New keeper?

[Russell]

I think Julian is a good shot stopper but very poor with crosses. He also seems physically weak and fails to show any presence where it matters in the penalty area. He may come good in a year or two but rather than have him learn and probably make costly cock-ups in league games, how about a loan keeper? Andy Marshall of Ipswich is at Millwall who aren't playing him and he's said to want a move to get first team football. He could help shore up our very leaky defence.

 

[Jimbee]

We have just bought a new keeper.

 

[Brain-dead Bee]

I tend to agree with Russell's assessment of Alan Julian at this stage in his career: excellent shot-stopper, but opponents unsettle him at set pieces and he's sometimes stuck on his line as the ball comes over 5-6 yards out.

However, apart from the home game against Plymouth, I haven't seen him cost us points (and he wasn't the only guilty party that day), so I think it would be wrong to drop him; he has the potential to become a good keeper and he won't develop much in the reserves.

Haven't seen the new keeper yet, so couldn't comment on him.

 

[City_Bee]

I think Julian is the best option we have. As already said he is a very good shot stopper but is pretty suspect at set pieces. This was shown at the Plymouth game and recently at the Port Vale game, luckily we were leading 3-1 at the time. Clubs have done their homework on him at corners and have two or three men around him to put pressure on him. This I hope is something that Stannard and the other coaches are working on in training and will hopefully lead to him being more aggressive in the penalty area.

 

[Paul O'Brien]

I personally feel that Julian is as good a shot stopper as Smithy was; is better one-on-one against breakaway forwards; and is at least as prepared to come out as PS was to crosses.

He's not great in the air, but a lot of his failures are simply from lack of experience. I reckon he's going to turn out better than PS was if he gets a run in the first team. (In fact, I believe that Ollie was even better than Paul until his injury. He was the best I've seen for many years and Julian's got the potential to be as good in the long run.)

 

[BenMoses]

Alan Julian is only 20, give him time

 

[Snappy]

Alan Julian is only 20, give him time

Exactly.

He has waited patiently on the bench behind Smithy for the past couple of seasons, and anyone can see he has great potential.

He will not develop anywhere near as well by playing in the reserves as he would playing first team football week in week out, and if anything bringing in yet another keeper ahead of him could damage his confidence a fair bit.

He may make mistakes here and there, but then what keeper doesn't? Just look at David James, and he's England's number 1 (somehow!).

Give Alan the chance he deserves, let him cement his place in the team and with the obviously excellent coaching that the keepers are getting from Jim Stannard, he will go on to equal if not better what Smithy did for us.

 

[beesbeesbarmyarmy]

Exactly.

He has waited patiently on the bench behind Smithy for the past couple of seasons, and anyone can see he has great potential.

He will not develop anywhere near as well by playing in the reserves as he would playing first team football week in week out, and if anything bringing in yet another keeper ahead of him could damage his confidence a fair bit.

He may make mistakes here and there, but then what keeper doesn't? Just look at David James, and he's England's number 1 (somehow!).

Give Alan the chance he deserves, let him cement his place in the team and with the obviously excellent coaching that the keepers are getting from Jim Stannard, he will go on to equal if not better what Smithy did for us.

Well said that man!

 

[Simon C]

He's at pretty much the same stage Paul Smith was when he first got into the team. How's he ever going to improve on his weaknesses if we drop him?

 

[The Joker]

I like Julian and want him to develop and succeed.

But I suspect Russell's point is why not get an experienced keeper in on loan until the end of the season who will help to keep us up? We can't afford to drop points through keeping errors (which Julian may or may not make).

Then next year it's back to Julian or Nelson who will have all season to develop in the first team.

 

[Pete the Bee]

Julian is rather brilliant, considering his age and lack of first team experience. Stuart Nelson will make a good understudy.

As for Andy Marshall, my girlfriend's brother is a tractor boy and holds him responsible for the rubbishy season Ipswich had after being relegated, his form was beyond atrocious. Royle got rid of him as soon as he took over, doesn't that tell you something?

