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There's a couple of things here for me. I thought Colchester was everything I'd expect from a Notts side this season. Remember when we were sold the idea of "dark arts" and being physical and more direct? I didn't see that against Colchester. I thought they were probs the best side I've seen at Meadow Lane and that's including us against Shrewsbury. They were disciplined, drove some good passes behind our high press and the front three bullied us all day long. Also helps when you've got a good keeper who catches and doesn't have a 60% rate of giving the ball to the opposite side. I think that a large majority of people within the club and watching now think that Roos is the biggest hinderence since Alan Smith's days of being a statue. They have to act or watch us lose more money by not achieving promotion and Paterson sacked as he can't navigate a boat with a gaping hole in it. Two tactical issues stand out for me which I think is on Paterson. We are easy to counter and break the lines of. We do have good defenders but some times I think we'd be better with three in midfield with someone screning the back line and Palmer and Robbo abit pushed up. Secondly, we fall off a cliff when it gets to the 25 yard area. The amount of players which get to just outside of the area, all of a sudden are hit with a moment of indecision. Grant is the worst for it but Hall is a very close second. Jarvis has shown that he might be capable but I dunno. This Jan is huge, but I do find comfort in the fact Montague is at the club. I hope/reckon that we'll see signficant changes to our team in Feb to now.

Very frustrating and disappointing display tbh. I have zero idea how Hall was MOTM. Yes, he did some fancy turns & actually put some effort in during the last 20 mins. Prior to that he looked off the pace, was rarely available for a pass and didn’t seem to get involved. He fluffed our best chance in the 1st half too. Technically gifted player with an eye for goal but today was not his best day. Robertson, Bedeau & Grant were our liveliest and most effective performers until later in the game. Ness put a few stray passes around but was generally solid, Macari had a decent enough game too. Very good on the ball but his crosses are weak. Jarvis flatters to deceive, only time he tried to go round his man, he “won” the peno. He cuts inside or passes sideways & backwards too much for me tbh. He needs to be more decisive & direct if he wants to stay in the team. On balance, Palmer made a huge difference in the 2nd half - he probably deserved MOTM tbh.

Yes @Robbie a promotion-winning AM duo might not be on the books at the moment. Hall had made one of the positions his own, but the drop off over the last 3 or 4 games has been alarming and could've opened things up again. Grant's star has been rising and Iorpenda's falling. Both are capable footballers but I've been saying all along that their output won't be what we need to sustain a promotion challenge over 46 games. MP can try Jones again, Jarvis, Dennis back there, Kouhyar, (I think Traore has shot it). It was a shame Luker got injured, he might have been part of the solution. Hopefully, MP and Montague will settle on AM has a big priority area for Jan. Two might be being greedy, but 1 first choice and let the likes of Hall and Grant compete for the other shirt might be good enough to grab one of the 4 slots.

I think Hall and Iorpenda have looked a bit tired in the last couple of games. Probably due to not being used to playing regular men’s football. Martin Paterson seems to like Grant so he might replace Hall. Not sure he will play two up front, so Dennis might miss out. I wouldn’t be against giving Kouhyar a start. I think he’s probably earned it.

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Unfortunately Notts looked like the non league team and Brackley the league team. Congratulations Brackley for the positive attitude, energy, grit and determination never to give up. I hope we as a collective can learn from a dismal display and moving forward, put on a brave face leaving this disaster in the past. PMA is a must now, the league beckons.

Unfortunately I think the return of Macca is a bit of a pipe dream for us, especially as we are still in League 2. Pretty much every club in League 1 would be happy to have him (assuming they can afford him!)

This game was a big test for Notts & it would demonstrate how the squad stand in the League 2 scheme of things, & whether they can compete at a high level against the top sides. With some very tough games to come against the leading sides in December, I believe it was important for Notts to put in a good performance against Colchester, but unfortunately it didn't happen, & Colchester were simply the better side on the day. Why? Because they won the tactical battle. Colchester were another side to come to ML with a plan. A plan that we see time & time again by opponents at ML. Notts couldn't better it once again. I think that Notts have to look at their present style of play, because the way Notts are playing is not good enough to counter the way opponents set up against them especially at ML. It doesn't help when Notts give away goals that could have been easily avoided. Unfortunately, I don't think that our number 1 goalkeeper is good enough & until a change is made, Notts will continue to concede soft goals like they have been doing from the beginning of the season. Another big point, 8 out of the 10 outfield players who lined up against Colchester played under Maynard, & Maynard's team had a poor record against the top 10 teams last season. This side struggled just as the side struggled last season to break teams down. It is also conceding soft goals just like last season. The January transfer window cannot come quick enough.

