w / e 23rd November 2024

[クレイグ]

Impressed with Notts as usual. Always play good football.

 

[Spireitelass97]

It sounds daft at this point in the season, but given our poor home form - 19th worst in the League - we need a win here.

Last 2 games we have been terrible, look disjointed, with some poor decisions from Cook (I still love you Paul) - such as leaving subs far too late against Harrogate.

Naylor at CB has to end - he’s not a centre half but does a decent job, he is one of the best defensive midfielders in the division though, which is where we are losing the battle at the minute.

A couple players warrant dropping - Dobra being one who needs a game or two sat on the bench IMO.

Boot
Tanton Williams Grimes Gordon
Naylor Oldaker
Markanday Mandeville Colclough
Grigg

Agree re Dobra. His frustration has led him back to his old ways of taking the selfish route and throwing himself to floor for no reason. Was quite embarrassed for him at Harrogate at times.

Williams Grimes partnership doesn’t fill me with confidence but at least they’re both cbs. Williams deserves a chance & with Naylor in front of them they’ll have more protection.

 

[JJ1990]

Watching Grimsby v Colchester as it's 2 of the teams Crewe face in December and it's a surprisingly decent watch given the conditions and tricky pitch. Both sides had some decent chances and it probably should be 1-1 at this point. Curious to see if either side can kick on and win it in the 2nd half.

 

[Spireitelass97]

eeesh, that defence concedes 2 easy. Fritten me to death if we play that. Dunkley has been training for a bit now and Araujo came on last game so must be available, so I'd play those 2 at CB and I hope Thompson is back. I think I'd try a bit of familiarity in the attacking 3, because something isn't working there the last few weeks.


Thompson
Tanton Dunkley Araujo Gordon
Naylor Oldaker
Mandeville Dobra Colclough
Madden

You’ve probably seen since you posted that Dunkley’s out til Jan

 

[GTFCfish]

2 games off. Any more off do we reckon?

I wish ours was off it’s fucking shit.

 

[Spireitelass97]

Would defeat put a bit of pressure on Cook?

Not from anyone with any sense

 

[GTFCfish]

Watching Grimsby v Colchester as it's 2 of the teams Crewe face in December and it's a surprisingly decent watch given the conditions and tricky pitch.

My lad text me 5 minutes ago and said it’s absolutely dreadful.

 

[kieran_vale]

I do think Newport are asking for trouble with those short goalkicks. Not the only team who do it but it did lead to them turning it over in a dangerous area and a half chance for Notts. Can see that biting them before the end of this.

 

[kieran_vale]

The second half has been ridiculously one sided though nothing to show on the scoresheet yet. One of those if Notts get one then they’ll probably go on and get three.

 

[Gladders]

My lad text me 5 minutes ago and said it’s absolutely dreadful.

Its not been that bad, conditions not helping, few chances but its not a dreadful watch. Barrington and Ainley slow at making decisions have cost us some better chances.

 

[JJ1990]

Nobody else has announced a pitch inspection, (as of 11am) so that might be it.

Nope, Salford calling theirs off with just over an hour go. Thankfully because it's Salford v Bromley, not too many will be affected, but feel for those from London that travelled up.

 

[PaulHaddock]

I have never known a team have such a contrast between home and away performances, with the home performances being so shit!

 

[GTFCfish]

And there we go what a shock.

 

[AlanPep]

Yep, called off less than 90 minutes before kick off. Unbelievable and in this day and age unacceptable. Please see my previous post

 

[RavenBish]

This is inexcusable, Newport are so bad. I don’t care how much we’ve dominated, we have to be beating a team this terrible

 

[GTFCfish]

Thankfully being an early kick off meant I couldn’t go as i’d promised my Daughter I’d take her out for dinner thinking I could go to the match afterwards, only this morning did I realise it was half 12 kick off so couldn’t go.
RESULT!!

