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menzinho

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Everything posted by menzinho

  1. Disappointing that this was called off and it just means we've got more games to fit in, however Halifax losing at Maidenhead and Chesterfield losing in the week and drawing yesterday means the gap to the top hasn't really increased. Good wins for Stockport against Dagenham and Bromley against Grimsby though means they gain. Only six points points separating the top 7 now, with us occupying the 7th spot with 2 games in hand...
  2. I do think it’ll be harsh not to start Sam in the same way I thought it was harsh Mitchell didn’t get to start after he bagged two goals earlier in the season. I think attackers/strikers need that run of games, and I think it’s why we are yet to see the best of both Sam and Mitchell. I can't see either Woots or Ruben being dropped for him though. Assuming everyone is fit then you'd have to probably switch to a 4-3-3 to get Sam in the team. Then you can have Sam and Roberts/Ruben playing alongside Woots and still get numbers in midfield with Palmer, Vinny and Ruben/Roberts. I don't think we'll play 4-3-3 so he'll probably be back on the bench - just means he'll just have to come off and score! As for Barnet Mason Bloomfield, Adam Marriott, Ephron Mason-Clarke and Sehat Tasdemir are all out so that's 4 decent attacking options we don't have to worry about. They've got more out too so we definitely won't be facing them at their strongest and right now there form has dropped a bit so on paper it's a good time to play them. Fingers crossed we get a performance that can honour the memory of Colin Slater.
  3. Let that be the last time Cal Roberts ever plays LWB! When we went in 1-0 down at half-time I did fear the worst and wondered are we really this bad without Cameron. But credit to the team and IB for changing it, we got the result we wanted.
  4. So, Dover communicated to Notts that they had no issues this morning… Yet their fans thought (knew) it would be off. These are from their fan forum: “Any pitch inspections planned for tomorrow? Looked like a plough field last week and rain is forecast all day tomorrow” “Watch this game get called off at the last minute and drag our name further into the mud! Can’t seriously see the pitch passing an inspection!” “I knew about 11 am this morning it would be off as did many others, WTF is wrong with the club right now.” Don’t know how a ‘professional’ club can be so blasé about the state of their pitch. Knowing the forecast there should’ve been a pitch inspection early. Apparently, it was raining there all morning as well… Unbelievable lack of thought and foresight, feel for the fans that put in the miles only to be the last thought in people’s minds (again).
  5. I fully expect them just to just sit and play for the 0-0, so the earlier we can score, the better. The only points they’ve got at home this season weirdly have been against Chesterfield (how?) and Solihull (Ardley’s bogey ground), both were 0-0’s. Surely Dover are going to win a game at some point… Everything would suggest it’s not going to happen this weekend but I'm still a little nervous about this game! Also I've just checked the weather and it's going be heavy rain from 8am tomorrow morning, right through until kick off! Do Dover have anything in the way of covers or irrigation? My prediction is P-P! (But I sincerely hope it's not another wasted journey).
  6. I was only able to listen to but I find it more nerve-wracking then being at a live game. I’m never 100% sure where the ball is and I feel Charlie Slater can just say “ball into the box and a goal” from out of nowhere. I finally felt confident of the win by about the 85th minute! Thread bare squad but credit it to them it, that was a big win for us. Red card changed the game but that’s not in our control and we still had to push on and make sure of the 3 points. Sometimes playing against 10 can be trickier (as we know). Sounded like the players that haven’t featured as much as they’d like this season like Francis and Chicksen had great games. And even Sam put himself about a bit and sounded like he should’ve got himself on the scoresheet. Couldn’t ask for a better start to 2022!
  7. The problem is that we don’t know who has it and how many have it. By the definition of several we could just have 4 players with COVID, and if they were Knight, Sam, Chicksen and Francis (for example) it doesn’t really impact the strength of the first 11. However if it’s Slocombe, Cameron, Palmer and Wootton or a whole lot more then yes get it called off! And you have to factor in that Ruben will miss this game. Equally with all the uncertainty there’s a potential opportunity for fringe players to make an impact and we could change things up and give Wrexham something they didn’t plan for. I’d argue this season Cal has taken more of a hit to get him and Ruben in the same team, but now that the first 11 doesn’t have to accommodate them both we can get him in his natural position. I’d like to play Wrexham with as strong a team as possible, and IB (who knows which players are unavailable) will know if it’s a big risk or more of an inconvenience…
  8. Game off! Waterlogged pitch. Apparently they don’t have a groundsman. It’s bizarre at this level to not even have someone on a part time basis… Really poor as it sounds like it should’ve/could’ve been called off earlier to save the travelling fans from a wasted journey. Really frustrating as we haven’t got COVID in the camp yet the disruption to the season continues for us.
