Tactical Talk: Coventry City 3-0 Notts County, Saturday 5 August 2017

Notts County began the 2017/18 League Two season away at Coventry City in a highly-anticipated clash at the Ricoh Arena.

A total of 1,727 members of the Black and White Army descended upon the West Midlands to see the Magpies open their account for the campaign following a summer of rebuilding both on the pitch and behind the scenes.

As it turned out, the Sky Blues were in inspired form following their humiliating relegation from League One last season, and the teenage prodigy Jodi Jones rattled a hat-trick past Notts for a 3-0 final result.

In this article, Pride of Nottingham looks at several aspects of the game, from the performance to whether the result was fair, and how to move on from this.

Was the result fair?

The final score reflects badly on Notts, the players only have themselves to blame with how poorly we allowed Coventry City to wrap up the game. There’s no denying, the Sky Blues easily deserved the win.

How did Notts County play?

Notts enjoyed bright spells early on, yet there were issues with support which meant key areas were disconnected. You could argue that the opening day nerves simply got the better of Notts, or that the game was ruined by the poor officials, but quite simply Notts didn’t play well enough as a unit at all.

How did Coventry City play?

They played quite well, however if you remove Jodi Jones from the equation, they had no real threat. Whilst most Notts fans like myself didn’t appreciate how easily their players went down, which included outright diving, Coventry did pass very well and looked to make use of the space available to them (which at times was huge pockets of the pitch). Overall they played okay.

Did our tactics work out?

I can see what Kevin Nolan had tried to do, however his starting 11 was massively flawed. We had nobody who could dictate the tempo, or be direct in areas where we just needed to get forward. Starting two up front was a welcome addition to me, however in the game the age up front was clear for all. Notts needed pace there desperately and I left feeling like we had underestimated Coventry City.

How did the referee perform?

Very poorly, he allowed Coventry to milk the play and awarded them virtually every opportunity that one of their players was shot down by the invisible sniper in the ground. Honestly, I don’t believe he was very fair and he largely spoiled the game. His efforts at taking lengthy spells to talk to players, and his inability to allow the game to flow was disappointing – otherwise don’t get me started on him!

Who do we play next?

Our next league game is against Chesterfield at Meadow Lane, the players desperately need to re-group here and claim the points available. I would say that a win is the encouragement we need otherwise it could be a very disappointing start to the 2017-18 League Two season.

How should we play them?

I’d like us to start with a bit of energy up front, I would rest Jon Stead and replace him for one of our younger options. I would certainly start Jorge Grant from the start, with possibly Haydn Hollis starting too. Despite Richard Duffy being the captain, I would drop him but this isn’t likely to happen at all.

I’m unsure if using full backs and three defenders would work, at this stage it’s hard to gauge what could work – yet I think it’s important we phase our attacks better and offer the defence as much support as possible. Perhaps we could try to counter attack Chesterfield as Coventry did us? We need to cover the space behind us for sure.

Here is what Coventry fans thought about the game, courtesy of Sky Blues Talk:

AlansEyes: Jones gets a hat trick, yet I'm sure James Collins will still be mentioned on here a few times over the next few days. I was joking with my 20 goals from Jones this season, but then again... Mick Quinn. Dion Dublin. Jodi Jones. The CCFC opening day hat trick club. What a time to be alive.

Astute: So happy. Fair play to Jones. That will give his confidence a massive boost. And that is one strong Duck that we have. I hppe there will be room in the team for him to start. He will s**t the life out teams at this level. But the major bonus for me is O'Brien. Confident and he can catch the ball. He seems to know when to stay and when to come for the ball. The defence seemed to cope with the long ball most of the time. Does anyone still think Doyle wasn't a good signing?

Skybluetony176: Great opening day result. Well done the team, well done MR and especially well done JJ. Delighted for the lad. Never doubted his skill just felt he needed some belief and better decision making. Hopefully he's turned a big corner today and his career can really kick on and we can benefit from that.

Johnnythespider: Always good to start with a win, hats off to Jodi. Impressed by O'Brien in goal and the battling when needed, considering it was practically a new team things can only get better. I hope.

Kingokings: Great game and it was a 3-0 game. Notts county were poor and I would be dissapointed if I was a fan. Opening day I would expect a lot more. The thing is notts county will probably finish around mid table so there is worse to come than them. Fair play to us and jones was terrific. Not too sure on Beavon and mcnulty to get the goals for promotion but now the duck is here and looked great then maybe a problem solved. Looked solid at the back for once and never thought we were going to concede really (partly due to county being poor) centre mid looked fiery and ran their socks off. Here is to a decent season after that.

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