Goal of the Season.

Enjoy

Sounds like a cracking game. So glad they turned on the style in front of the home fans.

Steve Cotterill fuming! Respect him a lot but he could've given Notts more credit.

Yeah not a great interview from Steve there, he made it sound like they had some double-headed European tie in between that. We both had mid-week matches so it was pretty fair in that respect. They were also 4-2 down by the time Sherring was sent off with just 9 minutes to go, in a half where they had just 2 shots, it was hardly game changing. But I do agree it was never a red. He comes across like a bit of angry old man here, and the way he kind of snaps at the interviewer at the end isn’t great either.

Anyway, as for us, second half we really stepped up and completely deserved the win. Some cracking goals, lovely bits of passing and movement too, we are looking good right now.

The reality was that we were sloppy for both of their goals. They both came down our left flank, where Jones doesn’t provide any cover or support for Bedeau. Theax marking and awareness were shocking for the first and beyond credibility for the second.

Other than that, we fought and battled well again, tge balance and shape was generally good but a bit wobbly at times. We engineered great opportunities but either moving the ball quickly or having people prepared to take on opponents. It was Jones, Tangen and Grant in the first half and more of Iorpenda, Bennetts & Hall in the second.

If you are clinical in front of goal, you win matches. We scored from 5 well worked and cleverly constructed chances today. 2 of those goals were simply spectacular, the fifth was a superbly created and neatly finished. The other 2 were well earned on the back of a solid team effort.

The lack of marking aside, this was a very impressive display from a squad that has developed the art of winning whatever the line up. To be missing the likes of Robbo, Platt, Dennis & Ndlovu yet scoring 9 goals in 2 games at this stage of the season is encouraging, to say the least.

The introduction of Norburn and Bennetts was the critical factor today. Jones was running out of gas and ideas and we freed up Iorpenda to play further forwards - he created havoc. Best I’ve seen of Bennetts, he’s improved over the season for my money. He was unplayable today. He’s better defensively and far more robust than Jones - so, if he can go round defenders & cross like he did today then he becomes a viable option as a starter as well as a sub.

Edited March 22Mar 22 by YoopEyes

I'd much rather focus on our 5 goals and attacking play.... but about the 2 conceded

The first is such a mess involving so many players that it'd take all day to work out.

The second though, we were in pretty good shape as the move developed down their right. Macari as RCB is right to slide over and Tsaroulla is there at RWB as he should be. At that point we had a comfortable 3 v 2 at the back stick.

Their late movement is clever though. Should Tsaroulla have passed on his player to Macari? Probably, but when he last saw Hutchinson it might have seemed Grant was with him. That flick of Grant's left arm to say 'here, you have him' isn't good enough really. If you read that situation correctly you keep with the man you're tracking. Ultimately though, if we have a back line of 5 including WBs, there's no way the far end of that line, Tsaroulla in this case, should be that far over. I'd imagine there's a zonal principle there. Just guessing, but maybe 2 communication issues there....Tsaroulla to Macari saying he's yours and Grant screaming 'player' if he's going to stop tracking him as he enters the box

As I’m away from home at present I didn’t get to witness this match in person, instead I paid £2.50 to listen to the radio commentary on Pies Player, it was money well spent, it sounded like a really exciting match the atmosphere sounded electric. I’m off to view the goals now, Iorpenda and Palmers sounded like worldies.

Agreed. We were doing ok but the introduction of Norburn & Bennetts, in particular, made a significant difference.

Iorpenda was able to get forward and be more productive - which he, clearly, relished. We looked better balanced & regained the shape we needed. The fact that we scored almost immediately after making changes, as opposed to conceding as we often do, was a big help too.

Fun fact @YoopEyes 

All of Iorpendas 3 goals this season ( MK away, MK & Cheltm home) and have been in games where he's started in Centre Midfield.

So the breakdown will be something like

Starting in Centre Midfield - P10 Goals 3

Starting in Attacking Midfield P28 Goals 0

Yes, he scored yesterday when his position was switched, but we still get his goal threat and full-pitch contributions from deeper.

