Adrián San Miguel del Castillo

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westham,eggyandchips
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Re: Adrián San Miguel del Castillo

Post by westham,eggyandchips »

I wonder if could do a Tony Gale and pick up a PL medal after being let go by us? :o
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Re: Adrián San Miguel del Castillo

Post by claretnblueglasses »

After a shaky start for them he seems to have settled in pretty well. His save against Napoli the other week was world class. But we all know he has that in him.

The thing I’ve noticed most is his improvement in distribution (bar the blunder against Saints). He seems a lot more confident and precise, which he lacked when he played for us.

I guess that’s what having world class defenders in front of you does though.
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Re: Adrián San Miguel del Castillo

Post by fmgod »

Yeah after a few dodgy games at the start that could've of been getting use to a new team, not having played for months he seems to have settled down and been excellent really, It's not really a surprise for me, also seems to be top guy to have around the club in general on a day to day in the changing room basis
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Re: Adrián San Miguel del Castillo

Post by neathiron »

I'm hoping he will have one of his dodgy moments when he plays us to hand us victory. That same weekend Man City will win to go top of the table and will remain there for the rest of the season. That would be so sweet, anything to stop those Scouse ***** winning the league :lol:
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Re: Adrián San Miguel del Castillo

Post by hammerman11 »

shame he left as we need him now !
glad he is doing well and I hope the dippers win the title and he gets a medal.
hope we smash them when we play them of course !
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Re: Adrián San Miguel del Castillo

Post by sendô »

Liverpool fan that I work with (from London, obviously):

"Adrian's a fantastic shot stopper, but he'll follow up a great save by doing something he doesn't need to do like rush a clearance and kick it straight to the opposition, or rush out of his box when he doesn't need to."

I told him it was like he was preaching to the choir.
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Re: Adrián San Miguel del Castillo

Post by YorksHammer »

Equally sendo, that's why I loved him. Felt like, compared to some players who just stick to how they're trained, he had a personality and could make his own decisions.
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Re: Adrián San Miguel del Castillo

Post by GreenIron »

Not ours any more but a decent read ...

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/football/20 ... super-cup/

Adrian exclusive interview: Lucky towels, sleeping with the Super Cup - and why Liverpool have two No 1s

Before every game, Adrian places a yellow towel in his goal. It is no ordinary towel, either: a gift from his family, it is covered in messages freighted with meaning.

In one corner is inscribed the motto la humildad te hace grande - 'humility makes you great'; in another are pictures of his wife Tamara and their children Enzo and Eric; there are also the legends 'Liverpool FC' and 'You’ll Never Walk Alone'.

“All in one towel!” Adrian says, with a laugh. “So imagine how special it is.”

It certainly is precious for Adrian. The Liverpool goalkeeper freely admits he is a superstitious sort: it is why the towel is yellow – the colour of his goalkeeper’s shirt at his first club, Real Betis – and why it carries the number 13, the only number he will wear.

Both yellow and 13 represent good luck in Spain. Adrian was offered the No1 jersey when he left Spain to join West Ham six years ago because first-choice goalkeeper Jussi Jaaskelainen wore 22. He turned it down.

It would have happened at Liverpool, too, where there was the twist of Alisson Becker taking the No1 shirt before there was even a hint of Adrian signing. Up until then Alisson had worn, yes, 13.

“Maybe it was, ‘Adrian is coming. Okay, give him the 13!’” Adrian says, laughing. “But the towel is like my gloves. If I do not have my towel… one day I left it at home before a West Ham game so I called my wife and said: ‘Someone has to bring me my towel!’ I have one for games and I have the old ones, from previous seasons, for training. I have a new one every season and I only use one. It is very special to me.”

Superstition, fate, luck - call it what you will, but after leaving West Ham at the end of June when his contract expired, having turned down the offer of a new deal, Adrian was without a club and began his pre-season with Union Deportivo Pilas, a semi-professional outfit from his hometown of Seville who play in the sixth tier of Spanish football.

He persuaded an old friend, a goalkeeping coach he had known from his time in Betis’s third team, to give up his holidays and put him through his paces.

“They said ‘this is your house and you can train here whenever you want’,” Adrian says. To an extent it was empowering for such a confident player who then felt able to take his time and weigh up his options.

There were many offers: from Spain, Turkey, Saudi Arabia and Mexico. There was even a “contract on the table” from a Spanish club, understood to be Real Valladolid.

But Adrian hesitated. “Inside of me was something telling me: ‘Wait because something good will come’.”

He was right. The call duly came from Liverpool, who had granted Simon Mignolet his wish to return to Belgium with Club Brugge. “I think it was almost fate,” Adrian adds. “I was close, very close [to signing elsewhere] but the moment I received the call from Liverpool I told my agent to stop all negotiations.”

