What did we think?

Everybody at least 7 out of 10, except Smyth out of his depth against two serious defenders.

Ness/Tsaroulia MOM?

Liked the back 4, sometimes 5.

Bedeau struggled under pressure?

Defence and Midfield look really solid and should earn us lots of points but does highlight need for a striker.

Like the looks of Mustapha. Made a big difference when he came on with Acquah. Made their big defenders turn and struggle.

A generous sprinkling of 8/10s I think...and when you have those, you're going to do OK

Back 3 and WBs were the strength of the team I thought

The 4 subs that came on were greatt - Mustapha will now know he's in mens football and I think he'll rise to the challenge.

Smith was fine. Looked out of wind towards the end of the first half, but then came out and gave his best 15-20mins before going off.

For the next few games, might subs who outperformed starters get picked instead? This would be Grant and Robertson for Roberts and Evans...

Apart from the excellent long-range effort early on, too many of Cal's touches were disappointing. He'll have to work on being sharper or MP will go elsewhere.

Agree, Roberts wanted too much time and too many decisions his way. I feel he will be doing a lot of running over the next few weeks 🥵

Yeah he should take the Geordie Messi tag :) a bit more literally and practice controlling, deciding, releasing and moving on in a second or less. L1 is not going to give him time on the ball, in first halves especially.

Just sharper in his general play, we know he's going to be one of our main dangermen

Everyone was on it, subs included. Cal was fouled quite a bit early on - I think that;s what caused MP to have a go at their bench and why Slocombe was booked - and he was a bit subdued after that.

We had 39 touches in their box and 16 shots but only two on target which underlines what everyone's saying about a striker.

Not sure if Palmer, Platt or some of the others will get back into this side. I think Sanders is the only one guaranteed to get straight in.

But overall awesome, just want that first win to keep the momentum going.

Yes it was very good start. In fact I would go a little bit further and describe it as an outstanding start. The style of this team is now 100% in Paterson's image Long may it continue.

The team is sure to have it's off days & we know that teams won't approach the game like Leicester did, but if the players can play with the high intensity & physicality that they demonstrated today, a comfortable mid table finish is a possibility.

Impressive display - we improved in areas where deal last season. Out of possession we were dynamic and resolute. We’d have conceded 2 or 3 last season because the midfield players were not as quick or tenacious. Evans is a terrier, he’ll start as many games as possible!

Cooper & Gibbons are very high quality for this league, make no mistake about that. I doubt we’ll see much, if anything, of Palmer & Jones. Neither are good enough to cope with the pace of today’s game. Ndluurv is another, based on today’s showing there are 3 miles ahead of him.

Anyone who doubted that Grant had class last season might start changing their mind. He’s made for this division, absolutely delightful footballer. His skill, vision, touch and awareness will be hugely important this season.

Ness was immense today btw. Great start, time to be optimistic for my money. We’ll do ok.

It certainly was a great start for Notts and the players deserve the praise heaped on them, we showed that on our day we can live with the best.

However as we know “one swallow doesn’t make a summer” so I don’t want to get carried away too early, it’s a long season, the challenge for the squad now is to keep that level of performance for every game, there will be less glamorous games to play.

So far so good though, I’m not being negative, the match was fantastic with a great atmosphere, long may it continue.

https://www.theguardian.com/football/2026/aug/16/leicester-learn-harsh-reality-of-life-league-one-but-youngsters-provide-silver-lining

A very positive start, as I've written in the other thread. There's plenty to come from the new signings, and once Roberts acclimatises to this level and (hopefully) a new number 9 arrives, the goals should flow a bit more too.

I think we have to look after the ball better though, we gave it away too cheaply in the first half in particular and could have been punished for it. We need to master the art of holding onto the ball without regressing to the old sideways and backwards ways.

It's Luton away next - they've had a season to get back into the swing of this league and will be aiming squarely for promotion, so it'll be a tough one. A draw there and a win against Burton the week after will be a very bright start in my book.

19 minutes ago, StarkMallard said:

A very positive start, as I've written in the other thread. There's plenty to come from the new signings, and once Roberts acclimatises to this level and (hopefully) a new number 9 arrives, the goals should flow a bit more too.

I think we have to look after the ball better though, we gave it away too cheaply in the first half in particular and could have been punished for it. We need to master the art of holding onto the ball without regressing to the old sideways and backwards ways.

It's Luton away next - they've had a season to get back into the swing of this league and will be aiming squarely for promotion, so it'll be a tough one. A draw there and a win against Burton the week after will be a very bright start in my book.

5 points from the first 3 games would be exceptional. Yes, Luton will be a harder test. But if Saturdays team is still fit, a striker arrives and Mustapha is ready......

When Martin Paterson took over last season he said judge me after 10 games. In fact it's an often used rule of thumb in football at the beginning of a new season. Based on that criteria we have a lot to look forward to after an excellent performance against Leicester. Despite all the new signings (only four of the starters played against Salford at Wembley) the team is already starting to gel. We have several players to come back from injury (Max Sanders will be like a new signing when he's fit) Players not yet in the first eleven like Baker, Mustapha and Samuels-Smith ready to make an impact, not to mention the potential to sign a new striker before the window closes. In that context, yesterday was most definitely a good start, a very good start. COYP

It was a very encouraging performance by the lads. The performance had Martin Paterson's hand all over it. The team showed all the traits that the Head Coach wanted to see,

I do believe that we can now say for certain that this squad of players are Martin Patersons squad. Whatever Martin asks of his players they will do.

I think another important point is the experience that Martin can bring to bear after saving Burton in League 1 a few seasons ago.

We've only seen two competitive games but the signs are very good. The players are going to battle in every game. It might not always be pretty but it could be very effective.

I wouldn’t have been happy if I supported Leicester City, no bias, but they were quite poor. Easily dispossessed, it took a while to get comfortable, and their keeper in the early 10–15 minutes reminded me of Kelle Roos. Ironically, I told a couple of steward friends that Leicester fans had been complaining about not signing more players for fees, and claimed that their youngsters are not ready. By all accounts, their young players were the only part that impressed me about how they played.

Referees need to be less lenient about shirt-pulling, because it is the worst level I have seen in recent years.

Notts started very brightly and produced the best 90-minute performance for some time at Meadow Lane. Leicester were always going to have a bit more quality about them, but I felt we matched them and, for the longer spells, outplayed a team that should have done much better.

Luka Smyth doesn’t look match-fit, and he has had a lot of poor service. I am not making excuses, because it is clear he needs time, but I don’t think he should be starting. The count of passes that were not completed. Where it was whacked to him was somewhat frustrating because it killed momentum at times.

Defensively we look much better; I would like James Gibbons to support his side more effectively, but this will come with time. I do think organisation against Leicester could have been more mindful, and a more settled squad could have exploited parts, but it was a very good team performance. We will get better, and that is the most promising part, but we do need to make sure we don't drop this as a baseline standard for our expected performance. At least where possible, because no doubt we will play badly, but we need to see Martin Paterson setting expectations and choosing the squad based on delivering.