No chat on here re Raya for nearly two weeks = good sign tbh.

Also, this:

a month later

My guy playing a lot more assured now and less of the ‘nerves’. Distribution better and more sharper. Now we can see why he’s an upgrade on Ramsdale.

Odd thing to say cause there was nothing assured about his part in Liverpool's equaliser. Saliba should have hacked it away speaking completely with hindsight but better keepers are diving on that ball and making what Saliba did look like top CB play; Instead Raya is bizarrely routed to his line in a position that would make you think the ball was in the control of a a Liverpool player about to shoot. Bizarre.

He did have some good moments today though.
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    Lukazan

    Not having that, sorry. That was Saliba’s mistake all day long.

    Not just about today, against Palace he played well, great saves and some really good balls to Martinelli.

    I think the ‘worst’ is over with him (hopefully). The more he plays with the team the more they will be synergised and the better his performances.

        Sicario2 - Tier 1 Not having that, sorry. That was Saliba’s mistake all day long.

        Saliba is the primary culprit but the back five need to play as a collective, so in that situation Raya needs to take some responsibility.

        At best, it's lack of communication between GK and defender, at worst Raya isn't assertive enough in collecting it from Saliba.

            At worst, Saliba isn't strong enough when holding off his man in the box. It's similar to how easily he bounced off Awoniyi for Forest the other day. Has to do better. Defender's job is to clear their lines. Willy hasn't done that in that instance. If Raya is a bit more proactive he might have got to it, yes. But ultimately that's Saliba's error.

            On the plus side, the distribution is different level now. Especially the throw outs for counters. Ramsdale used to have a few opportunities for these outlet throws in every game, but he'll typically run like he's about to throw it and then hold off and squeeze his face and hold his hand up in apology, before making the safe pass / throw= chance gone.

              flobaba Ramsdale was doing that in the couple of games he played too. Looks like they've been working on it in training.

                Don Pacifico
                allison was assertive and took responsibility. ultimately shit can go sideways either way when the defender doesn't do his damn job.

                  What impressed me most with Raya yesterday was when he went to collect crosses. Pretty sure he had a 100 % success rate when claiming them and there were a few he had to deal with.

                    Yup no panicked punching. Everything claimed and calmed. Clear upgrade for me. Glad he's settling in nicely now.

                    he has huge hands, catching is probably his best feature.

                    Segway yup, and in one such instance, claimed it, rushed ahead and immediately chucked it onto the path of Martinelli. Fluid enough that it makes me think he scans a lot for potential opportunities before he catches it.

                      6 days later

                      His distribution wound me up more than anything else, but looks like there’s been an instruction more recently to get the ball out as quickly as possible.

                      Mistakes and nerves seem to be gone. Only missing link really is the ability to make match winning saves.

                      Raya did well in a match where we faced 0.2 xG and the opposition got 5 touches in our area (or whatever).

                      You could've had the proverbial inanimate carbon rod in goal and we still would've won 5–1.

                      Anyway, he's not doing badly and there's been some spectacular high-paced long throws recently. But for mine I'm happy to wait till it's more than a week since our last unforgiveable defensive bollocks-up to crown him.

                      Ramsdale would surely have done fairly well this season with the more defensive approach we've taken.

                        Burnwinter

                        As discussed previously, last week was much more on Saliba than Raya.

                        This is predictable though, I knew when Raya started doing better there will be little to no chat. Anyway let him go under the radar and prove you guys wrong.

                            Why do you talk as if it's some grand prediction that Raya won't be talked about when we're not facing shots? 😆
                            If we conceded a single goal yesterday, Raya would've conceded 0,8 more goals than expected.

                            Looks a lot more assured and confident, has settled right in now. Happy to have him starting ahead of Ramsdale, definitely an upgrade.