Although he does not want to wear the No1 shirt, Adrian is clear. He is a No1 goalkeeper. “When I signed for Liverpool I knew I was coming for a big challenge in my career and I think the competition makes us better. So to have two No1s in the team is great for both of us.

"It’s a good decision for the manager because everyone wants to have the best and I think we are here - two No1s. It’s not my mentality to be a No2 and even less so when I am 32. Maybe in four, five years time I will tell you differently but it’s much better than being in a comfort zone of one No1 and the other [goalkeeper] sitting on the bench forever.

"But I also like to be united and work together. I’m full of confidence to help Liverpool on the pitch and from the bench when the manager decides that Alisson plays.”

I previously interviewed Adrian at West Ham last December, along with Lukasz Fabianski. Then, the discussion also revolved around how two senior goalkeepers feel when they are vying for the same position. Alisson is now back in training at Liverpool, having recovered from the calf injury he sustained against Norwich on August 9 in the first Premier League game of the season, and the expectation is that he will replace Adrian for Sunday’s fixture away to Manchester United.

“We will have a chat with the manager,” Adrian says. “Obviously he [Alisson] is fit and training with the team. As I say we are two No1s now, waiting to see who is going to play. Last season Ali did really well and I’m here to push him and to help Liverpool. It will be the manager’s decision and after that we need to prepare for everything and if that is not in the Premier League [for me] it’s to try and have an opportunity in another competition.”

And if Alisson does go straight back in? “I am more than ready, mentally. And I am experienced. I had the situation before when I was at West Ham when Fabianski came in last season. We need to be professional. We all have ego and ego for us is that we want to play all the games. But sometimes you do not.”

Adrian owes a debt to his former West Ham team-mate Aaron Cresswell. It was the full-back who gave Liverpool’s goalkeeping coach John Achterberg – who knew Cresswell from their days together at Tranmere Rovers – a glowing recommendation and Adrian’s mobile number when it looked like Mignolet was going. “I didn’t know that at the time but after I signed he told me,” he says. “So thank you, 'Cress', because he had a good word for me!”

For two days there were nerves - waiting to see if Mignolet’s move went through before signing a two-year contract with an option for another 12 months. Then there were just three training sessions – and only “one-and-a-half with the team” – before he was on the bench against Norwich as the Premier League kicked off. Except, after just 39 minutes, Alisson went down injured and could not continue.

Adrian’s last first-team appearance had been in West Ham’s 4-2 FA Cup humiliation away to AFC Wimbledon in January. “I will never forget the great reception I had. The fans had lost one of the most important players for them but everyone stood and chanted my name.”

Liverpool won that night, and have won pretty much ever since, including in the Uefa Super Cup in Istanbul against Chelsea. Adrian was the hero, saving Tammy Abraham’s spot-kick in the penalty shoot-out, but suffered a bizarre injury after a fan ran onto the pitch, slipped and crashed into his ankle during the celebrations. “The right one,” Adrian says. “The same foot that I had saved the penalty with! I felt it turn and then it just blew up. It was massive.”

The trophy was the first of Adrian’s career. “You remember all the people who supported you from the beginning, you remember all the bad moments and not just the good ones.

“We were having dinner and we were close to finishing and the trophy was there in the middle. I was looking at it thinking ‘it’s so nice’ and James (Milner) just turned to me and said ‘go on, take it with you’. I said ‘no, the security will stop me’ and he said ‘no, take it. Nobody was better than you today so go and sleep with her’. It was a great feeling.”

On the plane home the Liverpool medical staff worked furiously on Adrian’s ankle in an effort to get him fit for a match at Southampton 48 hours later.

“I was very worried,” Adrian says, insisting he would play. There were painkillers, anti-inflammatories and strapping. “I need to give everything to defend Liverpool. I couldn’t imagine the possibility of missing a game when I had been given this opportunity to play. But, even now, the ankle is not 100 per cent because I have not stopped.”

It was naturally an adjustment playing for Liverpool after West Ham. “They are totally different kind of fish, to be fair,” Adrian says. “West Ham’s target is to be in the top 10, top six and to have the chance to play in Europe. Here you have the mentality that you have to win all the games, all the trophies, all the titles. It’s a different kind of pressure. But I like to be under pressure.”

For obvious reasons he has had to adapt the way he plays, with Liverpool moving the ball out from the back. “Maybe in the history of goalkeeping now is harder than ever. We are goalkeepers but we have to play like an outfielder as well,” says Adrian, who at least has the advantage of having started his career as a striker. “At Liverpool we are like a rock. We are defending well, attacking well.”

