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@Chris I’m not keen on going to matches with large crowds either but I guess the fact that we are getting large crowds is good for the club so we shouldn’t complain. An executive box is an expensive way to watch a match and the atmosphere isn’t the same. I did sit near the vice presidents seats (I think that’s what they’re called) and I must admit I envied then their spacious padded seats with an excellent view as I was squashed between two very large gentlemen but the cost of buying one of those for a season is way more than I’d want to spend.

It wasn't our day, but a sense of reality can go along way towards making you stronger. Look at Sutton, hopefully this will repeat what happened after.

When you look at that starting 11, we’ve basically got 3 defenders and 1 defensive midfielder. Both Jones and Nemane are effectively wingers that have been converted into wingbacks. Crowley and Austin are attacking midfielders and McGoldrick and Macca are both forwards. That leaves 4 players, Palmer, Cameron, Baldwin and Brindley who are naturally defensively minded. I know people criticise the defence, and yes they could’ve defended individual moments better, but to see comments about needing “new defenders” is unfair in my opinion. We started with an incredibly attack minded team, which gave them little protection. I agree with @NottsLoyal about the importance of Bostock, in my opinion right now the midfield is heavily reliant on Palmer and Bostock playing together, they give the defence more cover. Not having Bajrami is a huge miss, he’s our only other defensive midfielder. Tipton is potentially an option here and I think we’ll have to use him as there’s no way we can go a whole season and expect Palmer and Bostock to play every second. We’re still top of the league and think todays game and results in general show there isn’t much difference in quality between all the teams, a whole host of teams will think they can get promoted this season.

Tuesday is a bank holiday, so while you're all slogging away at work (or doing pensioner things, like smoking a pipe) I'm going to put my feet up and be lazy. More importantly, we have a prediction league round on: these fixtures kick off at 7.45pm on Tuesday night, so get your predictions in by then and remember your joker! The scores for the previous round will be posted this evening once I've dusted down my abacus. Ipswich Town v Hull City Plymouth Argyle v Millwall Blackpool v Derby County Bolton Wanderers v Stevenage Crewe Alexandra v Gillingham Morecambe v Accrington Stanley Altrincham v Aldershot Dagenham & Redbridge v York City

This is very true. Also, our recruitment has consistently focussed on bringing in defenders who are comfortable on the ball and can contribute to build-up play ever since the takeover, and overall it's served us well. Our defenders play a lot of football and play high up the pitch. We concede goals as a result, but it's also one of the reasons why we're so creative and difficult to play against. That said, the gifts are frustrating and left us chasing the game yesterday. In particular, Baldwin's decision making seems poor this season and he could maybe benefit from a spell on the bench. Unfortunately we clearly didn't land our defensive targets in the last transfer window and LW doesn't seem to trust the loanees, so that leaves us looking a bit thin. We're still top of the table, but we haven't played any of the more fancied teams yet so some realism is required. All the same, you can only beat what's in front of you and 20 points in 10 games is a great start to life back in L2. On another note, did anyone else notice the kit clash? I like us having blue away kits, but it's always a problem when visiting teams that play in blue and white stripes. We used to have a third kit for cases like this. The similar colour of the shorts and socks made things worse.

Had the first goal not happened it could have been so different

The match was a disaster, we permitted far too much room in the centre of the field. Notts required a more compact formation at times, whilst avoiding unnecessary passes. I initially sympathised with Aidan Stone, but now I attribute his shortcomings to him. He’s directly responsible for at least 3 of the goals, regardless of how many he saves, it’s simply disheartening.

It should be understood that the defensive errors are not solely from the defenders, but the entire team. I don’t believe Aaron Nemane contributed as much to the defence, which is likely why he was substituted. I had the impression that Adam Chicksen and John Bostock could have made a difference, but it is what it is. Notts won’t win every match, nor does this imply we’ll lose subsequent ones. The midfield needs to step up, but it’s the defensive players who tend to panic when they should remain composed. It was an incredibly frustrating match to watch. I’m still disappointed because I look at our goals and think, if we had just performed slightly better, the outcome could have been entirely different.

While it’s never a simple affair, Colchester United demonstrated their worthiness. Our goals were impressive, and if you only saw those, you’d undoubtedly declare, ‘that’s why they’re at the top of League Two’. However, the same cannot be said if you were to see their goals. Don’t misunderstand me, they played well, but had we not made the mistakes we did, we could have won. The errors were our own doing, and some of their goals weren’t particularly good. I’m not expressing this out of bitterness; defensively, we didn’t deserve anything from the game.

