menzinho

Colchester definitely won't have the same level quality as Stockport, but they'll have the same level of desire to get a win. If we can be bothered it's a very winnable game, the pressure is on them. I'd make a few changes from the team that started against Stockport but I can't really suggest a team because I've no real idea who is or isn't injured, I'm 99% someone will have picked up an injury since Tuesday because that's just how it's gone all season. It's a really good chance to get a win to round off the home games and it'll be the last time the majority of fans see the team. I'm not sure too many would be thrilled with a lap of honour after a loss...

I know Stockport are good but we seriously don’t help ourselves... I’ll get the moan about the ref out of the way first. The first penalty is so bad it’s unbelievable, it’s blasted at Crowley from about 5 yards away and he was moving his arms into his body anyway. He didn’t make himself bigger and the ball would’ve been blocked by his chest anyway! I didn’t think the Cameron one was a penalty either because it looked to me like he took the ball cleanly before the two players naturally collided. Luckily our performance was so bad the ref didn’t actually cost us. I know we scored 2 but we created one good chance with Langstaff and then until they scored their 4th, we really struggled to create much. It was, once again, a masterclass in how not to defend. In general our players were poor on and off the ball, constantly taking 4 or 5 touches instead of 1 or 2. Their defence and general off the ball play showed us what we should be doing. Once they went 4 up they relaxed and allowed us to get back in the game but even after we’d scored 2 they were still very dangerous. Even without the penalties, 5 goals didn't flatter them. I know it’s easy to say in hindsight but it was so naïve playing 3 defenders, and being so open against a team that had scored as many goals as us before we kicked off. I know Stockport have spent a lot to bring in good players but we’ve got to be smarter on the pitch to combat it. We let teams have too many shots against us and we’re far to easy to get at. That fourth goal kind of summed up how easy we are to get at. Brindley is out of position, so one ball gets knocked into a massive space and they’re in on goal, one pass! How can you expect to not concede! It’s driving me mad. Yes we desperately need some new defenders but surely playing just 3 defenders and then the rest of the team as attackers isn’t the way forward.

Pretty impressive to only have three shots on target and score them all! Maybe that makes up for all the bad luck we've had. It sounded like a decent performance but I don’t think their keeper really had to too much to do other than just pick the ball out of the net three times. That said Ashby-Hammond wasn’t that troubled either but it did sound like there were a few scrambles in the box that just didn’t fall Walsall’s way. Stuart Maynard was impressed in his post-match interview and I’m glad things seem to have turned in his favour. Be interesting to read the comments from those who went/watched.

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...

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.

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 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.

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.

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 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.

A win and clean sheet! That’s more like it! No-one can argue with that result, it was completely deserved after the second half performance. I thought there wasn’t much in the first half but I liked that we seemed to try and shoot instead of going down the overkill of passes route and you know Langstaff will always be in the middle to pounce on those loose balls. About time we scored direct from a set-piece too and for someone whose heading got down played on his arrival it was a cracker. Then we just looked like our old selves, it’s funny what scoring a couple of goals does to the confidence. We had really good 15 mins and probably should’ve scored our third a lot earlier than we did. The recruitment team has taken a lot of stick this season and maybe he wasn’t the player we needed by on early showing Jatta looks really good. A case of acting before other clubs get the chance again, I’m very impressed so far. So that’s a draw and a win in two away games, just got to cap it all off with a first home win for Maynard now...

Accrington had 23 attempts overall and in the second half and there was a 30-minute period where we didn’t have a shot. So, I think I can just about count that as fluking something! First half sounded a lot better than the second, when it seemed the ball just kept coming back. It sounded like we played more more long balls and struggled to keep possession for long periods. Seeing lots of positives about Jatta, he’ll still be settling in but if he can keep his place in the team and keep performing well that’ll be something to be positive about for next season. I also read that Jodi went straight down the tunnel when he was subbed, no idea if it’s injury related or just frustration. By all accounts him and Nemane were managed quite well by Accrington for most of the game. I’ll take a point after the run of losses. Hopefully it’ll provide a little boost for the players. Just playing for pride (and some of them contracts) for the few remaining games now. Let’s hope that can start a little bit of good form (but not to the extent where we miss out on the play-offs by a point or goal difference cos that would be bloody annoying!)

