menzinho

Makes sense, it benefits everyone really. With Tsaroulla and now Jones back getting in the team was always going to difficult again for Chicksen. I get he can play at LCB back too but both Bedeau and McDonald will be ahead of him here. Funny how Neal Ardley is now at Woking, having replaced Michael Doyle as the manager. They just don't want to give up that Notts link!

Interesting how we all see the match so differently. I thought Didzy and Crowley were passengers at the start of the second half and when they got the ball they generally took to many touches. Likewise I thought second half was one of Platt’s poorer performances. His scuffed clearance leads to their first and then he is beaten to the ball by Lowe for their second. First half everyone was pretty good though but I did find it odd we pushed Palmer out a touch wider, and he wasn’t as involved at times. We played almost in a diamond at times with Abbott at the base. I think second half we really needed Palmer and Abbott to play more as a holding duo to potentially stop their advances. It was a game of two halves so it’s much harder to score, Martin played well and got undeservingly hooked for me. But overall I think Abbott came away from that match with the most credit.

I would like to know why he isn’t fighting for his place now though? Have we given him Christmas off, is he injured? The fact we’ve had no update always tends to mean people jump to the worst possible outcome, but I don’t want to believe the 'negative' rumours. We were desperate for some fresh legs upfront yesterday, if he’s fit surely he gets on the bench…

Josh Martin’s contract could’ve in theory expired after today’s game, all we know is that he's contracted until some point in January but we don’t know how long… So with that in mind, would you extend his contract to the end of the season, or further even? I’d keep him until the end of the season, hopefully even keep him for longer is he continues to play well. When he’s played at wingback, whilst only having minimal playing time, he’s never looked that comfortable there. He did well against Walsall though, definitely better around the oppositions box than his own but he really excelled in the middle when he played just behind Jatta against Cheltenham. I'd like to see him play here more often.

Harrogate will be relegated from League 2. Wrexham will still be in League 1. Wayne Rooney will be Blackpool's manager. The outcome of the Man City trial will be a fine, they won't be relegated. Lionesses to be knocked out of the Euro's at the group stage.

What could’ve been… First half performance was like a dream, I guess that means the second half was a nightmare. I think the big two issues second half were the inability to deal with the Walsall press and that we looked absolutely knacked by the 70th minute. We just didn’t react to Walsall stepping onto us, we just played like it was the first half and we had all the time in the world, when we didn’t. Again, not having much of out-ball hurt us, because Walsall stepped up there was more space in behind but we had no-one to exploit it. Everyone in the stadium could see Walsall equalising as we didn’t even look that great in defence, no natural wingbacks is always going to be a hinderance and Platt had a particularly poor second half. Easy to say in hindsight but I think we should’ve made all our subs and been more pro-active too. Hinchy would’ve provided some fresh legs in the middle of the pitch but the fact no-one came on to replace one off the front three was baffling. Like what was the point of having Brown on the bench if he’s not going to get on when both Didzy and Jatta were struggling to run. I thought taking off Martin was mistake too. I’d have pushed him into the attacking midfield role at the expense of either Crowley or Didzy, who beside their late chances, had poor showings overall second half. I think SM bottled it by not taking off one of them off, Martin was playing well and wasn’t exactly that tired. Fair play to Walsall turning it around, bizarre not to press from the off though as had we gone in 2-0 that could’ve been a different game. No idea who the first player in will be this January but they need to be lightning fast and capable of playing upfront.

Sheffield Wednesday 3-2 Derby County West Bromwich Albion 2-1 Preston North End Lincoln City 2-0 Rotherham United ???? Northampton Town 1-1 Stevenage Barrow 0-1 Bradford City Morecambe 0-0 Tranmere Rovers Rochdale 3-1 Altrincham York City 2-1 Gateshead

Happy New Year everyone! I had an early night last night, still felt a bit rough suffering with my cold. My partner went out with some friends to celebrate and had a good night. I was tucked up in bed by 10 and honestly I didn't regret it! Good news now, I've passed a late fitness test, I feel a lot brighter this morning so I'm on my way to Meadow Lane this afternoon!

