DangerousSausage

I noticed our DoF was in Kaiserslautern, so he'll presumably still be with the team. But we did sign Aljofee during the German trip, so maybe something else is in the pipeline. There could even be transfer business to take care of in Germany, stranger things have happened! I think and hope there will be a flurry of activity once they're back. None of the trialists have stood out for me, but the teams we've played have been above our level so that's not really a fair reflection. @Chris , a bit off topic but the next match will be streamed for about a fiver.

Stuttgarter Kickers have been up and down the leagues since their brief foray in the Bundesliga in the late 80s and early 90s, but after a five-year stay in the fifth-level Oberliga Baden-Württemberg they returned to the fourth-level Regionalliga Südwest in 2023. They very nearly sealed a second straight promotion to the third division, but blew it on the final day and VfB Stuttgart's B team went up in their place. Now they'll be hoping to win promotion at the third attempt after finishing fifth last season. As a Waldhof follower I've seen far more Regionalliga Südwest football than is good for me. The larger teams are fully professional and could hold their own in League Two - MSV Duisburg, who won the Regionalliga West least season, beat us 4-1 a year ago. However, the standard is highly variable and differs from one region to the next. Technically, the standard in the Regionalliga SW is relatively high, but many of the teams (especially the part-timers) can't maintain a press for 90 minutes - the league lacks the intensity and athleticism you see in the higher divisions in Germany or the Football League in England. As one of the strongest teams in probably the best of the five Regionalliga divisions, I'm expecting Stuttgarter Kickers to pose a tough test. I'm also familiar with a couple of their players as they used to play for Waldhof. Midfielder Per Lockl, who joined Kickers last year, previously played for SV Waldhof in the third division and Borussia Mönchengladbach II in the Regionalliga West. He played for Germany's youth teams and is a skilful player with lots of potential. He struggled to cope with the physicality of the third division at times, but he's a great player for that level and has his best years ahead of him. Another familiar name from further back is Lukas Kiefer, a bustling defensive midfielder and occasional right back I remember from Waldhof's days in the Regionalliga SW. Another interesting name is their new signing from Würzburg Maximilian Zaiser, a product of Bayern's youth system who played around 30 games for their B team in the third division. Kickers played a pre-season tournament today (Sunday), losing 2-0 to FC Villingen (relegated from the Regionalliga SW last season) and beating SSC Tübingen 11-0. As they're much closer to our level than Darmstadt or Kaiserslautern, I'm hoping we'll see much more of the ball and start to get an idea how Martin Paterson wants us to play. It'll be good to see Jones and a bit more of Aljofee too. If you're going, @BlackPudding has posted a few tips if you're planning on having the odd refreshment before the game (although those sausages don't convince me, sorry!).

I'd go back to the 70s and lock Brian Clough and Peter Taylor in a cupboard until the red lot appointed someone else as manager. We were level pegging with Florist on and off the pitch until that time, but with their success under Clough they pulled far ahead of us and the fans followed them over the bridge. When we finally did reach the top flight, we got smaller crowds than we had been getting in the third division pre-Clough. He transformed the fortunes of both clubs to the extent that they don't even see us as rivals any more. Just imagine being able to change all that through just a bit of kidnapping (and time travel). Promotion into the top flight might even have taken us a division above them, and the bigger crowds we'd have got might have kept us there, possibly into the Premier League era.

Wow, thanks for the tips @BlackPudding! I haven't been to Stuttgart for a long time, so this is a great addition. Are you a Kickers fan?

Agree with the above, the captain should be vocal and always talking to and encouraging his teammates. He should be the manager's voice on the pitch. Perhaps Platt, Bedeau or Norwood would be more suitable. In recent years it's become almost a ceremonial role, so that naming a new captain is effectively a demotion for the previous one. I don't think that's what it should be. It should be an extra task for a senior player, not some kind of gong.

Trying to smack Cotter in the face more like! That's the fastest I've seen him run yet!