  9. I think the signing of Richardson earlier in the week shows we are committing to playing a 3-5-2 formation now (at least as our ‘plan a’ anyway). I expect he’ll start and with him and Joel in the wing-back positions, that’s about as strong as you can get at this level. Southend are in free fall at the moment, they could well be on for 3 successive relegations. As Dover are as good as relegated that leaves two relegation spots, that’ll help but it’s still not looking good for them. We come into the game refreshed and with everyone raring to go and I think if we get an early goal Southend could be in for a bit of punishing chasing shadows kind of game. Looking at the table you’d think this game has home win written all over it, but you can never be sure with Notts!
  10. Pleased, but I think I’d describe that performance as a bit messy and disjointed. J’OB kind of changed the game for us. Even though it wasn’t exactly great from us. Too many times we passed the ball and got no-where or tried to play a perfect 60-yard ball. We didn’t play through the lines or move the ball quickly enough in the transitions. The first half was a bit of mirror football, very similar not much in it at all. Then second half Dagenham came out tried for 10 minutes and then where like, “nah we’ll just stick with the 1-1 thanks”. The game was there for us to win it and we did, eventually! I’m still not sold on Cal in CM, when he was up the pitch on the right-hand side you saw what he’s about, two brilliant balls one for the goal the other a should be goal for Ruben. I want to see Cal back in that RW position...
  11. We're pretty good at ML at the moment, but I agree Dagenham aren't a team to be underestimated. They seem to go through spells of being either really poor or really good. They started the season really well, then really struggled. However they are capable of smashing a few goals in. Just got to hope the memories and dread from the 3-1 loss here last season is still lingering for them! In terms of us, we've settled back on the 3-5-2 and the team kind of picks itself at the moment. I don't think J'OB will come straight back into first 11 and I can't see Mitchell displacing either Ruben or Wootton. Hopefully we're not becoming too predictable to play at the moment, I'd like to see us get back to creating a bit more (and scoring more!) I've suddenly become a bit superstitious about predicting the score, haven't done it since the three straight losses!
  12. All in all considering their home form it’s not a bad result, just the loss at the weekend means 1 point from 2 games so we really need a win against Dagenham to just make sure we don’t start to fall away. No-one above us won and Grimsby, Halifax and Bromley all lost so that’s a point gained on them! And it’s great that Altrincham scored two late goals against Chesterfield… Good wins for Wrexham and Stockport, is that the two big money teams slowly on the rise now?
  13. Really pleased for Mitchell, gets his two goals against Tamworth but wasn't able to keep his place and keep that possible momentum going. It’s really hard for a striker to be in and out the team, he didn’t have much time on the pitch but he was desperate to make an impact. Probably a shame Ruben couldn’t get a goal in-front of his parents but in the grand scheme of things it’s a minor inconvenience on what was an otherwise great day and team performance. And smashing the attendance record, almost makes you feel like the NL isn’t that bad after all!
  14. It’s going to be a big crowd, hopefully record breaking too! It would be nice to beat it by a good few hundred as well. 12,000 fans in attendance would be incredible. We tend to do well with a big crowd at ML, the atmosphere should be even better than Stockport and that will help spur the players on. Solihull will absolutely want to spoil the occasion but I hope the crowd makes it a little too daunting for them. Picking the team is quite a challenge at the minute (a good one) Cal’s form isn’t great at the moment, but a game like this is where he really could shine. Then you've got the likes of Vincent and Nemane who probably deserve to start. Some big choices for IB to make.
  15. Yeah, pleased with the result and the performance. Agree with IB post match comments that it was a shame we couldn't push on a get another goal. Now it's our turn to play at home, and given the draw is made tonight it could potentially be even more of an incentive if we draw either a L1 team (or Mansfield). It showed that the gap to the NL and L2 isn't much if anything nowadays, I'm currently watching Dagenham v Salford just waiting for the 2nd round draw and although Salford are 1-0 up there's not a lot in it and it could easily be 1-1...