Eight league wins from eight tells its own story but such is Adrian’s desire to push himself that he is unhappy with only two clean sheets. He also knows that Alisson, who has just won the Fifa award for the world’s best goalkeeper, is ready. It is testament to how well Adrian has done, though, that Alisson has not been missed.

“I feel really proud because if nobody missed the best goalkeeper in the world last season then it’s a good feeling for me. I was more than ready to face that challenge. The team has helped me a lot because it’s really easy to play with those defenders in front of you and we have made a magnificent start to the league: eight from eight.

“He [Alisson] is a great keeper and a great person, which is the most important thing. We both speak Latin languages and that helps. The goalkeeping group has a good relationship – Andy Lonergan is training really hard, Caoimhin Kelleher as well. With the goalkeeper coaches we are a good group. And with the emotion we have to deal with – one is playing, one is not – the group has to be strong and push everyone. It’s much better for us.”

The goalkeepers union does exist, then? “It’s totally different from other players. They train apart,” Adrian says. “For us it is three or four keepers with the coaches John and Jack [Robinson]. That philosophy of having a good group is more important than having one good goalkeeper and the others who do not feel they will play and are comfortable on the bench.

“If everyone is pushing it’s good for the guy who is playing because he knows he can’t relax. It’s a pressure that the goalkeepers have to feel. It’s no good to feel you are number one and no-one is pushing you. It’s no good being in a comfort zone.”

Adrian will do that. Before heading to Old Trafford on Sunday he will collect his towel and reflect on that message written on it: humility makes you great.

“Look I had to spend my time training at a lower league team,” he says. “And then along came the champions of Europe.”
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Re: Adrián San Miguel del Castillo

Post by RayleighIrons »

“Look I had to spend my time training at a lower league team,” he says. “And then along came the champions of Europe.”

Fuk me, he makes us sound like we're non league. :x
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Re: Adrián San Miguel del Castillo

Post by Crouchend_Hammer »

He meant the Spanish sixth division side he was training with over the Summer
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Re: Adrián San Miguel del Castillo

Post by RayleighIrons »

He's forgiven then.
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Re: Adrián San Miguel del Castillo

Post by Chavs »

Got the touch of the Johnny Paintsils this fella, looks like he has a massive douse of the Scouse and has turned the other way. Shame really.
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Re: Adrián San Miguel del Castillo

Post by Heysel76 »

RayleighIrons wrote: Thu Oct 17, 2019 9:33 pm He's forgiven then.
In fairness, we do have lower league training facilities! :thup:
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Re: Adrián San Miguel del Castillo

Post by Johnny_C WHU »

Considering the relationship he had with the fans (not the management), I was surprised there was no comments made on his twitter about West Ham over the two games recently. Seems he is a converted Kop player now and no thought of little ol West Ham. Shame.
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Re: Adrián San Miguel del Castillo

Post by Col Hammer »

Johnny_C WHU wrote: Wed Feb 26, 2020 3:59 pm Considering the relationship he had with the fans (not the management), I was surprised there was no comments made on his twitter about West Ham over the two games recently. Seems he is a converted Kop player now and no thought of little ol West Ham. Shame.
He did wish us well for the season after Monday's game on twitter

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Re: Adrián San Miguel del Castillo

Post by Happyhammer52 »

A Liverpool player, supporting Liverpool. I for one am outraged.
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Re: Adrián San Miguel del Castillo

Post by Johnny_C WHU »

Col Hammer wrote: Wed Feb 26, 2020 4:11 pm He did wish us well for the season after Monday's game on twitter
Ah, thanks. I missed that one. That's more like it!

I didn't begrudge him after moving on especially after the way he was treated by Sullivan when we got Hart, I was just surprised that he hadn't commented as we (he and the fans) and a really good rapport.
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Re: Adrián San Miguel del Castillo

Post by westham,eggyandchips »

RayleighIrons wrote: Thu Oct 17, 2019 9:08 pm
Fuk me, he makes us sound like we're non league. :x
We're run like non league. Maybe thats what he meant? :)
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Re: Adrián San Miguel del Castillo

Post by YorksHammer »

Johnny_C WHU wrote: Wed Feb 26, 2020 3:59 pm Considering the relationship he had with the fans (not the management), I was surprised there was no comments made on his twitter about West Ham over the two games recently. Seems he is a converted Kop player now and no thought of little ol West Ham. Shame.
He's certainly referenced his time with us on Instagram a bit over the season, too.

I still miss him.
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Re: Adrián San Miguel del Castillo

Post by Johnny_C WHU »

YorksHammer wrote: Thu Feb 27, 2020 10:34 am He's certainly referenced his time with us on Instagram a bit over the season, too.

I still miss him.
ah, I don't do the gram so missed that one too!
I take back my original statement lol.

me too :(
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