menzinho

Considering the owners are funding the whole project they were well in their rights to name it the Reedtz Brothers Appreciation Sanctuary! I’m sure some previous owners would’ve given themselves a name check (or added some sort of mural). I’d have called it McGoldrinck's…

We've probably been better away from home (that Swindon game aside) overall since Luke Maynard came in. Walsall are pretty good at home though, they've only lost 3 times at the Bescott this season so a draw wouldn't be a bad result. Think we're starting to see a bit more consistency in team selection too now, I watched the training the video the club put out and it looked like everyone that isn't a long term injury is pretty much fit now. Robertson would go straight back into the team for me over Bostock. Weirdly I still think we're more balanced with Chicken in the LWB role, because he can actually defend. I get leaving out Jodi is madness though, I just think with both Nemane and him as wingbacks we can be "got at" a lot easier...

They are going to broadcast a minimum of 248 L2 games! That’s 45% of the season’s games! Quite a dramatic jump in interest given they’ve shown about 30 L2 games this season… Looks to be quite a financial gain, and that’ll only serve to drive a larger gap between the NL and EFL. From a purely selfish and just Notts perspective it’s probably good for us. For the wider game in general, it’s not great. I’ve always thought a free-to-air channel should get some sport throughout the season, particularly lower league football. It always made me laugh when on BT they used to advertise a Champions League fixture mid-game between the likes of Maidenhead and Barnet…

I’ve stumbled across a table that might be similar to what was in the Reedtz Brothers recent statement. It ranks the teams on how well they create chances (Expected Goals - XG) and how easily the opposition create chances against you (Expected Goals Against - XGA). And then it calculates the points from that. You can view the table here: https://footballxg.com/xg-league-tables/ You then need to click on the drop down menu on the right hand side which says "League" and change it to: England - league 2. A little XG explanation for those who need it: XG, it’s a is a metric designed to measure the probability of a shot resulting in a goal. So if one player has a chance from two yards out in front of an open goal, and another player has a shot from 40 yards out and near the touchline, clearly one has a far greater chance of scoring than the other. XG simply assigns a value to every shot. So if you are producing a high XG but not scoring many it likely means the players are simply not good at finishing (or you keep coming up against very good GK, unlikely though). Whilst at the same time if your XGA is very high but you’re not conceding many goals it probably means you’ve got a great keeper amongst a bit of luck (cos the chances of the opposition constantly missing chances would be slim). This is my first time seeing this table too, I know a little bit about XG but I’m not claiming to be an expert. I certainly don’t think it’s the be all and end all of stats as I know there are many aspects of football that you can’t really measure and you can still have a dangerous attack that doesn’t end in a shot for whatever reason. But I get how it can be helpful when assessing a team’s performance in terms of how well they attack and defend. It's helpful that they’ve used colour coding, green for good and red for bad (there are no surprises for the colours for our chances created and conceded here!) So in this table we are in 8th position and if the games were decided by XG we would've had 6 more points. We’re very good at creating chances, we’re also very good at giving the opposition good chances too. Interestingly we are overperforming our XG, but to be honest all good attacking teams will usually do this. Even though we've conceded the most goals, by our XGA stats we aren't the worst in the league - just the third worse! It is still high/bad though and giving away all those penalties won't have helped either. That said based on these stats it suggests we’ve conceded 8 goals more than we should've. That would most likely come down to a few long-range goals but also probably some shots our keepers should’ve saved… You can change the "start date" by just typing in "20/01/2024" to see the table from SM's time (that was his first game). Whilst you can’t argue the fact we’re bottom of the form table (only by a point now though), we’re mid-table based on XG/XGA and this data has us with 9 more points in that time period too. I guess this is why the board are more hopeful than the majority of us fans!

Great to be nominated, that's almost a win in itself given the way this award is decided. Like who else would a Notts fan vote for?! It can't really be a serious award. It's not really about judging who has performed the best in the month it's just about which club can garner the most votes from it's supporters... And one club involved has acquired quite a few North American fans... So congratulations to Paul Mullin!

It’s funny how the two clubs’ results have almost mirrored each other after losing their head coaches. I guess it shows what a good job Stuart Maynard was doing there, in the same way we know what a good job LW had done with us. Pretty sure the majority of the Wealdstone fan base would want SM back. But I am hoping we’ve turned a corner now and he can become successful here, our owners clearly think he can/will be.

Not sure they actually needed to put that statement out to be honest. I think I’d have just waited until the season had finished, especially as it seems to confirm that SM will be here next season. After the good result yesterday there’s certainly more positivity and I don’t think we’ll lose all our remaining games, but we could and even I would struggle to have much optimism about next season with SM at the helm. They’re almost predicting, and I’m hoping, that we’ll finish these last games with good results, because otherwise that statement could massively backfire. In terms of their view of the season on a whole, they aren’t panicking which is absolutely what you need from the top. And they’ve admitted it’s been disappointing. Head coach aside not sure there’s much to argue with. I’d genuinely be more worried if they had said we’re abandoning the plan that has served us well for 4 years because we’ve suddenly had a dip in results for a few months.

