menzinho

I'd love us to do something like this! I can remember watching a few games one season, not at Notts, but at half-time a few fans got a chance to win a car. Presumably a local car-dealership was sponsoring them. Anyway this car would be backed into one corner of the stadium, in between the stands, and the boot would be opened. From the halfway line the fans then had to hit the ball into the boot of the car to win it! Unsurprisingly no-one won it!

Really sad to hear, I just hope he gets the answers he’s looking for and that time out to just reassess everything in his life. When you have a season out and then come back but keep picking up injuries, it must be very frustrating. And he’s watched two players he was very close to in Ruben and Macca move on and into the Championship. At 25 he’s still young and capable of achieving a lot in football, I really hope he comes back refreshed, in a good place and able to have a good second half of the season with us.

You could post some comments/replies, log out for the day and then the next day log in to be greeted with a list of notifications all with “your comment has been down voted”. It probably would put you off posting. I know most wouldn’t take it to heart, but some would and it would be sad to think they are either upsetting people or not posting good points. I think the way we can quote certain parts of a post is good enough if you want to disagree and reply to a comment.

So Wimbledon in their first 4 away games haven't really done much. They've scored 1 goal and that was in the only game they won. They've draw one and lost the other 2. I can't see it being a big scoring match, I'll be pleasantly surprised if we score 3+ because I think Wimbledon are going to follow the approach of both Gillingham and Port Vale. I'll be dreading it if they take the lead because then they really will just sit back, cos even a 1-1 would be a good result for them. We've got to show some signs we know how to deal with teams that are just going to sit deep, consider Gillingham and Port Vale the practice matches now, this one is quite a big game in a way. I like @Robbie's team but I'd go slightly more attacking and put Austin in for Robertson. Didzy and Jatta as a pairing, with Crowley and Austin slightly ahead of Palmer in flexible 3-5-2 formation, just have Palmer sit and stop any counters through the middle.

Yeah good draw that, given the proximity Alfreton will be able to easily bring a good number of fans. We seem to usually get the better of them in friendlies, but this will be a totally different type of game, I'm looking forward to it!

It’s interesting in international football all the players have to be from that country (obviously) but there are no rules regarding the head coach/manager. I guess for England it's not a big deal now because we've already had non-nationals manage us but some countries do make a big deal about the head coach being from that nation. The likes of Argentina, Brazil, Germany, Spain have always had managers from that country and I don't necessarily think it's a bad thing. (*OK Herrera wasn’t born/raised in Spain – but his parents were Spanish, he could speak it fluently so it’s pretty much the next best thing!) It’s also a bit of a poor reflection on the English game if we can’t produce one coach for the job, given we can produce so many talented players surely we should be able to do the same with the coaches. I agree with @liampie as well, I really don’t think Lee Carsley would be that bad of a choice, he’s won a European Championship with the U21’s, winning any kind of international tournament isn’t easy but for some reason that seems to not be valued.

We will be ball number 34! There are 80 teams in the round, 32 of the teams are from Non-League, 48 from the EFL so the odds will tip slightly in favour of drawing another EFL side… I’m hoping we’ll avoid a team in our league as we play them twice already. And any trip to top league 1 side will be tough. Big no’s to Wrexham and Shrewsbury for me, I’m fed up of losing to them!

Scott played well in the National League playing in an attacking midfield role and he still scored a good number of goals. I think he's still capable of playing that role for us along with playing as forward too (good luck getting in a head of Jatta and Didzy there though). But the injury has been a massive setback, even over pre-season he didn't score and he looked like a player that hadn't played for a year. And then in his competitive return he's not looked quite on it but that is to be expected with all the football he's missed. I think he just needs a bit more playing time and with our injuries to Jodi, Grant and Edwards he's got more of chance than ever now. I don't think it matters too much where he plays, he's played enough in the attacking midfield role he knows what to do, he's just got to take his chance when he gets it.

I get why we play with just the one forward and two behind is because it gives you a “box midfield” which can effectively result in 4 central midfielders (2 CAMs 2CMs) so it’s much easier to control games as you can really outnumber the opposition’s midfield. That said I think a Didzy and Jatta paring is a good shout, especially against teams that do sit back and defend deep. We wouldn’t need to really take control of a game because the opposition have almost forfeited that battle by letting us have so much of the ball. I think a front two can still be very flexible too because like any forward pairing one can drop in to help with the build-up play. I’m expecting Wimbledon to play a similar style of sit back and look to counter and given our recent struggles to break these teams down I think it would be a perfect time to play them both.

