Fitzsimons

[DelroyFacey22]

Anyone that doesn't think Collin dominates his area isn't watching us play imo. He's done it all season and it's an absolute god send with a shaky defence, when he stayed on his line last season you saw how inept we were defensively, this season he has taken a lot of pressure off the defence by coming off his line to punch (which fans seem to hate for some reason) or catch the ball.

His kicking isn't the best at times but that isn't the priority you want in your goalkeeper, it's a bonus.

[tarquinbeech]

Anyone that doesn't think Collin dominates his area isn't watching us play imo. He's done it all season and it's an absolute god send with a shaky defence, when he stayed on his line last season you saw how inept we were defensively, this season he has taken a lot of pressure off the defence by coming off his line to punch (which fans seem to hate for some reason) or catch the ball.

His kicking isn't the best at times but that isn't the priority you want in your goalkeeper, it's a bonus.

Agree with Del and a few others....I've watched every game so far on my laptop and Collin has been superb at coming for the high-ball.......Fitz made some cracking saves but looked dodgy claiming it in the air (plus I'm still 50/50 as to whether he should have come off his line to punch the ball away that led to Carlisle's goal)......both keepers are pretty good at kicking it high-n-hard towards our two big traffic-cones!!

On balance, both keepers have their merits, but claiming the ball in the air is a must IMO

[LaxtonLad]

Anyone that doesn't think Collin dominates his area isn't watching us play imo. He's done it all season and it's an absolute god send with a shaky defence, when he stayed on his line last season you saw how inept we were defensively, this season he has taken a lot of pressure off the defence by coming off his line to punch (which fans seem to hate for some reason) or catch the ball.

His kicking isn't the best at times but that isn't the priority you want in your goalkeeper, it's a bonus.

I agree with you on all points on this, DF. He has improved all round this year apart from his slowness in distribution. It is possible that he is playing to instruction though as we have no-one speedy in attack to feed off the big lads up front, nor do we have midfielders with enough vision or accuracy to pass forward and attack from defence.

Update. We will have one such midfielder in January.

[DelroyFacey22]

He is often told to slow the play down by Nolan and Crossley and ignore the fans moans when he is slow to distribute the ball and is usually greeted by ironic cheers by the same numpty fans that seem to think he's doing it on purpose when ever he does throw the ball out.

[macstop]

He is often told to slow the play down by Nolan and Crossley and ignore the fans moans when he is slow to distribute the ball and is usually greeted by ironic cheers by the same numpty fans that seem to think he's doing it on purpose when ever he does throw the ball out.

Spot on Del, he does what the management tells him, this also applies to some out field players as well, some folk never seen to get this side of the game.

[i961pie]

Spot on Del, he does what the management tells him, this also applies to some out field players as well, some folk never seen to get this side of the game.

Nolan often turns towards the Pavis stand and shakes his head in disbelief at some of the fans that are moaning.

[Pies4u]

Collin has been excellent so far this season, zapart from his distribution/kicking, which is pretty awful tbh.

He is assured, solid at all the basics and rarely drops a clanger of any sort of seriousness. He certainly dominates the box, no doubt about that at all.

Quite why he doesn't roll or throw the ball out more frequently, as opposed to just during the last quarter of a game, is a strange one. If it is Nolan's tactics to just boot the ball anywhere, usually to an opponent. or out of play for a throw in, then it is the tactics that are as equally flawed as Collin's inaccurate kicking.

However capable Fitzsimons is, and I've not seen him in a Notts shirt, there is no pressing cause to cast Collin aside IMO.

[LaxtonLad]

Nolan often turns towards the Pavis stand and shakes his head in disbelief at some of the fans that are moaning.

How do you know why he's shaking his head? Could it not be that Collin isn't getting the ball out quickly enough? For whichever reason, the supporters can and will have their say.

[DelroyFacey22]

I think Nolan's argument would be that he "wants us to play in the right areas" so he's not a fan of the defenders passing the ball around between themselves, he'd rather get it into their half and then we pass it around.

There is the argument that how often do you see a goal that starts from the back after 20 passes? When it happens you normally see it because it's noteworthy and rare so why not just get in the oppositions half as soon as possible and not risk the chance of Haydn Hollis trying to turn someone on the half way line and losing the ball?

There was a funny moment in the Pavis stand at the last home game where Duffy had came over for instructions before we had a freekick, we were winning 1-0 and someone shouted "Come on Duffy, speed em up a bit" or something similar, the look on Duffy's face as he turned back towards the fan was like someone had just shot his dog

[Freeman25]

How do you know why he's shaking his head? Could it not be that Collin isn't getting the ball out quickly enough? For whichever reason, the supporters can and will have their say.

It's definitely a 'shake of dissaproval' with the fans, someone shouted something stupid against Barnet when we were 2-0 up and he looked back surprised, shook his head then saw me laughing and shaking my head at it and he laughed back. He's also spoke in post game interviews about 'moans from the crowd' before and players having to ignore them.