National League opening day fixtures - 21/08

[appletablepenny]

First opening day win since 2013

 

[BornUnderTheElmslie]

Lost 1-2. Woking the better side first half and took a 2-0 lead at the break. But all Stones in the 2nd 45 mins. Woking barely got out of their half as we pinned them in and moved the ball really well. Josh Umerah got us back into it and we had more than enough chances to equalise, however a combination of good defending and being wasteful meant Woking took the 3 points. Alot of positives for the Stones, this is a very different side to last season with far more quality. We'll still be in a dogfight to stay up given our resources, but will be far more competitive.

 

[Stocky]

Dagenham better than us in all areas.

Even I'm not convinced that was part of the project from us today.

 

[AJS]

Bugger. We always seem to lose at home to Maidenhead. I’d say Maidenhead edged it chances wise but we were the miles better footballing team.

As predicted, we missed an experienced presence at the back today. Long ball up to Blissett and pick up the second ball killed us.

On a positive note, some of our build up play was a joy to watch. Just lacking the killer pass or when to pull the trigger.

Youngster Jay Benn gave a good account of himself with an assist and bar a couple of dodgy moments look well assured. Billy Waters ran Maidenhead ragged and was unlucky not to have more than 1 goal to his name.

As ShayWay said, we’ll win more than we lose playing like that. Just need to be a bit more ruthless in front of goal and cut out the silly errors at the back.

 

[doveranddover]

Looks to have been a typical NL Saturday

 

[East Bank Shot]

Disappointed but not surprised. Thought first half was very even, cagey but we more than held our own. Second half Chesterfield went into next gear and deservedly got the win, thought they looked decent and will get stronger as the season goes on. I worry today will be story of our season, a bit of huff and puff but without ever really worrying our opposition. Still, good to be back at a game and good vocal support from both sets of fans.

 

[slaphead]

Chesterfield won me £105 with Sir Danny Rowe scoring. He’ll hit a shit load this season

He won’t if he plays like he did today, only touched ball about 3 times and two of those were taking the ball out of Tshimanga’s hand and then taking the pen. Really looked like couldn’t be arsed today, poor value for £10 grand a week and a 30 year contract. Tshimanga looks the real deal though, head and shoulders better than Rowe.

 

[OneDecentLester]

Disappointed but not surprised. Thought first half was very even, cagey but we more than held our own. Second half Chesterfield went into next gear and deservedly got the win, thought they looked decent and will get stronger as the season goes on. I worry today will be story of our season, a bit of huff and puff but without ever really worrying our opposition. Still, good to be back at a game and good vocal support from both sets of fans.

Cheers for that little summary, I couldn’t make it today and always good to hear an opposition fans view of the game. I’ve just seen a video of the disallowed goal and he looks in line so bit harsh for it to have been chalked off but we got there in the end I guess

Any stand out players for us in your opinion? I’ve heard Clarke made a big difference for us when he came on in the 2nd half?

Also, what was that all about with us having 4 yellows in the first 40 mins? Deserved? Or another card happy ref…

 

[Urban]

Couldn’t make the game today so hard to say how worried I am after that. Notts are always a team where if they have Rodrigues and Roberts on form then they would beat most in the division above. Very impressive coach + those two on fire + strong players in all positions (Brindley for example is more than capable in L2, as is Wooton) means a recipe for bad news for anyone.

This is a brand new side on a smaller budget up against a much better side overall. Not too worried by the shoreline if it wasn’t a case of tactical ineptness from Kewell.

Hard fixtures to come from us (hardest bunch of opening fixtures in the division perhaps?) so hopefully we can ride out a dodgy start and push on from there.

 

[slaphead]

Cheers for that little summary, I couldn’t make it today and always good to hear an opposition fans view of the game. I’ve just seen a video of the disallowed goal and he looks in line so bit harsh for it to have been chalked off but we got there in the end I guess

Any stand out players for us in your opinion?

Also, what was that all about with us having 4 yellows in the first 40 mins? Deserved? Or another card happy ref…

Stand outs for you were Tshimanga and the Grealish lookie likey when he came on. The yellows were deserved, Rowe clearly told your lot to kick Kinsella which they did. One thing I’ll say, if that’s your first choice back four, better teams than us will score plenty against you, I’ve seen milk turn quicker than the CB’s, and the RB King looked like he’d been found in Weatherspoons on the way down, he had the piss taken all afternoon by an academy lad who making his debut in men’s football.