Stating the bleedin' obvious here, but a win would be absolutely massive. It would show what could be achieved this season. We are probably in decent place in terms of injuries, I would think Ness will miss out but hopefully Macari is ok and can come straight back into the team. If Josh Martin is still contracted to us he probably deserves another start in the attacking midfielder role, he looked so much better here than at wingback. I guess the other big question is will Jodi start? He'll step onto the pitch at some point today, surely. I'm really looking forward to it, should be a cracker of a match.

The situation with Cedwyn is very strange, I've heard a few rumours but not that he's been training with Carlisle. I'm not sure if he would be allowed considering he is contracted to us, it would be very strange if true. That's not to say he might not end up there now the window is open. He needs the game time and Carlisle aren't exactly a rival. Might not be the confidence boost he needs though as they don't exactly create tons of chances, their current top scorer Armstrong only has 3 goals...

The response since the result at Salford has been absolutely fantastic. What a result that was in the end, I cannot wait to watch the highlights of the match! Fingers crossed the injuries to Macari and Ness aren't too bad.

This is insane, it's going to finish 6-7 at this rate!

The Football God’s are like; “you can have Jodi and Grant back but we’ll take Macari and Ness in return…” ???????????? What a day for Josh Martin he went from thinking he was a sub, to starting and then scoring! After a mistake from Bass at the start it’s sounded pretty much like we’re dominating here. Very impressive so far, not going to lie though I am a touch worried about how the second half could go with only 2 natural defenders on the pitch!

Really poor that. As season tickets don't extend to the cup it'll be a real shame if the proper fans are priced out over the expense of football fans who just want to go to see Spurs. Surely the TV money would generate enough?

I woke up all bunged up this morning, I think the dreadful Christmas cold has finally caught up with me, a few family and friends I've met have been coughing like mad so it's most likely I've picked it up from one of them. Right now I don't feel too bad, just a runny nose and a bit of a sore throat at the mo. Luckily I'm back home now so I can lounge around and chill today. I'll probably just watch a bit of the lunchtime football and then listen to Notts later. No other plans until New Years Eve now, other than working my way through my Christmas chocolates and left-overs collection!

Coventry City 3-1 Millwall ???? Oxford United 2-0 Plymouth Argyle Bolton Wanderers 1-1 Lincoln City Reading 2-1 Mansfield Town Stevenage 1-0 Bristol Rovers Bradford City 1-0 Chesterfield Grimsby Town 1-2 Port Vale Tranmere Rovers 0-0 Barrow

I think given the short turn around in games it would make sense to make a few changes, we play Walsall in three days time and then Swindon on the Saturday – it’s madness really, I don’t know why they suddenly cram so many games in. I’m hopeful we are back on track now, but this won’t be an easy game. Cheltenham have only lost once at home and are in pretty good form at the minute. They drew with Port Vale and Gillingham, then on Boxing Day beat Crewe – so they’ve out performed us against those teams! In terms of the changes, maybe just a few; Gordon, Ness and Brown in for Austin, Macari and McGoldrick? I’d even be tempted to play Hinchy but I think Abbott can manage. I’m hopeful we might even have Robertson back on the bench for this one as it’s all gone quiet in terms of his injury issues. And if Scott isn’t in the squad something isn’t quite right…

A few opinions from MK Fans... "Despite us being utterly woeful, I thought they were brilliant. By far the best team to come to StadMK this season. Their movement and passing was tearing us apart and it looked easy for them. Our players should be embarrassed about how the Notts players made them look." "They were superb until the final third. Should've been 6" "I don’t think we have ever been dominated as much that in L2 in Le Stad. Outside of Crawley in the Play-offs, that was the worst I have seen us at home in this division." Got to get Cheltenham Town fans saying the same thing on Sunday now!

It's a shame how it's worked out for Jack Bearne, he probably would've been much better off staying with us. Chances are he'd have progressed into our first-team, breaking into a League 2/National League team is a hell of a lot easier then at Liverpool which will have been ultra-competitive. Strange how it works for some players though. Kion Etete is doing just fine and currently playing for Cardiff.

