Thursday 22nd & Saturday 24th August

[jacobncfc]

That's pretty much my take on it tbh . How long did it take at the start of the process to implement the Notts style of play ?

It was the fourth season that it fully clicked and we had the unbelievable season under Williams, but it was maybe easier for us to do in the NL because we always had the biggest crowds and one of the biggest budgets, so were play-off material even in the building stage.

Also took it being the third manager to hit on the perfect balance for it. I think we might do the same thing again at this level - have another year or two of looking brilliant on a day but frustrating over a season having gone through year one of working out who we had that is actually good enough for this level, but eventually find the right combination of manager and players that absolutely flies for a year because the foundations are all there already.

 

[joethegill]

The thing with Crowley is that he's a completely different player to even 3 years ago. We had him on trial the summer before our first season in League 1 and he impressed, but not enough to earn a deal (well, enough to earn a deal, but not the one his agent decided they wanted after terms were initially agreed). By October, he still didn't have a club and we suddenly had space in the squad due to a long term injury to one of our loaness.

He came in, looked fantastic on the ball, then would do sod all with it before running into trouble or simply passing it to the opposition. When he left a few months later no-one was really disappointed. As a lad on our forum has noted - he seems to have finally found a home (and arguably a level) at Notts that will suit him perfectly. If he leaves, then it's unlikely going to do him any good as a player. His agent won't care about that though as long as he gets paid.

We had him on trial the same pre-season, he didn't do much to impress us at that time. That was with us as a League One club though. You're right about him suiting Notts, he absolutely does and going elsewhere would be a risk. He'd probably suit MK as well to be fair, they like knocking it about with no purpose and he'd revel in that, although his goal output would almost certainly be lower. At least Notts try to score after 25 passes rather than 50.

I didn't watch much of the game last night thanks to a stroppy toddler, so only saw the last 10/15 where nothing happened. Although the woman in the studio did say there'd been a great game at Meadow Road last night so I missed out on that one, wherever that is.

 

[hellogregory]

MK Dons away tomorrow.

Really big game for us. After a much needed win over barrow, can we now do something we haven’t done in best part of 2 years? Back up a win with another win.

MK should be there or thereabouts despite their slow start, so this will be a tough ask for a team like us. I’d definitely take a point, but realistically think the task will be too much for us at this stage of our recovery.

MK Dons 3-0 Carlisle United

 

[valefan16]

Caught bits of both Notts games and looked decent going forward, that said for their dominance over 2 games they did concede 3 goals so that would be a concern. Losing Crowley or Jones via injury or sale and that could make things more difficult and if that open against better sides it might be less fun for them.

They will probably batter a few teams like last night and take the odd battering but fun to watch either way I guess!

Probably a nervy couple of weeks until the window closes though as imagine a few League One managers will have watched last night and have been impressed with Crowley.

 

[The_Viking_Magpie]

You couldn't not be impressed by Crowley, a rare but obvious 10/10 performance.

What a signing, what a replacement for Rodrigues. If we sell him, it's more ££££, if we keep him he's likely to be back to back team of the year player. If he gets injured, well that's sods law and can happen to anyone as we know with Palmer last season.

 

[Son of Cod]

He was very good but 10/10 is going slight OTT.

 

[Stocky]

It was genuinely up there as being close to 10/10. Not sure what he could have done more. Passed it great, drove the team on, dangerous in the final third, great crosses, couple of goals. got stuck in, pressed well, played forward when it needed to be played forward, kept it tidy when it needed to be tidy. Proved what a top Basketball player he could be. Excellent performance.

 

[joethegill]

Looks like our injury issues are starting to ease a little bit which is positive. Tim Dieng and Aaron Rowe should be back in the squad for this weekend, and Ethan Coleman and Bradley Dack are both in training (although realistically they're only a week or so into their respective pre-seasons so it'll be a few weeks still). Nevitt is probably a week away, but Andrews and Masterson are probably both still out for a little longer.

Possible squad for tomorrow:

Turner
Hutton - Ehmer - Ogie - Clark
McKenzie - Little
Nolan - Williams - Rowe
Wakeling​

Morris, Dieng, Hawkins, Lapslie, Gbode, Clarke, Wyllie.

Still a little undercooked, so with the start we've had and the travel involved so far I would be absolutely fine with a point from Fleetwood. Approx 450 Gills travelling it would seem.

