks technically good as you would expect from a modern academy coached player.

But critically he lacks the physical presence and experience to be commanding in his area to impose himself on teammates and crosses/corners etc. Not his fault. just a fact. This has cost us goals that should have been avoided.

it is great that he came up through the academy but when compared with Palmer for example there is only one winner.

It is immaterial .Palmer is at Lincoln and we have Cooper.Last season is now history

[Biggs]

perhaps this Cooper issue nicely illustrates the wider debate on what the club's aspirations should realistically be.

Does the club:

1-develop the youth system to bring through and actually play youngsters some of which hopefully will be local lads. For this to work fans and directors need to realise there is a long term strategy in place to be home grown, accept this will likely mean less success (what is success?) but sustainability and not demand instant success with constantly changing managers

or

2-keep requiring directors to pump money in to try to buy instant success through buying/paying players with no guarantees of success, no continuity and living with continual reliance upon outside investment.

Argyle have invariably adopted 2 and slipped from a tier 2/3 club to a tier 3/4 club over the last 50 years. The Exeter Perryman/Tisdale model is 1 and was/is a very successful example of a club living within its means whilst accepting its policy of home grown is the best measure of success.

Yes, 1) is almost always the best strategy for long-term success and it's almost immaterial that Alex Palmer is the better GK than Michael Cooper now.

Again, we all knew that Cooper would make mistakes as a developing young goalkeeper. So it seems a bit pointless to dig him out for it, especially as we're in a good league position with no apparent (touch wood) threat to L1 status this season.

Every player was crap on Saturday.