[BaggieSteve]

I’m gonna get shot down for this but what’s the point in being an occasional outstanding shot stopper when you can’t do the basics.

Sam can’t do the basics. It’s that simple. His job to command his area and he has never ever done it. I remember Button coming out for crosses in the cup game, he caught everything. It was good to see it.
Sam never comes off his line and today he should have kept coming but bottled out. Bartley obviously got the call and didn’t jump.

It was a very good performance from the team today and people calling for Bilic to go must be crazy. Sam Cost us again unfortunately.

World lass, I agree with you. I fully recognise that that Sam is a good shot stopper and has turned in some very good performances this season, ones that have kept us in games when we probably didn’t deserve it. However, he is so lacking in the command of his area, whether vocally or in coming for crosses that it’s now painfully obvious, particularly to the opposition. If you have a glaring weakness- and I honestly think this is - you are in danger of it being exploited at every turn. I don’t expect him to come for crosses on the penalty spot but he doesn’t come for crosses in the six yard box with any level of confidence so that, once the ball is crossed into it, it becomes a lottery as to the outcome. Ben Foster wasn’t perfect but that part of the penalty area was his and everybody knew it. To show my age, I remember back in the early 1970s when we signed Jimmy Cumbes and he was just like Sam - great shot stopper and terrified of crosses. Don’t know what happened but he became a great taker of crosses eventually, so it’s possible for a change to happen. Someone needs to be working with Sam to boost his confidence