There was a time when West Ham United fans were pleading with Slaven Bilic to drop Adrian and insert Darren Randolph as the number one goalkeeper as he pulled off some seriously impressive performances in the cup matches he was picked for... But now the opposite is the case.
While the Bray man is yet to but a foot (or hand?) wrong in an Ireland shirt, an error against Sunderland on Saturday has seen a worrying stat emerge.
4 - Darren Randolph has made more errors leading to goals than any other player in the Premier League this season. Clumsy.
— OptaJoe (@OptaJoe) April 15, 2017
Randolph was beaten by a Wahbi Khazri corner kick that went straight in, and has now made more mistakes leading directly to goals than any other player in the league.
Last month Slaven Bilic came out and claimed that he had no intentions to strengthen the goalkeeping position at West Ham, as he was delighted with his options in both Randolph and Adrian, but since then Ireland's number one has been struggling.
West Ham have been shocking defensively all season, which had previously seen Randolph given a pass by the West Ham fans as he was still making decent saves and had faced so many shots that goals were inevitable, but it's clear that a large section of the supporters have turned on him, as the social media reaction to his latest error was particularly venomous.
Darren Randolph, piss off. Had enough of his tinpot Championship goalkeeping. Bring in Adrian next week.. pic.twitter.com/EP7qVdhXzY
— ?? (@19H1997) April 15, 2017
Sunderland's Man of the Match:
Darren Randolph— West Ham News (@WHUFC_News) April 15, 2017
@RandzOfficial Do the right thing and retire
Stop stealing a living pretending to be a goalkeeper
You are useless— ⚒??⭐ (@UKCowboysFan84) April 15, 2017
Darren Randolph is???. Time for Adrian to return in ?. ⚒⚒⚒
— Matt (@Mattylou3) April 15, 2017
It was a game we had to win and we throw it away! Darren Randolph should now be dropped after that poor goalkeeping
— Adam Loveday (@_AdamLoveday_) April 15, 2017
Sick of Darren Randolph costing West Ham United valuable points through poor decision making. Adrian a far better keeper. Wake up Bilic.
— Steve Hughes (@hughes273) April 15, 2017
Do you have a hopeless team? A striker who can't score? If no one else can help, and if you can find him, maybe you can hire Darren Randolph
— Tom Victor (@tomvictor) April 15, 2017
Really can't see how Darren Randolph can keep his place next week.
— Matty Lawless (@mattylawless) April 15, 2017
Darren Randolph is shit, by the way. He's had his chances, now let's get Adrian back in goal
— West Ham Stuff (@WestHamStuff) April 15, 2017
Darren Randolph is not a Premier League goalkeeper. Simple as that.
— Iron Views (@ironviews) April 15, 2017
Reserve keeper at this level at best https://t.co/UOKiqV3Vpt
— Jacob Steinberg (@JacobSteinberg) April 15, 2017
Keep your head up, Darren.
He's proven before that he's good enough to play regular Premier League football, so hopefully Bilic stays true to his word and stands by him so he can maintain his status as a starter and regain his confidence ahead of next season.
The very same things being said about him above were said about Adrian earlier in the year. The Spaniard seemingly has become a far greater player by not playing.
In the international setup, he should have Keiran Westwood breathing down his neck for the starting spot as the Sheffield Wednesday keeper has been in outstanding form all year long, but it does seem that Martin O'Neill doesn't fancy him. As for club level, it looks bleak at the moment but his manager's opinion is the only one that matters and the team he picks to face Everton will be telling.