I think if we notched up the tempo and the quickness of our passing and not press so high up the pitch, we might be able to get some balls behind their defense. Otherwise it's quite tedious build up play that gets to the 25 yard area, no one shoots, we play it out wide, we either cross it or call foul and if we do cross it, Jatta's not getting their first. Rinse and repeat.

i left the game feeling very frustrated in roos, to the point i felt like i had little hope in his ability. i watched the extended highlights yesterday, because i dont want to be harsh or rely on my thoughts after the game because i realise my perspective could be more based on what i felt i had seen. i do wish he would stop being so eccentric, focusing more on playing it safe. notts looked very good until his decision to come rushing out, when i saw it live i wondered why the hell he did not just kick it out for a throw in. i thought he slid in trying to leave something onto the colchester player. for me it was the biggest turning point of the game, and rewatching it. i think the idea was probably right, but the execution being poor and unfortunate. until watching the extended highlights, i thought we had some good chances that just did not fall but there are efforts that we should have done much better with and one came from a cross from lewis macari where conor grant back flicked the ball, it catches a deflection and tyrese hall is stretching to get on to it. its unfortunate, as grant may have scored but i do wonder if being more aware and passing it would have been different. to their credit everything happens in a heart beat, but there are chances where we really should be more clinical. i think we need to be more mindful when going for it, because it ultimately left us short at the back. poor defending, and i do think roos could have done better but i would acknowledge one on ones are hard. our problem is the defending and decision making when it comes to the opposition having chances. i thought we played very well attacking wise, but it counts for nothing when you cant manage a team of thugs and dark arts specialists.

We can beat anyone in this league when we are on it. Let's hope we are on it this Saturday. I think our problem is we can't sustain a good performance for the whole game. We either start well and fade of start poorly and give our selves a mountain to climb. We have to start taking our chances while we are top that's seems to be what's missing.

Well I won’t be there for this match so I predict an exciting fast paced match, Notts will dominate for the whole 90+ minutes and we’ll win 5-0. You heard it here first.

Palmer back in to start for sure. I wouldn't mind unchanged apart from that, we won the second half with Palmer on after all. Jarvis to come on, Jodi as well if he's fit.

It was a very frustrating game, but that said, I don't think either team played badly. Harrogate might have been fortunate to capitalise on some horrific defending, and to concede from trying to defend is both ironic for us and a highlight of just how much more aware we should be in key stages of games. You can say it was a fluke deflection, or just that Notts were unlucky, but who was paying attention? Kelle Roos couldn't do much more, considering it put Harrogate clean through, and all this, "Alex Bass" would have saved it. I am sorry, we need to move on and accept Roos is a totally different keeper. Notts had chances to win the game, and I won't mention the number of appeals for a penalty. I think Tyrese Hall had a good effort and should have done better in the first half, but shot straight at James Belshaw. We had 13 shots; only 3 of those were on target, and maybe on a different day we would have scored more, but we have to make the chances count for something. Harrogate wasn't all that great defensively; their time-wasting antics were as blatant as day is long. Even Belshaw became a wind-up merchant, but that will be overlooked because he supports Notts.

Will Jarvis gave it a good go and showed some promise, but he’ll need more time to earn regular minutes ahead of Keanan Bennetts and Nick Tsaroulla when they’re playing well. They’ve got the edge when they’re in form. It was nice to see Jarvis back in action. His biggest challenge seems to be lasting the full 90 minutes. That might sound a bit harsh, and I know some people rate him, but he’s a different kind of player when he comes off the bench. He brings more energy in short bursts. Notts did most things right against Harrogate. It was a tense game and you could see how easily someone might have been sent off out of frustration. Matthew Dennis was lucky not to be punished for that push after his penalty. The Harrogate player did barge into him and looked like he said something, but Dennis still took a risk.