Feel like there was a slice of lucky at the end there, it was a close game but I think had Chesterfield won it I wouldn’t have felt that aggrieved. Those penalties are ones I don't like to see given, not sure what he’s supposed to do with his arm when it’s booted at him from 3 yards but there you go. We had zero luck when it came to pens last season so maybe this season we are making up for it! Just didn’t really deal with some the big moments in that game, especially their 2nd goal. We looked so comfortable again at times but we didn’t create that much, especially in the second half, their keeper didn’t have a save to make until we scored the penalty. At times we seem to over-do the passing, especially short balls to feet. I liked seeing Crowley higher up the pitch, just didn’t have a good game today. Probably held on to the ball for too long at times and I didn’t like him screaming at Tsaroulla at the end for making a run in behind. That was actually a good run, we don’t need to constantly pass it short and to feet all the time! Hope he gave him a bit of stick back… A good point though, think Chesterfield will be in around the play-offs at the end of the season. Some interesting results today too, Port Vale with another 1-0 away win, Gillingham and Barrow lost to the bottom two at the start of play in Accrington and Morecambe and our next opponents Wimbledon smashed Carlisle 4-0!

Fingers crossed @Robbie I'd take that! We've defended well away from home this season (Bromley first 5 mins excluded!)

Does feel a touch death by midfielders looking at that side! I know Austin will likely play LWB or RWB, but Abbott, Palmer and Robertson... I know given the injuries we are a touch light in attack but I just hope Jatta doesn't become too isolated.

Crawley Town 2-1 Shrewsbury Town Peterborough United 2-2 Rotherham United Barrow 2-0 Morecambe ???? Cheltenham Town 1-0 Swindon Town Doncaster Rovers 2-1 Crewe Alexandra Harrogate Town 1-1 Newport County Salford City 1-1 Grimsby Town Tranmere Rovers 0-0 Bradford City

In a weird way this competition is turning out to be quite handy, I'm not fussed about winning it but given our injuries it means we can get players back playing proper minutes. Training is a necessity but there's nothing quite the same as a competitive match against opposition. It will allow the players who haven't really featured to get more of understanding of each other and those connections in our patterns of play.

From what I can recall Lucas Ness had surgery on his ankle when he was still at Charlton, but I've no idea when this actually was. Guessing we're just waiting until he gets the OK from the doctor. Good that McGoldrick will be back in contention for Chesterfield though.

We are going to have to work on a few different strategies/ideas to break down the teams that just put everyone behind the ball and are actually well organised because the space won’t just open up. That’s going to happen again against the better teams this season. I thought we were too slow and didn’t try to be creative enough we kept opting for the simple pass to feet. We were taking 3 touches at times when we needed to take 2 and even sometimes try 1 touch stuff around their box to break through. We had them more stretched with our wing-backs on their natural side but the two attacking midfielders closest to them didn’t really link up with them that well. We are usually so good at slipping the ball in behind and I think we did it once or twice. Still think we need Crowley higher up, look at last season he was making runs into the box and scoring, other than his chance early on I think he was far too deep. At the end it looked like he was partnering Platt at the back! I will say I was quite surprised Port Vale adopted the low/mid-block approach, thought their team had enough quality in it to come at us a bit more, but there you go. Definitely got a tad lucky in that they barely ventured forward and still scored but they did defend their box very well. We didn’t do enough to win, far from it, given how much of the ball we had we were pretty toothless with it.

Good idea to have this, I'm always losing track of who is and isn't it fit. As for signing additional players for cover under the new rules we can't sign anyone on loan now, that has to be done in the window. You used to be able to as it was classed as an emergency loan. Essentially we can now only bring in free-agent/unregistered players. I'm hoping we don't pick up any more major injuries, knocks and strains are always going to happen and I'm sure Grant and McGoldrick will be back pretty soon.

I don’t see why it caused such a big complaint after their initial allocation had sold out. No idea why some of their fans thought they'd get the whole stand. We aren’t ever going to offer that when teams won’t fill it due to the need for extra police and the closure of the road behind. To be honest I thought our initial allocation was fine, that’s still a lot of tickets at this level. Will their fans be moaning when they don’t get 2,000 tickets at Accrington, Bromley, Barrow, Carlisle… (add pretty much every other L2 club here!) Anyway, as for the match itself, I think Port Vale will be more focussed on their off the ball tactics for this one. I could be completely wrong here but I’d expect them to press us man for man like Morecambe did and look to take the ball off us high up the pitch. I’d be surprised if they adopt the sit-back with a low block approach, they are too good for that. There’s a possibility George Byers won’t be fit for them and he’s a very good player, but they have a good squad for this level and can bring in someone like Croasdale to replace him if needed. As for us, I’d like to see Crowley switched with either Robertson or Abbott, I think we’ve got to trust Palmer a bit more to be able to keep the ball moving in the deep midfield role. We over-did in terms of passing in midfield and went nowhere at times against Carlisle. I’d like to see Tsaroulla as the LWB and Gordon on the right (I don’t think it’ll happen though). Austin and Crowley behind Jatta with Abbott or Robbo supporting Palmer. Back 4 picks itself, McDonald will push someone for a first team spot soon though. I think it’ll be a close game, if it ended in a draw it wouldn’t surprise me.