Well, I missed the first three goals as I had been to my dad's. I put the radio on my phone once I did get back, then noticed the score and messages from some of the group team members about scoreline. In football, when your side wins games, and you are playing well, sometimes you forget that it is totally unpredictable at times. Yet you are given an almost false sense of security and I would never have imagined that this would have been a nine goal thriller, with defensive mistakes which could be befitting in a comedy sketch about football. Unfortunately, this highlights how much better we need to be defensively. On the plus point, I don't think it's a case of the 'bubble bursting', I just feel as if we played a very good team who wanted to win just a little more than we did. Had we defended better, the outcome may have been much different, but I don't think we should dwell too much. I think we have been doing fantastically well and games like this just make you reflect a little more, we have a squad that can do well, and we need to see it in all areas of the pitch. We can't always rely on winning games by one more than the opposition, yet at the same time I don't think we need to overly worry. Full respect and credit must go to a very good Colchester United team, their fans won't be as bothered about the four goals they conceded even with their false league position. They will most likely just want to see more consistency with their own performances, which is what I am hoping we can go back to doing. If we defend stronger, we are capable of beating any team in this league. That's not me being biased or overconfident, but it is me saying that we need the right approach and not make such awkward mistakes that prove costly. Jodi Jones sounded quiet in the first half, perhaps guilty of not covering his defensive duties but what a goal he scored. It was absolutely fantastic, whilst I mentioned him, I don't think we need to call out the players individually. I just want to note that it's a team effort and my point was more to mention his contribution towards fixing a slight area he perhaps could have done better. Certainly, there are defenders in our squad that switched off and proved that to be more costly. Isn't that football, though?

I agree, we need to consider where we've come from and where we currently stand. We managed to score and put up a good fight, despite the problems we faced defensively, which were difficult to watch at times. John Bostock is an extremely important player in our team, who remains composed and isn't easily dispossessed. We definitely missed his presence, and although I believe he should have been in the starting lineup, on any other day, the outcome would have been different. Colchester United played exceptionally well, and they deserve credit for that.

i think his composed interview after the game shows that this time round he's going to give the players a hug, and focus more on the fact we need to work harder in defence. i am confident we can improve in training but it is obvious we need a commander at the back. someone very much like mike edwards.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/66971895

Curzon Ashton https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jimmy_Spencer_(footballer)

https://www.crawleytownfc.com/news/2023/august/reds-secure-the-signing-of-adam-campbell/ https://www.sussexexpress.co.uk/sport/football/crawley-town-3-sutton-united-0-reds-go-joint-top-thanks-to-campbell-maguire-and-orsi-goals-4354899

Woop, woop... Look out @Fan of Big Tone.

The results: Norwich City 2-0 Birmingham City QPR 1-3 Coventry City Port Vale 0-1 Bolton Wanderers Reading 0-0 Burton Albion Gillingham 1-1 Mansfield Town Salford City 2-1 Newport County Halifax Town 2-3 Eastleigh Rochdale 2-2 Southend United --- Some stonking scores this round - best of all @ARLukomski, who netted 15! @ARLukomski - 15 @Chris, @upthepies - 11 @nottsnutter - 8 @cheeky~k8, @DonnyNotts, @Joshua, @Nocturnal-Magpie - 6 @AmericanPie, @Dan, @DangerousSausage, @gtownjohnno, @NottsCountyKev - 5 @OoooooTommy, @TheSkipper - 4 @4everapie, @Fan of Big Tone, @JIMBO, @KingWilliams, @liampie - 3 @allardyces tash, @CliftonMagpie, @Megan_Elizax, @super_ram, @thommo - 2 @magpiejue, @william1984 - 1 --- @ARLukomski has opened up a decent lead after an excellent couple of rounds, while @gtownjohnno holds onto second and @cheeky~k8 moves into the top three. ARLukomski - 68 gtownjohnno - 57 cheeky~k8 - 50 DangerousSausage - 50 nottsnutter - 49 Joshua - 47 DonnyNotts - 46 4everapie - 45 liampie - 45 Fan of Big Tone - 44 Chris - 43 Dan - 43 magpiejue - 42 upthepies - 41 super_ram - 41 TheSkipper - 40 william1984 - 39 KingWilliams - 37 NottsCountyKev - 36 jimbob - 34 allardyces tash - 34 thommo - 34 Megan_Elizax - 32 JIMBO - 31 OoooooTommy - 29 Nocturnal-Magpie - 27 AmericanPie - 26 CliftonMagpie - 25 KB1862 - 22 George L - 6 Canadian - 4 --- The next round is on Tuesday night and is online now - have a go! Cheers for playing everyone

Good goals and nice to see the highlights without having to watch the whole thing.

Are they still in trouble though or have they secured enough money to stay afloat.

Is that what its come to, taking something needed for safety to make abit of money.

A tough game but we need to forget yesterdays game and move forward. Its good to get these games out the way really and know what we need to focus on after this point.

Good luck to him.