Yes, we're going to need him. I wouldn't have given him MoM, but nobody else was going to do anything to stop us losing, except Will Jarvis Our attacking midfielders will need addressing in January. But players being used there now can be either underperforming or unproductive (or both) and when both are off, it makes it very difficult to win. I think MP will have to try a couple of different things in that role because Hall and Grant are not McGoldrick and Crowley. Let's see Jarvis given a go there, Kouhyar, Dennis from the start to at least see it. But at least we're going to be seeing more of Jarvis from now on. MP will want him on the bench at least because he knows now atht he's a player who can turn things around.

Martin Paterson has chosen a few different midfielders for the first eleven this season, however it appears that he has settled for Palmer & Roberson as his first team picks in the centre of midfield, & has decided on an alternative of Iorpenda, Hall, or Grant in the attacking midfield positions. That leaves Norburn & Iorpenda as an alternative in the centre of midfield & Dennis, Iorpenda, Hall, Grant or even Jones & Jarvis who could all fill the AM positions. So far this season I think that barring any injuries, Palmer & Robertson have made the central midfield positions their own & they are my preferred picks. I think it is a little more difficult in the AM area. At the start of the season Jones was picked to play as an attacking midfielder but it was obvious that his best place was on the wings. Iorpenda started in CM but lately MP has been playing him further forward with Grant or Hall, then we have Dennis who has been unable to get so many starts since Jatta's return. & we have Jarvis who can play as an AM or Winger waiting in the wings... My preferred duo in the AM position at this time would be Grant & Iorpenda with Hall & Dennis very close. I think the AM positions are still up for grabs & we may even see some additional player recruited for that position in the Jan window. It is certainly going to be very fascinating in the weeks ahead to see how Martin Paterson works it all out. What are your Thoughts?

Such a weird match, first half we just looked off the pace everything was a tad too slow and we struggled to really get into Harrogate and put them under too much pressure. That said we still created the best chance and their goal was a bit out of nowhere as Grant slides in and ends up playing their forward in on goal. Second half was just all us, we must have had about 90% possession. Harrogate were done by about the 60th minute or so and we just lacked that bit of bravery or magic. We were regularly at the edge of their box but the final ball wasn’t great and Harrogate were just so deep by the end there wasn’t much space for anyone in and around the box to even get a shot off. I was unsure about the penalty when it was awarded, and having watched it back I'm still not sure. The Harrogate defender puts his hand in the back of Jarvis but it didn't look like it was with much force, if anything him then falling over causes the Harrogate player to go over and that makes it look worse. l I think the pressure got to the ref, there were a couple of shouts for pens (all which I think he got correct) and he didn’t give them. Fair play to Harrogate, they’ll be gutted after that. I think their defensive resilience merits a point but my word how did the ball just not fall to us at all, not one deflection or anything went our way. It feels like had that been us playing so deep for 30 minutes we’d have conceded a couple.

Yeah, we were disappointed. But the money we can understand, and the fact his boss had been Stuart Maynard even more. There's an imaginable scenario where his contribution could help win a promotion.

A massive win for Notts tonight against an inform team. This win takes Notts into a promotion place in League 2 for the first time this season. Notts had a brilliant first half & could have been double their actual lead at half time. Cheltenham came back into it in the 2nd half but Notts held out for that vital win. So who is your man of the match for Notts? I have chosen the starting eleven for you to make your choice from. Those players are, Roos, Macari, Ness Bedeau, Tsaroulla, Robertson, Iorpenda, Bennetts, Grant, Hall, Jatta.

I saw after the match Jatta and Hall being interviewed for Sky and I think Hall carried a trophy away. I’d have Jatta, Hall and Robertson as my top 3. Could make a case for all of them really, but I think Robbo just shaded it for me.

It was great performance in the first half with lots of players standing out. Hall's goal was well taken, Jatta scored another poachers goal, Grant & Iorpenda were very good. The defensive unit of Ness, Macari & Bedeau were solid once again. Tsaroula did what he does best & I think Bennetts had his best game for Notts But my Man of the Match is going to go to Scott Robertson for his outstanding display

Robbo for me, energetic & involved all night. He’s combative and creative, a very solid 99 mins from him. Ness & Bedeau didn’t do much wrong and Iorpenda had an excellent 1st half too. They were all in with a shout but Robbo just seemed more influential in both halves of the pitch and over the whole game fir my money. Hall was often clumsy on the ball but he scored and looked a bit sharper in the last 20 mins. Jatta was busy, scored but his 1st touch let him down too often.

