So calamity keeper Roberto has departed on a free to La Liga side Real Valladolid, a team which sounds like one of my pal Nigel's more obscure heavy metal albums. We'll never forget his nine games for the Hammers, for all the wrong reasons. His biggest error was punching the ball into his own net at Burnley, though he also gave away two goals in the home defeat to Newcastle and let a Son shot go straight through him against Spurs, while he was also slow to react to Sheffield United's equaliser in the 1-1 home draw and let in a soft goal at his near post at Everton. Plus there was his role in the 4-0 debacle at Oxford United in the League Cup.
His tendency to punch caused panic and my main memory is of him hopping around his area like a not very cat-like keeper on a hot tin roof. Yet bizarrely there was also a half-decent keeper in there somewhere, as after that clanger against Burnley he went on to produce a series of brilliant saves. In the end we couldn't replace Adrian with just any old Spanish keeper — Roberto's signing almost resulted in relegation. At least with Darren Randolph at the club we now have a capable deputy for Fabianski.
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