Match Discussion: Play Off Semi Final - The Gulls (A)

[PON_News]

Play Off Semi Final - The Gulls (A)

Team: Torquay United

Date: 12/06/2021

Where: Plainmoor

What line-up should Ian Burchnall 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.

[Feral Fox]

Team wise, if JoB is fit, I’d swap him in for Enzio. Leave the rest as a settled team.

I hope we stuff them for a few reasons. The obvious one being were in the finals. Also feel their behaviour earlier in the season, not allowing the staff to be interviewed in the ground and throwing them onto the street, was pretty pathetic. According to Curtis, similar attitude still around the place by denying him a press pass. Good gesture by Notts, but shouldn’t need to do it. Torquay should grow up a bit!

[Dripsey3]

I'm expecting an absolute rollercoaster ride! I think it will rain goals. 4-3 AET to Notts is my prediction. Given Torquay's petulant behaviour, I expect them to have a temper tantrum on the pitch and their Mums will have to be called. Bold boys.  

[B&Wstripes]

I feel a settled squad would be best, but I do feel the one swap suggested by @Feral Fox is spot on.

Notts needs to be better defensively.

[Super_Danny_Allsopp]

Personally I would probably go for Brindley at RCB and DKE to RWB. Really rate Rawlinson as a player, but he has never looked comfortable as the right part of a back 3 and he hasn't been in the best of form.

JOB to come in for Enzio if he's fit. 

[liampie]

its a big game, pressure will be on both teams and i think whoever gets the edge of the game early on should come out on top.

[DangerousSausage]

I agree with the changes above and think they're likely too. In theory I'd like a bit more height at the back alongside Ellis, but in practice we've worked best with Brindley and DKE when playing this system. JOB also makes us more balanced in midfield.

The previous two games against Torquay were extremely tight and I don't expect this to be any different. We might have a psychological edge after the late win against Chesterfield, while Torquay fluffed automatic promotion at the last. But on the other hand, they've got home advantage. 

[Piethagoram]

Last season's play offs were Saturday, Tuesday, Saturday... with a week to prepare, Notts should be match tuned whilst Torquay have had a longer break without a competitive match. 

[menzinho]

I love how confident and focussed the players seem – it’s not rubbed off on me yet. I’m worried about the home crowd advantage. Although it felt like Chesterfield dealt with it pretty well at the same time I definitely felt it gave all our players a boost.

I don’t think Torquay will sit back like Chesterfield did and whilst we are playing better I still think we leave ourselves too open to be easily counter attacked at times.

I think it’ll be close, I wouldn’t be surprised to see this go to extra-time…

[Chris]

The clubs teased that Jim O'Brien has trained well, this amused me.

I think Notts are very determined to do well right now, so I agree that the focus is there. It depends on how the game goes, but our midfield is good enough to control the game. We just need to create more chances - or at least more than Torquay and actually take them.

One concern for me is Ruben Rodrigues he looked shattered against Chesterfield, yes, I am sure he's very fit but for me he looked like someone who needed a rest.

I would rather start Enzio and rest Rodrigues, to allow O'Brien to come in.

That said, I think we'd miss Rodrigues but sometimes you have to balance these things. I Suppose he could start, then come off if we're comfortable. It's all for Ian Burchnall to ponder however, and it's a difficult decision.

[Joshua]

I will take a 0-1 win right now, thank you.

I don't want Ian Burchnall changed much, people want Rawlinson out but I think that's madness even though he has struggled. Give him time to adapt! He's been a consistently good player since he arrived.

[Super_Danny_Allsopp]

I'll save real reaction until the emotions have calmed down a bit.

However, what I will say is this: Depth. If you take off Enzio Boldewijn, Callum Miller, Jake Reeves and bring on Jimmy Knowles, Jordan Barnett and Regan Griffiths, you will have problems.... and boy did we have problems. 

The frustrating part of that game is we have nobody to blame but ourselves. Torquay were clinical, but we threw that game. 