Oldham as a one-off away match might be a different matter. But MP faces a big choice in these vital run-in games. Go with the double CM pivot of Norburn and Palmer, or go with a side like the one at Accy or starting yesterday with Iorpenda at CM.

Personally, it would drive me nuts if we missed out going for the seemingly safe option of Palmer/Norburn (not enough vertical movement up and down the pitch) & Grant/Iorpenda (not enough end-product, potentially)

3 points. +3. I'd have taken that at kickoff. I still think automatic promotion will go down to the last few minutes of the last game of the season.

Loads of positives and not many negatives. The goals conceded were a throwback to the Williams era, but so was some of our attacking play.

Both of Cheltenham's goals were gifts from us, but I thought they looked pretty handy and you could see they were high on confidence. The game could still have gone either way at half time, but the way we dominated the second half was so impressive. And being able to bring on subs like Norburn and Bennetts is the cherry on the cake.

It just occurred to me that Steve Cotterill was the last manager to take us out of this division the right way, and we finished that season by sticking five goals past Cheltenham. I don't think we're a happy hunting ground for them.

Re: Fun fact - that’s exactly what it is. As you know, you can show anything with data - what was the wind direction, did we kick off, were we drawing when he scores his goals? Those stats prove nothing really - they are not cause & effect.

Players tend to score goals when they are in and around the opposition’s box, it’s nothing to do with where a player starts a game, it’s where they are at the time.

I’d still maintain that Norburn and Palmer (or Robbo and either of them) is always going to produce a platform for the more adventurous and creative players to perform. There will, clearly, be games where we might only need 1 of them, but personally, I’m comfortable seeing them together - even if it’s the first hour or last 30 mins. The bonus is that we have the likes of Grant, Iorpenda, Bennetts, Tangen, Tsaroulla, Hall, Luker and Jones to complement them. Not a bad group to choose from tbh.

The version of Palmer that turned up yesterday certainly provided “vertical movement”! Grant is creative, mobile and alert, Iorpenda (and a fit Luker) are similar but will probably score more often. Fortunately, we have quite a few players who are capable of scoring, maybe not prolifically, but we seem to find the back of the net quite a lot without the recognised strikers.

16 minutes ago, YoopEyes said:

Re: Fun fact - that’s exactly what it is. As you know, you can show anything with data - what was the wind direction, did we kick off, were we drawing when he scores his goals?

Amusing reply @YoopEyes 

It's going to be a gripping end-of season run-in and very interesting from the team selection, tactical angle. MP certainly has options.

Look forward to returning to these subjects as it all unfolds.

....Notts County still the best side I've seen this season. #ctfc

The issue for me with how Cheltenham played was always about if they could maintain their start, as they did seem very well organised. I think they were better in spells, collectively as a team but never overall in the first half. It was a good first half, against two attacking minded teams but they fell apart due to themselves. Their goals were well-made, but from a Notts view, they were very frustrating.

Second half, Notts did show a lot more of themselves, and even without the red card we would have won. It might have made them a bit more competitive but they were always looking like their energy levels were dropping.

Steve Cotterill is a bit of a moron; there's some valid points but he's that typical 90s whining manager.

There's a lot of credit to be given to how Cheltenham started, but at the same time you are wearing tinted glasses if you cannot accept that Notts were the better team. If you have to look for excuses, and justify them, then as a manager you know you aren't being completely honest. Referees may give advantage at times to teams, but the sending off was coming at a time where Cheltenham were just throwing silly challenges.

If you defend by trying to take out the opposition like that, then you have to blame yourself and expect what might come. You can't pin it down to the official, nor can you gloss over how good the opposition team played when things clicked. We are a very good team when that happens, even at our worst we are. We are fully capable of dismentling teams, so it would be like me avoiding credit to them just because how easy we made the second half look.

cheltenhams second goal, their player had all the time in the world and both of their goals were poor marking decisons. some fans made comments about james belshaw not reacting but what could he have done? Maybe he could have done something with the second goal but the first happened quickly. he made some very good instinctive decisions to claim loose balls i thought he did well despite them coming back into the game.

notts always looks better in the second half, there was calmness about the play and it was very entertaining to see us attack.