It’s fair to say Kelle Roos has come in for quiet a bit of criticism because more often than not he punches the crosses rather than catches them. This is seen as a weakness on his part, a lack of confidence. Could there be an alternative reason? Could it be that punching the ball (providing good distance is achieved) is less risky that catching? A spilled catch will most likely lead to a goal, whereas a punch is easier to execute and less risky if it goes wrong. Just a thought, controversial I know....

@McPie I don't think your view is controversial (or was that a touch of sarcasm?). I can understand the criticism of Kelle Roos (the Count) In my opinion I think he's a very poor Goalkeeper and doesn't instill Confidence in the Defenders in front of him. He seems to just stay on his line and his movement is slow, he should come out and catch crosses and only punch the ball when he's under pressure. If a Keeper is confident in his own ability, it very rare he'll spill the ball, and if that happens defenders should be there to clear the ball away from any Danger. Hopefully the Club will sign another keeper on Monday, but Don't Hold Your Breath.

The Kelle Roos AI overview on Google describes Roos like this.

"Kelle Roos is an experienced, physical goalkeeper known for being a dominant presence in goal & comfortable playing out from the back, with attributes that make him a strong shot-stopper & a capable ball-playing goalkeeper. While his exact type of goalkeeper is a blend of modern & traditional qualities, he is often characterized by his experience, commanding stature, & ability to contribute to build-up play from defense".

So did Notts make a mistake with their research?

Catching wins you possession which I'd have thought we'd want. Lots of positives at the moment: 7 pts from 3 games, MP back to his best, L2's top scorer, Jatta not gone. Unfortunately every analysis site rates Roos the worst performing keeper in the division so far and he has a terrible saves to goals ratio. If he keeps getting picked then not sure what data the committee are looking at.

So much for AI. What a load of b.....s. !!!!!! He is polar opposite of their description!!!

As Didzy said, Football is a Simple Game, which needs To Be Seen With The Naked Eye. So if a member of the Recruitment team had gone and watched Roos in Action, Instead of Relying on Data then all his Faults, would have been there to see but then Again He was a Free Agent so would have cost the Club Nothing and that's what the Brothers are looking For Cheapness or No Cost at all.

No sarcasm intended @Wheelbarrow repair man, just a genuine thought. But there has been some good replies to the conundrum, so it's good to get a rounded out view. That's the beauty of forums like this!

DoF had plenty of time to source a new keeper. On the face of it, it was a panic signing. Following the pre season in Germany, Max Boruc was a much better keeper

I had a little look to see if he'd injured his shoulder or something that might make his proneness to giving a good ol' fist.

But no.

I don't really feel a lack of confidence, although it's hard to gauge because you only look at what a keeper's doing for a very very small portion of a game.

I think he's a great shot stopper, but overall, I think he's quite bad and had a fortunate career. If you've not overcome a glearing shortcoming by 33, then it's not gonna be taught out of you at League 2 by Steve Collis (no shade on Steve).

If it came to a PL GK on loan or a new forward before the window closes, then it's keeper all day. Teams have seen the data and the highlights to know that they can cross the ball deep for 90 mins to probs get something out of us.

6 hours ago, Robbie said:

The Kelle Roos AI overview on Google describes Roos like this.

"Kelle Roos is an experienced, physical goalkeeper known for being a dominant presence in goal & comfortable playing out from the back, with attributes that make him a strong shot-stopper & a capable ball-playing goalkeeper. While his exact type of goalkeeper is a blend of modern & traditional qualities, he is often characterized by his experience, commanding stature, & ability to contribute to build-up play from defense".

So did Notts make a mistake with their research?

Slightly OT, but I hate the Google AI assistant. It's like having a half-wit providing an unsolicited opinion on all my Google searches.

I'm sure our scouts will have watched him (surely we're not signing players on agents' recommendations?), but the new keeper doesn't inspire confidence at all. Maybe @McPie is also thinking about his failed punch late on against Tranmere. There's nothing wrong with punching the ball, Kasper Schmeichel was partial to it too, but when you do it you have to get some proper distance on it. Roos' "clearance" didn't even leave the penalty area and could quite easily have led to a goal.

@DangerousSausage , Kasper Schmeichel now there's a Proper Keeper, miles better than the current Notts number 1. A guy who could command his area, who'd race off his Goal line to narrow the angle against an attacking Forward, a leader who would , Shout and Encourage his Defenders.

@Wheelbarrow repair man Kasper was just like having an extra outfield player. He was a big reason how we achieved promotion that year.

@Robbie but at a probable unsustainable salary cost, that put the whole club at risk of financial collapse

@Piethagoram In hindsight yes, but no-one knew it at the time when he was first signed.

I heard both Kasper and Sven turned down their Large Payment Package otherwise Notts would have Gone Under. The Club were Conned by a First Class Conn Artist Russell King who had also Conned Banks Royalty and North Korea's Supreme Leader. He also secured a Trillion Dollars worth of a Country's Mineral Rights.

