I think there are quite a few takeaways from this win against Oldham.

Firstly there are still some question marks about Roos being the number one between the sticks, but should Martin swap him for Griffiths of bring back Slocombe?

I think the back three have established themselves as a solid back line, Macari, McDonald & Bedeau are going to be difficult to dislodge by their current form.

Palmer & Robertson are becoming the linchpin of the Notts side in the centre of midfield. They are becoming a rock when it comes to supporting the defenders & they are so good at initiating the Notts attacks.

Tsaroulla & Jones are doing very well on the right & left Flanks & they can both either support the defence & create opportunities up front.

Iorpenda started his Notts career in the defensive midfield area, but with the form of Palmer & Robertson, he looks like he has transitioned to an attacking midfield role alongside either Grant, Luker or Hall who is improving with every match.

It seems that Martin Paterson has settled for one attacker up front with Jatta being his number one at this time. It appears he will use Dennis on the bench for now, on the bench, but that could change depending on who Notts are playing.

Dennis could play behind Jatta as an AM, or switch roles with Jatta & have Jatta on the bench initially.. So Martin has plenty of options upfront. He could even play Hall upfront as he has shown that he is a good finisher.

I think that Martin is close to knowing who his first eleven will be, but there is still a question over the goalkeeping position & can Will Jarvis force himself into the Matchday squad? I do think he should be on the bench at least.

The performance of the team against Oldham in the first half demonstrated that Notts are going to be a force to be reckoned with if they can continue to play like that against other teams. Notts wanted ML to become a fortress & they are on their way to making that happen. Those are my takeaways from the Oldham match.

There were plenty of positives from the Oldham game for sure. A couple of things to improve on though. Firstly agree with @Robbie there is still a big question mark over Roos. It’s not just is inability to come for crosses, but he is so wasteful with his distribution. Long balls up to Jatta, which he never wins and so many times to no one at all or just kicks it straight into touch. The other thing to work on is game management. Sometimes when the opposition score we need to take the momentum away from them and keep a bit of possession. We have a bit of a habit of panicking and just kicking and heading the ball back to the other team instead of getting control of the ball and keeping a period of possession. Doing this will take the momentum away from them. Overall a good performance. COYP!

Certainly lots of positives to take from the performance against Oldham but I think Martin Patterson would be the first to agree we aren’t the finished article yet there’s still work to be done, in fact he said as much in his post match interview.

There’s two weeks free now to work on the things we can improve on, we need consistently good performances if we are serious about promotion, I’m certainly optimistic that this season will be a good one.

Interesting words about Roos....for a keeper of his alleged experience the Oldham goal was a disaster.....caught out in nomans land.....i thought if keepers can't get to the ball he stays in his 6yard box.....but it seems like we are stuck with him!!!!!!!!

I agree about the game management issue @McPie & taking the momentum away from the opposition when they are on top.

Another point, when Notts have the momentum we see the opposition deploying delaying tactics & the goalkeeper going down with cramp or another issue to break up play.

I think Martin mentioned about this at the Forum. Why not Notts do the same especially at away matches? Sometimes I think Notts are too nice. That was one of the issues Martin wanted to change.

some excellent points made on here.

In addition, Martin and his pitchside teams' subsitutions have been a revelation.

Early in the 2nd half when Oldham had taken control of midfield, had got their 54th minute goal and were asking serious questions of our defence and goalkeeper. The triple subsitution in the 65th minute curtailed Oldhams' attack and allowed Notts to effectively manage the game out.

Martin and his teams data-driven decisions had a major impact.

More of these please.

I have to agree @Scotty that Martin Paterson's substitutions have been good. It's important that the substitutions are made at the right time, & not just for the sake of it as we used to see quotes lot with Maynard.

I think there were a lot more positives than negatives to takeaway from that match which is only a good thing. Since that Crawley match I'd say the performance levels have improved quite a bit. My worries about the squad not being competitive enough at the start of the season are gone now, I think actually overall we've got some very good options in a number of positions. And this slight tweak in style where we are a tad more direct at times means we aren't as reliant on a number 10 to dictate which last season it felt like we 100% needed Crowley or Didzy to play. It's not the case now, we are almost just as effective if not more by making runs and playing a balls into the channels at times. You just need committed runners with a bit of skill and we've got that.

In terms of the goalkeeping situation I think we’ll have to persist with Roos in goal and hope that Steve Collis can work some magic and get Roos looking confident when it comes to corners and set-pieces. He works with the keepers day in day out, if Griffiths was out-performing Roos in training each week he’d have had his chance by now. Sam Slocombe isn’t the answer either for me. He’s not played a competitive match of football for months and I’d imagine as he’s now one of the assistant coaches he’s done zero goalkeeper training.

I agree with @Scotty 's point about triple substitution second half, I think that was of the most important bits of game management. Jatta, Hall and Iorpenda, whilst still trying, weren’t able to press or trouble the Oldham back line as effectively. That was just down to being a tad tired nothing to do with ability. After their goal the Oldham defence were able to step onto to us more and that got the rest of their team up the pitch. But when they had to deal with three fresh attacking players, in Dennis, Grant and Kouyhar who could run and press hard, we were able to force them back.

I think we’ll see more early subs this season if we want to maintain that ability to press and run hard. Asking the forward players and midfielders to do it effectively for 90 minutes is a big ask. We can make 5 subs now, so that is a big help in terms of keeping the side as fresh and energetic as possible.