Carlisle are doomed! Classic error of switching play-styles in the middle of the season. They've gone from direct under Simpson, to possession under Williamson (or are at least trying too!) It was like us with Nolan to Kewell, utter disaster. No-one can say for certain what would've happened if Mike Williamson had joined us instead but I'm glad we ended up with Luke Williams! I heard he wasn't too keen on our recruitment style, I think he wanted more control. I find it very strange to be honest because this recruitment team has provided our coaches with some really good players over the years, better than any induvial manager has done in previous seasons.

2-0 probably flatters MK in the end, especially after a very good second half showing from us. McGoldrick just didn’t read the flight of the ball but should’ve put us 1-0 up after about 60 seconds in the second half. And then Tsaroulla crossed one onto to Jatta’s foot and he put it wide, I bet in training sessions he finishes them all the time. I think we were decent in the first half, we were solid enough but something wasn’t quite right attack wise. Maybe a bit too safe as we lacked runners, Crowley had a lot of the ball in good positions but he was forced to play backwards to often. And then a lot of our attacks ended up with Bedeau and Macari playing the final ball, not who you ideally want. We changed that second half and looked a lot more of a threat though. It was a really solid and impressive win in the end. That was the exact type of performance we’ve been after, the style and substance was back. And please let this be the death of inverted wingbacks now, Austin and Tsaroulla look so much more comfortable playing more with their stronger foot. If MK do bid for Crowley like they allegedly did in the summer, I’d be really disappointed if he joined them cos on that performance only one team looks like they have a chance of getting promoted. He will be playing in League 1 next season – hopefully with us! Bench is really weak at the moment, again… SM clearly doesn’t favour Gordon or Brown at the moment and Martin and Cisse are just making up the numbers. But given all the matches coming up in this short space of time I was amazed McGoldrick wasn’t subbed for Brown at 70 mins. Also, what has happened to Scott? Having recently just come back, he's disappeared again.

Yeah, I'm with @Fan of Big Tone. No idea whether we'll benefit from playing so closely, is it the start of a bad run or will they react and put in a good performance a bit like us against Bradford. That said I'm amazed they conceded 6 to Newport. When we played Newport, they could've played for 2 weeks and I think they'd have done well to have scored... I don't think MK will sit back though, so as long as we can deal with their attackers we should get plenty of space to hopefully hurt them. No idea where we stand with injuries but given we've got a good run of games in a short space, I'd want to change a couple of players - no idea who is and isn't fit though. And I hope Scott is ok because he seems to have just completely disappeared.

Just realised the title of the topic is Jan '26, either I'm missing something or are Notts boycotting 2025?! ???? Brown was slowly eased in and then against Alfreton, after playing so well, his confidence should’ve been high. But he’s just not done it for us, no goals and no assists in the league, I can’t see him drastically improving either so I'd be using that break in the loan deal to end it. I agree Martin should leave, just for his own good, he needs to find a club that will play him. Cundy is basically our emergency centre back, feels like he’s only going to play if everyone else is injured and so far this season our defenders have been pretty much injury immune! I’m still not sure about Gordon either, I know the chances of him leaving are minimal cos we’ve only just signed him, but he seems to have struggled since joining.

Blackburn Rovers 2-1 Sunderland Bristol City 1-1 Luton Town Huddersfield Town 2-1 Stockport County Rotherham United 3-1 Wigan Athletic Carlisle United 0-0 Morecambe Walsall 2-0 Doncaster Rovers Altrincham 2-2 Halifax Town Maidenhead United 2-1 Wealdstone ????

Luckily I haven't had to battle the food shoppers this year as I'm away for most of Christmas. I did go out for a few things yesterday and it was packed, I was in and out in about 5 minutes, so I survived. I should've left to go to my parents about 1 hour ago but they are still tidying and don't want anyone round yet! Good job I only live 20 minutes away. Back there for Xmas day and then starts a small tour of visiting other family members and friends. I hope everyone has a peaceful and joyful Christmas break ????????