Match Discussion: Game 38 - The Red Devils (A)

[Dripsey3]

Robertson sent off. 2nd yellow. Harsh to say the least. Crawley player struck Sam. Booked. Could easily have been red. Sam has kept us in the game. 

[Dripsey3]

The game turned not on the sending off but the subs made by SM. Crawley subs made a huge difference. Ours are nowhere near the quality required at this level. 

[DonnyNotts]

Expected nothing from the game. 

[Fan of Big Tone]

The first yellow card for Robertson was really silly on his part, he threw the ball away. If he hadn’t got a red card who knows we might have won. Slocombe had a great game.

[Fozzy]

Time to go.

Down to 10 men and he takes off our only attacking threat for a defender and midfielder. Has he not realised that Notts CANNOT shut up shop!?! Any sustained pressure and we crumble, score one and a second will come quickly and that left us with no chance of getting an equaliser.

He’s been a bit unlucky at the start, but as a side, we are now far worse than we were when he was appointed, players look confused and despondent as to what formation they are supposed to be playing.

One last thing, the season is far from over, both FGR and Grimsby won tonight, it is not inconceivable that we may still go down. Two more away games to go, don’t fancy our chances in either of them with Maynard in charge.

 

[Robbie]

I've always said that it is the Manager who selects the players he wants, not recruiters.

The Manager knows best and what he wants from his players.

I never like to be negative but the recruiters have to take much of the responsibility for this total collapse.

[DangerousSausage]

As the others said, those substitutions robbed us of our outlet and put us under more pressure. We did need to make a change after losing a defensive midfielder, and it's normal to sacrifice an attacking player, but losing Langstaff, Crowley and Jones was too much. And I still don't understand what the point of Jatta is.

I thought we generally played well and it was a close game, but we had already started to ride our luck when the sending off occurred. Slocombe had a great game, but had far too much to do. 

[gtownjohnno]

Did somebody just say SM has been given the dreaded 'vote of confidence'...!!!!!!! 

[Robbie]

I think everyone is feeling real low tonight and angry but changing the Head Coach now would be foolhardy. We only need six points to be safe. 

We've seen tonight that teams are beating each other in this league on a regular basis 

So it's going to be difficult for the bottom three to win enough anyway to put us under pressure.

It would be absolutely foolhardy to change the Head Coach now with only 10 games left.

[Wheelbarrow repair man]

As a Notts fan I've not felt this deflated in a long time. The biggest question people will be asking how much longer will Stuart Maynard remain in charge? Because to be honest I can't see Notts getting another point. If Notts lose at Accrington the pressure could be to great for the Brothers to stick with their choice of coach and we could see Jim O'Brien back in the dug out. There also seems to be strong rumours flying around that certain players have no desire to play for SM, if there is a divided changing room that needs to be sorted quickly. After the Sutton defeat and tonight's result even the most ardent Maynard fan will be starting to ask questions regarding his tenure at the Lane.

[Fozzy]

Not if it is jeopardising the clubs revenue with gates falling though @Robbie. Many may not come back next season and that impacts the whole FFP thing.

Langstaff and Jones’s stock will start falling which means they will leave for significantly lower transfer figures than they would go for if they were still firing.

Still need 6 points, I have no idea where they are going to come from unless we make a change.

Rumours circulating that there has been a bust up with players, and he’s lost the dressing room. Plus he looks to have lost the fanbase.

Sometimes, you need to bite the bullet, admit you got it wrong and pay the price.

 

 

[Robbie]

2 hours ago, Fozzy said:

Time to go.

Down to 10 men and he takes off our only attacking threat for a defender and midfielder. Has he not realised that Notts CANNOT shut up shop!?! Any sustained pressure and we crumble, score one and a second will come quickly and that left us with no chance of getting an equaliser.

He’s been a bit unlucky at the start, but as a side, we are now far worse than we were when he was appointed, players look confused and despondent as to what formation they are supposed to be playing.

One last thing, the season is far from over, both FGR and Grimsby won tonight, it is not inconceivable that we may still go down. Two more away games to go, don’t fancy our chances in either of them with Maynard in charge.

 

I'm sorry but the players should know how to shut up shop when a man has been sent off.

The substitution is a substitution that most Managers would have made with just 10 minutes left .

If the players can't follow instructions, that's down to the players, not the Manager.

And another thing, Every team should know how to shut up shop. It's a vital part of the game for a team to be able to do that.

That part of the game would have been practiced at training.

