menzinho

I don’t think the style or formation will change dramatically; in fact I’d be really surprised if it did and I don't want to see it change either! The Bros have finally given the club an identity and a style of play is almost expected now. It’s finally about continuation, building on the works of the previous head coach not ripping everything up and starting again. The Bros have a specific profile of head coach they’ll be looking for and it will be in the exact same mould as Ian Burchnall and Luke Williams. Gone are the days when a manager comes in and bemoans that these aren’t his players and he needs at least 2 or 3 transfer windows to get us up to scratch. The new head coach should be able to hit the ground running as these players will already match up with how he wants to play. They’ll be slight differences, every coach is different, I’m just really keen to see the high press stay as a big part of our identity! And fresh ideas around defending won't go a miss either. Also we’re so low on fit players at the moment, there’s not much you can do to change the starting 11! That said I’m looking forward to see Robertson in action, I don’t think Fleetwood’s direct style of play suited him. By all accounts he’s a player in the same mould as Bostock and Palmer, so I think he’ll fit in here perfectly.

Swansea are playing Morecambe this evening in the FA Cup! Will he be eligible to play? That could be interesting...

Genuinely thought he’d take us to League 1, maybe not straight away but we’d have got there at some point with him at the helm. Shame his last game was a loss, not the last memory you want or he deserves. The fact we’re getting a large compensation sum softens the blow. When he said he still lives in Wales it did worry me a touch that if he did get approached he could well leave us. A big pay rise too so I get why it would’ve been hard to turn down. Not going to lie but I think finding a coach as good/better than LW is a big challenge but Chris and Alex seem to know what they are doing given that our last two head coaches have effectively been “sold on”. As long as they are still here the future looks good for this club.

I don’t want to be too harsh as he suffered a really bad injury and didn’t play for a year before joining us, but he had no impact on the team on the pitch. He is (probably is - I don’t know him) a decent guy with lots of experience and a good pro for the younger players. However it just didn’t work out, we’ve got Robertson in now so I’m not surprised he’s not staying.

Now Luke has officially gone, I’ll back Stephen Bradley the current Shamrock Rovers manager. Ticks all the boxes in that they play the same style of football, press high and do it all in a 3-4-2-1 formation. And he’s done very well, you can’t fluke winning 4 Irish League titles in a row. On paper he seems perfect. I don’t think it’s too unrealistic either. It’s also the end of the season in Ireland now, and surely, he’s achieved all he can there. Just be a case of how settled is he in Ireland...

I hate all this drip-feed of developments. Just get it announced now, put us out our misery...

How much does Steve Cooper really love the city of Nottingham, he’d have had a good pay-off after being sacked… Surely that can compensate for the fact we can’t pay him £10k a week… I’m not really that inspired by anyone in the league below in terms of being at the same level as Luke Williams. Stuart Maynard is an interesting shout but the only memory I have of Stuart Maynard’s Wealdstone is how we beat them comfortably, twice. Was that just down to having superior players, surely a well-coached team would’ve done a bit better. I really don’t know, though, it’ll probably be someone I’ve never heard of! ????

I merely just reply to a lot of topics started on here but I'm glad I can contribute and share my views, it's a great site and it saves me from annoying/boring my partner!

Yeah, once it starts getting reported by actual journalists you know there’s something to it. The only glimmer of hope is that nothing has been signed yet maybe they won’t be able to agree terms… (He says desperately clutching at straws ????????) Not the start to the new year we want.

For me though the frustration is about not being able to just stay a bit more compact away from home. It's not great to concede early but it was a real blow to concede just before half-time especially having done so well to take the lead. Given we look to dominate we know we have to be switched on to deal with counter-attacks but it sounded like we really struggled with that in the second half. I think given the same team started the last 4 games in the space of about 10 days the levels were always going to drop slightly but the squad is thread bare at the moment. Particularly worrying that we had no attacking options on the bench! But James Sanderson seems light a bit of bright spark, seems to have been fast-tracked into first team so maybe we’ll see a bit more of him before the season is over. I think Tranmere have got a very good manager in Nigel Adkins too. Clearly improved them a lot since he’s come in, I’d expect them to push for the play-offs second half of the season now. A bit of break now is actually very handy for us. It’ll give us a chance to get some injured players back, Robertson a bit of time to bed in and possibly another addition too!

