we need a new experienced keeper

We will not win anything anytime soon, without an older experienced keeper, one with a voice on him to organise defence in front of him, the two young lads are not up to it on a regular basis,look at Chelsea keeper last night solid as a rock

 

Disagree. Jack Walton is plenty good enough and Collins is fine as an understudy.

We have much bigger problems than the keeper imo

 

Don't think we can quite stretch to buying the Chelsea keeper!!

 

Think commentator last night said he was 39 so he could be a baby sitter lol

 

Brad Collins is not in the team because his game needs to improve in three areas. He does not dominate his goal area like he should and specifically, he does not come and collect crosses like he should. Consequently, he does not rule the goalmouth as he should. That in turn creates uncertainty in the back 3, and uncertainty gives chances away to opponents.


The second area that worries me is his sweeper keeping. The back 3 plays higher than a back four, especially when the coach wants the team to defend from the front and press. The keeper must always be on his toes in those circumstances, because he will often be our best option to clear the ball passed behind the back 3, by kicking from outside the goal area, and he can only do that if he is reading the game accurately from his position behind the back three. He does not seem to be a good reader.


The final area where he needs to improve is in his distribution. In the modern game, the goalkeeper is often involved in passing moves with his back 3 teammates. In order to do this, he must have a good first touch to control the ball, and an accurate pass to reduce the chances of giving the ball away. The defender will be moving about in order to find space, and his pass should not inconvenience the pass receiver, who will also be put under almost immediate pressure if he is. You can tell immediately that Collins is not easy with the danger of making an error, and the huge consequences that that error could have on his team’s chances of winning a game.

Jack Walton is not yet at Championship standard, but he is better than Collins in those three areas, and that is why he is our number 1. He should retain the jersey, and he will get better.

 

No we don’t.

We needed a leader at the back. We have that now.

Last night was an aberration.

And Walton is better than Collins. He’s plenty good enough for where we are right now.

 

I have a complex system of assessment covering the different criteria for each position in the team. Of course it is still bound to be subjective, but what system would not be. I do not want to bore you with it but in order to be of Championship standard, a player must score 70 point out of 100. Collins scored 60 points and Walton scored 68.

 

RR, interested to know you're thinking on this...does Ritz merit his continued regular selections?

 

Read that back to yourself

 

Just out of interest, what do you score the rest of the squad out of 100? Do we have many in the squad that hit your criteria of being Championship standard?

 

Where do you put Adam Davies. cos to be honest Walton is the better all round keeper of the 2. Imho. That is. ?

 

To be honest, I did not expect any interest in my private ramblings. I did it for my own interest. I am well aware that any arbitrary system will be subject to the same subjective bias that pure opinion generates, and I am reluctant to allow others into my private world until I have better evidence that it is actually worth sharing. I started it only this season because I wanted to try and bring some science to this arbitrary judgement of quality, but I have not even proved to myself that it has any value yet, let alone been confident enough to share my thoughts with others. Can we just leave it there until I am more confident with it.

 

is it like a top trumps type system?

 

According to my even more complicated system of ratings, Walton is fine. He scored 756/897 (you need to score at least 723.56 to make a pass grade.

I also have 104 friends.

 

What would you score Glavin, and if you say less than 100 then im sorry but your science is flawed and you need committing pal?

 

Well Walton scored 84.2 out of a possible 109.8 in my system, which makes him premier league quality on Saturdays and League 1 quality on Mondays.

After 10pm though he scores a 37.1 out of 41.9 which makes him a champions league winner.

 

I am only too aware of the faults in my system for assessing players. However, I have often thought that opinions about players are full of subjective judgements, and any discussion about the individual quality of a player is limited because there is no agreed system for doing it. It is simply based upon unsubstantiated subjective opinion. The system that I am trying to develop (it is not yet tested or trusted yet) breaks down the skill set that is required for each playing position in the team and nominates a total mark () for each skill. If the player is perfect at any particular skill (and few players will be), then he is awarded the maximum. The maximum will be different for each skill, dependent upon how important I feel that skill is as a percentage of the total. The total will in every case come to 100, and therefore, the total of the marks awarded to the player will always be a percentage figure.

Of course, all the maxima for each skill are my own, and I do not expect that many will agree with them. However, if you propose a different breakdown, the total should come to 100 so that players in all positions are marked on the same basis and their skill sets are expressed as percentages of the perfect score. It will also be argued that the marks awarded against each skill are just as subjective as the overall subjective opinion that I hoped to overcome. However, because the assessment is in more detail, so the opinion will be more evidence based.

I have decided to invite opinions on the system at an early stage so that I can take account of the different views of our fans. I have given my opinion that the player should achieve a mark of 70% in order to be classed as Championship quality. That figure will be different for each league. For many of our players, it will be a number that they are not currently achieving, but it is a number that they should aspire to achieve in future through personal improvement and increases in experience.

Fear not. I expect plenty of mickey taking. I am a big lad and will take everything thrown in my direction on the chin.

Brad Collins

 

You giving the marks is the subjective part, particularly as you wouldnt solely be focusing on one player the entire match surely? Plus, each match is against different opposition, I'd love to think that Walton would have given us a clean sheet on Wednesday but the likelihood is he would nt!