 

[Son of Cod]

It was genuinely up there as being close to 10/10. Not sure what he could have done more. Passed it great, drove the team on, dangerous in the final third, great crosses, couple of goals. got stuck in, pressed well, played forward when it needed to be played forward, kept it tidy when it needed to be tidy. Proved what a top Basketball player he could be. Excellent performance.

10/10 you can't be spanking shots into stand and putting balls in that are easily collected by the keeper which he did on several occasions. He should have only had a single goal and no assists too by the letter of the law. 9.4 on Fotmob, which rounds down to 9/10.

 

[The_Viking_Magpie]

So 10/10 was slightly OTT but rounding down you get to 9/10. Gotcha

Forget letter of the law, he scored, he assisted, he went close, he orchestrated play unchallenged and he basically ran the show. Them the facts.

Maybe Fotmob factored in the opposition when rating him at 9.4.

 

[Son of Cod]

So 10/10 was slightly OTT but rounding down you get to 9/10. Gotcha

Yep, that's how ratings generally work. 10 is slightly better than 9, but 9 is slightly better than 8, etc.

Forget letter of the law

The ref certainly did last night!

 

[TheEndIsNigh]

I think Grimsby will be fine, not pushing anywhere near the top, but mid-table fine. They created a few chances with some nice stuff through midfield, we’re just a horrible match up for them style wise with much better players in attacking areas if you make it a straight end-to-end shoot out.

I’m genuinely not having a pop cos the Grimsby lads on here are great, but I didn’t see anything that would create any optimism for the season ahead. Yeah they countered on us a few times but it mostly went nowhere, there was nothing in midfield where we won the vast majority of second balls, the defence didn’t get anywhere near our best players and they seemed to tire long before the end.

You could say Artell messed his tactics up against us, but as Roy Keane might say ‘that’s his job’. Curtis Thompson is obviously still a very good player at this level, but not sure his return is a season changer. Still early days though.

 

[RavenBish]

I don’t think Grimsby looked awful, I think the game was won in midfield where they were horribly mismatched (I thought Green and McEachran were both utterly honking) but obviously they’ve got injuries there and looking to strengthen too (although one could argue we’re in a similar position with Robbo off injured and Palmer on the bench…)

The left back got ran ragged by Jones but I kind of think almost every full back will this season to some extent. Vernam and Barrington looked good going forward and thought Rodgers and McJannet were decent considering the amount they had to deal with in their box last night

 

[Son of Cod]

I’m genuinely not having a pop cos the Grimsby lads on here are great, but I didn’t see anything that would create any optimism for the season ahead. Yeah they countered on us a few times but it mostly went nowhere, there was nothing in midfield where we won the vast majority of second balls, the defence didn’t get anywhere near our best players and they seemed to tire long before the end.

You could say Artell messed his tactics up against us, but as Roy Keane might say ‘that’s his job’. Curtis Thompson is obviously still a very good player at this level, but not sure his return is a season changer. Still early days though.

We were also missing Danny Rose and Doug Tharme, arguably two of our three best players there along with Thompson and Davies who went off on what was it, 10 minutes? I'm not gonna get hung up on one bad performance but there are definitely some red flags appearing.

Thompson was a bit of a season changer for us last season to be fair and we're definitely missing him, but as mentioned further up the issue with him is keeping him fit.

 

[GTFCfish]

I don’t think Grimsby looked awful, I think the game was won in midfield where they were horribly mismatched (I thought Green and McEachran were both utterly honking) but obviously they’ve got injuries there and looking to strengthen too (although one could argue we’re in a similar position with Robbo off injured and Palmer on the bench…)

The left back got ran ragged by Jones but I kind of think almost every full back will this season to some extent. Vernam and Barrington looked good going forward and thought Rodgers and McJannet were decent considering the amount they had to deal with in their box last night

I agree with all of that, walking back to the car our thoughts were that we won’t come up against many teams as good going forward as that and against most average teams in this league we will pick up plenty of points playing similar to how we did last night, I though we at times looked pretty menacing going forward and should’ve definitely scored a couple more ourselves but we just simply came up against a much better side who outclassed us, but nothing to worry unduly about IMO.

 

[The_Viking_Magpie]

Yep, that's how ratings generally work. 10 is slightly better than 9, but 9 is slightly better than 8, etc.

The ref certainly did last night!

Yep that was well worth pointing out. How dare anyone go a whole point higher.

And the more accurate 9.4 tells anyone who didn't watch that Crowley took the piss.

