Brisley

[Pies4u]

Freeman: First of all - violent conduct is violent conduct, whether they actually head butted is actually irrelevant. Whilst it may be considered harsh, they should both have walked but the ref took the sensible option given the state of the game & season.

As for Colin - if he had not been rooted to his line we may well have avoided Brisley's lame attempt at a headed clearance for the first & a goalkeeper spectating whilst the ball rolls past him into the net is never a good thing! There may well have been a deflection or a shot may be well placed but Collin gives himself problems by being flat footed & slow to get down to anything on the ground, which hinders his chances. I'd say he could done better with the first 3 goals tbh. He is not alone, of course, others frequently get themselves similarly wrongly positioned & are far too easily beaten - I guess that was my point. I like Collin as a keeper and think he has been harshly maligned in some quarters but he has some basic deficiencies, which given his experience is still a concern.

[Freeman25]

Freeman: First of all - violent conduct is violent conduct, whether they actually head butted is actually irrelevant. Whilst it may be considered harsh, they should both have walked but the ref took the sensible option given the state of the game & season.

As for Colin - if he had not been rooted to his line we may well have avoided Brisley's lame attempt at a headed clearance for the first & a goalkeeper spectating whilst the ball rolls past him into the net is never a good thing! There may well have been a deflection or a shot may be well placed but Collin gives himself problems by being flat footed & slow to get down to anything on the ground, which hinders his chances. I'd say he could done better with the first 3 goals tbh. He is not alone, of course, others frequently get themselves similarly wrongly positioned & are far too easily beaten - I guess that was my point. I like Collin as a keeper and think he has been harshly maligned in some quarters but he has some basic deficiencies, which given his experience is still a concern.

If players got sent off every time they squared up to an opponent for a bit of handbags we'd have red cards every game, if we're being ultra soft then McNulty "raised his hands" to Brisley and should have been sent off... Come on now, the scenes after from all the other players running over were more violent than what Brisley and McNulty did.

Watch the first goal again, Collin has to push a player away from him to create space and is positioned well initially, he can't legislate for two defenders not being able to stop a player pulling off an overhead kick just as he can't come out for every corner otherwise corners would be pointless, when do you ever see a keeper claim every single corner all game? He controls his area far better than many other keepers we've had for quite some time, I think it's our old fan base that don't appreciate him punching the ball as often as he does affecting their view on how well he actually deal with a lot of crosses into the box.

The second goal was a ball played across his area on the floor and smashed first time into the corner, if a keeper saves a "cut back" they usually replay it over and over and talk about how fantastic the save was, the third was also a good finish into the corner, if you expect a keeper at this level to be saving all three of those I think you'll be waiting a good while as I don't think many premiership keepers "would have done better" on any of them, the defence in front of him were to blame on all three.

[Pies4u]

I'm afraid it is nothing to with "age" - unless you equate age with knowledge & exoerience. An understanding of the laws of the game, some appreciation of the instructions given to referees & a grasp of what profesional goalkeepers, irrespective of the level they play at, should be capable of are all the criteria required. Collin is a decent enough goalkeeper but as flat footed as Hell when the ball is crossed into the box and his immobility causes us problems at times.

One if his biggest flaws is his inability to command his area, I have no idea why you would believe he commands his area - it is the one critical thing he consistently fails to do! He makes spectacular saves and is solid if the ball is above ground level.

[Freeman25]

I'm afraid it is nothing to with "age" - unless you equate age with knowledge & exoerience. An understanding of the laws of the game, some appreciation of the instructions given to referees & a grasp of what profesional goalkeepers, irrespective of the level they play at, should be capable of are all the criteria required. Collin is a decent enough goalkeeper but as flat footed as Hell when the ball is crossed into the box and his immobility causes us problems at times.

One if his biggest flaws is his inability to command his area, I have no idea why you would believe he commands his area - it is the one critical thing he consistently fails to do! He makes spectacular saves and is solid if the ball is above ground level.

I disagree with you completely and so does Kevin Nolan and Mark Crossley, who are vastly more experienced and qualified to give an opinion on whether he commands his area.

Not that your opinion isn't worthy, I hate when that argument is used but I definitely disagree with you. You can fault his kicking under pressure without a doubt, it was getting a bit awkward with how openly critical Charlie Slater was being of his kicking at Grimsby and I think sometimes he's slow getting down to low shots but he comes off his line to punch or catch the ball very often during games, Ross Fitzsimons in comparison was like a statue when he played.

