Where has it all gone wrong

[Piethagoram 𝕏 @piethagoram]

What is the most important thing at a football club? 

Many will say the manager but a manager's ability relies to a certain extent on his "raw materials". Even Ardley seemed resigned that some players were not good enough for 90 minutes and others didnt have the ability to "accept instruction"

Where was the Dagenham level of performance... long since gone from my memory

[Super_Danny_Allsopp]

The recruitment. It wasn't good enough. Going through the squad, comparing to last season:

- Goalkeeper: Pilling is an accident waiting to happen, so pretty much exactly like Fitzsimmons. Like for like replacement. Same

- Left Back: McCrory is a good player but obviously has injury issues. We haven't replaced him effectively. Bagan found out in the play-off final, Chicksen played OK-ish then never seen again, Barnett is utter tripe. Our best fit left back is DKE and he's a RB. That's 3 LBs on the book permanently and none fit or good enough to be really starting. Worse

- Centre Back: Graham wasn't good enough last season and wasn't good enough this season. Never replaced him until Ellis arrived. Turner as much as a liability as last season. Pierce Bird starts every week for Eastleigh who will soon overtake us. Same

- Right Back: DKE is good backup for this position while Brindley is out. I didn't and still don't see the need to sign two further youngsters on loan that both weren't impressive. Same

- Wingers: Where are they? Roberts is an obvious blow, he wasn't replaced. Enzio is the only other recognised winger, the others are strikers being asked to cut in from the wing or players from other positions. Sam Osbourne would be in this side. Worse

- Central Midfield: We have a 39 yo Michael Doyle playing every game up until the point he has a muscle strain. We're so lacking in this position we have nobody else to play there. Reeves started well but has since been poor and is too negative. Sloth was never replaced. Wolfe either not good enough or always injured. Booty and Crawford would both sleep walk into starting in this team, they both pass forward too! Rose athleticism not replaced. Worse

- Strikers: Wootton is on his own. Sam was always a gamble and Knowles was a rubbish signing at the time and isn't up to scratch for anything beyond emergency cover. Wes Thomas left and was not replaced. Dennis left and not adequately replaced. Worse

If you look through this summary, there is only one conclusion; this years squad is worse than last years. The recruitment has been shocking. The loans have been especially bad; Knowles, Wolfe, the right backs and Effiong have all been terrible signings. Only Ellis has been half decent and he's just arrived. 

 

[Elite_pie]

I don't think there are any huge problems with the squad we have. Central midfield looks the weakest department, but I don't think even that is holding us back too much. The biggest problem by far is ATTITUDE. We show effort, but it's token effort.  We actually seem scared of our opponents even if they play two divisions below us.  If Burchnall can get this squad to play with passion and belief instead of nerves and fear, we will look twice the side we've looked so far this season.

[liampie]

no huge issues at all.

football has changed with covid somewhat, there is no home advantage and without supporters it will always be a different game. this season is a difficult one to manage due to all the breaks which cant be helped. our strikers are good enough, we just need more creativity from the midfield and they need to help more when it comes to defending. its going to take time to get things right again, the manager needs time to understand the squad. losing 1-0 is not a big set back but as others keep saying promotion this season looks unlikely. i can accept that if we are stronger next year.

[Piethagoram 𝕏 @piethagoram]

Watching the England game last night and then trying to transpose what I saw to the Notts game plan.

Crispness of passing and movement through midfield is the main difference. Notts are so slow to move the ball from the back and if Turner or Barnett are involved, the passes just go to the opposition many times. 

[Super_Danny_Allsopp]

4 hours ago, Piethagoram said:

Watching the England game last night and then trying to transpose what I saw to the Notts game plan.

Crispness of passing and movement through midfield is the main difference. Notts are so slow to move the ball from the back and if Turner or Barnett are involved, the passes just go to the opposition many times. 

Also noticed that England have four or more players that can get on the ball and take on their man, or even multiple men. The only player we have that can do that is Cal Roberts. 

[Piethagoram 𝕏 @piethagoram]

and Ruben too

[Feral Fox]

If you're looking for a comparison in International Football with Notts, I'd say Ireland any time of the week.