The thing that really sticks in my memory from when we played Accy at home was how big they were. I guess on that day skill prevailed over size but we’re not going into this game with much, if any, momentum. Robertson is suspended and will be big miss (granted Crawley wasn’t his best game) since his arrival once he’s settled into the team he’s pretty much been carrying the midfield. Hopefully Bostock will be fit (and fresher) for this one. I’m not sure I believe the rumours about a falling out that involves him and Didzy. Doesn’t fit either of their characters imo, and Didzy got taken off with an injury recently so that surely is the issue. If Bostock isn't fit shove Colkett in, what have we got to lose (expect actually losing of course). Maybe he’ll have a masterclass… Or get injured. A back 4 or 3? It doesn’t seem to make much of a difference at the moment, I still think we look slightly more solid in 4 as we aren't as vulnerable to balls in the channels. But three CBs, Baldwin (hopefully), Cameron and Rawlo/Warner will help deal with their aerial threat, could possibly put Tobi in at RWB for more height too... Am I confident of a win, no. I’m now into the territory of “surely we’ll fluke something at some point”. Hopefully that is this weekend.

A bit late to this now, but I agree with a lot of what's been said. The performance was ok up until the red card, so that is on Robertson because it changed the game. Crawley were better in the second half but once we went down to 10 their belief jumped it was just attack after attack until they scored their 2 goals. With 11 maybe we grind out a 1-0 (possibly even score another if Crawley had overcommitted trying to equalise) I’d argue the chance of that happening was pretty much 50-50 though. But losing 2-1 with 11 men I’d have said 20% chance given the time left. So here we are again, another loss, another fine margin but when things happen over and over again like this it can’t just be that we are unlucky though? Under LW (at times) we looked miles better when we played some teams in this league. We’ve not been outplayed by anyone since SM took over but other than Newport away have we actually performed better than the opposition? It’s still very early under SM but right now, considering he said he backs himself tactically, that feels like my biggest concern.

We need something to kick us on again, as much as I'm hoping for a win even something like a clean sheet (which would guarantee us a draw) would be a massive boost. I know it's probably hard for the players because it's not like they aren't trying but they've just got to stick with it and keep positive. You can't go into a game with doubts, believe this is game that starts a run of good form. They know they can do it because we've had some really great results and performances this season. Please, please, please, let this be the game where something clicks again and we come back to Notts with something to cheer about!

It’s like we can only do one or the other at the moment, either set-up to try and stop the opposition (which we did overall, set-pieces were our downfall but in open play Wimbledon didn’t create anything) but at the expense of our own attacking game. Or we go out to score goals and concede at the same rate… I will say we created the only really good chance in the game and Macca should’ve scored it. Feels like Stuart Maynard hasn’t had anything really go his way since his appointment. But I can't get over how Wimbledon just sat back and played like a team that were more than happy to leave with a 0-0. They were there to attack but we didn’t really have them that worried, everything was to feet and a touch too slow. We needed to really quicken the pace in the last third try some more balls in behind, 1 touch passes to get us through their defence or even just getting more people in the box at times. Langstaff looked a bit of a lone figure amongst their CB’s. A draw would’ve probably been a fair result but sadly that feels like the story of Stuart Maynard’s time so far. We’ve not really been out performed by any team, in some of the tougher games we’ve done ok and been unfortunate to lose by a goal but equally we’ve lost to some pretty poor teams who didn’t put us under much pressure and didn’t create many good chances either. I get we’re probably not good enough to go up but we’re not the 15th best (or worst for the pessimists) team in the league and it’s disappointing to see us there right now. Morecambe, Crawley, Bradford and Newport are all now above us in the table and we’ve beaten all of them (some at a canter, some even twice!) Right now I’m just clinging to the fact I’ll get to see Robertson paired with Palmer next season but that amazing thought is going to wear off soon! We’ve now not won at home in 5 games (1 draw 4 losses) and today was our 4th loss in a row. I don’t want to compare it to previous regimes but I’d be really surprised had that happened under LW…

I had doubts about this going head today given the current state of Bradford's pitch, so it's a real shame to all those who travelled for nothing. Do they play rugby league there or do they train on it in the week or something? I can't understand how a pitch that is used weekly can get into such a state.

I’m pretty optimistic in general but I’m struggling to find the positives after viewing that. It had all the hallmarks of what seems to been ingrained into us this season; give away an early goal, a defender with an assist for the opposition’s striker and conceding a penalty (must be like the 20th we’ve given away this season). It’s so frustrating given we have to work really hard to score goals with all our passing and movement, the opposition just needs to cross it into our box and they’ve got 50/50 chance of scoring. Conceding goals has been a problem all season, even before Stuart was appointed, it’s just becoming too deflating now. It’s almost like it’s added motivation/confirmation for opposition too, they’ll know before a ball is kicked that they can score against us! I really hope this season doesn’t nose-dive, play-offs looks a world away at the moment but we can’t fall into a slump, we desperately need to show a bit more nous and desire.