Some great performances tonight. I thought Ness was excellent. Vindicated MP sticking with him over Platt. Jatta's formula of goal + great hold up play + defensive work would usually win MoM... But my vote's for Robertson. Thought he was immense tonight and played a great all-round game. Maybe his best game in a Notts shirt

Another goal would be handy for us now. I suspect we should have taken Bennetts or Hall off for Dennis, not Grant. We’ll see. Robertson has been outstanding tonight btw.

I am pleased Mrs. T is still getting out and is on the mend. Hopefully, within a few days, she'll feel much better. I have been coding a bit the last two days; I have built something to help with updating members on crucial parts of the site that might be experiencing trouble. It's not the most complex thing, but it is one of the first things that I have coded which required a database and a full app structure. I also took the initiative to manually prevent the newest member from being displayed among the validating members. It allows me to keep PON safe from spam bot accounts, and I have implemented ways of reducing this. Until about 4:30, I have felt good, but now I am trying to stay awake. The weather outside is dismal; poor Cheeky got completely soaked while going to pick Ava up from school. The only other thing I have been doing is loading Championship Manager 1998 in DOSBox and playing it as I go about doing stuff. Naturally, I chose Notts and spent a spell in 3rd and 2nd; then I was top for about 10 games. I am now 5th and seem to be struggling to motivate the players. I score and end up drawing. Or, I concede and get battered. Mansfield and Lincoln both beat by 5 goals to 1.

I’d say that Dennis could do with a start, he’s impressed when he’s been in the starting XI, less so when used as a sub. Grant should be in for Hall too. This is another key game, with an opportunity to move up the table. Cheltenham have suddenly found form & goals. The “Cotterill effect” appears to be working. It will be a tough battle but we have the talent and attitude to get at least a point &, hopefully, all 3.

Another tough game awaits Notts on Monday evening. Cheltenham Town are in good form & their new Manager, on his return to their club, Steve Cotterill, has them playing well. Before their two dissapointing defeats in the two Cup games, Notts were playing well with confidence. Hopefully turning their attention back to the league will give them a fresh focus to carry on their unbeaten run. If all the players are fit I would choose the same match squad that played Cambridge Utd. Roos, Macari, Ness, Bedeau, Tsaroulla, Palmer, Robertson, Jones, Hall, Dennis, Jatta. Subs, Grant, Iorpenda, Griffiths, Kouhyar, Aljofree, Norburn, Bennetts. I've put Dennis in the starting 11 instead of Grant & Ness replaces McDonald who may still be injured. Martin may still opt to put Dennis on the bench & play Grant or Iorpenda in the AM position. I would settle for a draw in this game. A 0:0 or 1:1 would do for me. A win would be a big bonus if Notts could achieve it.

Joined: 29th December 2012 Best Activity Streak: 173 Days Post Count: 13,830 Reputation: 27,268 Amount of Followers: 19 Most Recent Profile Visitor: @Robbie Last posted:

I’d do well to give anyone a 7 after that, maybe Ness or Bedeau but again at times even they struggled. The fact our defenders were our better players against a team struggling in the League below is pretty tragic. Even after sleeping on it I can’t get over how poor we were going forward. We didn’t manage to put them under any real sustained pressure, or cause their keeper and defence to panic like ours did. If we’d have created a host of decent chances and missed them or forced their keeper to make a number of saves I’d have felt a lot better getting knocked out. But our super-fit side which made all the subs still couldn’t get the better of a tiring team that bought on Connor Hall who looked completely unfit and effectively made the match 10 v 11. We can add this to the collection of "FA Cup Horror Matches", which already is pretty full...

Key points for this defeat seem to be... Matty Palmer rested Norburn handles in the area to concede penalty on 90+6mins So turns out that giving the FA Cup 95% respect is still disrespecting the competition. Just couldn't resist being cute for that 5%...and it costs us an infamous exit to a non-league team. Will they ever learn?

