Following a few errors in the opening two games of last season, Jack Bycroft’s place at Swindon Town has come under pressure, so should a new number one be brought in?

Bycroft played the second half of last season behind a defence that was leakier than a house without a roof but has not had the start to this season he would have wanted with five goals going past him in the opening two games. This has caused many to question whether or not the goalkeeper that Swindon are looking for should be a replacement for him rather than a backup.

Mark Kennedy has been steadfast in his belief in his number one, saying he had “no concerns” about him immediately after the Crawley Town game. He then added on Thursday, “He has been outstanding, he gets nothing but plaudits from me and has had no criticism from the staff and that is all that is important. I would always say to judge a player over a whole season, not one game and if you look at Jack’s career so far, he has been a real credit to the club. We are delighted with him and for anybody that is wondering, he will play on Saturday [against Walsall].”

Bycroft before the Crawley gameBycroft before the Crawley game (Image: Natalie Mayhew)

Despite two early errors that have led to goals, I do believe that the criticism of Bycroft has gone over the top and some of the goals have been over-analysed because of the opening goals at Chesterfield and Crawley leading people to be searching for problems.

To start, last season, only three goalkeepers, Corey Addai, Arthur Okonkwo, and Paul Farman, who played more than 50 per cent of their team’s minutes had a higher goals prevented rate than Bycroft in League Two. The stat which measures xG against with the number of goals conceded saw Bycroft have 0.7, by comparison, Murphy Cooper was -3.6 for Swindon in the first half of the season and Lewis Ward was -0.4 in his five appearances. This is a reliable metric of measuring a goalkeeper’s shot-stopping over a season and very few at the level were more consistent than Bycroft.

Equally when acting as the full package as a goalkeeper, his sweeping ranked in the 93rd percentile among League Two goalkeepers according to FotMob last season, allowing Swindon to persist with their more aggressive defensive style this season. Whilst his distribution is not on the same level as Cooper, he is still strong in this area, especially playing longer. Now that he has targets to hit higher up the field, no goalkeeper had more accurate long balls on the opening weekend than Bycroft and his accuracy was in the 70th percentile.

Bycroft makes a save against BradfordBycroft makes a save against Bradford (Image: Andy Crook)

Then against Chesterfield, despite being involved in what was ultimately a communication mix-up for the goal at the SMH Group Stadium, something that is to be expected with a new-look defensive unit, he played well in the game as a whole. Taking out the goal, he faced 0.9 xG from three shots on target in the game and made the saves, including a great stop from Will Grigg in the first half and saving a point-blank header from Chey Dunkley on top of displaying calmness in the dying embers as Town saw the game out.

Crawley's goals on TuesdayCrawley's goals on Tuesday (Image: FotMob)

To Crawley, for the first goal, the old adage of ‘You can’t be beaten at your near post’ does seem to stand up here as the angle is very acute and only registered a 0.02 xG. But for the other goals, his culpability has been overplayed. Each goal’s xG number increased massively based on where the strike ended up, showing good finishing, and there were defensive areas that need to be looked at which helped contribute to the goals.

 

 

Both of Jack Roles’ goals were stunning but in both instances, Town were caught too deep in their defensive shape and he was given the space to line up and leave Bycroft with little chance. For both goals, there are six defenders who are at least ten yards away from the former Cypriot youth international instead of applying the pressure which had been a positive aspect of the overall display.

And then for Rafiq Khaleel’s fourth goal, Swindon were caught too far up the pitch in search of an equaliser giving the wing-back space to charge into and then finishing emphatically across goal.

Ultimately, there are groans of frustration to be had with aspects of Bycroft’s performance in the opening two games of the season. But this has not been representative of his overall performance since joining Town and he has earned the faith that Kennedy has publicly had in him throughout his tenure. He is a 22-year-old goalkeeper and there will be mistakes but he is a very promising player who is on a permanent deal and can continue to develop if afforded the support he needs and deserves.