Great result in the end but I felt like that was a weird game. We were in total control for 60 minutes, having actually rarely attacked them. It was like a training session at times, but then we just stopped playing for that last 30. Crowley was great on the ball, but at the same time he was so deep at times, he was just basically toying with them and taking the p*** out of their players. But I’d have liked to see him doing that closer to the opposition goal, he’s too good to not be used as an attacker. We did defend well, but at times it was far too easy from them to get balls into our box and I feel like a half decent team could’ve punished us. Maybe after watching us defend last season I’m not used to us being able to deal with any sort of attacking pressure from the opposition!

By the sounds of it Morecambe came with plan to press and disrupt us all game and it worked. Playing direct to McGoldrick isn't his game, that's why Jatta is vital in helping combat teams that do press. He's got both the physicality to compete and a bit of pace to stretch defences too. We are struggling with injures and that showed in the team, last season I moaned because we didn't play any defenders today we played all the midfielders! All a bit too samey in terms of McGoldrick, Crowley, Grant, Palmer all like to be on the ball and pass it, a lot! We needed the likes of Jatta, Jones and Edwards who naturally make more runs. I'd like to know if playing inverted wingbacks is helping or hampering. I totally get why Jodi plays on the right, he did it his whole career before joining us and his skill level allows him to. I think it makes it harder for the players not as naturally blessed. Tsaroulla has spent his whole career on the left and likewise LWB is an unfamiliar role for Austin. But credit to the team, for getting the equaliser and keeping at 1-0 gave us that chance. Still need a touch more concentration when it comes to set-pieces, which brings me nicely to the topic we seemed to just totally avoid in the post match interview their "ghost goal". The Morecambe manager claims some of our players agreed it did go over the line. And if it didn't go over the line would their player really have got so wound up to the state he got himself sent off... I'll take that draw!

Now that we’ve had the press conference and heard nothing I’m slightly more positive - in that I don't think it's season ending that is! From what was said in the Martin signing statement they are currently assessing him, which to me suggest they aren't still 100% sure of the issue. Something major like a big tear/snap will be obvious and immediately picked up in a scan.

I really hope it's not true, no pre-match interviews released either yet and we usually get them on a Thursday. Suggests to me either there's nothing wrong (I doubt it though) or he'll be waiting for test results to see how bad the injury truly is...

I'm also going to continue the trend of not really having any interest in this competition. I know there’s a trip to Wembley at the end of it but I really don’t see the point of it. It’s basically like a best of the rest competition for the teams that aren’t ever going to get close to reaching the final of the League & FA Cup. They’ve put in rules that stop teams from just playing their reserve/kids which is exactly what I would do (along with the players who need it for match-fitness) but it’s not as restrictive as I originally thought. I thought you had to start a minimum of 4 outfield players from the last league fixture but the rules stretch to also include; any outfield player with 40 or more first-team appearances in their career and any outfield player on loan from a Cat.1 academy. It’s a minimum of 4 from that, so as long as for example we started; Chicksen, Cundy, Abbott and Brown the rest of the team could be from our academy! I doubt the changes will be that dramatic though. Potentially a good time to ease McDonald and Robertson back in if they are fit, but I wouldn’t risk them if not. This competition is just about avoiding injuries for me. So rather than picking a team here’s who I don’t want to feature: No Bass, no Bedeau, no Platt, no Tsaroulla, no Palmer, no Crowley, no Didzy, and no Jatta please (obviously no Jodi too but that’s highly likely given the possible injury!)

Yeah, just have to wait and see. Sometimes the impact injuries where you get kicked are the worst in terms of soreness for the early stages and it could all just be precautionary. I’m hoping it’s nothing more than a horrible bruise that will calm down and recover quicker than actual ligament or bone damage. But then again leaving on crutches seems a bit sever for just a bruise…

I think it’s more frustrating because Gillingham weren’t exactly world beaters, it does feel like points lost in a game we should’ve got something from. First half we should’ve scored and then second half at the at the end we had a couple of decent chances too. I heard Stuart’s post-match interview on the radio on the way back, not sure I’d agree that we were excellent though and unfortunately I think the officials got both the penalty and offside call right. I’d need to double check the rules but even though Brown doesn’t head the ball, he does still go for it making him active which would then cause Austin to be offside - feel free to correct me here! But we just started that second half a bit sluggishly, almost too calmly like "we've got 45 minutes to get a goal here, we don't need to rush!" And so we didn't really didn’t threaten Gillingham that much. I think that Macari shot was all we could muster for about 30 minutes until the later stages. It was all a bit samey lots of players coming short, no-one really making any runs in behind. And we really missed Jatta, we got into a lot of decent crossing positions but didn’t always deliver the ball and when we did we didn’t always have the presence to compete with their CBs. But that said other than a few long-range efforts our defence was hardly under much pressure for a lot of that game, fine margins really and even though I wasn't overly impressed with them I'd still expect to see Gillingham in the top 7 come the end of the season.