It’s hard to take much from a video but from the few I’ve seen he looks a lot quicker and stronger than Tipton did. He’s also actually played in the first team a couple of times too and I think he’s part of their first team squad. In an interview he did he talks about training with the first team everyday… So he’ll be coming up against the likes of Ashley Barnes and Josh Sargent whilst training with a host of internationals. I get the doubts given Tipton was effectively filling his role whilst here but he was very much a youth team player. He’d never been involved with Wolves first team nor had he ever played a professional game before. Whilst Jaden is still inexperienced, given he’s actually part of Norwich’s first team setup, I’d expect him to be a lot better.

I do think we’ve been on the end of some bad refereeing at times, but I think you ask any fan in the league and they’d say exactly the same. Think Morecambe fans won’t be too pleased with the penalty decision last night, the defender puts his arm out but doesn’t really grab Nemane, no way in real life does that action make you fall over. I guess for us though it equals out as I thought the penalty for Doncaster wasn’t a foul. I’d like to see ex-players start refereeing after they retire from playing. Football in this country has so much money, I think the FA should have program specially for lower league players after retiring so they can have a viable career. You’d have players who have been in those moments on the pitch, they know what it takes to knock you of balance, how much force is in a tackle. I think the standard would increase dramatically. On a slight side note, I don’t think going down the route of constant criticism of refereeing mistakes is the answer either. It’s become the norm now to blame the ref and some of the abuse a lot of referees get specifically at grass roots level is horrific. I play for a Sunday morning team, just for the fun of it and it’s such a low level of football it’s completely meaningless but I can’t believe how many grown men get so upset and angry at the man who’s given up his time to ref it. In our league last season one of the referees got punched by a player and the sad thing is this isn’t even a rare occurrence anymore... It'll definitely have a knock effect in the future, who want to become a ref right now?

That was as about impressive as I’ve seen us and I wouldn’t say Morecambe are particularly bad side either, probably finish mid-table, but we just absolutely tore them apart. We’ve got that swagger and confidence back now, it’s back to possession with a purpose and we’ve adapted to losing Matty Palmer by basically rotating Crowley, Austin, Langstaff and McGoldrick to drop deep and take the ball. The Langstaff contract was a masterstroke, I wonder if it hadn’t had happened how many clubs come January would have been putting in bids? 18 goals in half a season is insane and I think he’ll be looking to get to 30 this season. Everyone played well, Crowley just doesn’t know how to give the ball away, Austin kept popping up between the lines, McGoldrick looked like a Premiership player, JJ too hot to handle as usual and we dominated so much the defence didn't really need to defend! The rotations, the movements of our players were just superb. Forget the rumours about LW and Swansea, keep playing like that and Barcelona will be after him!

We generally kept Stockport pretty quiet, yes disappointed with the corner but if we scored that we’d praise our team for the creativity and execution. And it did make we laugh how they bought Jayden on and chucked him upfront because he’s quick, proper school ground tactics (not really laughing cos he won them a pen!) That was much more like the Notts we know, bolder and braver taking the game to the best team in the league. We didn’t keep passing it backwards, we used Stone like the last option rather than the easy option which is a bit of a trap we’ve fallen into lately. Cameron and Brinds pushed forward, passing and movement was much better too, just needed a bit of luck with some of those crosses. They we’re very organised and defended pretty solidly through-out and it was an enjoyable game to watch. I think we deserved at least a point, but hey that’s the nature of football, just got to take that performance into Boxing day now and end this little run of losses. Oh and anyone got any footage of the Notts fans at the end? Great support as always but clearly made LW and the team a tad emotional.

