Chris

1993, is the point where I remember watching Arsenal on TV and liking their kit (well their socks). I will never forget the electrifying moments when I witnessed cup matches, where the unstoppable duo of Ian Wright and Kevin Campbell, occasionally joined by the immensely talented Alan Smith, left an indelible mark on my memory. I know a year earlier, Arsenal had allowed David Rocastle to leave, who also died young (33). Kevin Campbell was a very hard-working striker, who scored some wonderful goals in the Premier League. I am surprised that the national news seems to be overlooking the time at Nottingham Forest, as he helped them regain their Premier League status. At Everton, he did well but I felt he was more threatening whilst with our nearest neighbours. Rest in Peace, Kevin Campbell.

Hello, @Pies79. Welcome to the Pride of Nottingham, I hope you enjoy being a part of our Notts County community.

This will be a great thing for our fan base, bringing a central zone and thinning out other areas. I am excited about my first visit! It's things like this which makes me more thankful for our owners, who have been getting stick the past two seasons for supposedly not investing in the right area. We are in a race, which won't be won without reserving our energy and this could be such a massive boost towards that.

Welcome to the Pride of Nottingham, @Scotty. I hope you enjoy being a part of our Notts County community.

Welcome to the Pride of Nottingham, @Izzie Dyer. I hope you enjoy being a part of our Notts County community.

I can't help it, but it's very true. To be fair, he should've been much better for us but even the first season he had under Kevin Nolan was masked with plenty of mistakes. Thankfully, we were better on goal that season. PS. If anyone wants to join my anti Richard Duffy fan club, please DM me. ????

I think some have the issue to be harsh on Aden Baldwin, yes he made mistakes but the majority he was played into making them. The slipping and falling over, that could be annoying but I never faulted his effort. People don't remember how poor Richard Duffy was for us - I think him as a captain never reached the levels of criticism that the likes of Kyle Cameron and Aden Baldwin got. The club probably said they were aiming to sign more defenders, and as such they wouldn't increase his pay to a level that both could agree. Alternatively, the club might have had it labelled as a release with the intention of seeing what he would want. He's a good defender, but unfortunately his team mates weren't strong enough to form a partnership that was defensively strong nor less prone to mistakes. All of our back three have these moments, it's mostly down to pressure and poor passing. I wish Aden Baldwin all the best.

Notts started very brightly, looked comfortable on the ball and moved it around well. Defensively, we seemed organised and ready to cover wherever needed. Luca Ashby-Hammond did very well, as did Kyle Cameron and Aden Baldwin. Baldwin being the ball-playing defender, he looked very calm even when pressured and his decision-making when passing the ball was very good. Dan Crowley is just a touch of magic, never worried about where he can go but will turn the opposition players inside out in order to make a good pass himself. It was good to see us look for the forward pass, as when we did go backwards it wasn't frustrating or at the cost of being creative. Some of the long balls straight up to Alassana Jatta was a thing of beauty and almost worked, putting him straight through on at least two occasions. There are a lot of comments about the players now wanting to perform better due to their contracts, I think this is weak excuses by those who can't give credit where it's due and simply a means to undermine the club - especially Stuart Maynard. Besides, if this was the case then all the fault on the defeats should fall down to the players instead of the manager, if they can turn it on and off. I fully disagree with these statements, as I feel it's hard work and finally things are working out better. You don't train and suddenly become better; it takes time. Walsall were very poor in the first half, and we simply outplayed them. Some of our fans need to learn to see the positives, it's a shame that we didn't get some of these results earlier, but it's football for you. The biggest plus I saw, was hearing more fans sing at the end of the game to Stuart Maynard. Jodi Jones and Dan Crowley loved hearing their songs, but Maynard looked very emotional like it meant the world to him. @Piethagoram I was sat right at the back of you, judging your pictures.

I'm very pleased for them; it sounds like everything is starting to go in place and with them starting up from scratch it is far more rewarding to see. The pathway into the women's game is a lot easier in the women's game, there's less pressure and more eagerness to see young players given the time to flourish which is a good way to make use of your own home-grown talent.