 

[Less than a mile (WAFC)]

A few observations:

-Notts look excellent going forward, as good as you see at this level. Their pressing and workrate has been unbelievable at times.
- Where has this Crowley come from? There seemed to be no fanfare about him but he looks like a Championship player
- Having said that, why are Grimsby not putting a man on him? He's got all the time in the world to face the goal and run at the defence.
- Why the fuck do Notts do that play out from the back thing? They've nearly been caught out half a dozen times! Asking for trouble.
- Grimsby look OK in spells but their defending as a unit looks awful.
-Notts look vulnerable to balls in the air

Notts have been like that for years with the playing out the back. They pick managers based on their style of play and to be fair in the main, keeping that style has done well for them as well as showing loyalty to managers.

 

[Less than a mile (WAFC)]

Grimsby soft as shite as under Artell and Notts were Notts, you can't play them in an open game like that unless you've got better attacking players than them. They blitz teams at home when the opposition plays into their hands, but surely that's the first time it's clicked like that under Williamson. Would be a surprise to see either manager last the season tbh.

Best strategy against Notts is the Dagenham and Redbridge 11 behind the ball.

 

[DearneValleyRover]

So Richard Wood is out for a while and we have the partnership of Olowu and Anderson again, hopefully they’ve worked on it since last season

 

[Optipez]

That's pretty much my take on it tbh . How long did it take at the start of the process to implement the Notts style of play ?

Under Like Williamson it was instant but even with Burchnall we played possession football. William's first friendly was against Basford, local team and he was absolutely balling them out for not getting forward enough, wing backs not pushing up and utterly insistent on playing out from the back and all players had to cope with getting the ball while closely marked.
We have only signed players who are comfortable with the ball. Now we're up a level we've had to upgrade players but the style has been consistent for four seasons under three managers.
Besides worrying about losing our best players I'm actually worried that someone will poach our head of recruitment as he's had an unbelievably good hit rate, I'd say around 80-90% .

 

[The_Viking_Magpie]

Besides worrying about losing our best players I'm actually worried that someone will poach our head of recruitment as he's had an unbelievably good hit rate, I'd say around 80-90% .

Amen. Yet a very vocal section of our older fanbase unbelievably choose to criticise the recruitment even though it's light years better than previous regimes/approaches.

Their memories must be shot! It's the only explanation. Thankfully it's only a few.

 

[Optipez]

I don’t think Grimsby looked awful, I think the game was won in midfield where they were horribly mismatched (I thought Green and McEachran were both utterly honking) but obviously they’ve got injuries there and looking to strengthen too (although one could argue we’re in a similar position with Robbo off injured and Palmer on the bench…)

The left back got ran ragged by Jones but I kind of think almost every full back will this season to some extent. Vernam and Barrington looked good going forward and thought Rodgers and McJannet were decent considering the amount they had to deal with in their box last night

Our midfield is looking unbelievably strong. Palmer, Robertson, Edwards, Hinchy, Grant and Crowley. They're all good. No idea why Dons fans thought Grant was rubbish, he's got huge potential.

 

[kieran_vale]

Hopefully will have what sounds like will be more players available tomorrow pending fitness tests for Hall and Dipepa. Quite why we risked our first choice defenders in the pizza trophy I'm not really sure but hopefully Hall is ok. So far we've played three at the back which has gone against what we've done in pre-season. Would guess tomorrow assuming Hall is fit the team might be this:-

Ripley
Debrah Heneghan Hall
Sang Garrity Croasdale Hart
Chislett Curtis
Paton

Subs - Amos, John, Ojo, Byers, Benicio, Tolaj, Stockley

 

[Boz]

Rovers v Saddlers

Difficult game. I'll admit to being surprised Walsall are top at this early stage, as expected Swindon away to be a tougher fixture than it turned out. Matt and Gordon dangerous up front, with the former scoring a couple against us since he picked a return to the midlands over pastures new when Forest Green released him.

Rovers still missing a few with injury and real doubts about whether either Wood or Bradshaw will be fit enough to start at left-back. Turnbull, the best of the out of position options to fill in there, has only just returned from injury himself, while the other choices are either Merrie, midfielder short on confidence or Solomon. young attacker lacking experience, but was used as left-back/wing-back in pre-season. . Unlikely to see another clean sheet. so need things to gel at the attacking end of the park. Davison, off the mark in the Vans cup and Patrick are certainly capable, while Saunders' pace can frighten defenders into mistakes. Hard game to call without seeing how we line up at the back.

 

[DippyDon]

Our midfield is looking unbelievably strong. Palmer, Robertson, Edwards, Hinchy, Grant and Crowley. They're all good. No idea why Dons fans thought Grant was rubbish, he's got huge potential.