[Dripsey3]

We conceded 6 goals in 2 games. No way you win promotion conceding that amount of goals. Torquay are a decent side. They deserved their win, even if that penalty was dodgy to say the least. Notts kept going to the bitter end. Can't fault their effort. 

[Chris]

8 hours ago, Super_Danny_Allsopp said:

The frustrating part of that game is we have nobody to blame but ourselves. Torquay were clinical, but we threw that game. 

Agree to a point, the officiating was extremely poor and inconsistent. First goal looked offside, the penalty should never have been given. A lot of strange decisions at times, whilst Torquay dropped like flies at any given opportunity to time waste without any repercussions.

That said, Notts didn't make the most of the possession.

The quality wasn't quite there, but I feel nobody can be harsh on the squad. They tried, even at 4-2.

I can't complain about anything, I just feel the game wasn't allowed to play smoothly or consistently - yet even this wouldn't have changed the outcome.

Torquay played well, they didn't look great but they were effective.

If Notts could learn to create and control games like Torquay, we'd win a lot more. The club can improve, merits for a decent season but no fury or flame should be said.

Not even to Michael Doyle who gave the ball away very softly and without pressure, but today did prove he makes more mistakes than he contributed positive play. Extremely wasteful, but then others could be criticised - i.e a sub that contributed nothing, could've involved himself a lot more but wasted any chance of influencing the game.

[Feral Fox]

Kept off yesterday, as didn’t want to let emotions rule too much.

The defeat was our own fault. Didn’t convert chances when offered and lacked the killer edge in the final third. Pair that with the fact we looked shaky at the back whenever they put us under pressure.

Lots for IB to think about and I look forward to seeing the retained list..or more importantly, the released list. I think it’s time to move on from quite a few guys now imo.

Next season we need to be aiming for first, not playoffs and this squad isn’t capable due to being error prone and not good enough imo.

 

[DangerousSausage]

Can only agree with the above. In my heart of hearts I always felt we were too vulnerable and error-prone to go all the way. Part of that was due to the very attacking style we've adopted recently, but that was Ian Burchnall's way of getting the best out of the squad and without it we'd have likely not reached the playoffs at all. It was part of the gamble. 

Then a couple of hours later I watched the Denmark game and nearly saw a young man die live on TV. That put all of our "worries" into perspective. We had a one in six chance of winning the playoffs, we missed out, next season we'll have another chance. 

[4everapie]

And fail again if we don't address the problem areas, which we can all see.

[menzinho]

Conceding in the first 40 odd seconds was criminal. Why was no-one marking Wright? The one guy that’s made a living from heading crosses in… Not switched on at all. And then we last about 1 minute longer from kick off in the second half. Not denying the character from the team, but we made that game hard.

Lets be honest, Torquay didn’t cause us that many problems – I thought they’d attack a bit more, (maybe they would’ve if they hadn’t scored so early) we caused ourselves problems. Even though we created some decent chances, that old achilles heel of defending our box was our downfall again.

I agree the bench was weak, but we’re stacked for defenders and our only other attacking options would’ve been Knight and Sam. Hindsight it's easy to say one them should've been on for a defender...

I’d have been surprised and obviously very happy had we actually got promoted this season – but we never really troubled that top-spot this season. I’m still positive for the future, some new additions preferably some that are quite tall and good at heading and a few more gems like Rodrigues. Two seasons, two top five finishes – we’re not far off. I’m quietly confident we’ll do well again next season but you've pretty much got have the perfect season if you are to get that top spot.

[Super_Danny_Allsopp]

I was expecting more from Torquay (for them to come out and play) but thought they were poor and conservative, and I know I'm saying that after they've put 4 past us. Chesterfield and Torquay essentially did the same thing - set pieces, counter attack, else defend. Torquay at least had a bit more class and weren't cheating/wasting time from minute 1 like Chesterfield. 

I expect the winner of Stockport/Hartlepool to go up. 

[Chris]

I think Torquay did their homework, happy to allow us to attack but break in a creative way. They had the advantage over Notts with the quality of crosses/set pieces, hitting balls into areas Notts can never quite deal with properly.