@Dripsey3 i won't get this out of my head now. ????

Doesn't that make you thankful for the excellent ground staff that we have? I don't know if Bradford have pitch covers, but they can't have done much. I have been in this situation, where I have travelled and got close to the ground for it to be called off. It's frustrating, but hopefully fans salvaged the day. I know some people went on to watch other local games, obviously making do of the situation. Ideally, it will lead to us being a bit more prepared for our next match.

Does this make anyone think differently? I don't see it happening but the council is far from to be trusted with regards to ground rent.

Pressure will be on both teams, Notts to stop the defeats from coming in and Bradford to maintain their form. Usually, I would believe this would make it likely to be a draw but both teams defences are of error. I am hoping Notts can just quietly go about their game, creating chances and preventing any opportunities which may fall Bradford's way. I won't be tuning in, I feel there's an element of guaranteed defeat when I do. I wasn't that hopeful against Newport County, as they can play their game similar to how Crewe beat us, and we were away then too. I think going into the game with little expectation and more hope, might just be a good thing. I would love to see comments coming in about how we played some great attacking football and managed to get a good result. I suppose we'll have to wait and see, it's going to be more difficult for us considering the uphill battle we are currently facing. I hope the players do well for Stuart Maynard's sake.

He said after the game that it should be a "quick overturn" and was walking fine. He had what looked like two heavy bags too, so I wouldn't rule him out, but it might be a blessing if we gave him some time to get rest. That 'hurt' from the opening day needs to be the fuel towards getting the right result on Tuesday. If we can't beat bottom of the league, then I would fear a lot more of a fallout towards Stuart Maynard. I honestly don't know what's happened to our squad, we just aren't fighting, and every possible explanation just seems like something the players need to take more of an account towards. Whilst Maynard is clearly trying, I think part of the issue is we are used to things a certain way and changing this now, perhaps isn't the best time, but I respect Maynard for trying. Our squad isn't built around many different options; it's been catered too closely to playing three at the back. My biggest worry about this game is actually leading it, only for Sutton to punish us for switching off and therefore dropping three points all together or ending up as a draw. Neither of these outcomes would be good enough. Despite all the doom and gloom, I believe in our owners and feel we just need to salvage the best possible position we can this season. Then go again! So, naturally I am hoping for a win, but that seems bleak right now.

I've reached the point where there's zero time for me to be patient in passing the ball back, nobody seemed to try to make a forward run, and it took things quickly against Notts. Crewe were by far the better team, although their dark arts frustrated me because did they need to do it? Notts made the game very easy for them to cope with, I am not sure the time-wasting and players dropping like flies made much difference. If anything, it gave Notts more time after the 90 minutes when they did turn up to do something - which by that point it was always too late. It's difficult to feel sorry for anyone in this situation because everyone played very poorly. Whilst, I don't think Stuart Maynard deserves to be taking all the blame. He's reaching a point where it's difficult to overlook some of his current issues which I do honestly feel are being caused by the players. Jodi Jones, Macaulay Langstaff and Aden Baldwin are the only players I felt did enough to warrant a positive mention. Baldwin prevented numerous attempts on goal, Langstaff didn't stop trying and everything that seemed to be bright came through Jones. Crewe scored two very easy first goals. I still don't like seeing teams attempting to interfere with the keeper, it's gone beyond the presence of being there and a light bit of pushing to something on a whole different level. I've seen officials give free kicks just for a push. Yet there's no excuse for any of our players for switching off, it was a well worked goal by them and anyone who could have done something simply became a bystander. Our players need to stop watching the game at times as if they're not actually on the field and be more aware of what they can do in order to defend situations. Crewe's second goal is by far more irritating. Major communication error between two players, one of which should have left the ball clearly for the other to deal with - without appearing to try to hold the other's hand. I have seen one of said players get far more comments thrown his direction, but the player who wasn't going for the ball and didn't go for the ball. They made the situation very dangerous and are at fault, as anyone with a pair of eyes can see by the point the header was in motion. It became a risk of injury or collision which turned it into a comical error. Why can't we get that close to marking the opposition? Doing so to our own player is just void of responsibility. Then an unfortunate bounce straight to a Crewe player, to which again, Notts were ball watching and not the player. I honestly didn't see contact made for the penalty, I saw it in slow motion and I thought the Crewe player clipped their own heels in order to try to get our keeper sent off. There was time for him to easily lob an open net. Even watching the highlights and going frame by frame I am unconvinced it was anything but that. It doesn't really matter, we had nothing to suggest that we could make a game of it. Usually by the 70th minute Notts tend to get a surge and therefore look better and whilst the changes helped to make us more attacking minded. The damage had already been done, pushing for our first, left us open for their third, and it was game over by that point. You have the game finished by the 90th minute mark, to which all of a sudden we become brighter and play as if we have half an hour to go. Crewe didn't make it difficult for us to play, we did. There should be no false credit to Crewe, because it comes down to us not being good enough. The thoughts of the players, whether it be about morale, focus, or their uncertainties regarding Maynard, are of great importance. They let us down and this is the first time I felt there was little in their defence of how we played. I believe the players are letting Maynard down too. The signs are that we aren't capable of reaching the playoffs, that is fine. If some of the issues is pressure, Maynard must find a way to take it off the players shoulders but if they can't help themselves - I am not sure if he can do anything to change it. Given the opportunity, I would go Neil Warnock mode on them at full time. Perhaps, even Sir Alex Furguson.