 

[Fyldefan]

He won’t if he plays like he did today, only touched ball about 3 times and two of those were taking the ball out of Tshimanga’s hand and then taking the pen. Really looked like couldn’t be arsed today, poor value for £10 grand a week and a 30 year contract. Tshimanga looks the real deal though, head and shoulders better than Rowe.

People have said exactly that for the past 10 years. He’s guaranteed goals

 

[slaphead]

People have said exactly that for the past 10 years. He’s guaranteed goals

He had one shot from a free kick 50 yards out. Other than that he spent the rest of the game sat in front of the CBs. Total waste of talent if that’s what he was told to do.

 

[EnglishRed]

People have said exactly that for the past 10 years. He’s guaranteed goals

Thats because he's a ball hog.

 

[Fyldefan]

Thats because he's a ball hog.

Ha ha ha correct. He’s also lazy and some games you don’t even know he’s there but as I say he’s a goal machine

 

[Coalite]

For any Chesterfield fans that were planning on coming down on the day and buying tickets at the gate - we’ve announced this morning that there will be no away tickets available on the gate and you need to buy your tickets online by 6pm tonight.

In terms of tomorrow, I’m expecting it to be fairly cagey first half then Chesterfield to overrun us in the second and beat us 2-0.

Oooooh, get you!

Good result. Should I feel bad, feeling good that some other teams dropped points on the first game of the season?

 

[rudebwoyben]

Couldn’t make the game today so hard to say how worried I am after that. Notts are always a team where if they have Rodrigues and Roberts on form then they would beat most in the division above. Very impressive coach + those two on fire + strong players in all positions (Brindley for example is more than capable in L2, as is Wooton) means a recipe for bad news for anyone.

This is a brand new side on a smaller budget up against a much better side overall. Not too worried by the shoreline if it wasn’t a case of tactical ineptness from Kewell.

Hard fixtures to come from us (hardest bunch of opening fixtures in the division perhaps?) so hopefully we can ride out a dodgy start and push on from there.

I think it was a mixture of the two. We set up in a diamond 4-4-2 formation, which gave their wing-backs licence to maraud up the flanks and create overloads. Moreover, Brundle and Payne are the world‘s slowest central midfield pairing and coupled with Harry Taylor not being fully on his game, it led to us having a very predestination midfield which neither battled, nor protected the defence and nor created anything. County‘s movement was very good and Rodrigues‘ quality showed in how he took his goals but we made it too easy for them.

 

[OneDecentLester]

Stand outs for you were Tshimanga and the Grealish lookie likey when he came on. The yellows were deserved, Rowe clearly told your lot to kick Kinsella which they did. One thing I’ll say, if that’s your first choice back four, better teams than us will score plenty against you, I’ve seen milk turn quicker than the CB’s, and the RB King looked like he’d been found in Weatherspoons on the way down, he had the piss taken all afternoon by an academy lad who making his debut in men’s football.

Thanks for that.

I’d heard that Grimes (CB with the pony tail) had a very good game and our commentary team were raving about him, but yeah Maguire and Gunning definitely aren’t the quickest. Can’t have been too bad considering they kept a clean sheet though so something to build on with it only being the first game of the season.

King is noted more for his attacking than his defending. I have a sneaky feeling in the big games, Carline will be preferred especially away from home… he’s only just coming back from injury really so we’re slowly reintroducing him back in

 

[Leewilson]

I think it was a mixture of the two. We set up in a diamond 4-4-2 formation, which gave their wing-backs licence to maraud up the flanks and create overloads. Moreover, Brundle and Payne are the world‘s slowest central midfield pairing and coupled with Harry Taylor not being fully on his game, it led to us having a very predestination midfield which neither battled, nor protected the defence and nor created anything. County‘s movement was very good and Rodrigues‘ quality showed in how he took his goals but we made it too easy for them.

This is the problem with Brundle. His movement is awful. Play him as a 10 and he'll score a lot of goals Lampard style. In a midfield two, you're just asking for trouble. At times last season, we played Dean Rance and Brundle together. No wonder we were shocking for 2/3s of the season.

 

[rudebwoyben]

This is the problem with Brundle. His movement is awful. Play him as a 10 and he'll score a lot of goals Lampard style. In a midfield two, you're just asking for trouble. At times last season, we played Dean Rance and Brundle together. No wonder we were shocking for 2/3s of the season.

