Seems as if there's every chance he will be called up to the next squad. I would be disappointed if I was to miss out on a call up to someone like Will Keane. Has anyone seen much of him? Should be playing in the Championship next season.
I don't entirely disagree - with Long, Obafemi, McGoldrick and Robinson, we have significant speed up front and that should probably be the focus of our attack. But I guess a physical presence up front will likely still be an element of our forward play, with recen calls for Murphy to come out of retirement and for call-ups for Lukas Jutkiewicz and Cillian Sheridan. So I just thought I'd note that Collins does have that physical presence (although his recent goal spree hasn't included any headers, AFAIK)
Seems as if there's every chance he will be called up to the next squad. I would be disappointed if I was to miss out on a call up to someone like Will Keane. Has anyone seen much of him? Should be playing in the Championship next season.
One thing that worries me about him is that he has consistently failed to step up in level in his career. He has no proven record above League One and his League One record has really only been proven this season. He has done a lot of flip flopping between League One and League Two, as well as a spell in the SPL. I don't think we are that shy of options.
We should start a livehead1 thread in here
Twenty-second goal of the season for Collins. Unfortunately followed it up with a red card: https://www.bbc.com/sport/football/47756687
Named in the League One team of the season after scoring his 24th of the season on Tuesday: https://www.bbc.com/sport/football/48039294. Just to give an idea of how good his scoring record is becoming, I just read that, back in January, Billy Sharp became the highest scorer in the English Leagues this century, when he got his 220th a month before his 33rd birthday. Collins, who is 28, is on 137 - if he keeps up his current scoring rate, it's entirely possible that he could catch Sharp's mark - unfortunately, to achieve that milestone, he might be better staying in League One and Two. But let's hope he can do the business in The Championship next season
Collins' goal last weekend brought him to 25 for the season, five ahead of anybody else in League One: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2018%E...ne#Top_scorers - Terry Connor was sent to watch him, so it does look like Mick sees him as an option: https://www.rte.ie/sport/soccer/2019...g-hobans-form/
After a wobble over the last couple of weeks, Luton are promoted to The Championship without kicking a ball, after both Portsmouth and Sunderland lost. So James Collins will now be at The Level Where You Can Be Picked For The Republic Of Ireland Without Fans Losing Their Rag About The Lack Of Quality Irish Players... you know... The Championship: https://www.bbc.com/sport/football/48114557. Of course this does mean that Ronan Curtis and Aiden McGeady will have to battle it out in the play-offs for the chance to go up.
Starts tonight v. Middlesbrough. Will be interesting to see how he adapts to the Championship. Boro's assistant manager might have some ideas on what to expect from him too.
Could have had a hat-trick tonight: Scored one, another disallowed for handball (a pretty blatant one, admittedly) and denied a late winner by a terrific save from Randolph - worked as well as he could with pretty limited supply for the first 70 minutes before chances started to appear for him - modus operandi appears to be late runs into the box from behind the backs of retreating defenders.
So I guess that's the first marker of the season laid down for our forwards.
Second of the season for Collins as he stakes his claim to be the extra striker behind the EPL quartet: https://www.bbc.com/sport/football/49378601 - although I think Scott Hogan is in pole position for that role in Mick's mind
We can't really argue if a striker is scoring goals in the Championship - Maguire's got one and won two penos today as well. With Long and Obafemi not playing we've a bit of a lack of depth beyond McGoldrick and Robinson.
Fourth of the season for Collins, in a defeat to QPR: https://www.bbc.com/sport/football/49617721 - on the same number of league goals as Patrick Bamford now (plus a debut international goal)
Hat-trick against Norwich in the Carabao Cup.
Also, Dowell scored for Norwich. Is he actually eligible?
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