Game 31 - The Alex (H)

Team: Crewe Alexandra

Date: 03/02/18

Where: Meadow Lane

What line-up should Kevin Nolan opt for? What will be the key areas for the Magpies to get a victory? What do you think the final score will be?

Have your say below, join in with the Pride of Nottingham match discussion.

i can see it being a draw but i do think crewe are there for the taking considering their squad, injuries etc.

Collin Tootle Duffy Brisley Dickinson Hawkridge Hewitt Husin Grant Stead Ameobi 

Bench- Pindroch Hall Jones Alessandra Smith Walker Bennett

Husin will be good against these as they don't have many tall lads in midfield. But we MUST win. No excuses we have to win not just this game but Barnet and Carlisle too. Need to keep winning and winning. 

Obviously this may change if Tootle is still ill and Virtue is still suspended.

Notts haven't done well when they're tasked with impressing non-regulars are they...?

But no, I think this is a very winnable game and I hope that the stadium is, as it appears it will be, absolutely chocka.

We need Tootle back.

I would like to see Bennett start just to save either Stead or Ameobi's legs, I think the game is winnable but as always its down to how we play/chances created.

Excited for this one. Notts should win but they should have won on my last visit v FGR & look how that turned out.

No excuses tomorrow, it’s no good saying “but we played well in parts of the game”. And losing or scraping a draw.We should have been 2 or 3 up in the last 2 home games but wasted some golden chances. Draws are no good now we need a run of wins otherwise we could be out of contention very soon. I’d play a 442 system and I would play Bennett with Stead.

We really must go for the win, yet I want to see Hunt being more defensive if he plays.

Naturally Tootle's return would be a massive plus, having him going forward gives us a lot more support and although I do credit Hunt at times - he can be quite wasteful and tends to leave us wide open at the back (not a lack of trying mind).

I want to see Notts focus on feeling out Crewe as early as possible.

If we can create a few good chances which asks proper questions of the Crewe's keeper and defence, this would aid us with knowing what type of danger Crewe have. They're a tricky team and it's not to be underestimated but we should be more than fine (if we play well).

Can we get back to winning ways?

I hope so but I think we will end up drawing myself. 1-1 for me.

good all round performance today, i was well impressed.

the second half saw notts really get going and we played some good stuff. i think the formation really allowed us to play comfortably, i know we started awfully but we grew in confidence after equalising.

It was a not bad attacking performance, likewise a not bad defensive peformance, being critical we need to release Jorge Grant earlier, countless times he had made brilliant runs on the left wing and every time the ball seemed to fall to either Hewitt or Hunt, neither of whom have the awareness to see such a pass.

Hewitts energy is faultless, his positional sense though needs to be better, especially when defending, but as a team I didn't think we defended that well, mainly caused by this lack of awareness as other players were being dragged nto areas they shouldn't have been in.

We miss Tootle as both he & Jones push the opposing team backwards but with only Jones doing this Crewe's left winger was cheating which allowed them an out ball most of the time.

Our ball watching at times is criminal and you could see Crewe trying to expose this whenever they had a chance.

Having said that going forward, Ameobi was class, his first touch is brilliant and the referee failed to spot a lot of fouls commited on him yesterday. Stead ran his nuts off as always, like with Ameobi the Crewe defenders were all over him like a rash, looked better once Bennett came on and took over the running.

Alessandra will always give you an out ball but we miss Hawkridge in that position. Husin was class, always has time and has the ability to find time, a lone undermined skill that the best always posses.

Grant got far more into the game once Bennet came on as he had someone on the same wavelength as him and these both helped Husin also as he was understanding the runs they made.

If we could clear up the defensive mistakes then we'd beat any team we come up against in my opinion.

First complete team performance that I have seen for a very long time.

The start had me dreading what might become but I thought Notts responded how they should and as a result quickly took back control of the game.

i thought the midfield just over ran crewe yesterday, it was good to see hewitt, husin and grant all linking up well.

The early goal for Crewe seemed to help us more than it did them.

It was very poor defending by Duffy, I had no idea what he was thinking and it's those decisions by him which usually cost us the most. He managed to settle down, yet I do feel his shaky start did impact us for a bit.

The midfield ran the show, they urged forward and created chances after chance.

It wasn't a case yesterday of 'will we score' it was 'when will we score'. Going into the lead before half time was massive too, it meant we could come out and play our usual passing game. Second half we looked class, the link-up play especially! The addition of Bennett had me thinking we could score even more, as Alessandra seemed to be left unmarked after and he really did deserve a goal.

That said, fans now know why he's been pushed onto the wing after the amount of chances he had to score.

I'm very impressed!

Has Kevin been working on shooting in training or something? All the goals ended up being taken very well.

The roar when we equalized was matched by Notts going 2-1 up.