Realistically we are just an above average League 2 team....mainly because we have no flair players...we haven't repaced Macca Rueben Didzy Crowley etc We appointed MP an old school footballer who would have zero experience of playing a possession type team . Perhaps we could tempt George Abbott back to bring some flair back into the team...

I think that the Notts squad has progressed to another level since that start of the 26/27 season. The players are completely behind Martin Paterson's his footballing style & work ethic.

The playoff games last season was a taster for things to come but I do believe the Notts recruitment over the summer that was sure to have Paterson's imprint all over it, has taken Notts to that higher level.

I'm beginning to come to the idea that Paterson could possibly finish up being Notts County's best Head Coach/ Manager since Warnock if the continuous improvement continues. I do hope that it does.

I like to read other clubs' message board to see what fans have to say about Notts - when we've played them and also some boards have a general EFL1 thread. They've been pretty complementary about Notts so far - very well organised/drilled, fit, aggressive are the most common comments. So a big change from before Pato came along.

Pato hasn't quite got us to really click as an attacking force in the ways some of his predacessors have. There's no 'Palmer to Rodriguez to Langstaff, goal!' conveyor belt yet. That's his challenge now.

As Pato took over from Maynard and not Williams, it's a silly question by now, of course he has.

In his interview with Troy Deeney at Wembley after the final whistle, he described himself as 'a fierce competitor' and I'd say that's his defining characteristic - a pretty good one to have for a head coach of a football team. It has to rub off the squad. And it's a trait that's going to guarantee him a long managerial career. The scary thing is that it's combined with footballing nous, man-management skills and top coaching chops.

I think Patto is trying to combine aggression with a good footballing style. We can see he wants the team to to press high and win the ball in the opponents half of the pitch, but its not all about physicality. He often comments on the need to pass forward through the lines and not side to side. This is not hopeful long balls but passes through the centre of the pitch to feet. This is clearly a work in progress and I believe we have the squad capable of pulling if off.

Considering some of the teams last season I still thought we were one of the better footballing sides, but the difference was we were more flexible. Take the play-offs, we were kind of happy to let Chesterfield have the ball because we’d worked on the out of possession shape and we knew we could create chances from pressing. Then in the final, given it was 30°+ it’s virtually impossible to play an effective press so we switched back to a more possession-based style. Salford were very much an up and at you team under Robinson and they didn’t adapt.

Now we aren’t side the is 100% committed to trying to always have possession of the ball, we can be just as effective without it. It’s a double edge sword, but in a good way for us! Against Huddersfield we were more focused in our out of possession play and we came away with a point. Against Burton home (second half) we showed we are still capable of dominating the ball and creating chances through good passing play. It’s the best of both worlds right now and I think it’s going to serve us well this season.

League One is very competitive; the gulf between a good League Two side and a team that must avoid relegation from League One isn't all that different. A team can have quality and depth, but it takes consistency at a much higher level to stay as an established team at this level.

The talk I heard prior to Bradford about us being "Championship" ready is, at the kindest possible reading, optimistic thinking.

Huddersfield showed what quality there is in the lower half of the Championship; Leicester, despite being very poor, showed they had Championship quality within them. I am not downplaying our squad, there's much more needed from them and it's still early days. The signs are positive, as we look capable of playing well in two halves.

Teams all have off days; this Saturday perhaps comes down to us not choosing the right starting lineup.

Defensively, I think we have made a lot of improvements, but more is naturally to come. The lapse in awareness and judgment is what is still costing us points.

We can attack very nicely with pure passing football, and I have noticed we look a lot more dangerous on the break.

Counter-attacking football is massive at this level and higher. Bradford turned it on quite nicely, though they failed to make their finishing count, I feel. So, I think comparisons are only half of the picture and that we have made progress. Yet, I wouldn't gloss over what further we need to do in order to be at our best. I think, with time and the new signings settling in more, we'll start to show a lot more of the quality we have seen in the earlier games so far, but on a more consistent basis.

It took a bit of time last season for the quality to improve; this season it might be a little harder due to the talented teams we face, but I am confident that we can establish ourselves. I would like Notts to walk before running, as we need to be fully ready to push for promotion.

I would hate to see all our good work undone by failing to get the basics needed to improve at this level right first.

If we roll on from January when this thread asked the question, I think that we can say that we have definitely progressed under Martin Paterson into a side that has demonstrated over the first 12 games that they can compete with the very best in League One.

There is a big gulf in standard between League 1 & League 2, and so far Notts have bridged that gap under Martin Paterson's leadership. Notts had a very good summer transfer window that has gone a long way of bridging that gap, but I think Martin's experience of League 1 in his time at Burton has served him well, & he has organised the Notts team into a good effective unit at this level.

The icing on the cake would be for Notts to start converting the chances they are creating into goals, which could convert Notts into a top half position in this League. There is still room for lots of progress to be made but do far things are looking very encouraging.