menzinho

Yep, great start to the new season and the result was better than I expected. Promising debuts from Austin, Baldwin and Langstaff. Especially Langstaff, very early days but but 20 goals certainly looks like something he can achieve.

Yeah, can’t say I’m too clued up on Forest Green Rovers, but I can have a think about what team Luke Williams might pick! We’ve played 3-5-2, well a variation of it during pre-season. It’s hard to describe at the minute but it seems to be very flexible. I’d probably call it a 3-1-5-1. We seemed to push three players up behind the striker and the wingbacks were very attack minded. I’m guessing that will be the formation. So, Slocombe in goal seems obvious and the back three, I think Cameron and Baldwin are in which leaves the RCB spot for either Bajrami or Brindley. If Palmers fit he’ll be the holing CM, otherwise I think LW quite likes Francis. Wingbacks, I’d go Chicksen and Nemane. Austin, O’Brien and Rodrigues in behind Langstaff. Just don’t think Scott has had enough game time after his illness and Mitchell has looked sharp but Langstaff really looks like he’s got that natural goal scoring ability. I’d expect us to dominate play with Maidenhead getting as many men behind the ball to frustrate for as long as possible. I don’t think it’ll be a Barnet style win but I think we should get off to a good start again this season.

Aldershot away has done us in again. We just can't seem to get a run going this season and it feels like a case of one step forwards and two steps back (again!) Teams will be battling like that in the play-offs and I just don't trust us to be able to match them at the minute, especially away from home and that's a big worry for me. And I get the ref obviously wasn't great but we've still got to defend much better, hopefully Cameron and Brindley coming back can give us a boost. The only bonus for us is that Chesterfield are getting worse and Grimsby couldn't beat Barent so somehow we stay 5th!

So odd how we need a goal to get us going sometimes, although we didn't start to badly we just seem to have these lapses where we switch off. I think the early goal for Kings Lynn probably didn't help they just tried to hold on to it and by half-time looked a bit defeated. Pleased for Nemane thought he was the best player on the pitch, another player who's not had much game time but I think he can be a big player for us.

Dreadful. But that awful first-half set the tone. Hearing that we couldn’t even win the 4th ball in our own penalty area sums it up. Then suddenly you think we’re going to get something when it gets 2-1 but we just implode. It’s been the tale of our season, just when you think we’re about to string a run of wins together we drop an absolute clanger. And when you lose like that it feels as if all the good work from the last 4 games has come undone. If we’d lost 2-1 we’d have bemoaned the poor first half cos second half (up until about 70 mins) we had some chances. But to just get done like that, I thought we were over that kind of performance. We’re lucky Grimsby drew and Boreham Wood’s shocking run just continues, but in terms of the bigger picture of promotion, after today you can’t help but think it’s a big ask.

Great result, and I'm liking this defensive grit we seem to have gained recently. Winning headers in our box, putting bodies on the line, it all bodes well for a strong finish to the season if we can keep it up. Maybe we're getting a bit of luck too as if that pen had gone in 2-1 makes it a very different game. But credit to Jaros for reading the pen and making the save. A home semi-final doesn't seem out of reach now especially with teams in the top 7 still having to play each other, it's got to be the aim. And that also puts Ruben level on league goals with Woots now, both have 15. I think he might finish as our top scorer too.

Big dilemma for me is do we stick with the 3-5-2 which is probably better overall or switch to a 4-3-3/4-2-3-1 which is better for getting all our attacking talent in the side. Last season we clicked under the 3-5-2 and nearly got to the Play-off final and that was down to playing a formation that allowed us to fit our better players into their most effective roles. Ruben, Miller and Ellis are prime examples. Now it's slightly different, and I feel Southend's defenders will be made to work a lot harder with the likes of Sam and Roberts on the pitch. Southend were on a fantastic run recently, but like Dripsey says they've tailed off recently. Dagenham were 3-0 up at half-time last time they played a home game. I'm hoping for a similar outcome.

For a so called derby game I thought the first 20 minutes were quite tame, Chesterfield just let us have the ball and when they did get it we didn't want to tackle them! That goal was bad and Whittle was just able to stroll into the box completely unmarked. Then for the equaliser watching in real time I thought it was a nailed on pen. Having seen the replays it's soft, he retracts his leg but his momentum takes him into Ruben. When you dive in the penalty area you're asking for trouble though. We had some nearly moments but the first half was a bit meh... Second half was better the tempo was quicker but weirdly for us I thought we lacked numbers in our attacks sometimes and we took another touch when we could've had a shot. How Woots missed the header I don't know. Should we have got some fresh legs on upfront for the last 15? Nemane and Sam combo, would that have worked? Who knows. Still had a few ffs moments when we dallied on the ball a few times and nearly gave Chesterfield a goal. Asante's miss was almost as bad as Woots, luckily he was not on it for a lot of that game. 7 points from 9, I'll take that, so called big games out the way (until the play-offs at least) can we finish the season unbeaten now though ????