  16. I can't see IB making lots of changes, if anything I think the choice is whether to start with the team that finished against Grimsby or stick with the 3-5-2. I think it'll be close and it's the first game in a long time where we go into a game under no real pressure so will that suit us more? Players should be up for it though and I see no reason why we can't provide a little cup upset. Can't remember why it's a Sunday though, is it on the BBC Sport website or something? There's only 3 FA Cup games on at 3 o'clock surely they're aren't going to put final score on just for that!
  17. 7 from 9. Terrific response, in a week that could’ve seen us really lose ground we’re now 5 points off the top and with so many games still to go we just need to be in and around there. That was never going to be a 2-0 walk-over kind of game, yes attacking performance not the best but we know what we are capable of on our day. It’s a massive plus to see the defensive side of us look so much more assured recently. Think the stat is that we’ve not lost a game with Cameron and Rawlinson in the side. Long may that continue!
  18. Another big crowd which in a weird way probably suits us at the minute. And it’s likely both of Grimsby’s main strikers/attackers McAtee (6 goals) and Taylor (5 goals) are out so it’ll be as good a time as ever to play them. They play a 4-2-3-1/4-4-1-1 so I think sticking with the 3-5-2 will be of use. This is from their paper about Grimsby’s midfield after the Wealdstone game: “Wealdstone had an extra man in there and it was evident as they popped the ball around and picked up pockets of space with ease”. And our 3 centre backs could easily pass the ball out by the sounds of it, this is on their striker, John-Lewis: “Held the ball up well at times but struggled to press Wealdstone's defenders as they played the ball out of the back.” Only problem we have now is, where do you play Roberts in a 3-5-2? He’s just not someone who I think fits in a midfield 3… Overall I’d be happy with a draw considering their home form.
  19. Heading in the right direction? Loved it today, admittedly after we gave away the pen and then the two corners that followed, I absolutely thought we we’re going to throw the game away inside those last 2 mins. But credit to the players we didn’t! Absolutely deserved the win. It was a really good performance, everyone played well and the things I’d maybe questioned like the ability to get stuck in and manage a game were put to bed (for now!). Bring on Bromley!
  20. Antoni Sarcevic is on the verge of signing for them! Just got promoted to league 1 with Bolton and is their captain, he's a very good player... Stockport spending big, again!
  21. Apparently Stockport have sold around 1,800 tickets! It’s going to feel like/is a big game. The result against Tamworth was a boost but they are two levels below and Stockport’s players will be considerably better. I’d expect the likes of Palmer, J’OB and Cameron all back in the starting line-up. And it’s a massive bonus that Rawlinson will be in contention for this game too. I’d stick to a 3-5-2 personally, especially if Roberts is out. Then you’ve got the option to play Rodrigues upfront or drop him into midfield and play Mitchell with Woots. We could switch back to a 4 man defence and bring Nemane on if it isn't working out. No idea what the final score will be, wouldn’t be that shocked if we lost, equally wouldn’t be shocked if we won 3-0. All I know is that we don’t seem to do boring games at ML at the minute…
  22. That is very generous of you to give them a game against 10 men!
  23. Much needed win and thank god we got to play Yeovil when we did because they sounded pretty toothless. Probably should’ve scored more, but given the recent results I’m not complaining. We really are quite a threat from set-pieces now, that’s another goal from a corner. Ruben had a good day, he’s back in goal-scoring form. And Cameron back too, I think he will have given everyone a boost going into that game. Mini-crisis averted!
  24. I don’t quite know how we got ourselves into the situation of being overran like that. Where was the midfield for that goal? Why was it just Sam there? But yeah I totally agree he doesn’t do enough to stop the initial run, he's got to at least try and tackle him.
  25. I can see why emotions were running high after the game. They went head to head by all accounts but that IB said it was a nothing incident just "handbags". The red card really got them fired up and in a weird way I wonder if had been 11 v 11 would they have got the same result? (We wouldn’t have had 10 mins of injury time that’s for sure). Sometimes in games red cards do inspire teams, us v Dagenham and Sutton last year just two examples. That said there’s obviously something not right to just capitulate like that. I’ve have liked have been at the game just to see the comparisons between that and the Woking game.

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