menzinho

In terms of thinking for the start of next season I’d say we’ve got 18 senior players right now. Luther Munakandafa actually got released and I’m assuming the transfer listed players won’t be here come the start of the season. I’ve also not counted Mahovo & Sanderson, as I think both are likely to go out on loan over the course of the season. So I’d say still needed are 1 GK, 1 CB, 1 RWB, 2 CMs. That would then take us up to 23 (25 with the youngsters). I think the squad is looking good and Scott and Palmer will be like two new signings. For me the questions are more about the system and starting 11 particularly how do we fit all our best attackers in the team but not at the expense of our defence?

From what I can gather he played a bit at left back too so I wonder if he'd be well suited to a LCB role in our system. It would give some real competition for Kyle Cameron, I think last season this was a bit of an issue too. When everyone was fit, the back 3 pretty much selected itself - not a position you want to be in.

The not coming to an agreement could simply just be him wanting to stay and the club wanting to get rid! Interesting he’s only commenting now, we’ve known he was going weeks ago. Anyway, as has already been mentioned, those two vital goals in the Boreham Wood game will always make me think fondly of him. Oh, and I'm still impressed by your ability @Chris to shoe-horn in a dig at Richard Duffy! You never miss an opportunity! ???? ????

For those who hate stats, and are only concerned by the wins & losses look away now! You can look at them and see how we rank compared to other teams here: https://www.fotmob.com/en-GB/teams/9819/stats/notts-county/teams I’ve picked out a few eye-catching ones, it starts off really bad and gets slowly better, so… We rank as the worst team in the league when it comes to: Penalties conceded: 17! That’s 8 more penalties than the next worse who were Walsall with 9! The average is about 6 so we’ve basically given away 11 goals! Possession won in the final third: 2.8 (times per match). Now this really surprised me, because this is supposed to be a big part of our style of play but statistically we were the worst at it! I guess when the board referenced defending from the front this is the type of thing they were referring too. Mansfield were the best with an average of 5.1. We made the least number of successful tackles, 6.3 per match. The next worse side were Sutton and there’s a bit of a jump as they scored 7.8. The average is about 9.5 here. Also, we only ranked 15th when it came to touches in the oppositions box. Interestingly Mansfield, Wrexham and Stockport were the top 3 here, so this is something that would seemingly need to improve next season. We were 1st for accurate passes 526.4 per game, in fact we were considerably higher than anyone else and made over 100 more accurate passes per game than MK who were 2nd. Interestingly, Wrexham, Mansfield, Stockport and Crawley were all in the top 7. We all know that attacking wise the stats were very good, but clearly there's lots to improve on that will help push up the table next season; the possession won in the final third, our tackling and not giving away almost 20 penalties will help massively!

I think every team needs its share of experience and I guess if a player has racked up a lot of games in the EFL they should be good, so in theory yes. That’s not always the case though, it wasn’t long ago when we basically only signed players from the EFL and a lot of them, even the experienced players, weren’t very good. I don’t think it matters too much how many games a player has played or what level they were at before, quite simply the question should just be are they good? I know it’s too easy just to say sign good players, but that’s the truth. Jatta, Macari, Langstaff, Austin & Nemane hadn’t kicked a ball at this level before this season. They’ll be lots of players in the NL, youngsters with very little EFL game time and players from Ireland/Scotland that are more than good enough for this level, I guess the skill is finding and signing them! And we really struck a load of misses with our loan signings last season too. It should basically be a chance to sign a talented youngster that’s essentially too good for us but not ready for their own team. I’m talking; Grealish, McGregor, Bola, Yates, Grant, Patterson etc. I’m hoping we can re-address that balance this year.

Joel Senior will be leaving Morecambe now and Gus Scott-Morriss will be out of contract but Southend do have the option to extend this - no news as of yet. Senior seems the obvious choice at the moment he's definitely good enough for this league and won Morecambe's fans and players’ player of the season award. Similarly Scott-Morriss won the fans and sponsors player of the season award this season. He is generally very highly rated by Southend fans, most would say he’s the best right wing-back in the NL.

I know age is just a number, but I'd be amazed if a 17 year old was good enough to come in challenge for the No.1 spot... I've never seem him play (or even heard of him for that matter). He does sounds like a very promising player though, played the back end of last season in the NLN for Darlington and has already played for the England under 19s when he was just 16! I've found a little article about him: https://rokerreport.sbnation.com/2024/3/18/24102459/the-lowdown-on-matty-young-how-is-sunderlands-next-top-keeper-prospect-doing-at-darlo

I think these will be key additions if want to progress, I think having both Jodi and Nemane against the better teams causes us more problems than it solves. Connor Barrett's 11 assists for Fylde stand out, I've never seen him play but if he's equally as good as defending at it seems he is attacking that would seem like a really great option. And think someone like Joel Senior would be the solid, but unspectacular option, he'd definitely be better at defending than Nemane. I think Rydel has been offered a contract by Stockport but if he turns it down I'd be approaching him. I was hoping to see a bit of Tsaroulla in Crawley's play-off game but he didn't start and I'd turned off by the time he came on (for all of about 10 mins!)

Can’t say other than Alex Bass I’m that excited by any of the current offerings at the moment, the young Stoke keeper looks good but we’ve got our own young GK in Tiernan right now and the next keeper we bring in needs to be first choice really. I wonder if Wimbledon will go in for Alex Bass now that they’ve released their previous No.1 Nik Tzanev. They’ve probably got a slight advantage over us if we were to go in for him as I’m assuming he enjoyed his spell there…

Yeah it's a real shame that Southwood broke his leg in the last game of the season, think that rules him out. He would've been, potentially a very good option, faced 8 pens and saved 4 of them this season! The only GK that’s been released that has caught my attention (and hasn’t been mentioned) is Matt Macey from Portsmouth, I think I’m purely drawn to him cos he’s 6 ft 7”! Think he’d be a touch out of our budget though. Possibly the same with Bart now too, I’d guess he’d have been on a very good wage playing the championship for the last 10 years.

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...

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! ????