Fine margins there. If we score one of our early chances that could’ve been a different game. On the whole we did well 1st half, we struggled a bit in the second half early on, Wrexham just kept us penned in and we were all over the place defensively at times. They were able to get the ball into the channels and go down the wings too easily which is exactly what they wanted. But then we took control back and we had a lot of the ball in the last 20 but struggled to really create much (our legit goal aside). Which brings me onto the ref, I don’t like to moan too much as it’s not an easy job but he got two big decisions wrong. Lee should’ve been sent off for a second yellow, in the second half he was dispossessed, we broke and then when he was running back to try and stop our counter he just grabbed Robertson round the neck and dragged him to the floor. And I think our goal should’ve stood, looks like the top of the arm at worst and that’s on the shirt line so it’s not handball. Like Stuart Maynard says the reactions tell the story for you, no Wrexham player appealed yet Didzy goes absolutely mental at the ref, why would he if he had handballed? Someone like Jatta in the 2nd half would’ve been perfect, our crossing was poor but the cross had to be perfect when all our attackers are smaller than the 3 Wrexham CBs. Wrexham defended well, we actually defended better too. I just thought going forward at times it was too slow, like we almost wanted to create the perfect chance. Like we’ve shown recently with our defending we need a bit more grit and determination about our attack. Our attack gets a lot of credit but against the better teams in this league we’ve struggled to score. And I’m really starting to like Roberston. He was excellent again, covers the ground well, really good on the ball and wins a lot of challenges too. Early days but he looks to be a really good signing.

Wrexham are blessed with the ability to play with no real patterns of play, it’s just about getting it close to the goal to someone with quality like Lee, McClean, Mullin etc. Or failing that a set-piece so one of their massive defenders can cause some chaos. They haven’t been playing well, but I think it’s their away form which is more likely to hamper them for the rest of the season. They have got that ability to just churn out results and they only need a good 10-minute spell and before you know it they’ve scored 2. I’d expect Wrexham will try and bombard our backline from the off, they’ll make us defend 50/50 balls as much as possible so we really need to be up for it defensively. We've got threats too though although I suspect Jodi will need to wear a 360° shin pad tomorrow! We’ve always had close games with Wrexham and I expect tomorrow will be no different, a draw would be a good result for us given our terrible form against the top 10 in this league.

I’m pretty sure that’s the first time this season since MK Dons away that we’ve started with 4 natural defenders on the pitch (we played Chicksen at LWB cos Jodi was with Malta, and the back 3 was Cameron, Brinds and Rawlo) I think it's been long over due! I was all for the changes when I saw the team sheet before the game I'm so glad they worked. Given the good form Newport were in that is probably our best away performance of the season. I'm hoping that Gillingham game was a bit of an anomaly in terms of our defending because overall since Maynard has come in we've looked a lot better. The only real negative from tonight was that we didn't get the clean sheet, but you can't have everything I guess. We were comfortably the better team over the 90 minutes, and it's great to be able to celebrate a win again! Not sure I want to really congratulate Mansfield but they've done us a bit of a favour seriously damaging Harrogate's GD, and Bradford putting 4 past MK is a bonus too. And @Fozzy I think Macari played across the whole back line in his time at Stoke but when he was on loan with Dundalk he did play primarily as a RB.

Newport probably feel it’s a good time to play us and will be confident of getting a good result given they are on a bit of a winning run (in the league) at the moment. But it’s usually the games you bank on a win (like Walsall who were on a winless run of about 7/8 before beating us and Gillingham who had only scored 11 away goals) that never come true. I’m hoping this is a similar scenario, there could well be a touch of complacency from Newport and we’ve got something to prove after the poor Friday night performance. I’d be looking to make a few changes though, just to freshen the side up really. Not the easiest thing to do, as I’ve no idea who’s actually fit. Ashby-Hammond in goal, why not see what he can do. Macari for Warner, O’Brien for Bostock, Adebayo (he’s dropped the Rowling now hasn’t he?) for Nemane and Didzy for either Austin or Morias. I’d prioritise Bostock and Didzy as I think both could really do with the rest. Hopefully Colkett and Chicksen are fit enough to make the bench along with Randall, if he’s actually a real person and not just a figment of my imagination… I can see this game going two ways, after the dip in form we pull out a great performance and get a good solid win or we lose 2/3-0.