[Fozzy]

All the things you have stated though @Robbie are things that Notts cannot do. When was the last time we were able to batten down the hatches when going down to 10? 
You remove one attacker for 1 defender/midfielder when down to 10 and the obvious one is Nemane, not two of your best 3 players.

And not at least trying Jatta until the 90th minute is ridiculous. He should have come on a lot earlier.

Thankfully Sam had a great game, otherwise we would have got drubbed by 5 or 6.

 

 

 

[Fan of Big Tone]

I think the blame for last night defeat lies with Robertson, he’s been great but he has a lot to learn, the two yellows were completely needless the ref had no option but to send him off. The first yellow was for time wasting by throwing the ball away, he should have known he’d get booked so why do it just to waste a few seconds, the the second yellow he pulled a player back which the ref spotted another yellow. Had he not been sent off they had every chance of getting something from the game.

[Dripsey3]

It's not an easy decision by any means. Ideally we get to 50 points and then the pressure eases a little. The brothers were at the game last night. I hate to say it, but removing SM seems like the logical choice right now. 

[menzinho]

A bit late to this now, but I agree with a lot of what's been said. The performance was ok up until the red card, so that is on Robertson because it changed the game. Crawley were better in the second half but once we went down to 10 their belief jumped it was just attack after attack until they scored their 2 goals. With 11 maybe we grind out a 1-0 (possibly even score another if Crawley had overcommitted trying to equalise) I’d argue the chance of that happening was pretty much 50-50 though. But losing 2-1 with 11 men I’d have said 20% chance given the time left.

So here we are again, another loss, another fine margin but when things happen over and over again like this it can’t just be that we are unlucky though? Under LW (at times) we looked miles better when we played some teams in this league. We’ve not been outplayed by anyone since SM took over but other than Newport away have we actually performed better than the opposition? It’s still very early under SM but right now, considering he said he backs himself tactically, that feels like my biggest concern.

[Joshua]

Scott Robertson’s dismissal was a big blow to Notts, whether he deserved the second yellow card or not. In his position, he needs to be cautious. Some blame might fall on Stuart Maynard for not substituting him, but who else do we have who can fill this role without it being a weak spot? It could be argued that whoever replaced him could have been targeted for being out of position. That’s why we need a larger squad with more depth. It’s very disappointing, but I’m happy for Sam Austin. He’s earned his spot and has been patient. Right now, he seems to be a threat to the opposition and adds a positive dimension to our game.

[liampie]

i thought notts played well for most parts, sam austin has come into the team determined and he looks eager to stay within the mix. this is exactly what you want to see from players who have not started much but have been on the bench. you want them to take the chance they get, so i am also pleased for austin. robertson is a bit clumsy with his challenges, i could see him walking so i think we need to make quicker decision to pull anyone who may get a red card. normally you can trust players on a yellow to avoid making silly decisions.

sam slocombe was brilliant and its fair to say he did keep notts in the game. he should not take any faults for the two goals that went in, we needed to defend more bravely and plug the gap robertson left by getting sent off. you either lose attacking prowess or defensive cover. we seemed to lose both.  

[Fan of Big Tone]

I don’t think Maynard should be blamed for not subbing Robertson, the player was on a yellow card so common sense should tell him not to pull a player down, it’s not rocket science, as I said in a previous post he is young and will learn but that doesn’t help Notts, they’d done well up to that point, the sending off was definitely a game changer.

[Joshua]

As a manager or head coach, you have to be cautious about certain decisions. I wouldn’t entirely blame Maynard, but there’s a point to be made. Robertson came with a fiery reputation, and if you see players losing their cool in games, it’s best to substitute them. The sending off was Robertson’s fault, and it turned the result against us. However, Maynard might need to consider these situations.

If several players are already on a yellow card, it’s harder to decide who to take off to avoid suspensions. If you leave someone on who has a yellow card, then you risk them being sent off. Notts had three players on a yellow card: Robertson, O’Brien, and Slocombe. O’Brien is experienced enough to ensure he won’t be sent off, despite his physical style of play. Slocombe wasn’t likely to see red. Robertson, being young and fiery, always seemed a risk that would warrant a tactical decision to take him out of the game.

Crawley had five yellow cards. Forster and Gordon, who both looked highly likely to receive another card, were taken out of the game. Lolos and Mukena remained, and then Maguire received a yellow card after coming on. I repeat, I wouldn’t completely point the finger at Maynard, but it’s a fair argument that we should have considered substituting Robertson.