unification
Well-known member
Benji Buchel in goal for, I believe, his 70th appearance for his county in a friendly against Malta and - oh dear …
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Benji Buchel in goal for, I believe, his 70th appearance for his county in a friendly against Malta and - oh dear …
Emilio
Well-known member
Dear, dear, Benji...
Benji Buchel in goal for, I believe, his 70th appearance for his county in a friendly against Malta and - oh dear …
I still find it mad that we got promoted from League Two without a clear first-choice keeper. He and Slocombe both made 23 league appearances that season, neither of whom exactly set the world alight. Testament to the quality of outfield players.
Common Villager
Well-known member
When Slocombe first came into the team I thought we'd unearthed a gem, his distribution was so much quicker and better than we'd been used to. I can still quite clearly remember him bowling it out to Baldock, setting him off on one of his trademark runs. But then it slowly became apparent he really struggled with crosses and the errors began to mount up.
Buchel was still worse though, imo.
Emilio
Well-known member
As one of the lads said on one of the various podcasts, the fact that Benji has made it into the national side isn't anywhere near as impressive as it sounds, as the population of Liechtenstein is so small. I've just run a vague calculation over my breakfast:
- Population of Liechtenstein (2023) : 39,584
- Minus 50% to filter out females
- Roughly 20% of this number for males within 16-36 age bracket
- Minus 10% to filter out those with disabilities
- Percentage of total population : 9%
- Total number eligible for selection : 3,206
Benji would essentially have to be the best keeper out of less than 26% of the equivalent of a fully-packed Kassan Stadium to be picked as the Liechtenstein no 1. Given that they will also need to select players to play all the other positions too, that really isn't the greatest of challenges.
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IsleofWightYellow
Well-known member
I don’t think that’s completely accurate as there will be players who don’t actually live in Liechtenstein but are qualified to play for them - imagine if you did the same thing with the population of Ireland, it would ignore how many players born and living in England who represent them.
ZeroTheHero
Well-known member
To be fair though, it is also true that some of the population of the country will be of another nationality, so will not qualify. It probably evens out.
holdsteady
Well-known member
I doubt the Liechtenstein diaspora is that big though given the small population, with a third of foreign heritage itself, so you would only be adding a small amount to the total.
Also the original figure gives a total while ignoring one big, but unknowable, factor, men who hit the criteria but also actually play/like/can/want to play football, football is the most popular sport in the world in but its still not played by a bigger number than actually play, especially to the level required, especially in the most specialised position.
I reckon the number of registered semi pro and above goalkeepers who qualify to play for Liechtenstein (or any other of the real international minnows) is that much into double figures, if that, which is hardly surprising from a place with a population slightly bigger than Abingdon.
The biggest surprise is not that these minnows lose regularly but they don't ship ten plus goals to England, Germany, France, Spain etc all of the time given the huge disparity in player numbers.
holdsteady
Well-known member
Being bored I looked up Liechtenstein football on Wikipedia, they don't have their own league system with just 7 teams in the country who all play in Swiss league system, with the biggest FC Vaduz playing in the second division which is the bottom pro level in Switzerland, with other clubs in the 4th tier, one in the 5th tier and two in each of the of the 6th and 7th tier, these all being regionalised and semi pro/amateur . Vaduz have a lot of non eligible players playing for them, although more eligible players play abroad now. Still a tiny pool of goalkeepers he is competing against.
ECYellow
Well-known member
Benji Buchel, as well as all of the other players that have aided promotion from the Conference, League 2 and League 1 should be held in very high regard by all at our football club.
I think he was a limited keeper, but he is still a promotion winner. For that, he deserves respect on his name from our fan base.
What a team that was. Best team in league 2…
Emilio
Well-known member
Yes, I did consider factoring that in, but far trickier to quantify. As you say, that does shorten the odds quite significantly. Maybe not double-figures, but certainly in the very low hundreds.
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holdsteady
Well-known member
Those who are play football at all at any level in goal at an adult age and who qualify and want to play for Liechtenstein isn't in the hundreds, they don't have that many teams.