Unfortunate result but good amount of goals scored and Notts did well. We are still top of the league and we arnt going to win every game. It would of been a nervous game there for the fans.

Its all his fault he ruined our wins No, really its good to see a story about it.

https://www.gazette-news.co.uk/news/23826049.notts-county-boss-luke-williams-colchester-united/ To me, if we had started with Palmer and Bostock , the game would have been different

Swindon are a strong side. They score for fun. They are the top scorers in the division. They have conceded 14 in 9. They are unbeaten in the league. I think it will be a high scoring game and Swindon will go home with all 3 points. I hope I'm wrong.....

Not bothered @Fan of Big Tone ,you won't be the only one expecting us to lose but I have to remain optimistic.

It's crucial in any game not to help your opposition,especially in the first quarter of a game,so to gift your opponents 10 minutes in is absolutely criminal.I'm all for building from the back but when the other team press your defence so hard a hoof as far up the field as possible is usually a better option.So a lesson learned for Stone and also the defender who put Stone back under pressure.There were other instances that Notts could have managed better but so could Colchester. Considering the phenomenal progress Notts have made I think a little set back must be accepted.Take it on the chin and leave the rest to Luke Williams and all the staff.Oh and enjoy being top of the league.

Ipswich Town 2-0 Hull City Plymouth Argyle 1-1 Millwall (joker) Blackpool 1-0 Derby County - sorry @super_ram Bolton Wanderers 2-2 Stevenage Crewe Alexandra 1-0 Gillingham Morecambe 3-2 Accrington Stanley Altrincham 3-0 Aldershot Dagenham & Redbridge 0-1 York City

Wordle 834 4/6 Eureka!!!!Excuse my Greek @Piethagoram

This will be another tough test and obviously we need a reaction, they won’t have had much time to sort out the defensive problems from Saturday and no doubt Swindon will be well aware of how they can best test our fragile defence. It should make for an interesting match.

Some good goals, Jodie’s was the pick of the bunch but defensively we had a nightmare game.

Wordle 834 4/6* 4 getting better

Wordle 834 4/6 Excuse my French

It's games like this. I dream of upgrading to an executive box and reliving the wonderful moments of our previous PON gathering. I hate Meadow Lane when it's overcrowded; it's frustrating and leads to my anxiety playing games. I've also heard we have sold out.

I feel quite nervous, which is something that I haven't felt so much at home for a while. I see they beat Grimsby Town today 2-1, quite alarming when I started to search "Swindon Town" in Google, a pop-up option for searching 3-1 came up. I realise this is our scoreline from when we last played and Google is aware I search things related to Notts but it better not be a warning sign too. When they are the team where our last time in League Two ended, I very much want us to win, and I would feel disappointed if we lost or even drew due to defensive mistakes. I don't want to see any of them, however, I'll cross the line if it does. I think we should be alright at Meadow Lane. Most likely, it may even be a draw but whatever the outcome is I am not going to let it change my belief or stop complaining about things. I suppose we will have to wait and see, yet I am mindful of a potential further setback.

Let’s look on the bright side, we’re still top of the league!

Wordle 833 5/6 I decided to leave off and go to the shop .As I was walking I was juggling letter combinations in my head.Still no joy.Then suddenly the clouds cleared and possibilities came to me.Aha I thought to myself as I got some odd looks from other shoppers.They obviously thought I'd found what I was searching for on the shelves.

Their insights on Notts’ progress so far are appreciated. I haven’t seen a Left Lion magazine in years. Have they ceased publication? It would be regrettable if that were the case.

good write up by colin sissons, i thought he had stopped writing for the left lion. i thought someone else had taken over. i am pleased to see his name in the articles byline.

I’ll be making sure to watch this match via the iFollow stream. I noticed from Luke Williams’ press conference that Notts have already sold out their allocation, which is quite impressive!

"October sees Notts take on four of the current top seven sides in the division, who will have all watched these games intensely in the hope of finding a flaw in Notts’ formidable form." Much is made of " we see where we are after 10 games"..... but I think by the end of October, we will know how far we have progressed.

i am glad you got your tickets sorted @Fan of Big Tone, i hope @George L enjoys the game too. i think the home tickets will sell fast, hopefully, we put more fans in the jimmy sirrel end and avoid selling that out to mansfield town fans. they do us over with tickets for their games at times.

Ipswich Town 2v0 Hull City joker Plymouth Argyle 2v1 Millwall Blackpool 2v1 Derby County Bolton Wanderers 1v0 Stevenage Crewe Alexandra 1v2 Gillingham Morecambe 1v0 Accrington Stanley Altrincham 1v0 Aldershot Dagenham & Redbridge 1v1 York City

Revisiting the goals, it tempts me to withdraw and brood until Monday. How poor was the defence and Aidan Stone? It seems somehow worse when watching the highlights.