It's only injuries that have stopped him from playing at a higher level, he'll get back there but luckily for the time being he's ours to enjoy. We’ve just got to get him out of a wingback role though next season haven’t we? Defending just isn’t his strong point, he needs to be attacking more often than not. Some have mentioned that subbing him on yesterday actually caused us a few problems and unbalanced us a bit as the defence got shifted around to accommodate him… Luckily it all worked out ok in the end. The goal was quality, he glides with the ball at his feet.

Got to win it really or at worst put in a really good performance and only lose due to factors out of our control (a.k.a a dodgy ref). We can't afford to not take the energy and sharpness on the ball from the game against MK. If Harrogate do chose to sit back and condense the space then we've just got to keep probing, committing players into their box and keep challenging Harrogate's defence - I know our defence is poor but we've not conceded 9 in one game this season! I'd go with the same team that started against MK if possible. I think we get a touch more balance having a more natural defender as one of the wingbacks. And that way we don't need to panic if the game is tight going into the last 30 cos we could potentially bring on Jones, Ceds and McGoldrick! (Good luck to the tired Harrogate defenders there). And if the midfield do look/get a bit tired, given I'm not convinced Bostock is playing at full-fitness yet I'd be bringing on J'OB to keep the energy levels as high as possible. Time is running out to get a home win and once again this feels like a massive chance. Off the back of a positive result against MK, this can't become another missed opportunity/false dawn.

I think when Palmer got injured, we all suddenly realised just how important he is. In terms of eye-catching play he doesn’t do that much but his positioning and ability to just keep receiving the ball is insanely good. I’m hoping the injury won’t have impacted his ability, because a player of his ability can only improve us. And I’ve said it before but I think him and Robertson will form a formidable partnership. The hope I’m still clinging to is that bar Mansfield this season I don’t think we’ve been outplayed by anyone and although the results recently haven’t been great, I still don’t think we’re that far off being a good side in L2. It’s reassuring to hear Stuart Maynard talking about addressing a lack of physicality too and that work is going on behind the scenes to address the recruitments short-comings this season. Add a couple of top defenders and goalkeeper (easier said then done) and we’ll have a really decent squad. Now I just need to see a good end to the season to give me confidence that SM can be successful here.

If Macca really wanted to leave he would've turned our contract offer down and either asked the club to sell him or he'd just wait until he could leave on a free. So I too think he's quite happy to stay for the time being. No-one knows if his contract has a release clause in or what the valuation is. The £1.5m figure was banded about over the summer, he's likely to finish the season on 25 goals (hopefully more) so yes there probably will be interest in him and I think the valuation won't be far off that. However we're under no pressure to sell him and he won't be cheap if clubs are serious about signing him. We won't sell to league 2 club and the only way most league 1 clubs will be able to sign him is if they sell a player for a couple of million. And it's probably still a bit of risk for Championship clubs with him jumping two levels. I think a lot of it all comes down to who moves where over the summer, and which clubs ultimately have the finances to buy him.

I had been reading more social media comments after the Swindon game so I feared the crowd on Monday would be pretty flat with a significant number less in attendance but that didn’t turn out to be true. In fact it was pretty much behind the team for the whole game, a few mumbles and grumbles when MK’s 3rd goal went in but that is only natural. Once we started attacking again and pushed for the equaliser the crowd urged the players on. It’s nowhere near as "toxic" as social media makes out, which to be fair is impressive given our struggles second half of the season. I’m still waiting until the end of the season until I make my mind up, but if we carry on/improve in the last 5 games I don’t think all these threats of “SM out or I won’t renew my season ticket” will come true. Sure they’ll be a handful of stubborn people, but finances are still very tight for a lot of us so maybe it’s just the ideal excuse. If we sign two defenders at the start of the window, off the back of a positive end to the season, I think that will reignite the hope with most of the fans.

Can’t really fault the first half, they score out of nothing but we were a lot more pro-active in trying to create chances and deservedly equalised. But we kind of sat back too much once we scored our 2nd. I get that it’s natural to sit back and protect the lead, but we still needed to provide a threat on the counter and keep the intensity with our pressing. We had a really poor 30 minutes where MK were in control and grabbed 2 goals. Their triple sub helped them, whereas I thought for 20 minutes Bostock really slowed us down. At least we showed a bit of character and got the equaliser but it’s a tad frustrating to score once we went behind. Overall given our second half performance a draw was probably a fair result. You can’t fault the effort and there seems to be no issues with the relationship between SM and themselves. Missed opportunities is how I feel best sums up SM time so far and seeing that Sutton put 3 past Swindon makes that result even worse. Today was better and MK are a good side but we desperately need a home win before the season is over.

