Flavs or Collis?

[Southend_Lady]

A message that you play your most capable team, in a nutshell Flahavan is different class to Collis, always will be and should be put straight back in the team as soon as fit!

Yes but isnt a capable team a team that wins and performs? Which is exaclty what happened at the weekend.....
Its like the England team for example, all this talk about playing the big names but the team without the majority of the big names was the one that performed.

 

[Firestorm]

I love the comment about short memories directed at people comparing Flavs with Roycie and Sammy. However, I do agree , unless you can give match by match stats comparing Flavs against Harry Threadgold you should leave this debate alone !!

IMHO FWIW (dontcha just love that !) Flavs has been the 5th best keeper I have seen in a Southend Shirt , behind (in no particular order) Merv, Sammy, Roycie and Burridge (I know it was only a loan) . My memory might be struggling a bit but I don't think Bellotti was far off either.

as for the Collis / Flavs thing I would not change a winning team, 1) because its just that and 2) because competition for places is vital and if people walk back into the side then the compeetition doesn't exist

 

[Jam_Man]

Richards coming in and us playing two pants teams after a run of games against sides who will probably finish top-half have both contributed massively to that stat though, Matt. You can't put it all down to Collis.
As far as I'm concerned though Collis has the jersey and that's the way that things should stay for not. It's the same story with Gower - I think he's the best playert in the squad but Tommy Black has his short for now and Gower should have to bide his time and then make the most of his opportunity when it comes around. Gower & Flahavan will both get more chances in the first team - they're too good and too established here not to, but neither should be guaranteed a place in the side the same as Maher & Barrett (the other two 'undroppables') shouldn't. That's the whole point of having a squad, surely?

I agree, Collis has done ok but he hasnt solved our problems on his own and to be honest other than what may have hapened at Oldham he hasnt made any difference at all so far in the two games Ive seen. He doesnt get any credit for the Gillingham game, he had nothing to do and Flahavan would most certainly have kept a clean sheet in that game. They hardly had a shot and the corners they had Collis didnt get near.

Prior to that was Daggers, when he wasnt convincing at all. However by all accounts he was solid at Oldham so thats promising.

For me Collis has done well enough to keep his place, so far he hasnt proven he is as good as, or better than Flahavan, yet by the same account he hasnt shown himself to be lesser either.

I personally do feel its ok when it comes to a key player in the side for the player to walk back into the side, for example David Seaman used to walk back in to the team no matter how well his replacement did and Im sure Frank Lampard wont be looking at too long on the bench when he is back. The difference here is we dont know the difference in ability of our two keepers, if there is one.

It would be unfair to drop Collis now, he has been extremely patient and not grumbled and when asked to play has done what has been asked of him. If he doesnt get a run in the side now then he never will.

 

[Suffolk Blue]

So we're all agreed then, Tilly has to take a lot of things into account before choosing the keeper for the next match:
1) Does he think Collis is a better keeper than Flavs?
2) Can he afford to demonstrate to Collis that he'll pick a fit Flavs over him any time?
3) Does he break up a winning team anyway unless he has to?
4) What does that poll on Shrimperzone say he should do :)

I believe the answers are:
1) No, but it's close
2) No. All players brought in should be given a chance unless their performance was well short of the player they've replaced.
3) No. Not unless you believe that making a change because of a particular aspect of the opponent's play demands it.... or you're Rafa Benitez.
4) No. Unless it just happens to coincide with what you was going to do anyway.

 

[Lord Zoltan]

I'm going to stick with Collis. However against Gillingham and Oldham he wasn't really given the opportunity to show what he is capable of, or whether he should keep his place. Maybe, due to his height, he gives the back four more confidence and therefore the defensive unit is stronger [particularly with Richard's in the side].
As I've said before, we should keep a winning side, but maybe revisit this topic once we have played more testing teams.