menzinho

There are some cracking goals from today, those highlights make it look like Alfreton were instructed not to tackle us! So Aden Flint, Harlee Dean and Jonathon Leko were the three trialists going off the info from here. Obviously hard to gauge much against a team from the NL North but I would feel a tad more comfortable signing a centre back that was closer to 30 than 40. Tom deciding to come a watch us play a meaningless friendly in his free time... Hmmm, I'm sure he's made some new friends at Notts but it makes me wonder. 🕵

Anyone going? It'll be good to see the new players for the first time and it's spot the trialist season too. I'm guessing we'll play two different sides for each half and given the squad is a tad light we'll surely have a few of our academy players involved. Not really fussed about the score, we know the starting 11 come August will be nothing like the one that starts today, as long as no-one gets injured that's all that really matters to me.

7 goals in 16 matches for Oldham last season, likely would have scored more if he wasn't injured. Falls into the age bracket of players we love to sign for a fee, I can totally see why we are interested in him.

I’m a tad surprised by this to be honest, I know we operate in that if a player valuation is met they are free to go but Burton are one the teams we are going to be in competition with to stay in the league. Let’s just hope come the end of the season this doesn’t look foolish. We’ve lost a lot of goals with his departure now, I agree his form dropped but he’s a younger player and with forwards this isn’t uncommon. He was still coming off the bench and scoring. 14 goals in the league considering he didn’t start that many matches second half of the season is pretty impressive. I’ve seen the other post about Mellon, makes it feel even more likely now.

Yeah I think Flint is more because he’s local, his first clubs were Pinxton and then Alfreton, I guess it’s more to get fit and then find another club. Leko has had two ACL injuries and we’re stuck in bit of a curse when it comes to ACL injuries too. I feel like I know what would happen if he signed. Sadly, I think he’s one of those who suffered from playing too much intense football at a young age as at 16 y/o he was playing and training with the West Brom first team. There seems to be a fair bit of research looking into this now as more young players are suffering bad injuries, it’s not just bad luck.

Salford have apparently spent the same fee that Millwall did to get him off us 😲 Money talks sadly, Macaulay is doing what he thinks is best for him which is completely fine, but a bit like Dan Crowley lets not dress it up to be something it isn't. You don't drop down from a team that nearly got promoted into the Premier League and go to Salford for a... "project".

I agree, I actually think it’s better to play the stronger sides at the very start of the season when it might take them a few matches to get into the swing of things. Leicester have a new manager and are likely to have a whole new starting 11, I can seem them having up and down results for the first lot of matches. Luton away for the first match is another biggie too but October looks the toughest set of fixtures on paper; a run of Oxford, Wycombe, Sheffield Wed, Stockport and Mansfield. Let's hope it's not a winless one!

Maybe it's not all over for Mai Traore if he can do this more regularly...

Correct, I guess that's one of the reasons as to why we've signed him. 8 goals from midfield in 33 matches is very promising for someone so young, there's definitely potential there, lets hope he fulfils with us!

There's not doubting McGoldrick in terms of having that quality to make things happen in the final third but as others have said you have to manage his minutes properly and spend a large chunk of the budget to get him. And we’d possibly have to alter the way we play because he’s not really suited to the off the ball pressing Martin Paterson wants. He’ll also be 39 later this year and you just never know when the legs will go. I can remember the likes of Alan Smith, Gary Jones and Hayden Mullins all looking pretty good at the start of the season but by the end they could barely run. I probably wouldn’t have said no to his return but I’m not gutted, well as long has he doesn’t score against us next season!

I can remember being really excited when Will Patching signed, given he’d spent all his time at Man City’s academy and played in the England youth teams, I thought we’d got a real gem. Just goes to show how competitive it is in the world of professional football, you can be at one of the best academies and be part of the England set-up and still not make it.

My earliest memory was the 2002 World Cup in South Korea, that England v Brazil was the first time I felt properly gutted after an England match. I remember going to school extra early as they'd set up the assembly hall with two tv's at the front, the old boxy ones 20 something inches but at the time these were considered big, there were about 100 kids sitting on the floor watching! I was lucky enough to go to one of the matches in 2006 when my uncle worked in Germany. It was for a group stage match, Portugal v Iran, Portugal won 2-0 and I got to see Deco, Luis Figo and Ronaldo in the flesh!

