Sunday April 3rd. Liverpool had beaten Bolton the day before. Scott Carson had made his Anfield debut, his second Red’s appearance, in goal at the age of 19.
In the world of goalkeeping, 30 years of age can be considered "young". We’re not sure why, but it always seems to have been the case. Goalkeepers just keep going, so a good keeper can keep his place long-term, leaving his young understudies with a long wait or a move to another club.
Scott Carson is actually Liverpool’s third-choice keeper. Prior to his most recent injury, Chris Kirkland was Liverpool’s number 1. Ahead of Jerzy Dudek, who’d started off as Liverpool’s number 1 this season. Scott Carson would probably not have even made an appearance on the subs bench yet had injuries to both the first two keepers not happened.
On Saturday Scott Carson played extremely well when called upon. However after watching some TV coverage of the match the following day, we heard a little too much criticism for the young keeper. This prompted us to write the article "Another keeper to criticise". To sum the article up, we felt that Liverpool keepers seem to be under more scrutiny than any others and mistakes are pounced on by the media.
Last night Liverpool conceded a goal. An attacker headed a spinning ball into the ground. It bounced over Carson. In our opinion, he was unlucky not to get to it – and it was certainly not a clanger.
It was disappointing though. Disappointing because for 30 minutes Liverpool dominated the game in a way that makes you wonder why they have been struggling in the league so much. Even more so with a team missing so many players due to injury.
Thankfully Rafa Benitez is behind his young keeper. He refused to criticise him, instead saying: "As for the goal, I will see the video and see his starting position and where his feet where, but I do not see it as a mistake, we will talk about it. I do not blame the keeper. But we were not ready for the corner and we reacted too late. The ball bounced right in front of the ‘keeper and it was very difficult for him. He was in a good position but the bounce deceived him."
We now hope that the national media have the gracea to give the youngster some leeway now and that the fans get behind him.