A key piece of business last summer was to identify a new long-term goalkeeper following the departure of Lee Burge. For many, it seemed time, at last, to bring in the authority and experienced that we had been lacking in that position since the departure of Joe Murphy in 2014, instead, Mark Robins brought in a keeper who’d had barely one full season of being first-choice at another club in Marko Marosi. It was a brave decision, but one that has paid off as Marosi has established himself as an integral part of the defensive unit in his first season at the club.
Marosi’s job in settling into life at Coventry City has undoubtedly been made easier by playing behind a defence that has conceded relatively few chances – he only had to make 2.1 saves per 90 minutes (the joint-third-lowest of any goalkeeper who played 10 or more games in League One last season – however, Marosi has made some important saves when called upon with only a few notable errors made during his first year at the club. It has been Marosi’s composure with the ball at his feet that has defined his time at Coventry City thus far, becoming an important element in our attempts to play out from the back.
There is little question as to whether Marko Marosi will be our first-choice goalkeeper this coming season as we make the step up to the Championship. The decision to go for a young and improving goalkeeper is the belief that Marosi will continue to improve and save us having to recruit another goalkeeper either this summer or next. The test next season will be how Marosi deals with the likelihood of being tested for his basic goalkeeping skills – saving shots, claiming crosses – against a higher calibre of opposition forward.
Sideways Sammy 