We’re either getting an Easter miracle of our own or I’ll be watching some poor bloke get crucified… The maddest thing about all of this is since LW left in those 3 months we’ve picked up 9 points yet somehow, we are only 9 points off the play-offs! It could be 6 if we win against MK! How is that possible given we’ve only picked up 2 wins this year? We should be something like 20 points adrift by now! I agree with @Robbie pride is all the motivation you should need especially when people are doubting your character and ability, you should want to show the fans you care and whilst I don’t think lack of effort has ever been the criticism given the results have been so poor we are desperately need a performance to be proud of on Monday.

I don’t want to get to end of the season thinking the sensible thing the club should’ve done when Swansea approached us was to lock LW in his office, smash his phone and let him out after Swansea had appointed someone else! But it's looking that way, 6 games left now and Swindon was one of our easier games there…

I had a horrible feeling about the game. Two sides in poor form going toe-to-toe and we just gave Swindon the easiest win they've had all season. It was painful viewing, the continuation of the defensive howlers is now combined with possession for the sake of having possession. That's the complete opposite of what this team used to be. At least if we'd attacked, created a load of chances and drawn 2-2 there'd have been some glimmer of hope but we just passed the ball slowly like we were trying to put the Swindon players to sleep. It's criminal we didn’t make a poor Swindon team defend, their defenders didn’t have to run or worry about balls in behind because we just played the game out in front of them. I would really like to know what were we trying to do, because I couldn’t see it. Swindon only made 150 passes all game, that is bad for a professional football club, but what’s even worse was we made over 600, had 75% possession and managed to have less shots then them! I get we’ve had defensive issues all season but out attacking threat and incisive, pro-active football has just gone. We don’t defend well and after that, we don’t attack well either. I know it's Easter and Jesus dying and coming back to life was considered a miracle, but I'll tell you what will be more impressive us putting in good performance and getting a win against MK Dons!

First goal will be massive here, possibly to the point of who wins the game, as both teams need that confidence boost a goal brings. We've got nothing to fear, they've slipped down the table as badly as we have and even though there's nothing left to play for pride should be all the motivation you need. And let's be honest SM desperately needs a decent result to take into the game with MK on Monday. We've had our better results and performances away from home, so I'm hoping that trend continues tomorrow.

Yeah win percentage isn’t always a great way of viewing things, it’s all relative. He managed to get a part-time team in a pretty much full-time league, having just recently been promoted, to mid-table. All things considered he actually did very well at Wealdstone, but maybe the step up has just come to early for him. The Reedtz Bros have stated they are here for the long-term and they definitely have the clubs best interests at heart. We've always had a competitive squad and they’ve spent a of lot money improving and building new infrastructures at the stadium. Our better players won’t be sold just because someone bids for them, I’m sure we turned down offers for the likes of Wootton and Rodrigues because they thought them staying was more beneficial. I’m 99% certain we will only sell a player if their valuation is met. Our owners are human too, they’ll make mistakes and fans have to accept sometimes that’s going to happen. It’s about how you deal with the set-backs and I don’t think they’ll be panicking too much because the summer transfer window is a big opportunity to strengthen us and address the defensive issues. If we sign some good defenders and even add 1 or 2 new attacking players we can only improve! The question will then just be is SM the right man to take us forward?

Yes, I saw this too, glad he got to live out a lifelong dream and have one last great memory to cherish. And whilst it's hard to come to terms with for him and his family and at least he can look back on a life filled with great moments and achievements. Too many have gone far too young suffering from this horrible disease.

I'd avoid looking at the fees if we do sell one of our players over the summer @Wheelbarrow repair man cos I think you'll be very disappointed! We bought Macca for £50k, so if we did sell him for 1.5M we'd have profited £1,450,000. That's a mark up of 2,900% (if I've done the maths correctly). The closet kind of deal we can look at is Al-Hamadi who went to Ipswich from Wimbledon for "a fee of just over £1 million" according to East Anglian Daily Times. Whilst he's not scored as many he's 5 years younger than Macca... And @Robbie I understand why fans would want a head coach to do the recruitment, like you say it's fine if you've got a head coach with a track record of good recruitment. I'm not sure this was LW's strength when he signed, he just wanted to coach. And with our current approach it allows head coaches to do just that, focus their time and energy on coaching the players and preparing for games. It must be knackering and time consuming to also have to fit the recruitment in. I'm sure our recruitment process is a collaborative effort in that the head coach definitely gets a say it's just he doesn’t spend all the hours researching/looking for players. A big bonus is that if there’s a stand out player the club can also make an executive decision if there is no head coach in place like they did with Langstaff. If we’d have waited for LW to be appointed and then left the recruitment to him chances are Langstaff would’ve already signed for someone else… Pros and cons to both, but I think it's working well for us so far.