 

[Gladders]

I must be watching a diff game, but don't think we were that bad, couple poor decisions in the final third, and conceding a shocking goal again, leaving a man unmarked on the edge of the box is unforgivable. 2 mins before that Colchester were very luck not to have conceded an own goal from some good play by us.

Didn't think I would be saying this at the start of the season but we missed Green today!

 

[1862]

This is inexcusable, Newport are so bad. I don’t care how much we’ve dominated, we have to be beating a team this terrible

Yeah really frustrating. Reminded me a lot of that Yeovil game a couple of years ago where we just didn't make the breakthrough.

 

[Bottega Don]

Seen Grimsby play 3 times this season and they've lost all three, only scored once too and it was when they were 4-0 down.

Pretty poor game but the conditions definitely played a big part. Thought Tovide for Colchester looked pretty good

 

[JJ1990]

I must be watching a diff game, but don't think we were that bad, couple poor decisions in the final third, and conceding a shocking goal again, leaving a man unmarked on the edge of the box is unforgivable. 2 mins before that Colchester were very luck not to have conceded an own goal from some good play by us.

Didn't think I would be saying this at the start of the season but we missed Green today!

Can't comment on your other games this season, but there was some football in you today. Issue is, you don't seem to have any standout features to your play. You aren't big and physical like Colchester are, you aren't quick, you aren't particularly technical, I don't see a lot of goals and creativity in you. Clearly got a solid defence and can do to teams what Colchester did to you today in terms of grinding out results. Need some quality upfront in January I think. Callum Ainley playing on the wing in 2024 is criminal, Artell tried it dozens of times at Crewe and it never worked.

Thought the conditions and pitch made it a tough game, though to be fair I struggle to remember a time when the Blundell Park pitch wasn't an uneven, bobbly mess.

 

[PaulHaddock]

I must be watching a diff game, but don't think we were that bad, couple poor decisions in the final third, and conceding a shocking goal again, leaving a man unmarked on the edge of the box is unforgivable. 2 mins before that Colchester were very luck not to have conceded an own goal from some good play by us.

Didn't think I would be saying this at the start of the season but we missed Green today!

Yeah I think you were watching a different game. Colchester are bad and we are absolutely terrible at home. Ainley and Luker staying on all game is inexcusable. Obikwu is not and never will be the answer.

 

[Son of Cod]

Decent enough first half but then the second was a pretty poor affair. Felt like it was always gonna be 1-0 as soon as it kicked off after the restart. Obvious that we're a bit tidier in our attacking play than Colchester who are more direct but exactly what you'd expect from the two managers. Colchester wanted that more in the second half and probably shaded it overall so no complaints from me.

Warren is like a statue for the goal though, what's he doing rooted to the spot like that? Basic basic defending to close your man there, Gordon has had time to dig the ball out from under his feet and get a shot away on the penalty spot pretty much. Fucking wank that and has cost us a point.

Also 12 mins and 7mins injury time and we've passed the ball out of play at least 5 times there.

Everyone is talking about moving Pyke and Wilson on in the window but we need to be thinking about Ainley too. Seen enough of him now and he's not good enough.

 

[RavenBish]

Yeah really frustrating. Reminded me a lot of that Yeovil game a couple of years ago where we just didn't make the breakthrough.

At least in that game we threw some stuff at them. That was just 90 minutes of slow possession football, of course we ‘dominate’ teams, our entire team are in midfield!

We have one legitimate goal threat, Jatta. Everyone else is trying to take 4-5 touches deep. We’ve not been clinical enough the last few weeks but Maynard’s tactics don’t help, not enough players crashing the box with any urgency and when we do fashion a chance, it’s taken us so long to do it they’ve got 10 men on the line ready to block it

 

[Gladders]

Can't comment on your other games this season, but there was some football in you today. Issue is, you don't seem to have any standout features to your play. You aren't big and physical like Colchester are, you aren't quick, you aren't particularly technical, I don't see a lot of goals and creativity in you. Clearly got a solid defence and can do to teams what Colchester did to you today in terms of grinding out results. Need some quality upfront in January I think. Callum Ainley playing on the wing in 2024 is criminal, Artell tried it dozens of times at Crewe and it never worked.