Chesterfield have injuries and Kellerman is suspended for them so not a bad time to play them. I think we'll stick with the 3-5-2, it's working at the moment, so same team that won against Boreham wood for me. Hopefully Lacey is okay and D-KE deserves to play LWB but I can see him coming off after about 60 mins, cos I'm almost certain he'll be on yellow and last warning by then! Really tough on Sam though (and Roberts if he's fit again). But a 3-5-2 just doesn't play to their strengths. And I even think Nemane's been very unfortunate to not get more game time, I like him. I'm never confident when it comes to predicting a win, but given the recent results and introduction of Arter I am a lot more more hopeful!

We've got some players back for this game! Some still ill but from the video Notts released of training O'Brien, Sam and Brinds all back so no emergency CB role for Wootton now! I couldn't see Lacey in the vid so I'd guess it'll be Rawlo and Brinds in at CB. Got to get Sam back in too so that for me means going 4-2-3-1. And do you just chuck Arter Straight in too? Not played for ages and only had a few training sessions... I want to see what he can do! We need to get something out this game, Dagenham back in a good spell but they are even more inconsistent than us! It won't be easy but a win would be massive.

A bizarre one then, it leaves me with more questions than answers. Could we have actually postponed that game? I don’t think you can do it for Covid now... But if 50% of that matchday squad were ill, then why even bother playing them. We were never going to get anything from the game if we had players trying to play when they were clearly in no physical condition to do so. And then does that mean we had fit players on the bench? Lacey and Rawlo were highlighted as particularly struggling. I’d have played only non-ill players and just taken the hit. Just explain to us that you can't postpone the game but some players were just too ill. If that meant Woots and Chicks as a center back pairing and Doyle and D-KE as the CM pairing, so be it. Chances are the result would’ve been the same anyway. Also sadly for what is our season defining month, it’s not going well. I still think we have a good chance of finishing in the play-offs we’ve got an easy run in (on paper) but I just think if we have to play a team in the play-offs away from home (very likely), right now I just can’t see us progressing.

Top spot is a big ask, just feels like we've been eight for an eternity now, luckily our game in hand is against Dover... Yeah, I hate this whole thing with referees that once they’ve sent someone off they all of sudden become very lenient with that team. The one thing you could’ve guaranteed if one of those penalty shouts had been at our end Halifax would’ve got one. I’d like to know the stats regarding us (or just the teams in the NL) and red cards, is it really a big advantage anymore? We usually do okay whenever we go down to 10! I remember the first game against Halifax in this league, Doyle got sent off but we scored and got a 1-0 win. Last night Solihull went down to 10 and they won. Woking also went down to 10, they went 1-0 down but got a goal back and drew...

No idea why we persisted with the same players and formation for so long, earlier in the season IB changes that to 4-3-3. We needed something different in midfield, Brunt and Cal offer pretty much nothing defensively and we needed to switch it up more with balls over the top into space to beat the Grimsby press, probably with Mitchell on as he has the pace for that. It feels like Cal is a bit shoehorned into this 3-5-2 and now I’d argue Brunt is a similar case, it’s great having all this high technical talent but you need a balance and that midfield was set up to only go one way. And it’s so bizarre after being so awful for the 2nd half how we suddenly kicked into gear right after they’d scored… It shouldn’t take a goal for that happen. Just felt like one team wanted it more today and it wasn’t us.

I just have this image of the scouts heading to watch Notts these last 2 games, just before the window closes, to really double check before submitting an offer. And them just sat there utterly perplexed... There are some good teams in this league and you’re not going to beat everyone in the top 8, these games away from home are hard. For me it’s the game against Wealdstone I’m more annoyed about. With the talent we have that we should be able to score at least 1 goal in, or at the very least come away from that game thinking how the hell did we not score! Breaking teams down has become our biggest problem at the moment. We’re only just into the second half of the season, still loads of games and twists and turns to come. Weren’t Chesterfield going to win the league a month ago, now it’s Stockport… Rochdale were 14 points ahead of us the last time we won a league…

Bromley have the best home record in the division (but they’ve also played 1 more home game than most, 2 more than us). We all know what they are about and defending balls into our box will be key to getting a good result here. I think it’s probably a good time as ever to get Rawlinson back in and play Lacey and Cameron either side. I think we’ll need to score at least 2 as well. I think you can bet on the type of goal in football now, feels inevitable they’ll score a header… Hard to predict, our recent away from isn’t great but we do play better against teams in the top half of the table.

Pfft, not great but not a disaster either. Second half sounded better, very disappointing to not score though. The non-event first half was probably just as if not more costly. Very similar to Kings Lynn expect this time Wealdstone shut us out. There’s just something sometimes about these away games to the teams nearer the bottom that we really struggle with, just can’t seem to get going quickly enough in particular. I’d have taken 4 points from these two away games, just means there’s more pressure on the Bromley game now, but weirdly that probably suits us.

Half expecting the team to get there but be locked out the ground, that or 15 mins into the game the floodlights fail. I just want it to be played, so please let there be no problems. I think it’ll be similar to the Kings Lynn game, they’ll set up to frustrate and if we can’t get much joy we’ll switch formation to get Roberts higher and wider. I noticed they had one of their players sent off against Woking at the weekend, hopefully he’s their star-man!

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...

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.

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.

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).

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).

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!

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…

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.