Crewe are one of those teams that have the foundations to do well and can, in any game they play, but occasionally they're inconsistent. I am not surprised that they're doing well now, it just takes a bit of time to build that momentum, and it seems they have everything going in their favour right now. I hope they focus on playing good football, as I can see them switching to the dark arts if they fear we'll do too much damage with the ball. They're robust enough to avoid this and to make the game entertaining with end-to-end action, something which Notts sometimes struggles against. Notts prefers to have the ball and intimidate the opposition under relentless pressure, but sometimes I feel we just need to drop it back and make the most of the creative players we have to create that opening. If we focus on trying to walk the ball into the net, I think Crewe will pounce on the counter-attack. Notts needs to be patient and careful, the right pass at any moment could unlock a good run and for me, I think smart overlaps and through balls in and behind the Crewe defence will be where we may capitalise the most.

I am more in favour of young players coming in, who their parent club see them as having a future with them. Sometimes we get players who aren't wanted and they just become squad fillers. I suspect, someone of the better loans we have had to contribute a fair amount towards their wages (well what we can). Some players are not often seen, but it's very rare to find talented players like Jack Grealish, Callum McGregor, Ryan Yates, and Jorge Grant. Certainly, I believe we should be looking out for them and willing to incorporate good talented loan players. Had Lewis Macari not been given a chance, it's highly unlikely we would be including him in this and the fact we managed to secure his services full time - it's a positive sign of how the loan system can compliment your squad.

We know Tiernan Brooks has potential and so far, I like how we have been giving him the chance to gain experience outside Notts. I believe he will one day become our first team keeper, that has to be the club plan, and I am delighted to see he's doing well at Rochdale. I thought the loan move made a lot of sense by allowing him to go to them, it's a good choice to pick up further game time and experience.

It doesn't get any more difficult than playing Wrexham at their ground, last season we did so well up to a point, and it will be interesting to see how we match them now. I wasn't at the home game against them, but whatever the outcome we need to be mindful of taking games as they come and not overreact if things don't go our way. I fully suspect Wrexham will make it difficult. It is crucial to ensure the involvement of Macaulay Langstaff. I hope if David McGoldrick starts appearing sluggish that we don't avoid making that change because in the final 20 minutes a bit of energy and speed can make a huge difference. Will Stuart Maynard make any changes?

