When speaking to Football Insider, former Leeds United ‘keeper Paul Robinson said this about West Ham United’s Roberto Jimenez: “I thought he was very poor against Newcastle. Not just in the goals but his all-round play – his distribution, his decision making.”
In the game against Newcastle United, Jimenez made more saves and had a higher pass success percentage than Magpies keeper Martin Dubravka. However, the Spaniard made one error which led to the Hammers conceding.
The 33-year-old currently has an average WhoScored rating of just 6.55/10, which is the tenth-lowest in the West Ham squad.
West Ham’s first-choice goalkeeper Lukasz Fabianski is set to return around December, with manager Manuel Pellegrini saying: “Lukasz Fabianski needs more time. He needs at least one month more, or a month and a half.”
When speaking about Fabianski, Paul Robinson had this to say: “He’s been important for West Ham this year and you can see what a miss he is. It’s difficult as a number two because you don’t get game time. Managers tend not to change goalkeepers unless they’re on a really bad spell. ”
TIF Tactics – Who should be West Ham’s number one keeper?
When comparing the two keepers by way of saves, the numbers can be somewhat misleading. As on paper, it’s Roberto Jimenez that has the superior stats, but we don’t believe that he should be West Ham’s number one keeper, and here’s why.
Roberto makes on average four saves each game, whereas Fabianski makes only 2.9. However, when looking at where the saves are being made, you can start to understand why the Polish keeper is better for the team. None of Fabianski’s saves are made inside the six-yard-box, but in the Spanish keeper’s case that’s very different, with 10% of his saves having to be made inside the close proximity of the six-yard-box.
This tells you that the defence can work more effectively when Fabianski is in the net, so perhaps it is a confidence issue for Roberto. It wouldn’t be wrong to be certain that his teammates are aware of all the questioning that surrounds their ‘keeper, which can’t help the defenders on the pitch. This also explains why the Spaniard has to make more saves, with more confusion around the box when he’s in goal.