 

[Jimbee]

As for Andy Marshall, my girlfriend's brother is a tractor boy and holds him responsible for the rubbishy season Ipswich had after being relegated

Is that sthe same Andy Marshall that previously played for Norwich? :suspect:

 

[Pete the Bee]

Yes. Impressive display of East Anglian football knowledge!

 

[Pete the Bee]

The Ipswich fans took to him after he crossed the border though. Was good before 2002-03, then turned mysteriously crap.

 

[Snappy]

Do we really need to be forking out more wages on a keeper we probably don't need?

Keep the faith with Alan and he will repay it with more of the brilliant performances we've already seen from him.

The defensive frailties this season are probably more down to our often absent CM than the defence or goalkeeper.

Just wait and see what effect our new signing Talbot has on our defensive record. I have a sneaky feeling it will improve and any mistakes that Alan Julian may make will not prove too important to the outcome of the season, and it will be excellent experience for him at the same time.

 

[AB]

Let Julian get his experience this season. If Talbot turns out to be half as good as the Vale and Rotherham fans say we should comfortably stay up and might have a decent chance of looking at the other end of the table next season.

 

[BenMoses]

We always have Jim Stannard and Josh Lennie

 

[Claire]

we might as well give julian time. and every player needs to develop. he is not used to playing first team football and he may be nervous about making mistakes and so is doing so. but he is a good keeper and im sure he will do well and suceed the one and only paul smith (who is playing his second reserve game for saints next week) (sorry but i just had to get that in)

 

[homerbees]

He's 20 years of age, so no point in moaning about him. He's the best we have and he is only just starting out in his career. We should stick with him, support him and im sure he will turn out to be a good keeper.

 

[saffrey]

We have Alan Julian, a NI U-20 internation, and another decent young keeper highly rated from Non-league who only seems to not have made it in the league due to bad luck (i.e. having a trial on a day with no training session), and on top of that a GK coach who's had a respectable career in lower division football and is bound to know a talented keeper or two when he sees one... I'd say things don't look so bad in that department.

Would have liked to see a bit of Viander, but he's obviously on a lot more than our young lads would be

 

[Russell]

I agree Julian could be good, I thought I said so in my original post, maybe not. "Could" is different from "IS"!! As some else said, we need experience now and Julian getting 4 stuck past him today isn't going to do anything to help his confidence. Young players need protection and nurturing, not to be thrown like lambs to a slaughter.

 

[King Bee]

It is a moot point, but I do agree with you Russell and have in fact pointed Julian's weaknesses out before. The best example I can give was when we outplayed by Rushdean at Nene Park. The reason we were so under the kosh throughout much of the match was because our defence played a lot deeper that day in a bid to protect the young keeper in goal. That put added pressure on the rest of the team which Rushden used to their advantage.

The Rushden game ended up a draw despite the home team's complete control of the match thanks to some brilliant shot stopping from Julian, nevertheless. So you can't really criticise the lad - he is potentially a very good keeper - it is only a shame he is playing in a team with limited survival experience.

 

[Claire]

how did juilan play on goal yesterday even though he let in four goals?

should we give nelson a chance?

 

[ineedtherapbee]

because of the importance of the goalkeeping position when it is time to fill it again everybody thinks the club should pop out and get a half decent one,but there isnt much cash in the coffers at ye olde brentford so we should stick with julian.

he may not be the finished article but at the end of the day he wil be somebody who wants to keep brentford up,if we get in somebody with experience for the rest of the season and we go down due to their errors or lack of dedication they would not lose much sleep over it.experience is only half the problem you need somebody who will genuinley care if brentford stay up or not.we dont really need a journeyman!!

 

[Stanley]

how did juilan play on goal yesterday even though he let in four goals?

should we give nelson a chance?

He might have done better with the first goal although from where I sat Kev was on the post and should have cleared it. As for the others I don't think you could blame him, they were top draw strikes.

He was let down by his defence.