menzinho

I was actually really surprised at how poor Colchester were, I expected them to give us much more a game. Was that down to us being too good? I'd like to think so! We easily dominated them, probably played safe a bit at times but over the course of the game created more than enough good chances. A 2 or even 3 nil win wouldn’t have flattered us. I was a touch worried with it being 1-0 going into the last 10 minutes though, especially with our defence and ability to give a goal away from nothing. We had that one moment from the corner where they had a great chance to score which would’ve been unfair but not surprising… No idea why they didn’t really go for it more, they’d have been better off committing more players to try and get something from the game - something I guess we as Notts fans can't ever moan about! I was surprised to see how far backward Jayden Richardson's development has gone, thought he was decent for us and had the potential to go on to better things. And John Akinde still playing football, not the threat he used to be that’s for sure. It’s likely Colchester will still be in the league next season and Newport who are currently on 7 losses in a row run. Even the most pessimistic of Notts fans should be confident we won’t finish bottom. Glad and reassuring to see we looked a cut above one the division's poorer sides.

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...

Actually, because Pep Guardiola has said it’s much better for teams playing in Europe it should definitely get the go-ahead. These are clearly the most important teams in the English pyramid and need to be protected at all costs. Imagine them having to use their whole squad to play Lincoln City on a Tuesday night, it would be impossible for them to rotate their players because there’s no way their fringe players made up of internationals and very talented youngsters would be able to compete with these EFL and Non-League clubs… I’m all for a boycott. It would sort the issue pretty quickly in my opinion.

Everyone pretty much sums up my views too, so just to emphasise...

Following on with the embarrassment with the defence comment. I guess they thought the “style” would continue into the FL, in terms of keeping teams off the ball simply means they’ll have less time to attack and score and that it would still work. I thought we’d concede more this season but did anyone honestly think it would be this bad? I underestimated the step up in quality, we’re good enough to be at this level, but we can’t steamroll teams (in general) like we did in the NL. I still kind of think the goals scored is at the expense of our goals conceded too. We set out to attack, the team is usually overloaded with attackers and we push everyone high up the pitch. Both the GS and GC kind of need to be looked at the same time, I think there is a correlation between the too. We’ve still got a +3 GD, the funny thing is if we’d have had a season where we’d scored 50 and conceded 47 I don’t think anyone would have any real concerns… Maybe I’m completely wrong here but I think it’s actually easier to fix by making some personnel changes and tactical changes. Usually scoring goals is the hardest thing to do in football so I’d rather, if I had to pick, have to sort the issues out with the defence. Agree with the ticket prices, sounds like they are going up but I'm hopeful it's by a very small margin. I'm not sure a market research group consisting of just Paul, who is a successful businessman, is a fair reflection of the financial situation of all Notts fans! Yes, it was a bit awkward when he kind of unequivocally agreed with idea of raising prices...

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.

I’d have given the manager of the season to either Pete Wild or Lee Bell because I think their current position is more impressive given their resources. Mansfield, with the quality and investment have finished roughly where I’d expect them too. Player is harder to judge as I only get to see the Notts players on a regular basis but I’m very pleased it's been awarded to Jodi. From that team of the year awards the two who stick in my memory are Rob Apter who terrorised us away at Tranmere and Louis Reed in midfield for Mansfield. As for what the future holds, well there were rumours about Jodi being a target for Wrexham at the start of the season. Only the Wrexham board will know how true they were but I can see a lot of clubs being interested in Jodi after the season he’s had. I think it all comes down to what Jodi wants to do, he’s only got one year left on his contract come the end of the season. If he doesn’t want to sign a longer contract with us I think we’d be better offer selling him then letting him go on a free. Obviously, I hope he does sign an extension at the end of the season with us. We'd be mad not to offer him one! Langstaff signed a new contract at the start of the season until 2027 so I can’t see a new deal for him anytime soon. I don't think Wrexham would bid for him though. It would cost them a lot and they've already got Mullin who pretty much plays his role. Phil Parkinson likes to partner Mullin with a big forward upfront so I think Wrexham will be looking for a younger version of Ollie Palmer for them next season.

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.

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...

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…