I wasn't really expecting this, hopefully, this can fuel a resurgence in form. The goals were well worked, I hope David McGoldrick's tap in helps to lift his performances and Jodi Jones with his magic, to assist Macaulay Langstaff. This is a very good result, it's good to see Notts having picked up three points on the road. If anyone attended, I would love to know more about the penalty. I was at my dad's peering over at his laptop as he watched the Rams beat Exeter City. They did an outstanding job! So, I am pleased to see our lads doing it too. It was nice to hear Jake go, 'Dad, it's 1-0, Langstaff', then 'Dad, it's 2-0 now'. Whilst this is great for the lads, plus Stuart Maynard - I do acknowledge that there's still much work to do. I just hope for better form, if that means we pick up wins but don't quite reach the playoffs, so be it. However, if we can build and maintain an undefeated streak, who knows? It would be nice to pick up wins and draws, instead of the defeats suffered in this depressing bad patch of late.

@allardyces tash Winning ugly isn't a bad thing sometimes, performance wise there's a lot to improve, but we could focus on that once we start to lift the camps' morale. Right now, we have gone from looking like we could beat anyone (earlier in the season), to struggling defensively and drawing to losing more games than perhaps we should.

If they play as they tend to do against us, they'll frustrate and delay the game when it benefits them - so it could be scrappy. They defeated Walsall 3-0 away from home, so that says enough about them. I also feel they're exactly the type of team I have been talking about as opposed to us, as we seem to be declining and in a pretty big slump. They're pushing and doing well to maintain a steady amount of form. Teams like Newport are leveraging their results to inch even closer to the Playoffs. For me, this gives them the advantage and with our own low morale I can see them making it difficult for us to score. Obviously, things aren't as easy to foresee or even predict ahead of time. Notts are making this very hard and whilst we may have lost the confidence in our ability to win, Newport might not play to their best either. Yet, I think they will make it difficult and most likely force us to be indecisive, so I don't expect a classic game. I worry that we might encounter another defeat, narrowly but still a loss.