Yeah, that was not good. Shrewsbury was all about individual errors, the Walsall game (although I didn’t go) was a dreadful second half. Well this was the complete performance, pretty dire for the whole 90. Harrogate looked up for it at the start, almost waiting for us to make a mistake, but they didn’t need to. They did in 5 minutes what we struggled to do all game, attack and get us running backwards, a neat-cut back and an annoyingly great finish and that’s us 1-0 down. Then Harrogate just sat back, and let us pass it around for a bit until they decided to string together another 5 passes and score. For all our possession it was too easy for Harrogate we played far too safe and just had the ball for the sake of having it. Far too many backward passes when a bit of bravery was needed. We must have played about 1 or 2 balls in behind their defence that first half, I could’ve played in at CB they were that untroubled. Our ability to get the byline and put dangerous crosses in has just gone. 2nd half wasn’t any better, our goal came out of nowhere but it gave me hope we could nick a draw... That hope lasted for about 90 seconds, just an inability to read the game, it’s like we got too over excited and went all out to immediately equalise. Just like in the first half, Harrogate made about 4 passes, got up the pitch and nice bit of play in the box and it’s 3. No defensive howlers, Stone's contribution for the second aside, but that was so passive we just let them run past us constantly and failed to make tackles time and time again. It reminded me of the Sutton game. We had our best spell in the last 15 minutes of the game, not a positive though, Harrogate had pretty much given up by then, they knew they could take it easy and we hadn’t really laid a glove on them all game. I don’t know why we’ve gone so off the boil at the moment, we’ve gone from all-out attack to no attack. We look off the pace, we look vulnerable as soon as we lose the ball. So yeah, all in all an awful day out! Only made better by the fact I was there with an old friend who lives nearby, so I was able to have a few drinks after and forget (try to) the whole 90 minutes. I saw the Stockport score and they are next up. Play like that and we are in serious trouble, don’t even bother turning up in fact. What’s the punishment for not fulfilling a fixture? A fine and a 2-0/3-0 loss? I’d take that.

I think we missed the chance after having 2 bids rejected earlier in the season, that’s not a dig at the club though, I respect the fact we have a strategy and limit which means we don’t overspend. If Conor had really wanted to join us he had a good chance to kind of force a move there. Whether or not he’d have been good we’ll never know, but the club will have kept tracks on plenty of defenders and I still fully expect us to sign one.

I was only able to listen but we did sound very lacklustre and then to have LW say he didn’t recognise the team after the game is worrying. Sounded like the ball spent as much time out of play as it did in, our passing game just not there. But to not create a decent chance and have a shot on goal in the second half, especially against a Walsall team who sounded bang average, is shocking. I know people bang on about the defence but yesterday’s bench was limiting in terms of attacking talent, when the game is desperate for someone on to add a bit of creativity, we only had Morias the rest were central midfielders and defenders! I don’t know why we played so badly but I’m starting to wonder is it just a coincidence that our form has dropped since Matty Palmer’s injury or does it tell us how much we rely on him when he is in the team? I can remember last season against Maidstone, our final away game, we were 3-0 up. Then we took Matty Palmer off and almost immediately after they scored 2 and nearly got a 3rd!

Back on track, but nothing less I’d expect from this team right now. Their ability to get back to winning ways after a defeat is fantastic and that’ll keep us up in the promotion spots. Pretty uneventful first half, I thought both teams were quite sloppy on the ball at times, Crawley were slightly better but most their chances were from distance. Just two very good induvial goals being the stand out moments. Second half I thought we improved and deserved the win in the end. We did rotate a few players but I thought our fitness levels looked good, we were able to maintain a press through-out and that ultimately sealed the game for us. Really pleased for Morias, I feel he gets some unwarranted stick considering his playing time is minimal. The guys attitude is to be commended, never complains just works hard, hopefully he might get a start on Friday. He kind of deserves it.

Well that ending was one to forget, I agree it was really disappointing considering we’d done so well to get back to 2-2. I mean it did sound like we pretty much gave Wimbledon all 4 goals. You can’t give away two pens and expect to win a game of football. Equally two defensive mix-ups in that game, we really did give them easy chances to score. I’ll watch it back when it’s available on ifollow but given our largely dominant second half and how we fought back to 2-2 it’s gutting to then throw it away in the final minutes like that.

