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.

Just coming off the Crewe match having watched the first goal back I’m really struggling to see why he ends up on the floor. The ball bounces in the middle of the goal area about three yard outs, if he just stands his ground it’s an easy catch. He was really uncomfortable with all the long-throw ins too, if he was a young keeper you’d think with time he’d get better but I can’t see Kelle Roos suddenly coming through a crowd to claim the ball.

Last season I remember Bass putting in a number of man of the match worthy performances, he was so much more comfortable dealing with crosses and undoubtedly saved us a lot of points… So far under Roos we’ve not had that, if anything it’s been the opposite, I’d say we’ve probably lost points because of him.

Maybe we should’ve gone for James Belshaw if the options were slim, he would’ve jumped at the chance to join us and so far according to the stats (from fotmob) he has prevented 4.07 goals for Harrogate, Roos is on -0.78 for us…

He misread the corner and tried to come out to punch it away, but realised that his commitment was too early and questions have to be asked of the defence as to why nobody was at the back post. Why everyone followed the movement of the Crewe players, without reflecting on the height of the ball or where it was heading. The cross itself, it was perfectly placed in front of goal, and re-bounced quite high to an open space where Crewe exploited very well, for me there were too many Notts players just watching on in a position in front of the ball as it came in goal wards.

Defensively, Notts needs to get in front of the attacking players and behind the ball.

This said, I have felt like Roos has been improving, and he does seem adequate for this level, but we need to defend his weaknesses better. Crewe took a corner, where Roos perfectly collected the ball, and he intercepted a cross very calmly where he distributed the ball providing Notts a chance to counter.

Alex Bass would have reacted differently, and there's no doubt we would be better off with him, but it's time to start avoiding Roos's weaknesses and defensively better protecting the goal. We don't win as individuals, but as a team. Conceding goals is just the same.

1 hour ago, TheSkipper said:

He misread the corner and tried to come out to punch it away, but realised that his commitment was too early and questions have to be asked of the defence as to why nobody was at the back post. Why everyone followed the movement of the Crewe players, without reflecting on the height of the ball or where it was heading. The cross itself, it was perfectly placed in front of goal, and re-bounced quite high to an open space where Crewe exploited very well, for me there were too many Notts players just watching on in a position in front of the ball as it came in goal wards.

Defensively, Notts needs to get in front of the attacking players and behind the ball.

This said, I have felt like Roos has been improving, and he does seem adequate for this level, but we need to defend his weaknesses better. Crewe took a corner, where Roos perfectly collected the ball, and he intercepted a cross very calmly where he distributed the ball providing Notts a chance to counter.

Alex Bass would have reacted differently, and there's no doubt we would be better off with him, but it's time to start avoiding Roos's weaknesses and defensively better protecting the goal. We don't win as individuals, but as a team. Conceding goals is just the same.

Good comments.

Yes, I thought the defenders defending the 6-yard box were more culpable for the 1st goal. Even Jatta at the near post.

Also that Roos has been improving. I don't have a problem with him but I know it's important for a goalie's presence to spread confidence in front of him. I don't think we have that and that will be a problem even if Roos maintains an OK level.

We have a bigger problem than GK IMO and that's indifferent play from the inside-forward No. 10 positions. Nobody has made one of those shirts their own and we can't build a promotion challenge if that doesn't happen.

the worrying thing is how often roos makes a mistake or a poor decision, his position is very important and these things can cost us. i am not sure he would have been able to save crewes first effort even if he was stood up, he was left unprotected and it would have been a very quick thing for him to react too. he cant be blamed for not saving the penalty, that is just unfair but i dont see him as being all that dependable when it comes to them. i know some did not think sam slocombe could save them but i think he would before roos.

we need to protect him a little better but he does need to reduce the amount of mistakes that happens, it looked like he had and i hope it was just an off game.