Dorking Wandering
The Dorking Wanderers FC Fans Forum
Interested in people's thoughts on our goalkeeper?
400+ EFL appearances says he should be more than capable and he was doing well when Josh Laqeretabua was in front of him.
Is he good enough to build a top 3 league finish on?
Is our diabolical amount of goals conceded recently more a reflection on the defenders, or indeed the defensive shape?
The slowness to get down to the free kick at Torquay despite being three quarters of the way across wasn't his finest work, however should we cut him slack because he is 42 years old now (43 in 3 months) and this is regional non-league?
Thoughts?
"Why would I leave to join a League Two club? We're going there anyway!" - Marc White
Glenn was a great keeper while he was at Crawley and I believe he was well respected at Gillingham where he played last year. He has never played on an artificial pitch, so I don't know if this affects him.
I think the main problem is not having a settled back 3 due to injuries. Like a lot of teams, often one of the back 3 is too far forward at times, and I feel our defenders can be susceptible to pace (they certainly were on Tuesday). However, due to his experience, I would hope he would be organising or shouting at them more. I particularly noticed Illesanmi shouting at Dennon "stay back" a couple of times on Tuesday, and I think he will make a big difference.
Hopefully we will stop conceding so many goals once the defence is more stable and the same players keep playing. However, I was surprised when Glenn signed, and only see it is a one season option. We also don't have an experienced back up if he was injured (I assume that Marc would use the loan market in that case).
The losing goal vs Daggers, the free kick vs Torquay are two glaring errors. Last night the first goal, was again on the side he was standing and one he should have saved.
If it was up to me, then I would get rid and would have done so already.
I do not think we can achieve top 3 with him as our keeper. He is the worst I have seen at the club in my time following which is since around 2019.
Of course, all these goals we are conceding are not his fault. But I think its time Mark made a difficult decision.
I am very sure we do not finish the season with him as our keeper. Marc is ruthless with keepers.
He’s definitely been at fault for a number of goals but as said above , it doesn’t help with having an unsettled backline and a lack of a quality DM.
Marc was very hard on Foulkes and regularly called him out if he made a mistake. Haven’t seen him do that with Glenn as yet , either during the match or in interviews . Maybe that’s due to Glenn’s age and experience.
I’m sure we are already looking for someone for next season
I dont think he is performing anywhere near the level I expected. Hopefully he turns things round because at the moment he only seems to be stopping anything hit directly at him, and cant say I've 'heard' him much commanding the defence etc which I also expected. Really missing Harrison Foulkes.
Overall been rather disappointed so far. As ive mentioned before the whole signing in the first place was some what baffling given his age. If we had signed a younger first choice keeper then had Glenn as a back up/help and give experience to said first team GK then that would of been a good deal. We are leaking goals for fun at the moment and while it is unfair to pin all the blame on Glenn, I do feel very underwhelmed so far with what ive seen. And the reality is we will be back on the market for another keeper soon anyway
I think overall he's a decent enough shotstopper and seems relatively ok with his feet. I will defend him on that Dagenham goal as that took a deflection on the way which took it away from him more than people realise.
The recent goals have been a little bit concerning though, especially that first goal on Tuesday night. He barely has to move to dive for that, and ends up making a mess of it and effectively punching it in to his own net. He also does seem a little bit too keen to come off his line, as we saw at Billericay.
I don't think his wages will be cheap and I doubt many clubs would take him on loan, so I can't see us signing a new keeper this season. The only potential option would be to get a young keeper on loan for a month or so to provide competition, similar to what we did with Joe Walsh in the NL.
We’ve been spoilt with our last two keepers, and our model of taking a young keeper, letting them develop and then letting them move on when they have outgrown us has worked fantastically the last few seasons. It just seemed like Glenn happened to be available and in the right place at the right time, which almost seemed too good to be true - I for one thought he would be an upgrade. Unfortunately it’s not working out, and at the moment he is not performing anywhere near the level or looking like saving anything. As others have done you can point to multiple mistakes - either letting in shots he shouldn’t or being too eager to fly off his line. It’s not like he is like Ederson either with his feet and the opposition are more than happy to let him try and pick out a pass.
I get he doesn’t have a settled back line, but a keeper should be able to cope to that and possibly you could look at it that the back line isn’t settled because they know he isn’t saving much.
Clearly he has had a stellar career, and I very much hope he proves me wrong, but unfortunately I would look to move on and go back to our previous model of being a stepping stone for younger keepers which worked so well. Harrison F got so much flack from Marc but looking back, he was an unbelievable shot-stopper (just maybe not from free-kicks!). Just watch the Torquay playoff highlights back for example. We miss him.
I was surprised to see the first goal on Tuesday fly in from there, but actually the last goal was worse: between keeper and last man they cannot concede a goal like that. I don't think he has been as vocal in organising the defence as I would expect from someone so experienced. He has made some good stops for sure, but he is not in the same class as Harrison F in the second half of last season. Hopefully, a more settled back line will improve things as I can't see Marc changing horses half way through the season. Unless he gets injured.
@luke I think calling him our worst keeper would be doing a disservice to Stuart Nelson. At least Morris seems to get annoyed if he concedes, Nelson seemed to enjoy it.
I've said it before, but I don't think Morris communicates with his defenders. Supposedly that was one of his assets when he was signed. I do feel that he is a good keeper, but it seems like he sees this job it as an easy way to make a few quid before fully retiring.
As with any Dorking player, I will back them and give them time and wish them to do well. That being said, I would definitely like to see Glenn make some ‘big saves’ and command the back line too. For the games I have been there, I haven’t heard him much if at all.
Just because he’s older doesn’t mean settling into a new club is easier though, so maybe its just taking him a bit of time to get used to new surroundings/pitch etc.
Has he got his own song yet?! Maybe one today for him to show some support!
I was behind his goal for the second half, and hi was definitely vocal most of the half. Possibly could have narrowed angle quicker for goal, but was a 1-1 and rather exposed by defence being caught out by opposition's pace yet again.
Beaten by 2 worldies by their best player in first half. Felt defence should have done better to stop shot, and not give away free kick in dangerous position, but he possibly could have done better with first goal.