I don’t mean this in a harsh way, because I’m sure Kelle Roos is a decent bloke who gives it his all. But I can’t help feeling nervous when he’s in goal. Sometimes it looks like he’s not fully focused on the ball, and his reactions are slow and heavy.

His choices between punching or catching the ball seem all over the place. There’s no clear pattern, and it makes me uneasy. It feels like he’s not sure what to do, especially when the pressure’s on.

One moment that sticks with me is when he punched the ball straight to a Tranmere player. Thankfully, the lad couldn’t keep his shot down and sent it over the bar. But it was a real let-off, and it made me wonder if Roos had lost his composure.

Then there was that strange moment with the Tranmere keeper. I don’t know what he was thinking, but it had my heart racing. It’s not the sort of thing you expect from someone who’s meant to be calm and experienced.

I’m not trying to slate him, because he does pull off some decent saves. But overall, I don’t feel reassured when he’s between the sticks. If a keeper with experience can’t get his positioning right, it’s hard to see how it’s going to improve.

Honestly, I’m not sure he’s any better than Aidan Stone. At least with Stone, you knew what you’re getting. With Roos, it’s a bit of a gamble every time.

I suppose whatever the reason Roos punches instead of catching is, teams we play will have done their homework. League two teams don’t need an excuse to bombard our box with crosses! Time will tell if this is going to be a problem.

Kelle Roos needs to sharpen up. Teams will see him as a weak spot. He reacts slowly and doesn’t always go down when the ball comes in. It’s worrying. He can make good saves, which shows he has ability, but something isn’t right. He needs to take control of his area and get his positioning sorted. With his experience, some of the goals conceded should have been stopped.

I think in an ideal world a keeper coming out and catching the ball in a very crowded box is what you want, but I’ve no issue if the keeper punches the ball away effectively. It’s when keepers flap at the ball because they aren’t really committed to coming for crosses, like they are caught in two minds whether to try and catch it or punch it and end up doing neither. Roos does have a tendency to stay on his line too I think sometimes he needs to be a tad braver with his starting position, even if it's just 2 or 3 steps further forward.

I did feel surprised that the high claims/dealing with crosses stat wasn’t something we prioritised when we replaced Bass. He was the best in the league, by a data perspective, far for coming and claiming crosses. It’s still very early and who knows maybe 3 months down the line having worked with Steve Collis he could well look a lot more solid and commanding but on early showing for me he’s not as good as Bass.

Good goalkeepers are confident in nature; they lead and react to every kick of the ball.

The comparison between Alex Bass and Kelle Roos is not comparable; Bass was everything you wanted in a keeper and was very polished in all the attributes that made him so solid for us.

Kelle Roos struggles somewhat for us because of the direct nature of League Two football, where time on the ball is hard-pressed and the flow of games can be quite unpredictable. In League One, he would have more time to respond to attacks, as teams tend to give you more time on the ball. I think this is why he largely did better at Tranmere Rovers, as he made some very important saves.

The goal we conceded defensively; the team should have done better, but I believe Roos wasn't in the best position to save the shot. He left so much space to his right and didn't try to narrow it. This said, it did happen very quickly, and we have already seen that Roos is quite slow at responding.

Watching him warm up, I felt like he had shown signs of improvement, and during the warm-up they were working on areas I would say he was weak.

I think some of it is that he's just not as confident as he would make himself appear, while being used to a slower pace and having defenders throw themselves in the way of threats. Yet, there are a lot of aspects that make me uneasy; I don't have a lot of faith in him saving chances, and none of this is personal. I hope he calms down and starts to stamp his mark on the defence.

I think if he were a lot more vocal, the defence might cut out some of the chances sooner, and therefore he wouldn't have to do as much. If I compared him to other keepers at this level, he's better in most aspects, but not quite in the areas we need. We need a constant shouter, someone who is quick to react and has the ability to deal with threats that are in the air with confidence. This doesn't mean he won't win us over once settled, but I would imagine we would start seeing this now if that were the case.

On 31/08/2025 at 11:10, McPie said:

more often than not he punches the crosses rather than catches them

Unfortunately, that's the modern day goalkeeping. Keepers much rather punch or parry the ball away rather than catching it these days.

Mark Schwarzer has mentioned it on a number of occasions that when he's watched a game he's noticed a keeper has palmed it away or punched it clear when it could have easily been claimed.

Apparently, that's what is being taught to them whether it be from the coaching side of things or personal preference. More saves for the cameras as they'd say rather than being safe and catching it. It might not be either one of them, he could genuinely be a goalkeeper that struggles in certain situations to claim the ball and attempts the safety option of getting it gone by punching it away.

When I played, I'd get a talking to (it was more than that) by my manager if I used my feet to save the ball or palmed it away when it could have been caught.

Sometimes, you have to also look at how the defence has allowed the situation to arise. If there has been an attack where the defence hasn't covered themselves in glory and left the goalkeeper stranded as to what to do, it doesn't fill the confidence of a goalkeeper which can lead to them being more cautious about coming for the ball, reacting to attacks or even general goalkeeping abilities that never normally evaded them.