He’s been garbage in the youth team so far to be honest so I wouldn’t have him near first team football yet (for his own good).
Harvey Davies is probably seen as a little bit ahead of Pitaluga at the moment.
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Yeah, I think Kelleher will be able to start, if it was an illness. If not, then f*ck it, we’ll trust Adrian. We should be able to do a job against Preston with him in goal. It’s not that terrible. I think we rotate young players training with the first team based on merit, needs, providing them experience, etc. I saw Pitaluga training at OT before United, all that is used like a mini training session at an already almost fully packed stadium. Gathering matchday experience.
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I’m just hoping Kelleher surprises us, I want him to get games as well.
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Pitugla was a strange signing. Signed for a million quid which is quite expensive with 0 first team football from Brazil. Surely the club could have found a better keeper even in England for less.
He’s still a prospect with a lot of potential but currently he’s very skinny and I think struggling slightly with the pace of the game in England (maybe struggling with adapting to living in England generally, although I’m not basing that on anything). I’m not writing him off but I also don’t think he’s ready for first team football and the spotlight that comes from it.
It is a bit funny though that having spent that much money on a Brazilian goalkeeper we have him arguably behind a lad (Davies) from Liverpool who is nearly a full year younger and been with the club since he was a kid.
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Pitaluga as a signing from Brazil obviously attracts more eyes than someone like Davies. But if he merits a better position now, he merits it and that’s it. No big deal. I’m sure Pitaluga wasn’t signed for the goalkeeper he would become in his first year at the club.
Yeah about the money part I agree. So much effort and resources put into a lad who doesn’t look much better than anyone there youth keeper. Only ‘expensive’ youth transfers I recall from last few years are Kaide Gordon, Elliott, and this new lad Bobby Clark which all look top class. Knowing how tight our board is surprised we risked that money on some 16/17 year old at the time from Brazil. I know he was a recommendation but that seems very amateurish from us if we hadn’t scouted.
I remember when I first saw Kelleher and I thought wow he is skinny, fair to him he has bulked out a bit but skinny isn’t an issue as long as he is good.
Adrian is bulky and well.
Adrian will be fine as long as we remember to keep the ball away from him.
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Yeah I thought Kelleher was utterly rubbish when he was a youth player. I’ve been going back over my personal Ones to Watch lists (I recently found them all on a hard drive I thought had been lost) and have realised I have a massive blindspot when it comes to goalkeepers. Absolutely no idea what I’m talking about with those guys.
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Adrian has had some quite good games for us, lest we forget. He is not at elite Premier League level, but so are none of our keepers bar Allison. And he has not let us down methodically like Karius unfortunately did. The reason Kelleher is in front of him is primarily age and because he thusly has more promise and more “growing” to do.
But if Adrian played in front of Kelleher because he was good in training I would for one not have a problem with it. He is not as bad as some say. Just not a top keeper and obviously not match fit.
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My first impression with him at senior level was how calm he was. I think he made the biggest difference in 2018 pre-season tour in US. That’s when he proved he could be a decent option for one of the backup roles or we might get a fee for him one day.
I’ve never seen Kelleher make a mistake or look insecure.
He seems miles ahead of anyone else at the club bar Ali.
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Given our happy lack of serous injuries, I think and hope that the larger squad will get game time out of this. I know some people, which I strongly disagree with, wants out of this cup asap, but I find great fault with that opinion myself, as I view these cup games to be perfect competitive games for unsung players to get game time (as well as rusty stars). As long as our injury list is not long, these games, and going deep into both this cup and the FA, is only very positive for our squad and general match fitness. Going deep in these minor cups can certainly help league form (we are a team that needs to play and have rhythm).
Never seen Pitaluga play but I agree. 
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Was a few games where I did wonder but generally he has improved and with his feet he is very good.
Guy impressed when he came in for Becker last season, where we looked sixes and sevens with a choppy back four, think it was Spurs was it? Showed he should be our number two that period.
This.
Although I’ve learned that every keeper that looks mediocre in the youth team tends to go on to do better than the ones that look good (Gulacsi aside).
I’d rather see ANYONE start over Adrian. Totally pointless having him around.
