Is time up for John Ruddy?

John Ruddy has well and truly been relegated to Norwich’s second choice goalkeeper as of late. He gets the cup games and a reserved seat on the bench for every single game. Declan Rudd replaced Ruddy at Vicarage Road in early December and Alex Neil has never looked back, with Rudd having some outstanding performances in the Norwich City goal.

So, how does Ruddy get back into the team? The usual route is through the cup competitions. This presents a problem. Norwich are now out of all of them. Ruddy did manage to feature in Saturday’s game against Manchester City and conceded three times. You could criticise him for the defeat, but in truth, it’s Manchester City, arguably one of the best teams in the country, and Aguero’s goal is, well, outstanding. He even had Russell Martin playing centre back in front of him…

But then, surely, Ruddy is now simply reliant on Rudd having a howler? The way the Norwich academy product has been playing recently, he is simply undroppable. He’s kept two clean sheets in a row, and he’s certainly playing a lot better than Ruddy was at the start of the season. Ruddy’s mistakes were notable, especially all six of those Newcastle goals and the howlers that cost Norwich against Man City and West Ham earlier in the season.

I’m now going to compare Ruddy’s situation with a similar one in American Football. Bare with, you’ll see why.

Peyton Manning. Arguably one of the best Quarterbacks to grace the National Football League was dropped by his team, the Denver Broncos, in Week 10 of the season. This was after throwing four interceptions (where the other team intercepts a pass and takes possession of it) and also broke the record for the most passing yards in NFL history. He was replaced by backup Quarterback Brock Osweiler who impressed in the role, well until Saturday.

On Saturday, Brock Osweiler had a howler. He allowed five turnovers, and the Broncos were looking like losing the number 1 seed in the Playoffs. So they sent in Peyton and won.

Now, if Declan was to do a Brock, and have a howler, would John be sent in to save the day? For all of Rudd’s good work so far, who’s to say that it’ll continue for the rest of the season? He’s still only young, and young keepers are very prone to making errors.

There’s been some talk this month of Ruddy departing the club, with Bournemouth apparently interested in signing him. Although rumours have been almost put to bed thanks to Alex Neil allowing Jake Kean to go on loan to Colchester, I still believe this would be an awful move for Norwich to make. Not only would Norwich’s goalkeeping options be lacking in almost any top flight experience, it would also strengthen a relegation rival, something Norwich simply cannot afford to do in their current situation.

And come on, this is John Ruddy. He’s being doing it for years with City. He’s been in and around the England squad for a while, even being on the reserve list for the 2014 World Cup in a year that saw us relegated to the Championship. He’s not a bad goalkeeper. It’s just that he’s been going through a bad stretch of games, he’s just lost his place in the team after a run of bad performances.

It also has to be noted that John has never really been through a period like this. For years he’s been the number one option, the only time he hasn’t been was due to injury in 2013, where Mark Bunn was given a chance in the Norwich goal. It has to be said that Bunn never did that badly in a Norwich shirt, he kept 5 clean sheets compared to Ruddy’s 6, and held his own. However, when Ruddy was ready to return from his injury, he was thrown straight into the team again, and Bunn was never really given another chance to impress.

So do I believe John Ruddy is finished at Norwich City? No. At least not for the moment. Rudd is young, he’s going to make mistakes. If Rudd starts making mistakes too often then Ruddy has got to be ready to take his place. Then, if Ruddy doesn’t perform, I think he can start clearing out his locker at Colney, and start thinking about pastures new…

I asked the question, “Was that John Ruddy’s last game for Norwich City?” on Twitter, and got a mixture of responses. Some believe that John Ruddy’s performances this season mean he has no hope of making it back into the side.

Twitter: @ReadNorwich On his performance today maybe.He’s a shadow of past seasons.He looks slow to get down & appears to have lost focus. (@canary0791)

Twitter: @ReadNorwich should have sold him to Chelsea when we had the chance. Who wants the donkey now? (@Canarysteve)

Twitter: @ReadNorwich as much of a legend as he is for us, I think his time is up (@NcfcFIFAGuy)

But some believe I asked the most stupid question imaginable, “why would that be his last game for Norwich?” they said.

Twitter: @ReadNorwich Still a chance he can. As I’ve said today, form is temporary, class is permenant. All players get dropped sometimes. Doesn’t… (@hardy356)