Word of warning before you read on - I'm at the pessimistic stage

MP must have nagging doubts and fears like us. Because this is pretty much the same team that went away to Oldham and lost 3-0. And went away to Cambridge and lost 4-0.

And now another high stakes away game at tough L2 opponent. Catch us on a bad day and we're proven to be fragile.

In both previous cases our backline was Macari-Ness-Bedeau and the midfield pairing Norburn-Palmer. Can McDonald make a difference to avoid disaster in the first-half on Sunday?

More positively than that....maybe it's fated to go to Penos again (hope the lads get enough practice in). We don't have Archie Mair....but doesn't it seem destined for James Belshaw to be facing pens, and either in tears, or going nuts in front of the Kop a week on Friday?

Edited Monday at 17:013 days by theAnticlough

i think we need to keep ollie norburn off, because i can see chesterfield targeting him and its important we have 11 players. i would welcome back scott robertson if hes fit enough, hopefully include the skipper matt palmer and have the starting lineup able to switch to four at the back. i think if we go there and do well, it will help in the home tie but drawing might be the best outcome considering it means both teams will have to go for it.

This feels to me like Cook vs Patto rather than Notts vs Chesterfield. We need to win the midfield tactical battle (and not get any red cards). Also need to play the players in form - so not Palmer, not Hall. Not got lots of alternatives though! What's happened to Tangen?

Interesting that @liampie and @Sheffield Pie both hone in on midfield as key

Sunday is a different kind of game...only half a game really.

For once, I'd take the first quarter of the game (45mins) to be uneventful. We need a more solid backline than at Oldham and Cambridge, and a midfield that can assert some control over the game....

Robbo is a good player, but one of many at Notts who can be slow starters in games (Robbo, Bedeau, Jones, Tsaroulla, Jatta). We can't afford to be erratic in the first 15mins. So despite the duplication and the poor record at Oldham/Cambridge I'll probably go for the extra steadiness and control of Palmer and Norburn for the first quarter of this tie at least. I'm certain Robbo will feature in other 75% of the tie.

This depends on Palmer being at 100% though, so he'll have 8 days to improve on what we saw v Gas

In the away leg at Chesterfield I think we need to field our most hard working & physical players. Players like Grant, Norburn, Robertson, & Ndlovu spring to mind. We need to ensure that we are not bullied by Chesterfield. But we don't want to be silly and lose our heads in the process.

The first leg needs to be a holding game for Notts. I think we need to be hard working & industrious & grind a result to take back to meadow lane. If we can pinch a goal in a smash and grab way, so be it.

Yeah, ideally we make life difficult for them, closing down and giving them little space or time on the ball.

Grant, for one, should spend a hour doing exactly that, and then let someone like Luker loose when there's more space and tiredness around. The rest of the first half can be spent in our possession. We have to be positive but careful with the ball at the same time.

The game changes though as soon as you go 1 behind. I don't believe you can keep to the same game plan then. Time passes quickly in football and you need every minute to try to level it up. I don't know if the pros see it that way though

We know how this will go. 100% commitment. A hundred miles an hour. End to end. Controlled aggression. Passion. And.....bedlam.....

Bring it on.....

Time passes quickly when you're behind and slowly when you're ahead @theAnticlough. It's what Einstein called relativity!

Agree with the above that we should try to control possession and not risk too much in the first leg, especially with it being away. A draw would be OK. Even going back to the NL days, our recent encounters with Chesterfield have been chaotic affairs and we've never quite got to grips with them. We need the playoffs to be different, we need to be in control, so I'd sacrifice some attacking flair for that.

I think we should allow Chesterfield to think they've won it before kicking a ball, allow them to big themselves up and act like they do. Their fans are already coming out of the woodwork and the only thing I think is fair to say is that they have done well to make the playoffs.

They haven't exactly been up there, and I think their win over us at Meadow Lane may go over their head. However, we played much better with 10 men than we did when Ollie Norburn was on the pitch and had he not got sent off, I think the game would have been a lot tighter. Notts needs to focus on being more clinical, so I hope we spend a little extra time creating chances and finishing in training leading up to the game.

Defensively, we need to push them back and deal with the second and third ball. We have a good ability to win back the ball quickly, but sometimes we take our minds off when it comes to awkward bounces or just the opposition powering through.

Midfield will always determine which factor ends up being decisive, if not be poor defending leading to goals by not tracking back and providing cover or setting up the chances for someone to score themselves. I would just like to see us go in calm, avoid interactions with Chesterfield players. Let them act like they do, don't allow them to get into our heads and just slow them down with retaining the ball.