Thought the conditions and pitch made it a tough game, though to be fair I struggle to remember a time when the Blundell Park pitch wasn't an uneven, bobbly mess.

That's the first time Ainley has started this season I think and certainly first time he's been on the wing, but then its pretty obvious so far that Svanthorsson is not good enough either. We definitely need better attacking options but that's been the case for about 4 seasons!

Problem with Davis and Thompson coming back and Khouri and Green having such good seasons is we have too many central options now and no good winger options, and only one decent striker.

 

[dedwardp]

I thought it was as scrappy a game as can be expected in those conditions really, so I'm not sure how much can be taken from it but it's nice to finally grind out a 1-0 rather than a 1-1 for a change.

 

[Son of Cod]

Seen Grimsby play 3 times this season and they've lost all three, only scored once too and it was when they were 4-0 down.

Pretty poor game but the conditions definitely played a big part. Thought Tovide for Colchester looked pretty good

Stop watching us please mate.

Did I hear right on our comms that Tivode is 20? Agree that he looks like a decent player.

Can't comment on your other games this season, but there was some football in you today. Issue is, you don't seem to have any standout features to your play. You aren't big and physical like Colchester are, you aren't quick, you aren't particularly technical, I don't see a lot of goals and creativity in you. Clearly got a solid defence and can do to teams what Colchester did to you today in terms of grinding out results. Need some quality upfront in January I think. Callum Ainley playing on the wing in 2024 is criminal, Artell tried it dozens of times at Crewe and it never worked.

Thought the conditions and pitch made it a tough game, though to be fair I struggle to remember a time when the Blundell Park pitch wasn't an uneven, bobbly mess.

That's a pretty fair assessment of where we're at. We're light up top for sure. Pyke and Wilson are taking up spots in the squad while not being used, Vernam who was looking really good and added a bit of pace/impetus has been out for a while now, Obikwu/Barrington/Svanthorsson are all young and/or inexperienced in men's/UK football and then Luker and Davies have been out most of the season up until now.

As Gladders mentions further up we missed Green today who Artell has done a superb job of transforming from a NL clogger into a marauding box to box/attacking CM.

 

[Wootball]

Did Notts have their 4 superstars back that meant they lost to us last week or were they playing without them?

 

[dedwardp]

Did I hear right on our comms that Tivode is 20? Agree that he looks like a decent player.

Yes, he's been around the first team squad now since he was 16 and he will no doubt be the next one to go for big money. He has all of the attributes to really make it; he's very quick, really strong and powerful and good at all of the off the ball and hold up side of the game. Up until this season his biggest problems have been not scoring enough goals and spending too much of his time falling over and trying to get into scraps, but he seems to be curbing that more recently. Was forming a terrific partnership with Taylor earlier in the season too before he got injured and his absence has hit us quite hard.

I actually thought he wasn't quite on it today, his touch was sloppy and struggled to get much of a sniff. But, again, the conditions couldn't have helped and I guess he did all of the aforementioned off the ball work well still.

 

[The_Viking_Magpie]

Did Notts have their 4 superstars back that meant they lost to us last week or were they playing without them?

No our creative dynamic duo are both still injured sadly. 2 out of the 4 started which is a big improvement on last week but service to the front men was sadly lacking. Awful first half, average second. Better side but didn't do enough to win which is almost criminal against Newport at home.

I have to correct you again there it didn't mean we lost last week it meant we created little and were toothless. You remember the things you were surprised about after the full time whistle. I don't believe any other side has been so fortunate this season and I'm not referring to the absurd penalty decision.

 

[kieran_vale]

Morecambe off to a flyer at Swindon. Not surprised, they looked a fair bit better than bottom of the table last week. If Wimbledon can get one over Walsall will be a nice little boost for us before Monday night.