Why shattered confidence is harming Beckford and Almunia... plus my big mouth strikes again

By Robbie Savage

Published 22:59 30/09/10

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Two years ago, at my lowest ebb on loan at Brighton, I played against Pele.

Well, he was listed in the programme as Jermaine Beckford, but from his swagger on the pitch that Saturday afternoon you'd have thought that he was the legendary Brazilian.

I'm not backward when it comes to being forward but I've never come across such a chirpy character on the field.

Jermaine talked the talk and that day he walked the walk too. He was excellent in a 3-1 win for Leeds and I thought then that he was a player who one day a Premier League team would take a punt on.

Everton did so in the summer but so far it hasn't worked out for Beckford. He's yet to score in the Premier League, has been guilty of a couple of glaring misses and has only a goal in a League Cup rout of Huddersfield to his name.

It might be that Everton's short passing game doesn't suit his defence-splitting style of trying to latch on to a ball over the top, as he did to such devastating effect when Leeds beat Manchester United at Old Trafford. It might be that Jermaine is struggling personally to adjust to a league in which you can only get one chance per game and you are expected to stick it away against quality defenders and keepers.

But whatever is going wrong, it is bound to be affecting that confidence which was brimming over three years ago. And Beckford will be asking himself if, after terrorising the third tier, he really has what it takes to play at this level.

The only way we will know that for sure is if he gets a decent run of 10 to 15 games in which he can come to terms with his new surroundings and hopefully start sticking them away again.

But with Everton struggling, how long can David Moyes afford to keep the faith?

I think fans and pundits constantly underestimate just how important confidence is in football. For me, it's a huge factor.

And I have to sympathise with Manuel Almunia of Arsenal after he struggled again in the Gunners' shock defeat to West Brom last Saturday.

He just looks shot and it is almost unfair to put a player like that out.

It may be that Almunia is simply not good enough, but you have to put some of the blame at Arsene Wenger's door.

His botched pursuit of Mark Schwarzer in the summer undermined No.1 Almunia - even though I believe he needed to be replaced - and shook his fragile confidence still further.

And Arsenal STILL need a number one goalkeeper.

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My big mouth has got me into plenty of trouble down the years and it did so again in the tunnel on Tuesday night.

I think Gordon Strachan is a great manager who will get it right at Boro, but in the immediate aftermath of our 3-1 victory I made a throwaway comment to our fitness man about how we dominated so much.

Cue a tap on the shoulder from a raging member of the Middlesbrough coach staff and a full and frank exchange of views occurred, which ended with him telling me "you've stolen a living and you're s**t on the radio".

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