Having had the ideal first season at Coventry City – getting promoted, playing behind a defence that didn’t concede many chances – it’s fair to say that this year has been much more of a challenge for Marko Marosi. Starting off the season as part of a defensive unit that was shipping goals at an alarming rate, Marosi picked up an injury at just about the time the team overall started to make more of an effort to prevent opponents creating chances, saw his stand-in play a role in a sterner defensive record and has been fortunate to get back into the team fairly quickly as a result of Ben Wilson becoming ill. Although it hasn’t been a great season for Marosi, the identity and performances of the goalkeeper has been less of an issue than the overall defensive performances.
For some, some of the weaknesses in Marko Marosi’s game that have been exposed at a higher level this season will have come as a surprise. However, even in what was largely an impressive first year at the club, there were signs that he wasn’t quite the difference-maker in goal some believed him to be. Most notably, it was apparent that Marosi was reluctant to come out and claim crosses – tending to rely on his centre-backs to win aerial challenges – which has seen been shown to be as a result of an inability to hold onto the ball under pressure. Overall, it’s not that Marosi is a particularly bad goalkeeper but that he doesn’t really excel at any other element of his game while having a fairly significant shortcoming.
Having returned from injury and reclaimed his place in the side, the task for Marko Marosi for the rest of the season will be in proving that he does have outstanding qualities to his game and is worthy of being a first-choice goalkeeper at Championship level. Although there are bigger issues for this team than the goalkeeper – which Ben Wilson’s spell in the side proved – having a game-changing presence in goal could be one of those small differences that could have had a huge impact on our season. If we are to stay up, goalkeeper looks one of the areas of the team we would look to improve, if possible. However, that could change if Marosi makes some key improvements to his game over the next few months.
Sideways Sammy 