I suspect we'll hear about the futures of Macari and McDonald by the end of this week or next. I agree, and this is just my gut feeling, but given his age I think we are more likely to have just offered a 1-year deal. My only slight doubt with McDonald is that he has spent the last 6 seasons playing in League 2 and when he previously has played in League 1 he’s ended up dropping back into League 2. From what I can gather Roos is on a fairly good contract so it won’t be cheap to just pay him off, but I can't see him having a future here. Even if we can loan him out and get a percentage of the wages paid that’s something. I’m pretty sure there’s going to be interest in Jatta, I think it all comes down to how much is offered. I think had we not got promoted he’d have been more likely to move, but at least now he’ll feel he’s progressing with us. I hope he stays but we’ve got the dilemma of him only having 1 year left on his contract.

That's what makes it even more impressive really, because the growth started in the 5th tier. I think the brothers were brave in wanting a possession style of play at the level but it definitely worked. We didn't have, bar one or two, the big name opposition to attract the fans but the excitement in the way we played basically became the pulling factor. I think we broke the NL attendance record twice, I remember the Yeovil one because that was 16,000 and that is probably going to stand for a long time.

It's great to see just how many good players are potentially available as possible signings this pre-season, I'm sure we'll be after quite a few from that list. I've seen that Southampton extended Ollie Wright’s contract, but the cynic in me suggests they’ve done it just so they can get a fee as I don't think he'll be in their squad next season. Stats wise from your graph, he’s impressive, particularly the goals prevented; 6.8. I've checked out Belshaw for comparison, he was 1.4 over the course of the season. I know he’s not on your list but I still rate Owen Goodman, former Wimbledon keeper that always looked top against us, he just gets loaned out so I reckon a deal could be struck there. I think the RWB is a key area this season, I like Tsaroulla but I feel a proper right-footed player here will make us even stronger. Just going from your options, I like Ennis, he's impressive going forward but I wonder if he would struggle to adapt to the defensive side at this level. In terms of the standout No.10s in League 2 I’d be happy if we signed either Helm or Hutchinson, although there seems to be a thing online about Hutchinson, well more his dad seemingly getting overly involved, so there could be potential issues if it’s true. I can totally see us going for Mendes Gomes though, a good player just needs a club to settle at now and I think he’d fit perfectly here. Although I haven’t seen him play recently I can remember watching the Morecambe Play-off final a few years back and he was the best player on the pitch by quite a margin. We seem to have a good link with Spurs at the moment, Mason Melia looks a really good option from your doc and I do feel like we’ll have another Spurs player in on loan again.

I would say Sanders is more in the mould of Palmer @Piethagoram, but he's arguably better than him when it comes to defending. Ollie Norburn is probably a better tackler and harder to get past but Sanders is a lot better at regaining loose balls in the midfield. I think it's the most likely scenario @Pies79 , his loan at Sligo did not well and sadly he wasn't even able to score 1 goal.

I'm slightly surprised League 1 clubs are after him to be honest. I know he's still young and should improve but his spell with us was the highest level he played at and he wasn't comfortable, at least for us in the wide centre back role. He then had to drop down a level and even then wasn't first choice at York. He was also very slow, so he'd struggle to adapt to any side that plays a high-line.

Burton have just sold their No.9, Beesley to Bradford, so they are definitely looking to add to their forward line. I wouldn’t sell him to a team that we are probably going to be battling with next season in terms of staying above that dotted line though. I rate him and hope he stays to be honest but some fans seem something might be off behind the scenes. He’s still young enough that he’ll get better and I believe he can push Jatta for that starting striker spot. 14 goals, considering his time second half the season was more limited, is a very good return.

