00:00Hello, I'm Nathan Judah. I'm delighted to be joined by Wolves Reporter. It is Mr. Liam
00:12Keane. Liam, it's been a while. We're doing positional previews for the 2023-2024 Wolverhampton
00:19Wanderers season. It's been a season of highs, lows and three letters, but we're not going
00:26to mention them too much, hopefully, in the next five videos, because Tuesday, it is today,
00:31we're going to be doing the goalkeepers. Wednesday, the defenders. Thursday, the midfielders.
00:37Friday, the forwards. And Saturday, at the weekend, Liam, what have we got? Well, we're
00:43going to be talking about Mr. Gary O'Neill. Mr. Gary O'Neill. But let's start off with
00:49the goalkeepers. This should be swift and interesting. Wolverhampton Wanderers, number
00:55one. Not a lot of people to talk about, really. Mainly one person, and that is Jose Sarr.
00:59Of course, with Portugal at this moment in time, along with Mr. Rui Patricio, both are
01:03backups when we sit on the bench for most of the tournament. However, Jose Sarr, Wolverhampton
01:08Wanderers, number one. We thought maybe Dan Bentley might get a bit of a look in this
01:12season, but I think he was firmly Gary O'Neill's first choice. And what kind of a season do
01:18you think Jose Sarr had overall? Yeah, Gary O'Neill has admitted on a few occasions that
01:23he thinks Dan Bentley's done enough to get much closer to Jose Sarr, but it's pretty
01:29obvious to everyone that Jose Sarr is the number one for Gary O'Neill and for Wolves.
01:34And I think the first thing I can say, the first positive thing I can say is that Jose
01:38Sarr is a very good, solid Premier League goalkeeper. He's nothing less than that. But
01:43I also don't think he's much more than that. I think that's probably the fairest way I
01:47can put it. He's a very good shot stopper and we saw that on several occasions. There
01:50was a spell certainly in the second half of the season where consecutive games he was
01:55earning points by pulling off a number of very, very good saves. And that's theatrical
02:00dives for 25 yard strikes or it's coming out to a goalkeeper to attack his feet and smothering
02:08them and stopping the ball. He's very, very good as a shot stopper. So that is the massive
02:14major positive for him. Now, the errors really have creeped in over the last couple of seasons.
02:21I think this season he was better than last, but then again, bad distribution at times
02:26has impacted him. So inconsistent is probably the best way to describe Jose Sarr, albeit
02:34a very good goalkeeper that has had good moments.
02:38Yeah, it's interesting, isn't it? Because I think solid is exactly correct. And if you're
02:43ranking, I guess, the goalkeepers in the Premier League from one to 20, I would say that he's
02:48firmly 10th around that, middle of the pack, but nothing more than that. So I think you're
02:53spot on there. Quickly, in terms of Dan Bentley, before we go to Jose Sarr's future, but Dan
02:58Bentley would have hoped to get a bit more of a look in, of course, got a bit of taste
03:01of first team action at the back end of last season. But it didn't happen for him, did
03:05he? He played some of the cup games, of course, had a disappointing evening at Ipswich. But
03:11all in all, if you're Dan Bentley, you've probably got to work out if you do want regular
03:16first team football, you're probably going to have to drop down a division. And a lot
03:20of goalkeepers these days understand the situation, understand that they're back up. And if there
03:25is an injury, then he becomes Wolverhampton's number one very quickly.
03:27Yeah, it's a tough life being number two, isn't it? Because you don't play...
03:31I'd love to be number three, though. I'd love to be number three. I do nothing. It's
03:34Scott Carson.
03:35It's Tom King's buzzard. No, he doesn't play. And then on the odd occasion, which there
03:42were a couple of this season where Jose Sarr dropped out with illness or injury and Dan
03:46Bentley comes in or Caravar Cup, as you mentioned, and all of a sudden, you know, cold coming
03:52in, having not played, you've got to go perform. And there were there were moments where we
03:56saw errors. Ipswich you mentioned was not a good evening for Dan Bentley. You've got
04:02the West Ham away game as well. There was a couple that slipped underneath him. But
04:06overall, again, probably off the pitch rather than on it, it's been a good signing for Wolves
04:12considering he was essentially a free signing. He comes in as an experienced, loud leader
04:18and has been really good for the culture in the dressing room. And that as a free signing
04:22is brilliant. Had we seen more of the pitch from him as well, it would have been one of
04:27the best free signings you'll see. But yeah, look, he's a really good guy, Dan Bentley.
04:31Really good guy. Likeable squad. Love him. Gary O'Neill loves him. Hasn't played anywhere
04:36near as much as he would have liked, of course, but have the impact he has had, which can
04:41go unsung really at times unless we keep giving him the praise. Then then, yeah, it's a difficult
04:48position for number two. But no, he's he's done well, albeit the season itself on the
04:52pitch may not have been what he wanted.
04:53Yeah, straight out that, I guess, John Rudy Mould as well, who was a huge influential
05:00off the pitch and in the dressing room as well. So fair play. In terms of goalkeeping
05:04next season, would you say that Sar's future is a little bit up in the air or is that something
05:09that Wolves will look at? Is it a natural progression? There's been murmurs that maybe
05:14Sar might be leaving Wolves. But could you see, I mean, if it comes to your head now,
05:19do you think that Jose Sar's in goal at the start of next season on on game week one at
05:23Arsenal, as we know now?
05:24Yeah, I think as it stands right now, probably is. But lots can change. I think Wolves have
05:31got no desire really to offload him. There's no it's not a priority, I don't think, to
05:36be letting Jose Sar go and bringing a goalkeeper in. The same will go for Gary O'Neill's opinion
05:41on him. I think they'll be happy enough starting next season with him in net. And as I say,
05:45they've got other positions they need to look at first. But it really comes down to what
05:48Jose Sar wants. And I think there's been moments in in the past, in the last couple of years
05:53where he would have been happy to go. Not always been the case. I think if he pushed
05:57for something this summer, Wolves would be ready to to make a move, let him go and bring
06:02someone in. They're looking at a number of targets in the goalkeeper department, as they
06:05are with any position in case any departures. So I wouldn't rule it out. And we've been
06:09talking about this for quite a while, haven't we? We've been saying for months, really don't
06:12rule it out for the summer. It's something that could sneak up on us and happen. So,
06:16yeah, definitely want to keep an eye on.
06:18Thank you very much, Liam. That ends the goalkeeper chat and we will be back tomorrow on Wednesday
06:23with the defenders.
