Game 27 - The Mariners (H)

Team: Grimsby Town

Date: 05/02/2022

Where: Meadow Lane

What line-up should Ian Burchnall opt for? What will be the key areas for the Magpies to get a victory? What do you think the final score will be?

Have your say below, join in with the Pride of Nottingham match discussion.

A difficult clash I expect with the recent form, Grimsby have gotten some good results as of late but have found it hard themselves against the better teams.

Getting into must win territory now for Notts, we need to start picking up wins, draws not enough we are losing ground. At this moment in time I think the play offs are probably where we are heading . Not sure we could change much if we wanted to, though I think changes are needed after the last toothless outing. Players need to stand up and not just bumble through expecting to win and getting caught out by teams willing to fight harder.

I would bring Vincent back in as we could well need his energy for this one as Grimsby will be well backed and up for it. Brunt is a player we didn't need, so if he is picked he really needs to up his game and show why he is so highly regarded.

Desperate for the three points, but fear we are heading towards one of those spells that have blighted us for too long and we'll end up showing mid table, rather than top of the table form.

 

Wealdstone and Bromley both demonstrated that they can park the bus in front of their own penalty area. We need a plan B as have become too predictable

@Fozzy frank vincent can be a huge difference when he starts, but we need to play that quick flowing football which he thrives on.

Is it too early to be talking about must win games? Given the pace being set by Stockport, I don't think it is. Notts need to win this game and that's just to stay within touching distance of the playoffs. Notts have an excellent home record. Grimsby have a poor away record. Grimsby have lost to Bromley, Halifax and Wrexham in recent weeks. Are they one of the top 8 trams in the division? For me it's a No. I think Notts will win this. 1-0 is my prediction. A late winner. 

That was poor. Automatic promotion is gone after today. Keep playing like this and we won't make the playoffs. 

Disappointed,  only word i can come up with

No idea why we persisted with the same players and formation for so long, earlier in the season IB changes that to 4-3-3. We needed something different in midfield, Brunt and Cal offer pretty much nothing defensively and we needed to switch it up more with balls over the top into space to beat the Grimsby press, probably with Mitchell on as he has the pace for that.

It feels like Cal is a bit shoehorned into this 3-5-2 and now I’d argue Brunt is a similar case, it’s great having all this high technical talent but you need a balance and that midfield was set up to only go one way.

And it’s so bizarre after being so awful for the 2nd half how we suddenly kicked into gear right after they’d scored… It shouldn’t take a goal for that happen.

Just felt like one team wanted it more today and it wasn’t us.

Edited February 5, 20223 yr by menzinho

Battered us second half to be fair and we had no answer to the high press they used. Hate to say it, but felt that the first substitution was wrong, we needed to switch to a back 4 immediately and get an extra body in midfield, not switch one central midfielder for another. Vincent for Brunt was the wrong call, it should have been Francis for either Taylor or Richardson.

Might have been a different game though if Ruben had buried that free header to make it 2-0 in the first half.

Oh, and forgot to add, which brain dead idiot thinks it is a good idea to put nearly all of our 6 foot plus players in the wall for that free kick?!? It was going to the big centre half all day long and we practically gave that goal away with that decision. I would love to know the National league conversion rate for direct free kicks as I bet it isn't that high.

Notts just stopped doing what worked in the first half and found it difficult to match Grimsby's desire. A draw wouldn't have been so bad, yet to lose in the dying moments of the game after leading for so long annoys me.

Ruben Rodrigues barely contributed anything positively to the game.

I have seen criticism of Kyle Wootton, but I thought he had little to no service. I don't understand why the midfield didn't do their jobs better, Cal Roberts won't always have that spark to create something. I thought he was poor in the second half, very wasteful.