Typical Notts, just when you think it's coming together. We're consistent in the cups to the point where you almost suspect it's a betting conspiracy. The debate about recruitment will start again after the way Roos and Norburn played. In 2025 have we made one permanent signing that's strengthened our starting line-up? Just hope we can keep picking up some points between now and January and then bring in two or three who are made of the right stuff, that's a big ask though.

Hi guys and thank you for the warm welcome! I have kind of weird connection and hope its still accepted :D So im football fan from Finland and my connection to Notts County actually comes from Football manager. Been managing the team for I don't know for how many years/games and with that started to follow the team in real life and now trying to actually catch games when ever they come. So little odd..but from just playing to checking scores and then to actually watching games I wanted to find a place to learn more what is happening and what you guys are talking about. Also sorry for my English its obviously my second language

Had an idea this could happen. Hands off Jatta & anyone else at Notts in the January window.

I agree with both @Fan of Big Tone and @McPie the proverbial door is now open. So if the bench regulars are keen enough and want it this is a perfect opportunity for them to shine, make a statement to the gaffer so he has to play them. Good luck one and all. ⚽️✨️

Yes it’s true that Tsaroulla, Grant and Bennetts all have ability but one thing they all have in common as well is the missing end product. With Tsaroulla and Bennetts it’s the final ball, the cross and particularly last season for Tsaroulla It was his shooting. He would dribble past three players and then sky it over the bar. If he could work on that he would be real player for us . With Grant he just lacks that ruthless streak. If he had it he could be our top scorer. What I’ve like about Bennetts is his willingness to take players on and her crosses in. He has the technical ability that some of the others lack. I could vote him as a man of the match but he has to do it more consistently and with more assists. Having said all that, I would like to see Kouyhar get a start, to see what he could do. It’s the same with Jarvis they need a consistent run of games to bring out the best in them. I think after Saturday’s performance, Martin Paterson might be willing to make a few changes.

I think everytime Maz comes on he is very positive, always driving at players and getting crosses in. I think he shows more determination than many of the players, a bit like Austin used to.

Tsaroulla & Grant were head and shoulders ahead of anyone else but Robbo, Palmer both put a shift in and Ness was combative and solid again. Bennetts - really? I’d have carted him & Jatta off first, closely followed by Hall. All 3 of them were almost completely anonymous after our goal. Between them, Bedeau and Bennetts made a right horlicks of marking their 14 for the 2nd goal.

I thought Colchester were good value for the win today. We were out played all over the pitch. We were out thought tactically and they showed how important pace is in attacking areas. As @theAnticlough says a big January coming up if we want promotion.

The best player today was the one MP took off first - Nick Tsaroulla. I would've liked to see him tried on the other side for a bit rather than Bennetts who got that chance. Shout out too to Macari who was much better today and is combining really well with Tsaroulla. Furthest away from MoM today - Roos or Jatta. How can Jatta go from MoMs to 4/10? He challenges for the ball as if it doesn't matter that the defender comes out on top all the time. Not the attitude we need. When the ball's there to be won we need a forward who is as desperate to win it as any defender.

I want to start off by acknowledging that PON needs to return to a level of consistency with regard to the news, match reports, and so forth. I have numerous finished content pieces which I have put off because I wanted the site to be in full motion, but I haven't managed to keep to the standard I wish to set. Moving forward, if I can't do something, I will ask one of the team members, and I am sure in time things will improve to a standard that visitors and members have enjoyed in the past. I am also pleased to say that I have built and set up a system status page, which can be found here: https://status.prideofnottingham.co.uk/ Transparency and being up front is something I strongly believe in, and this system page will allow those who wish to see what is operational across the site. Issues will be posted as events, and updates will be given in a timely manner. If PON should happen to go down, you will be able to find out why by visiting this page. You may subscribe to email alerts by entering your email address in the "Notify Me" box. Please remember to choose which updates you would like to stay in the loop about. In the event one of these areas encounters a problem, you will be emailed and kept up to date with the progress, but only if you subscribe to this service. Bug reports will still be taken by the site and addressed within the forum. Over the past week, I have spent time improving the mobile experience. While most of this will be noticeable only to team members, it does bring improvements to the header and logo for regular members. There are subtle changes and a few improvements from a recent upgrade, which I plan to make the most of with these new features. Awards will be given out on a merit-based routine, which will be more frequent. In areas and during the site's downtime, I will finish adding the rest of the ones I created. There are a few more things in the pipeline, but they aren't quite ready to be mentioned. My main focus is to get more organised over this weekend and pick up the content. It's a privilege to represent Notts fans and provide content to be enjoyed. I very much appreciate everyone's help, and a more oganised me will be a better PON experience for everyone. Thank you for reading this, Chris

Jamie Turley is another ex player of both teams, can we make a starting XI?