Now this is just based on my gut feeling but I’m expecting Lewis to stay. I think it's harder to sign for a club when you can't likely play for 5/6 months and miss pre-season which is a big part of getting new players onboard with style of play and what's required of you in your position. I'm sure Rod will have a couple of options, I’m actually 50/50 over whether he re-signs. I think this all comes down to who offers the best deal and location dependent too. As for my starting 11, right now I think Gibbons, Sanders and Roberts can all make a case to be starting, but I’d suspect by August the squad will look quite different and a guaranteed starting spot might not be so easy to claim. There seems to be some discussion over whether Gibbons will be part of the back 3 or play at RWB, looking at Transfermarkt last season he started at RB but moved to CB (as part of a 3) so I’d suggest he’ll take over from Macari for now. I like all our 3 current midfielders; you could make a case for all of them to start. And as we a currently only have Grant who covers the attacking midfield role, Roberts is the only other option here. I suspect we’ll have more interest for Jatta this summer too, but right now he’s my preferred starting striker. We do need some more additions to the squad, a right-footed wingback would be lovely as would some talented attacking midfielders. Belshaw needs some genuine competition and I think Bedeau does too, he’s had the LCB spot sewn-up for ages now!

I can imagine how unimpressed all Man United ex-pros would’ve been watching the final with Salford just playing direct balls into the channels hoping for the best, that style is alien to them. And it didn’t help their opposition (Martin Paterson’s black and white army) actually played patterns and worked the ball into good areas. It does feel knee-jerk though because they were only a point short of going up automatically. Problem is they are so desperate to go up they’ve lost that ability to build and be patient. They’ve spent and wasted a lot of money at Salford, I'm quite glad in a way that they haven't been able to just pay their way up the leagues.

Solid signing for them, I hope it works out for him and he has a successful season. It was a short-spell but he'll always be remembered fondly and we can actually now laugh about that boot throw, I was raging at the time, it's still the most ridiculous reason I think I've seen for picking up a second yellow card!

I think it's quite an obvious link to make, even if their is nothing it in. Paterson is a manager who has just achieved a promotion so it's an easy name to add to a long list because chances are, clubs in League 1 would probably be interested. I'm not too worried though, he's clearly planning for the future at Notts by having already spoken to players we've just signed and I think he's very happy here. I understand that we are run slightly differently than the norm because you have to relinquish a bit of control when it comes to recruitment and take onboard some statistical analysis. But it seems being at Notts basically gives you the best foundations to succeed, it’s not a coincidence Chris and Alex have only had to sack 1 head coach in 7 seasons (technically 2 but Neal Ardley wasn’t hired by them!)

I did wonder how long it will be before we get the Reedtz Brother derby aka Notts v Viborg. Maybe a chance for Patterson and the coaching team to see who they want from Viborg next! 😉 Viborg are better than Randers, they finished 5th after their league split and were just a point short of getting a Europa Conference League Qualifier. Randers finished 10th overall and were nearly relegated. I'd think both are better than us, I'd suggest it'll be like playing a mid-table Championship side and then a weaker one. It's only two matches and we'll have other pre-season matches at ML or elsewhere in the UK that are likely to be announced soon, hopefully we'll get good one at home. Oh and please can make sure we’ve tripled checked Jatta’s visa this time! I can’t do another pre-season of him being allegedly unhappy because he’s missed the trips abroad!

I’m really happy with the addition of Sanders, I think we’ve got 3 really good options in midfield and with one more likely there should be real competition in this area now. I think the main criticism of him when he first played in League 1 was that games could bypass him but going to a more physical side like Crewe has certainly helped develop this area of his game. I do think we have finally found someone to push Matt Palmer, it’s felt like for years we’ve tried to find a similar player we’ve had Ed Francis, Curtis Edwards and Jack Hinchy but none of them quite had that desired impact. Max is very comfortable on the ball, gets forward well and has the ability to play accurate longer passes too. Just on Matt Palmer, I thought he was really good first half of the season, he looked a different player. He was pressing really well, sharp in his tackling and was able to win turn-overs numerous times. Then he got injured and it hampered his second half of the season. I still think a fit and firing Matt Palmer has a lot to offer.

Max Saunders is a player I really like, he's also out of contract at Crewe, super tidy in possession type player. Tom O’Reilly, was also on loan at Crewe from Villa last season, reminded me of Crowley but with a touch more aggression when he played against us at Meadow Lane. Odin Bailey been released by Stockport, to the surprise of many of their fans, he'd be quite the upgrade on Norburn...