Because he never consistently performed any better than 'meh' for us.

 

[Who Needs Mourinho]

Khouri isn't really a LB, so I'm not worried about him personally. Like you say, won't be the last time Jones runs riot this season. You're right though, the concerning thing is that Artell didn't set us up to take him or Crowley out the match.

I think we'll be fine this season and Artell will make it through. Completely agree with everything else you've said there though. It's worth pointing out that Notts have played this way for ages and have incrementally tweaked their side over several windows with a much bigger budget than we've had, this is Artell's first season trying this after making wholesale changes with a lower end budget and changing from a Hurst squad drilled in totally the opposite style of play. All that was painfully obvious last night, but Artell definitely has time to try and get it right.

It's pretty much exactly the same colour as the lighter tone on your shirt this seaaon mate. Each to their own though, I think it's a great kit. With you on some of the training wear though!

I remember Grimsby fans being quietly confident of a top seven finish before last season started and now you’re painting yourself as huge underdogs against a side that finished 14th last season and lost their top goalscorer.

Will Notts have a bigger budget than you?

Probably but not by a huge amount. And they’ve consistently lost some of their best players each summer for a few years now.

 

[The_Viking_Magpie]

Interesting that Grimsby escaped Non League a season prior to Notts but have gone into reverse ever since that fantastic money generating cup run. Our owners have a clear plan and distinct approach and the whole playing squad and head coach appointed is aligned to that. If Grimsby's owner are copying us and going down the same route (good move) starting with the Artell appointment then it will likely take a few seasons to get to where we are now and a little patience.

As mentioned by WNM biggest issue is it's success results in head coaches and better players leaving £££££

I'd suspect we would have a bigger budget but anybody's guess to what degree.

I wouldn't be shocked if both Artell and Hurst were both relieved of their duties before the end of the season. If that happens I hope they don't do a 180 on the next manager as we and many discover that gets you nowhere.

 

[Gi Dalor]

I think the next few games will give us a better gauge of where we are especially Bradford and Bromley who have more what you would call seasoned lower /non league players , if we can't implement the style against teams like that and get bullied and beaten badly we could be in for a long hard season imo , as we haven't got players that can go into the trenches really ; a very lightweight team.

I don't really get your thinking as they're 2 very different sides. I'm excited / worried to see what happens this afternoon. If you think you get bullied easily, than you'll struggle against Bromley. My gut feeling is that Bromley are more likely to beat you than us. They'll stop you playing how you want. Wimbledon tried to pass the ball around last Saturday, but didn't really get anywhere with it.
We signed a contract with the Devil at some point in the last few years that we always have to give struggling teams a reprieve.
Andy Cook and Michael Cheek do have some similarities, but only in the sense they're big centre halves. The main commonality is that they're just better than most of the other big L2 Centre halves, canny and as you say, seasoned, but I think they have different skills sets. (Obviously I've seen a lot more of Cook. Maybe Cheek is as good in the air as Cook, but I just haven't seen it yet).
I certainly would like to see us bullying teams, starting with Bromley this afternoon.

 

[GTFCfish]

Will Notts have a bigger budget than you?

Tough question to answer that it took me at least 0.01 seconds to come up with the answer of - Yes.

 

[OneDecentLester]

I don't really get your thinking as they're 2 very different sides. I'm excited / worried to see what happens this afternoon. If you think you get bullied easily, than you'll struggle against Bromley. My gut feeling is that Bromley are more likely to beat you than us. They'll stop you playing how you want. Wimbledon tried to pass the ball around last Saturday, but didn't really get anywhere with it.
We signed a contract with the Devil at some point in the last few years that we always have to give struggling teams a reprieve.
Andy Cook and Michael Cheek do have some similarities, but only in the sense they're big centre halves. The main commonality is that they're just better than most of the other big L2 Centre halves, canny and as you say, seasoned, but I think they have different skills sets. (Obviously I've seen a lot more of Cook. Maybe Cheek is as good in the air as Cook, but I just haven't seen it yet).
I certainly would like to see us bullying teams, starting with Bromley this afternoon.

Could do with you humbling that twat Woodman today. After their good start I’ve listened to a few of his interviews recently and his arrogance has gone to new levels (didn’t know that was possible). ‘We’ll be the fittest team in this league and run all over sides’ just one of his quotes. How he’s worked that out after 2 games I’m not sure.

If they do beat you, get ready for the full squad & back room staff photo in changing room afterwards like they’ve just won FA cup.