Wimbledon have had mixed results of late after a very good start so it’s not a bad time to be playing them. They recently conceded 4 against Accrington and Morecambe but up until then I’d say their defence was pretty solid, probably one of the best in the league stats wise! They did beat Doncaster in their last league game, so maybe just a blip then (hopefully not!). James Tilley, Al Hamadi and Armani Little (he caused us problems when he was at Torquay) are their best attacking players. If Bugiel starts he is good at holding the ball up and bringing others into play. Judging by their passing stats they are a bit of mixed bag in terms of style, although they will probably be more direct against us and I’m expecting them to press us. So with that in mind, for my team it’s very similar to those that have already been suggested. I’d get Brinds in the middle of the back 3 (genuinely think he’s better here) with Macari taking his role as the RCB. Not sure I’d start Gosling yet but I’m hopeful Chicksen might be ready for the first team. So for me I’d only make two changes from the Bradford game, Macari in for Baldwin and Chicks in for Randall. Another tough away game, no idea what the score will be but I’d take a point.

If it's £20 for a seat, by my logic standing will be half the price surely? Sounds good to me! I'm sure it'll get a lot of interest, and I'd expect most of it to be for it. It's all done properly now like lots in this thread have commented on. And if it adds even more to the atmosphere it's got to be a big plus.

Well, it was entertaining, you can’t argue you don’t get your money’s worth at Meadow Lane this season! I’ll get the second half out the way first because I don’t want to be too negative after a win, I’d have taken a 4-2 before kick off 100%! Bradford had nothing to lose at 4-0 and came out with no pressure and a desire to put right their awful first half performance. But we didn’t react to it. We needed to be quicker on the ball and take fewer touches given Bradford were actually being pro-active and pressing us. We did such a terrific job first half it was a shame we struggled to adapt to the opposition’s changes in the second. Lessons to be learnt there. And one other minor gripe is the silly yellow cards we’re picking up, I think Baldwin will miss the next game now after needlessly kicking the ball away with 2 minutes to go and Adebayo got his custom yellow too. He must have the best yellow to minutes ratio in the league… On the positive side that first half was probably the best I’ve seen this season. Bradford did what any team should do if they want a tough time against us and that’s sit back and just let us have the ball under no pressure. Some really great goals and Crowley was just so on it, his goal with the little drag back was fantastic. And given our mini injury crisis it was great to see Bostock, Randall, Morias, Brindley and Cameron all back. Gosling definitely looks like someone who hasn’t played for a while, but given time hopefully he’ll get up to speed. Back into the autos as well, all in all a pretty good day.

There wasn’t much in it, that deflection was unlucky and changed the game but that’s football. It just didn’t quite click for us in the final third, we missed our chances and the longer it stayed at 0-0 the more confident Wrexham got. No one really had a bad game, I think Wrexham’s man of the match was their keeper which says a lot. I knew he was on loan, didn’t realise he came from Arsenal having just played a season in the Austrian 1st Division! They’ve certainly got a bit of pulling power. I just think right now our injuries have hampered us. We needed to be able to bring on a player or two who could change the game, but right now we don't have it. I’m not too down after that, still would’ve been nice to win/draw but performance wise it was much better than Mansfield.

Yep a very good night for us. Jones sounded like he gave their full back a night to forget, Macca unlucky not to get a hat-trick and chances for Morias too. But most importantly to me we got a clean sheet (maybe aided by the poor performance of Newport) but a good confidence boost for the defence nonetheless. Sets us up nicely for Wrexham.

They won’t have a new manager before playing us so that’s a positive. It’s not always the case that a new manager guarantees a better result, but I always think players will usually try that bit harder to impress a new boss. They’re aren’t very good at scoring and recently starting conceding, probably because they’re trying to rectify their goal troubles and have pushed a few more forward leaving them more vulnerable at the back – I hope that’s the case anyway! We always seem to react well after a big defeat, the team will want to get straight back on track. I seem to remember after the Dorking loss we played York (who were no pushovers) we ran like 1/3 more than usual (maybe I made that figure up) but we definitely ran more than normal! I think the conversation afterwards was about how out-working the opponent always gives you a better chance of getting a good result. Same sort of reaction would be fab. Yeah I’m really hoping Bostock is fit too, guess we'll know when the pre-match press conference is out. Cameron should be back, I’m sure Luke said they found out he was unavailable on the morning. Suggests to me he was ill, It would be really unlucky/freakish to pick up an injury at home!