If Kelvin Davis doesnt recover for Saturday, who should replace him in goal.

Jan Poortvliet has a goalkeeping problem before a ball has even been handled in anger, with Kelvin Davis named as number 1 but seemingly sidelined with a knock, who does the Dutchman play in his place.

Its a straight choice between Bart Bialkowski and Tommy Forecast, but there are plenty of ifs and buts to consider before the final choice.

Before the West Ham game Bialkowski was the clear favourite, in two spells in between the posts in 05/06 & 06/07 he looked the part and many thought he should play in front of Davis, however in my opinion George Burley hung the Pole out to dry in the opener against West Ham last season, back then Bialkowski surprisingly got the nod in front of Davis, however he had a woeful back four in front  of him that did him no favours whatsoever, although its fair that he had a stinker, he was still better than at least three of the back four, the fact of the matter was that Burley had destroyed the boys confidence to prove a point to the fans and justify playing his favourite, harsh ? maybe ! but something was going on last season.

Against West Ham, Bialkowski seemed to have an up and down game, at times producing brilliant saves and commanding his area, at others having moments of madness that suggest that he isnt fully over the confidence crisis caused by Burley, there was enough there to suggest that he can play thought this, but goalkeepers thrive on confidence and he must feel that Forecast has been bought by the manager and Davis is senior, it doesnt bode well.

But if Poortvliet is to play Forecast then he has to take a big risk, the new keeper has never played a league game, he is nearly 22 yet hasnt been out even on loan, and you have to question why.

Of course he is highly rated, but to throw him in at the deep end, especially behind a young inexperienced team in itself is a highly risky strategy and one that could drastically backfire, indeed Forecast hsnt even played a lot in pre season for one reason or another.

So the dilemma for Poortvliet is who to play against Stoke, does he put in Bart, in an attempt to try and get his confidence up, but if that backfires then he is left with no option but to throw Forecast in at Cardiff.

Or does he play Forecast to try and give him some match experience and hope that he shines, again if that backfires he could be left with two young keepers with a confidence problem and having to play one at Ninian Park.

Its a horrendous situation to be in for the manager, in truth he knows little about either keeper and has to go on gut instinct and the little he has seen in training so far, something that efor keepers especially is totally different from a match situation.

So far Bialkowski has had the edge, as was shown in his selection and 90 minutes against West Ham, but has he done enough to get the managers faith or has he sowed more seeds of doubt, one thing is for sure though Poortvliet has shown so far that he is not afraid to make decisions, this is perhaps his most crucial since his arrival though.  

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