My immediate response to yesterday's performance in the form of a tweet. The opening of the game was good, Notts looked bright and eager to start it off well. There was something positive about how direct our play unfolded, the way we kept calm even when we had to come back. I think it always looked likely that we would score the first goal. The run by Jodi Jones to make the space, to which Dan Crowley perfectly struck the ball - it was a superb goal. From there, our problems began. Gillingham instantly didn't sit on the score and wanted to get back into the game. That level of desire from Gillingham was impressive. Notts are very standoffish when it comes to defending. Nobody were marking the cross from Gillingham which led to their leveller. I felt at the time that Jodi Jones needed to be a bit braver with trying to win the ball, however, I also believe that Macaulay Langstaff should have tried to fill the space in front, instead of thinking to cover Jodi. It's one of those situations where you would ideally see that someone more defensive would see that space and attempt to plug the gap. John Bostock was watching the space but the ground he covered would have been more vulnerable had he moved. The cross was very good, the defence should have handled it better, but there was an element of misfortune. There was little Aidan Stone could have done and the comments I heard during the game directed to him, it added to the frustration. From there, Gillingham surged off the back of the confidence gained from the goal, and you could see how they wanted more - whilst Notts just stepped back. Notts' defence was very weak with Gillingham's second goal. Again, we didn't show any spatial awareness and nobody attempted to cut out the cross. There's been an element of this for a while now, we simply ride our luck and the way the ball comes in there's just not enough pressure from a defensive point of view. We can't just stick a foot out, the danger of giving a penalty away is quite high but no attempts to block the ball? It's obvious we are once again ball watching. Kyle Cameron could have got a little tighter to the player that flicked the ball on for the goal, that may have made a difference. Yet, you could make the point that Aden Baldwin just watched the ball pass him by. Look, we see things differently from the stands and to the players it happens so fast - whilst we need to be better. I accept that these issues will occur; my point in commenting is to discuss and bring awareness to them. Unfortunately, again Jodi just isn't watching his man and reacts a little slow to the threat. I have made the point recently that I wished to see more from him in regard to his defending, we are blessed by his ability but as the last hope in our defence his positioning, marking and reaction should have been better. Our whole defending should have been better, so it's not just one plater - it's collectively, but it comes from being aware of the threat and how the play is opening up before us. We concede goals, there's 'major issues', if we narrowly lose praise is given to how things have improved 'defensively'. Simply, right now it's very early days and I would agree that our issues were set in well before Stuart Maynard arrived. I really hope fans can give him the time needed to get grips, quite a lot expressed to me that they feel he's out of his depth and I personally think it's too early to point the finger there. I think calls for making changes are deserved; if this is formation based or tactical, so be it. I do feel like our game management needs to be picked up, with our squad working harder. Another point I read yesterday, is how losing Luke Williams may impact our mentality but if this is the case, we need to put it aside and move on. I wasn't impressed with David McGoldrick, Notts seems afraid to take him off, but he was appearing at least to me to be very tired, but his home performances haven't been great as of late, and maybe he would benefit from a bit of a rest? Dan Crowley and Jodi Jones were very good, by far our best threats going forward. We need to get Macaulay Langstaff more into the game, the guy doesn't stop running and my earlier point about his defending, it's good he's trying to cover, but I still think we need him further up the pitch. If we give him instructions to go back, then he's responsible for defending, ideally someone else would be doing this, but I feel currently there's little play to get him involved. I was wrong about Aaron Nemane, he was poor and his crossing a lot of the time was just smashed in hope of causing trouble. I don't think he was the only one, a lot of our crossing was wasted. Jaden Warner wasn't an issue for me, yes he made one slip, but that's because of the rain. The ball bounced a bit weirdly, and it just seemed to slip. I think in the first half he looked far better than he did in the second. By that point, Notts were struggling to make simple passes and that's pressure. Gillingham stuck to a game plan, adapted to their setback and responded exactly how I wished Notts would. Defensively, they grew in the game and did very well. Around the 70th minute mark, Notts started to get into the game and a goal at this point could have rescued a point. I didn't feel if this did happen that we could go on to win, but I did feel like we might be able to get a third. Gillingham were unlucky not to have got a 4th, the moment when the ball went from post to post was a very nerving moment even at 3-1. I'm afraid despite the pressure from us to try to get something, we just lacked any real quality to get the goals required. My final point, yes, the game was very disappointing and difficult to watch. We are in this together, whilst I may have my personal views on performances and what went wrong, I won't tweet this to the players because it's counterproductive. I would hope if any of them read this post, they would see I am trying to be fair. We lost, we moved onto the next game. It's very cliché, and I repeat it, but I feel it's very true in this situation. Stuart Maynard's first win should restore some of the confidence in the camp, but working on the mistakes made by poor defensive decisions and position would be a starting point. We are better off no matter where we finish this season, I have faith we can learn from this and pick up within time but as fans we need to be a little patient.

Unless Aaron Nemane is injured, I honestly can't see him being dropped. His size makes it difficult to work to his ability when you play teams like Mansfield, they will simply mark you out of the game and make it difficult in many other ways. I don't see Gillingham falling into this category; in fact, I believe they would be the prime example of where Nemane should be most effective. It's all about how he makes the space to run at the opposition, but I can see them finding it hard. I would like to see Notts showing more urgency to get forward, to make the space required for other players to contribute their ability. We are a little afraid to take on players, also, I think it extends to drawing fouls. We never seem to make the most of yellow cards being issued. I believe the squad will stay the same as the one from Mansfield. We need to show more creativity to mix the channels and attack through the middle, there are ways we can draw Macaulay Langstaff into the game without making him work tirelessly in order to just get a touch. We have players who Gillingham will want to mark, this should open space. Notts needs to start moving the ball into areas where we can play simple one touch football, then release the ball as the play opens up. Gillingham aren't pushovers, but I think we have the ability to maintain them. Aden Baldwin and Jaden Warner will be interesting to see how they continue their form together. Also, I really hope we can see Kyle Cameron at his best - I would love to see him get on the scoresheet and show improvements. He's a good skipper, who has a lot of pressure on his shoulders, and we just need to see him a bit of form.