How many football teams are there in Abingdon of any level? Thats the sort of size we are talking about. I doubt there are a hundred people who live in Abingdon who play in goal for any sort of organised team.
Emilio
Well-known member
Yes, I just edited that to read "If" as opposed to "Maybe" before seeing you had responded. Have edited it back, for continuity's sake.
My original calculations were merely as a "eligible", as if it were a military service situation. In terms of the people who want to actually compete for that position, and who realistically stand a chance, that really is minimal.
Common Villager
Well-known member
Oh I agree. That team is probably my favourite Oxford team in my time supporting the club (started going late 90s/early 00s).
I'd warmly applaud both Slocombe and Buchel if they were invited back as a special guest. Nonetheless, neither were very good (at least during their time with us).
Emilio
Well-known member
No lack of respect to either Benji nor Slocombe. That season was fantastic, and they both played an equal share of league matches to gain promotion (presumably one pipped the other at full appearances once you factor in cup matches, unless that was also exactly 50/50). Everyone's contribution should be applauded, no matter how small, seeing as we only secured promotion on the final day.
However, I do think, comparatively to the quality we had in other positions, the lack of a solid number 1 demonstrates that that was maybe the least solid slot. Then again, it's not often you have 2 keepers that can slot in interchangeably without causing serious concern or upset to the back line
Carlislehotdog
Active member
I remember Buchel getting bullied horribly away at Wimbledon in 2016, many shouts of "dodgy keeper" from the home crowd. Once they levelled up I was just waiting for us to lose the game. Then step up Jordan Bowery to win it for us out of nowhere. One of a few turning points in the run in that I properly thought "wait a minute, this might actually happen."
MarkG
Well-known member
IIRC, Slocombe was originally first choice in 2015/16, then didn't we play Buchel for a cup game and he did so well that we couldn't drop him?
holdsteady
Well-known member
I think we win that league with a solid GK, neither were at a level with the rest of the team.
Big Ron
Well-known member
I honestly don't remember - did they make the difference to the extent that we didn't take the title? I don't remember loads of howlers or mistakes, just the thought we could probably do better.
holdsteady
Well-known member
Its hard to tell, but alongside a few howlers that cost us a couple of points from both I don't think either pulled off the sort of saves that gain you points. i am not expecting Cummings like saves regularly, he is on a different level to where we were then, but odd one that gets you something. Maybe we wouldn't have won the league, so it doesn't really matter but with a better goalie, say Eastwood signing a season earlier, we don't go into the last game of the season needing anything.
unification
Well-known member
His first appearance for us was the 2-0 EFL Trophy win against Swindon. Slocombe was first choice until the 1-5 win against Stevenage where he was responsible for their goal. Buchel was then the benefiary of that by having a couple of cup games in a row, impressed enough to stay in goal and played until we next lost a game to Wycombe (a run of 10 matches or so). MApp then played Slocombe as first choice until he was again at fault for a goal in a home draw against Mansfield in early February after which Buchel kept net for the rest of the season.
Neither were spectacular but neither awful either. I think it's easy to view the GK position that season as a bit of a weak link when you consider the stellar talent playing in that team some of which went on to play in the PL, Europe, internationally and in the top flights across Europe - Roofe, Lundstram, Kenny, Baldock and O'Dowda. Wright, Mullins, Dunkley, Maguire, Ryan Taylor, Hylton and Skarz were all so solid. Most would have been in the shadow of those.
We would have had to have gained 13 more points to match Northampton and I don't think you can attribute that many dropped points to Slocombe and Buchel specifically. If we had better home form (defeats to Barnet, Luton and Accrington come to mind), I reckon we may have got a bit closer. Our away form was outrageous - we only lost two matches away and had six matches where we scored more than four on travels across all comps.
Wilder's Northampton weren't anywhere near as interesting as we were but they were metronomically consistent. They didn't lose a match after 19th December including winning 10 in a row.
2015–16 Northampton Town F.C. season - Wikipedia
Really freaky form. They also had Ryan Clarke, Alfie Potter, Chris Hackett and Danny Rose all play for them at some point that season. Ricky Holmes scored 11 goals and they had Dominic Calvert-Lewin in for the first half of it.
