Notts ran ragged by outstanding Oxford

I felt we really could win after going into the lead, yet it seems again we undid ourselves. We must sort the errors out, it would be much different otherwise and although it's still early, we will only bring pressure onto the club if we don't fix this.

Ricardo needs to get the tactics and line-up spot on, I am very disappointed.

I have faith though.

Terrible Notts, absolutely awful and you are losing all the optimism you built within the close season.

Sort it out because we should be looking up.

I am never happy to see defeat but thank god for the loyal supporters who attempt to make a difference. The fans tonight deserved better, sadly its not what we got and now is what we have came to expect.

Lets beat Accrington before doomsday is declared.

Gutted to be reading that we lost the lead, story of our lives!!

Moniz has tried to shore up the back line, Bennett and Audel don't seem to work any more than sticking Hollis in there. I bet Deano is having trouble getting through to them what is actually ruining the performances.

We need another centre back desperately.

gutted to see the result but i still think we will be okay. it takes time, keep the faith.

The wheelbarrow may have fallen off, yet its not broken beyond repair. I am annoyed to see us lose back to back, more so after going in the lead but we have another game on saturday and we need to win that.

Its important.

It seems we have not learned much since last season, we need to hold onto points and stop making it harder on ourselves.

We have big Roy to thank for the scoreline being much less.

Next up Accrington Stanley, Morecombe, and Crawley in the league. 

All three matches are winable and if the squad was high on both confidence and results right now, they would be bankers.  The great concern for me now is that there will be players low on confidence given the performances and results over the last 180 minutes (plus stoppage time!) and they will not be at their best.  Some players looked at times like they had been caught like rabbits in headlights on the pitch against Mansfield and Oxford. 

Now is the time for a cleverly crafted team of old-head experience, leaders of men, and the fearlessness of youthful inexperience.  I don't think that RM has actually identified the best blend yet, hampered as he has been by suspensions and injuries.

But with such a large squad, it MUST be possible for him to find the right formula for success.  Success depends on two things: wise transfer market activity and then the skill of the manager in getting the right blend of players working effectively as a team.

While I have a teeny question mark of concern at the very back of my mind (RM's last head coaching venture at 1860 Munchen was terminated very prematurely after a dreadful start to their season), I am hopeful that he and Dave Kevan will come up trumps with the right 11 players over the next three matches.

Then he just has to decide whether the tactics he wants to play suit football at this level.  We saw last year in Div One that a team as star-studded as Leyton Orient was (and still is) just couldn't perform successfully largely because the tactics did not suit the division.  Ian Hendon has brought the team back together playing a brand of football which suits the players and the division.  Hopefully, we will be emulating them before long.

And, as always, we the fans can play a big part in getting things turned around by encouraging the team especially when things are going against them.  I know just how hard it is as a fan to contain disappointment and anger when things are going badly on the pitch, but the players do look like they care, so we must do our best to support them.  To show them our disappointment will only serve to demoralise them further and that won't help anyone.

Let's give the team the next three league matches to get things moving in an upward direction.  By the middle of September we will be in a much better position to know how things are going to pan out.  And Keeganesque, wouldn't you just love it if we **** Mansfield in the paint-drying Trophy, in the process!!!