We got Calvin Miller on loan from them. Who knew this? Miller is the reigning SPFL's Scottish Championship Player of the Year and now plays in the Scottish Premiership.

Better safe than sorry @Fan of Big Tone, hope you got sorted. I'm going to have to see the doctor yet again about my swollen mouth which is showing no signs of improvement. This will be my fourth doctor now - hopefully this one will take me seriously. The first one actually searched my symptoms on Google while I sat in the room with him. I got back from the U of K yesterday and will be back for Christmas now. I didn't get to see Notts this time but I'm at least armed with a new home shirt (the first one since the sponsorless 17/18 shirt). I might give DOSBox a try (I always fancied Sensible Soccer, and I miss football games). I've got Football Manager 2006 and have played it half to death. The latest versions don't really appeal to me as I think it's become too complex.

That really was an excellent away performance overall, Cheltenham were always going to change after half-time because we totally dominated them in the first half and had Tsaroulla’s header been centimetres to the left it clips the post and we go in 3-0 up. Iorpenda showed just how important mobility is for a midfielder, it was the right choice to start him alongside Roberston. He was like a gazelle just breezing past Cheltenham’s players at times. No idea how likely it is but I’d be desperate to get him in permanently at the end of the season. The oldest outfield players in the starting 11 last night were Tsaroulla and Bennetts, and they are only 26, everyone else was younger! We've got a core of really promising young players here now. The only blemish was the goal, I'd imagine with VAR it gets given as a foul but the ref gave us pretty much every 50-50 after so it was probably playing on his mind and that helped us. No idea why Ness heads it back into the danger area though, that was really poor from him and was probably his only real mistake of the night. Good to see us get back on track in such encouraging fashion though, we are looking really solid in the league right now.

One thing I've noticed on these threads is how many different MoM performers we get. Yes, we get the multiple winners like Palmer, McDonald and Jatta, but so many others are capable of being the best player on any given day.

There has been a lot said recently regarding the return of set pieces and long throw-ins in the elite levels of football. While possession with a purpose still has a place, is moving the ball forward quicker now the preferred style? In recent seasons, Notts have employed three at the back and two wingbacks and we have enjoyed some success playing that way. In more recent times particularly the wingbacks have been less effective going forward and usually aren’t the best defenders. Would we be benefit from a four four two formation? Going to a back four with two full backs that can defend and still have the option to overload down the flanks when required. The four across the middle could include either one or two who could play as wingers or or attacking midfielders and two up front, one of which could double as a ten. Or could it be it doesn't matter what formation we use, just need good players with the right mentality and the desire to win!

Top post @menzinho These days I think a radical change of formation is a summer thing or an act of a struggling, desperate team. Our squad has been assembled and prepared for 3-4-2-1 this season. As you said it's served us well since 2021. The variations can come from 3-4-2-1 or 3-4-1-2, the height of the wingbacks and many other subtle moves the coach can make. And there's the thing that always seems to happen on the rare occasions we've played with a back 4 or something different, the players look really unfamiliar with it and the impression given is that they think the formation is being evaluated and not them.

I haven't been the best health-wise since returning from my family's break. I really had a good time, and I intended to update the community on that. It was good to spend a week with Super and go to various places. It's a bit lacklustre on my part, but I will be upping my game. I really miss having seen Notts; it seems like ages since I last watched them play live. I hope Mrs. T is doing okay, @Fan of Big Tone. The good news, and main point to take away from my comment, is that I do have content being lined up and I am getting help again to come from being disorganised like a caveman to a much easier and manageable workflow. It would be great to see what other PON members are upto, they are what makes this click.

2 words....Matt Palmer °°°°!!!!