Match Discussion: Game 6 - The Stones (H)

[PON_News]

Game 6 - The Stones (H)

Team: Wealdstone

Date: 14/09/2021

Where: Meadow Lane

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.

[Chris Website URL Visit Site 𝕏 fmcj10 Instagram fmcj10]

need a win to lift morale, I think the chances should come, and we appear to be much better at home.

On goal, we seem to be far more creative with our efforts, but this will improve as the fixtures come - Notts are in a very good position right now. Being undefeated and at home, Meadow Lane needs to show its full support. 

I haven't seen Wealdstone's highlights so far this season, but I assume they'll be similar to last season.

They are decent on the ball, able to score and can fight their way back into games, but ultimately have a cagey defence that panics. I don't think their keeper was very good either from what I watched, and I had seen a lot of live games on TV.

Hopefully, not much has changed.  

[Fozzy]

I think we'll probably start with a 5 again but feel that we look better with a flat back four and it will make us more effective for home games.

Home game against average opposition, so it's imperative that we win really if we are going to be serious this season. Home draws will do us no favours at all.

[RetroPie 𝕏 @Retro_Pie]

I am hoping Kyle Wootton gets a little more support, he could do a lot more if another striker was thrown up in support. A little too much reliance on Cal Roberts and Ruben Rodrigues for my liking, yes they can win games but strikers are what finish them.

[liampie]

i am wanting to see notts retain a clean sheet, even if its just in the first 45 minutes.

this will breathe confidence in the back and take some of the stress of the creativity, the players should be able to express themselves a little more.

[Dripsey3]

Wealdstone adopted a care free attitude after it was clear that there would be no relegation last season. They scored 49 goals and conceded a whopping 99 goals. Nots beat them 3-0 at the Lane and 1-0 at their place. Wealdstone are far more resilient this season. They held Dagenham to a 2-2 draw away from home. They drew with Southend as well. They are on a 3 match unbeaten run. IB will have his homework done and Notts will not take this game lightly. You'd expect Notts to win and I think they will but it will be tough. Chesterfield beat them 2-0 but it took 85 minutes to finally kill the game off. It could be similiar tonight. 2-0 to Notts is my prediction. 

[Dripsey3]

Wealdstone take the lead. Notts never do it the easy way do they?

[Dripsey3]

1-1. Roberts again. We're lucky to have him. 

[Dripsey3]

And Kyle makes it 2-1. We're lucky to have him as well!

 

[Dripsey3]

Happy with the 3 points but that defence has serious issues. We won't outscored every team in this division, the defending has to improve. 

[DangerousSausage]

We're making it exciting aren't we? A win is great, we're still unbeaten too, but four goals conceded in two home games isn't great. There's so little room for error if you want to finish top, you need to stamp out bad habits like this.

[Super_Danny_Allsopp]

Listened on the radio and it's nail biting stuff. All well and good doing this against Wealdstone, but the better teams in this league won't let us score 3.

 

Still, play badly/OK and picked up 3 points. 

[Elite_pie]

An entertaining game, but one we were a bit lucky to win. My main concerns about a dodgy defence and a midfield that gives it little protection were only reinforced. Delighted with a 3-2 win, but it could easily have been 5-5.

A special mention for Wealdstone, I thought both their team and support were very good. They were comfortable on the ball, and most of their passes whether long or short found a team mate. Their fans were still making plenty of noise even when they were 3-1 down, and they must be gutted to be going home with nothing.

[Super_Danny_Allsopp]

Watched the extended highlights, and just some points I noted that I didn't get from the commentary:

- Some of Ed Francis' long balls were sublime. He's got a decent shot on him too.
- The elbow is on purpose and a straight red every day of the week.
- Rodrigues was 'off' but still did a lot of good link up play.
- It's Lacey and Brindley that get in a mess for their 2nd. Lacey steps out and doesn't win the ball and I think Brindley is trying to catch them offside (unsuccessfully).
- I think its Wootton that loses his man for their first. 
- Matty Palmer should be scoring that chance. If he doesn't touch it, Wootton sweeps home his 2nd of the night. 

[Chris Website URL Visit Site 𝕏 fmcj10 Instagram fmcj10]

I don't think Notts was lucky to win, we had a perfectly good goal disallowed at a key stage in the game.

Sam Slocombe also kept us in the match, which I don't expect to see him being given the credit for. It's the most demanding role on the pitch, but I think he's showing his experience whereas when Ross Fitzsimons was here - he got defended rather blindly until the later stages of the season. If Fitzsimons was here now, I doubt we'd be doing as well. Yet every keeper makes at least a few mistakes. Defensively, we do need to be better.

Slocombe and Kyle Cameron have both said this is an adjustment for Notts, which will take time, but the signs are positive.

Wealdstone gave us a good game, They started off sluggish, but defensively I always felt they were poor in this department. Going forward, they played a direct game which was opposite to my thoughts on their defence. A better team might have caused more issues, yet in the second half we were on top of the game.

The entertainment value was one of the better aspects I've seen in a while, but I still believe there's an unhealthy expectation that Notts should be keeping clean sheets and winning games 5-0, home and away by some fans.

This isn't realistic and even the poorer teams in the National League will be able to cause any team issues.

It's all down to improving, getting those wins and boosting the confidence within our squad.

Cal Roberts could've easily ended the game with far more goals, he got himself into positions where he unselfishly attempted to assist someone else - had he shot and not scored, he'd fall criticism to being selfish. Yet he's alert, bright and eager to do what's best for the team. His free kick was a very close attempt. Kyle Wootton, Ruben Rodrigues, Kyle Cameron all came close to scoring chances which didn't quite work out. That's football.

Very few attempts by Wealdstone in the second half had that edge or worry of a goal threat.

Despite feeling nervous when they attacked, we hung on and defended well in the dying moments of the game.

I think it was a fair match, which both teams took seriously and gave everything - we came out of it deserving the win. Yet I feel Wealdstone proved that they're no pushovers.

PS. It's also unlike Weymouth who went 2-0 up, then lost 2-4. I used to argue that winning pretty was better than winning ugly, which most fans seemed to prefer the win however it came - it's happening now, and we want this crisp attractive football where we don't concede. Each game is different, but improvements will be made - yet I think in the National League we must sometimes accept results are the main thing without being overly critical of performances.

[RetroPie 𝕏 @Retro_Pie]

The win is the main thing, Wealdstone made it difficult for Notts but at 3-1 it never looked likely to end any other way than a Notts win.