We're (Eire) swapping players and systems, no piercing type play at all and couldn't score in a brothel. 

In fact, I'd go as far as to suggest Stephen Kenny may well find himself out of a job soon. If it wasn't for Covid etc...he'd probably be gone by now. 

The realisation from fans is we need a bit of metal and directness, when done well, can compete with other teams. Kenny is trying to impose the 20 passes at the back routine like Ardley did...and it's not working. A bit like Ardley as well! lol

 

[menzinho]

Yeah I think losing Cal Roberts has been massive. He’s our best player, probably irreplaceable at this level and this season was probably built around getting the best out of him. I’m confident he’d have scored and assisted a number of times if he’d been fit all season and with that, I’m sure we’d have more points.

Notts County Talk (on twitter) posted some pictures of him on the ball, he occupies 2/3 players – so just having him on the pitch frees up space for others.

I know people have mentioned the strikers and the need for a proven goal scorer, I totally agree we are weaker up top than last season but for me we haven’t created enough. Our general play since the turn of the year has nose-dived and our attacking threat has seriously dwindled. We could have Haaland upfront and right now but would he get a good through ball or decent cross to finish? I doubt it.

[RetroPie 𝕏 @Retro_Pie]

The issue is the midfield and formation, there is no service to the forwards without a squad fighting or with confidence. Nobody can suggest that the players don't care just because of a dry patch which is only going to get worse if people continue to turn.

Our strikers are good enough for this level, Knight has the chance to come good.

Sam is suitable to start or come on as a super sub.

The mobility in the middle of the park and lack of defensive cover is the real concern nobody seems to want to address.

[liampie]

3 hours ago, Feral Fox said:

The realisation from fans is we need a bit of metal and directness

to some extent notts needs to go back to the basics and what worked at the start of the season, the players seem low on confidence but a few wins could change all that. as for the fans, some need to get on board with what being a supporter means.

[gtownjohnno]

The players meeting from a couple of weeks ago as been glossed over..... I suspect something along these lines was talked about...... Let's see if we can break the record for most managers in a season..... 

So far it's working... Another could go if there is 2 more defeats this weekend!!!!!!!? 

[TheSkipper 𝕏 TheSkipperNCFC]

I don't believe anything has gone wrong massively, the only issue I can name is the amount of loan players introduced over a short period of time. Neal Ardley had tried to fill the spaces with players who was out of favour, DKE for example did enough at left back.

Could Notts do more about the injury risk? I don't think so.

I do feel the manager should've tried to afford bringing in so many players, I also disagree that Ardley panicked to bring them in but I do feel he wasn't as mindful about potential injures. Better recruitment in the loan market might have saved his job, this season was always going to be a difficult one to manage though.

[DangerousSausage]

The squad management hasn't been ideal this season at all. What was odd was the never-ending stream of full backs (while Chicksen was clearly only an absolute last resort - we'd play a winger or a right back ahead of him), yet in central midfield we clearly had a problem, yet nothing was done about it.

As @Super_Danny_Allsopp says, the quality of the squad declined in the summer. The squad was thin, certain players weren't replaced adequately and too many of our signings were high-risk - three of our initial squad of 19 outfield players had never played in England before. On top of that, Neal Ardley was simply unlucky - losing Cal Roberts for most of the season was a massive blow that cost us many goals and points, and the situation with Thomas was beyond his control. That's at least 20 goals gone straight away.

Another issue is the pedestrian pace we play at, which is linked to a general lack of movement and runs. All too often the man on the ball looks to make a pass, but no-one is available. So it goes sideways and backwards. That's something I hope the new manager has recognised and will work on, as we need more tempo if we're going to be successful.

[Joshua]

Defensively, Notts did not improve from last season and the left back [Chickensen] that was brought into the squad is known to have injury issues. Fans are saying that Notts are weaker up top but this wasn't the case until Thomas had left the club. Knight had been bought in to replace him, I think we just needed to focus on the centre of midfield and defence.

[gtownjohnno]

Chicksen as been outstanding in the last 2games playing in a back 3....