Swapping Brundle’s and Harry Taylor’s positions wouldn’t have resolved all of our issues today, but it would have solved a lot of them. We already have a couple of no.10s in the squad in the shape of Tasdemir and Fonguck.

 

[springerbfc]

First half I thought we battled well and created one decent chance but Notts were clearly the better side.

Second half, once the first goal went in it was totally one sided, helped by what seemed to be a mistake from the referee in sending off Doherty for what seemed a yellow card offence.

Notts looked a very good side but unless we can add some pace to our side, and be a bit more pro active in making tactical changes, we are going to struggle against most teams.

 

[jacobncfc]

It was a definite red - I know it’s only a yellow if you make a genuine attempt for the ball while conceding a penalty, but that was just a hack to bring Roberts down miles after the ball had gone.

 

[springerbfc]

If that is true, what an idiotic decision from Doherty.

 

[Hollywood Red]

No real surprises in the results today. It's going to be a long season and strength of squads will be key.
4 of our first 6 games are away so dont expect us at the top in the first month .
I expect us to sign 2 or 3players this week to strengthen our team

 

[East Bank Shot]

Thanks for that.

I’d heard that Grimes (CB with the pony tail) had a very good game and our commentary team were raving about him, but yeah Maguire and Gunning definitely aren’t the quickest. Can’t have been too bad considering they kept a clean sheet though so something to build on with it only being the first game of the season.

King is noted more for his attacking than his defending. I have a sneaky feeling in the big games, Carline will be preferred especially away from home… he’s only just coming back from injury really so we’re slowly reintroducing him back in

Yeah we didn’t really trouble you defensively but better attackers will cause your defence problems - agree that your pony-tail defender was very good, and whoever came on for you on the right near the start of the second half changed the game.

Danny Rowe is a funny one - I thought he was one of the worst players on the park today and contributed absolutely nothing. Can’t see him scoring too many this season.

Think you mentioned the yellow cards - ref was good but a bit card happy (another ref may have let one or two go), to be honest they were all yellow card challenges so you can’t have any complaints. Rowe obviously told your lot to be physical. No idea on the offside but first thoughts were that he was off but difficult to tell.

 

[Urban]

I think it was a mixture of the two. We set up in a diamond 4-4-2 formation, which gave their wing-backs licence to maraud up the flanks and create overloads. Moreover, Brundle and Payne are the world‘s slowest central midfield pairing and coupled with Harry Taylor not being fully on his game, it led to us having a very predestination midfield which neither battled, nor protected the defence and nor created anything. County‘s movement was very good and Rodrigues‘ quality showed in how he took his goals but we made it too easy for them.

I mean it’s well known Notts attack using width and full backs + you know Roberts is going to start wide and look to cut in (although I’m presuming this was the case today). Not setting up to match this accordingly is very inept. That’s a basic that should have come from common knowledge of football at this level, let alone some scouting.

A narrow diamond against that team is incredibly short sighted.

 

[springerbfc]

Not changing formation during the game was more of a concern…

 

[EnglishRed]

No real surprises in the results today. It's going to be a long season and strength of squads will be key.
4 of our first 6 games are away so dont expect us at the top in the first month .
I expect us to sign 2 or 3players this week to strengthen our team

Getting our tough away games out of the way first. Will look better on the documentary if we initially struggle.

 

[Urban]

Not changing formation during the game was more of a concern…

Well here’s hoping it’s a learning point for him and the ‘arrogance’ that was reported he had by fans of other sides doesn’t leave him humble enough to learn from this.

Even without the additions we all know we need, we should be a team to be better than that result - no matter whether Notts are capable of it with the individuals they have or not.

 

[Who Needs Mourinho]

Dagenham better than us in all areas.

Even I'm not convinced that was part of the project from us today.

Every worry we discussed a few weeks back came to fruition and more.

Square pegs in round holes plus no pace, power, passing ability, mobility and with no Quigley a couple of dwarfs up top.

Rusk is absolutely cluelessly tactically and him and Wilson can take the blame for our terrible recruitment (and re-signing of substandard players) which is good players on paper but not what we actually needed in terms of attributes in that position.

 

[Leewilson]

Swapping Brundle’s and Harry Taylor’s positions wouldn’t have resolved all of our issues today, but it would have solved a lot of them. We already have a couple of no.10s in the squad in the shape of Tasdemir and Fonguck.

It’s going to be a struggle watching Brundle then for you guys if there’s no intention to move him further forward.