I genuinely don't see where the complaints come from but I'm regularly amazed when old fans around me in the Pavis stand groan when he punches a ball away or when he gets clattered and wins a free kick, he can't be expected to claim every cross as it just doesn't work like that, he has to be able to rely on his defence to deal with the ones he can't come off his line for or save any shots that come from the cross.

It's similar to the argument of "he needs to throw it out more"... We haven't had a keeper since Kasper throw the ball out overarm like Collin does pretty much at all, let alone as often as he does it. I'm a big fan of it and you don't tend to see if very often anymore so I take note when it happens, Stuart Nelson might have done it once...

[jackal2]

I disagree with you completely and so does Kevin Nolan and Mark Crossley, who are vastly more experienced and qualified to give an opinion on whether he commands his area.

Not that your opinion isn't worthy, I hate when that argument is used but I definitely disagree with you. You can fault his kicking under pressure without a doubt, it was getting a bit awkward with how openly critical Charlie Slater was being of his kicking at Grimsby and I think sometimes he's slow getting down to low shots but he comes off his line to punch or catch the ball very often during games, Ross Fitzsimons in comparison was like a statue when he played.

I genuinely don't see where the complaints come from but I'm regularly amazed when old fans around me in the Pavis stand groan when he punches a ball away or when he gets clattered and wins a free kick, he can't be expected to claim every cross as it just doesn't work like that, he has to be able to rely on his defence to deal with the ones he can't come off his line for or save any shots that come from the cross.

It's similar to the argument of "he needs to throw it out more"... We haven't had a keeper since Kasper throw the ball out overarm like Collin does pretty much at all, let alone as often as he does it. I'm a big fan of it and you don't tend to see if very often anymore so I take note when it happens, Stuart Nelson might have done it once...

Collin's a strange case, because I can see where both Pies4u and Freeman 25 are coming from.

For me, he always looks a half second slow in making proactive decisions, but in the final analysis he does still usually do what he needs to do. So it's not the case that he makes lots of mistakes, so much as the frequent feeling that he's a hair's breadth from doing so!

One thing Notts County have not lacked over the years is good goalkeepers. Schmeichel is Denmark's No1, Bialkowski is on the fringe of the Poland squad, Darren Ward was a Welsh international, Roy Carroll remained a Northern Irish international when he played for us, and Steve Cherry didn't play for England but could have done in his heyday if selection wasn't based on height and reputation of club. Plus we also had Scotland's Andy Goram for one game!

So, perhaps we've been treated to an exceptionally high standard of goalkeeper for a club of our size, and that's why Collin is judged against very high standards when he's actually an experienced and competent 'keeper perfectly good enough for this level. Kevin Pilkington was the same.

I liked what I saw of Ross Fitzsimons too. After looking slightly nervous claiming the ball in his first couple of games he settled in really nicely and would have made it difficult for Collin to win his place back if he hadn't randomly kicked an opponent up the backside. He's very good for a back-up option, and could probably be first choice at several other clubs at League Two level.

Certainly, I don't think the goalkeeping position is a concern so far as squad strengthening in the summer. Few if any clubs in our league have better options and we need to be spending the wage budget in other priority areas.

[Airborn Pie]

I disagree with you completely and so does Kevin Nolan and Mark Crossley, who are vastly more experienced and qualified to give an opinion on whether he commands his area.

Not that your opinion isn't worthy, I hate when that argument is used but I definitely disagree with you. You can fault his kicking under pressure without a doubt, it was getting a bit awkward with how openly critical Charlie Slater was being of his kicking at Grimsby and I think sometimes he's slow getting down to low shots but he comes off his line to punch or catch the ball very often during games, Ross Fitzsimons in comparison was like a statue when he played.

I genuinely don't see where the complaints come from but I'm regularly amazed when old fans around me in the Pavis stand groan when he punches a ball away or when he gets clattered and wins a free kick, he can't be expected to claim every cross as it just doesn't work like that, he has to be able to rely on his defence to deal with the ones he can't come off his line for or save any shots that come from the cross.

It's similar to the argument of "he needs to throw it out more"... We haven't had a keeper since Kasper throw the ball out overarm like Collin does pretty much at all, let alone as often as he does it. I'm a big fan of it and you don't tend to see if very often anymore so I take note when it happens, Stuart Nelson might have done it once...

It's the ball, most keepers don't catch it these days. I was shocked a few years ago, as a man of a certain age, I had a knockabout with a premeir league ball, compared to what I palyed with they're beach balls. I was genuinely shocked, I was knocking it 30 yards to feet in bare feet and talk about swerve!