It doesn’t help that Luke Williams has jumped up to the Championship and in 14 games he’s got 17 points and moved Swansea up the table. He’s basically gone from managing in the NL to the Championship, Stuart Maynard has only stepped up one level and he’s not been able to hit the ground running. Who knows what would’ve happened had LW stayed maybe we’d have gone on a similar run, but given the fact he’s doing quite well at Swansea I think it shows he was able to get more from this group of players. In terms of SM I’d like to see us get 4 wins from the remaining 7, I’d take 3 as long as we performed well and picked up something like 3 draws too. When you look at the remaining fixtures we play Swindon who are poor, Harrogate nothing special and it’s at home and the last two are against Colchester and FGR. Yes they’ve potentially got more to play for assuming one/both haven’t been relegated, even so they’ve been down the bottom of the league all season for a reason. We also get to play Stockport and MK at home. If we can play well and got something from either of these that would be a massive boost. In LW last 2 home games we beat Morecambe 5-0 and Doncaster 3-0. We’ve had some pretty easy home games and off the back of the Bradford game Salford was a massive missed opportunity. If SM can’t get a home win in the next 4 games I would worry for him as that would mean the last home win fans watched was in December…

No recruitment team is ever going to get it perfect, but @Wheelbarrow repair man I think it’s a whole lot better than previous regimes. For years we had Che Adams playing next door and we signed Tyrell Waite instead! This season has had some issues and agree it could’ve been better. I’ll assume we missed out on some defensive targets because I can’t imagine we didn’t try, credible journalists have said we bid for Keeley and offered Vancooten a contract over the summer but they didn’t sign. And it’s always harder to recruit in Jan as no-one is out of contract and we won’t over pay for anyone. Sometimes data can only act as an insight to help make a judgement, I guess the club made the judgement over the summer that we need to just see if our players can play in L2 and having done so well last season it would’ve been bizarre not to at least give them a chance. And this team were in the play-offs when Luke Williams left... As for the head coach I believe the Notts board deal with that and right now that is made up of the Bros and Richard Montague. Not sure the recruitment team as a whole has much to do with hiring coaches, maybe they help to identify targets but they won’t get a say.

I wasn’t at the game but I got a message from a friend who said the best three players on the pitch (for us) were Macari, Robertson & Crowley – all signed this season so the recruitment team aren’t as bad as some make out. Overall performance was poor and he said you'd have thought that was the last game of the season. I know it was a very outside chance of making the play-offs but there was surely some motivation there today. I think the most disappointing aspect was how we didn’t kick on after equalising – what happened there? Did we just sit back or feel like a draw would do? And then to not get at least get a draw is a real downer. Very much feels like one step forward, one step back (after previously taking a few steps back). It’s not a great situation to be in a season just petering out (having nose-dived). It doesn’t get the fans excited for next season and the worry will be it'll be more of the same. It’s an odd situation because we’re not getting particularly outplayed by the opposition but at the same time we keep losing. Does this just mean some better players will fix it? I hope so... Oh and @Fan of Big Tone I think the luck in that hat has worn out now! ????

I'm 95% sure Jodi Jones will win it when it comes to a supporters vote (and equally importantly the PON Poll!). A record breaking season of assists is hard to argue with really. Interestingly FotMob has Crowley as our highest rated player with an average score of 7.54 across the season so far. Second is McGoldrick with 7.43. Then Jones with 7.38 and Macca on 7.23. I think these are the main four contenders that will be vying for the award too.

I think Salford had their “new manager bounce” after going 8 unbeaten they are now in a run of 1 win from the last 6. A better time to play them, especially with us also coming to the end of our run of losses. Matt Smith sticks out as the obvious threat and it’ll be no surprise half of his 23 goals are headers. He’ll be a massive danger in our box, expect him to lurk at the back post from set-pieces too. Could be Warner’s time to shine here, he’s probably our biggest CB so I’d put him on him. I guess the positives are he can’t really run anymore so there’s no threat of him pressing and with our high-line we really do need to keep him out of our box as much as possible. Watson and Watt are likely to play as the two holding midfielders, so I’m hoping the energy of Robertson, Austin and Crowley will get the better of them and we’ll be able to dominate in the middle of the pitch. I think I’d keep the same team, only freshen it up if needed. Think I’d keep Baldwin on the bench due to aerial threat from Smith, weirdly I’d be more confident with Warner against him. Can’t see Cameron getting dropped and Macari was excellent in the LCB role against Bradford. That said I won’t be surprised to see him in the team, same for Bostock. I certainly don’t think we’ll be over confident going into this one, just that we should go into it with a bit more belief. They will definitely be a threat when it comes to crossing balls into the box so if we can stand up to that we should be able to get a positive result.