We played well at Colchester & the same starting XI delivered an industrious and creative 45 mins on Sat. Absolutely no reason to change for Chesterfield in my view.

Over 2 legs it is going to be a huge task - I’m usually optimistic but our failure to turn pressure into goals and our defensive frailties are serious concern.

If we get it right we should win but it needs that extra level of concentration, application and finishing. We don’t want to be “out Cooked” again!

I’ve got to admit I’m slightly nervous about meeting Chesterfield in the two matches, they seem to have the knack of winding our players up especially Dobra, I agree with @YoopEyes our lack of goals at the moment is worrying I just hope that the players don’t let the occasion get to them.

They’ve got some very good players and a manager who’s “been there and done that”, they’ll definitely be on a high after reaching the play offs, the fact that we got more points over the season is irrelevant. As @Chris says cool, calm heads are needed.

Not worried at all, Beat Chesterfield over both matches and thrash Salford at Wembley

I'm with @Paris Sandwich Man 100% positive outcome all the way. COYP

We all hope this playoff campaign ends well. We all want to be optimistic. The problem is we have been here many times before. When it comes to the big games, we don’t seem to have the mentality to see it through. There is no question we have the talent, but on these occasions when it really matters it’s the strong mentality that gets you through. In the National League playoffs, we didn’t play particularly well in either game, but we prevailed. So we can do it. Let’s hope we can do it again. COYP!

@McPie yes we have the talent, and they'll be worrying about that but there's a reason why bookies like bet365, Ladbrokes, Corals have Chesterfield slight favourites for promotion. On the 2-leg tie, William Hill has C'field 8/11 and Notts Evens.

Form and momentum matters. And of our recent results 3-0 at Oldham and 4-0 at Cambridge will have big fat circles drawn around them. On that basis I agree. County have to rise to the occasion and show something very different to those games.

Get through this tie and I agree with the feelings on Magpie Circle - the confidence of winning and the big beautiful Wembley pitch should make us favourites if we can get past the spireites

If we do get past Chesterfield I think I’m going to be in meltdown if it’s us v Salford at Wembley!

I’m in a kind of hopeful phase, I think it’ll be close over the two legs, I can see it being decided by a goal. I think we played ok against them even though we lost twice, the home match was more impressive when you consider we played with 10 for nearly 75 and had them worried. We can potentially surprise them a bit, we are pretty healthy in terms of attackers and midfielders now but I just hope Browne isn’t injured because if we are going into the play-offs with just the three fit defenders it’s tight-rope walking stuff.

For the players who haven’t played against Dobra before, they will now be fully aware of his antics, he wants a reaction and in the last match we gave it to him. He totally did Norburn. The players have to just ignore him, no matter how much he irritates them, just leave him to be his whinging baby self.

16 hours ago, menzinho said:

If we do get past Chesterfield I think I’m going to be in meltdown if it’s us v Salford at Wembley!

I think we have to root for Salford as twisted as that sounds - they're the worst footballing team of the 4 semi-finalists.

I'd fancy us to take them to the cleaners at Wembley. They rely on a congested, broken game.

And they rely on following Robinson's cheat code. It's one thing doing all that at Salford or Meadow Lane for ordinary league fixtures...

But can you really do that at Wembley, on live tv, with the pick of referees interested in maintaining their reputations with all eyes on them?

Constant timewasting and general shithousery won't pass off well on Sky TV, in front of 40,000 at the home of football.

Myabe they'll just forfeit and not turn up at all ;)

Hmmm. The problem with Salford is that they have Graydon!

They demolished MKD’s a few weeks ago and they looked strong, sharp and clinical when it mattered against both them & us. Yes, we chucked it away after seemingly salvaging a point - but that was the difference. In a one off with Salford we’d have to improve, considerably, and they’d have to, effectively, “not turn up”. I don’t feel optimistic about beating any of these 3 tbh but I reckon Grimsby would suit us the best.

If, and it remains a very big if, we beat Chesterfield then it’s “game on” at Wembley. Personally, I’d prefer the fishy folk tbh.

Fair enough,

It's such an evenly matched play-off line up.

I'll be in a minority here, but I have very modest ambitions for these play-offs. Like 80pts was an improvement on 72pts, and 5th place on 6th, I'll take the below in these play-offs, which we didn't have last year...

• a goal in 3 hours of play

• some fight and showing that you care

Above that will be a bonus. But on our day, we can get past Chesterfield and beat the other two. So all to play for.