I agree with @McPie. I was expecting us to spend most of these two games chasing shadows and the scorelines don't surprise me. However, I had been hoping to see some indication of what the new coach wants to do and some reasons to look forward to the new season. Nothing so far. If we'd played Middlesbrough and Coventry, I'd have wanted to see us have some good moments too instead of being totally reactive. Maybe it's so too soon though. MP wants to give all the players minutes and see what they can and can't do, so it's logical that we look disjointed. Perhaps the Stuttgart game will give us an inkling of what's in store. As for being gracious hosts, I'm looking forward to hearing from those who went. But I noticed that Lautern went out of their way to separate the fans, giving Notts fans a separate entrance and car park and even adding separation between the home and away fans for this match (although according to what I've read this was removed during the game). That's in contrast to Darmstadt, who actively encouraged everyone to mix and put us in what's normally a home block. I got the impression they'd have preferred it to have been behind closed doors. Fun fact: the Kaiserslautern manager Torsten Lieberknecht has managed all of the three German clubs we've played so far. The Lautern website has published an interview with him, but he doesn't really talk at length about Notts apart from us being a typical physical English team and having fast wide men.

After Darmstadt, another tough watch. Kaiserslautern's tempo, intensity and pressing had us flummoxed early on and it took us a while to deal with it. We looked more stable defensively in the second half. I'm still unhappy with Cotter being sent off as this denied one of our players the chance to play. Red cards make no sense in non-competitive games. There's a lot of work to do, but hopefully this will have been illuminating for the management team. I think the game in Stuttgart will be a lot more even.

I think the point of it is that they'll expose our weaknesses so we can work on them @NiftyNick. Agree that it's a tough watch though. Darmstadt wasn't very different. I didn't make it to Kaiserslautern today - I worked a lot of overtime this week (apart from Wednesday for the match - wasn't going to miss that one!). I feel absolutely fried now. I'm visiting the UK soon so it'll be time to buy chocolate for my army of nieces and nephews, possibly except the one who has just turned 18!

It was a completely absurd decision. Cotter was late and caught his heel, it was definitely a yellow at least. But the Lautern player's completely over the top reaction convinced the ref to show red. As an aside, Jatta got a six-match ban for threatening behaviour in the playoffs. Redondo's antics were worse. Having us see this game out with ten men makes no sense for either side. Do they want a competitive match or not?

Our next hosts have posted some information for fans (only in German, but you can Google Translate it). Separating home and away fans (to the extent of giving Notts fans a different car park) is rather OTT for a training ground friendly. But the good news is that the game will be streamed live on their official YouTube channel!

This one contains an interview with Florian Kohfeldt, Darmstadt's manager. He said it was the first proper match they'd had in terms of intensity and tackling, which is a good thing (except Hinchey's tackle early on, which he felt was OTT). And he said Notts are about the level of a third division team in Germany, so a good test.

Maybe they could all play @piedestrian, if we've got more options at the back that opens up the possibility of playing a back four with Bedeau at left back. With Iorpenda, Ness and McDonald, that's seven players competing for three or four places, so we're more than covered.

It's not really fair to judge the forwards based on that as they saw so little of the ball, I don't think we had a shoton oroff target in the first half. He did have a very heavy touch a couple of times early on and generally struggled to hold up the ball, but he wasn't the only one.

We were incredibly fortunate to only let in two goals in the first half, we got an absolute hiding. Five would have been a more accurate reflection. We were leaving gaps all over the place which they were running into, they had the freedom of the flanks and we couldn't handle their forwards. We were in a blind panic for the first half an hour or so. That's not meant as a criticism, it's just how it was. We had an experimental lineup in the first half while they played most of their first team, so it was always going to be a struggle. And let's not forget that several of their players were playing Bayern and co in the Bundesliga a little more than a year ago, so there was a gulf in class too. We stabilised a bit in the second half (especially after Platt, Bedeau and the rest came on), we closed the gaps and made them work harder for their chances so there's that.

He's a good interviewee, that's for sure! The start of the game was feisty after what looked to me like a high, two-footed challenge from Hinchy that he got booked for. The home team's manager was absolutely jumping up and down with rage, it was quite comical. A few moments later there was a melee after another challenge (which I didn't see very clearly) and a Darmstadt player got booked. It calmed down a bit after that though. That's how it looked to me, but it all happened right in front of MP. I'm not sure that the potato farmers (Kaiserslautern) will be tougher, they've had a lot of comings and goings and may not be the cohesive unit Darmstadt were in the first half. We've also got another game under our belts. It'll definitely be a tough game though. And it's true that the new coaches are working the team really hard. After the final whistle, the Darmstadt players shook hands with ours and headed down the tunnel. Meanwhile, the Notts players applauded the fans and then proceeded to have a full-blown training session on the pitch. Players were sprinting the width of the pitch and being timed individually, all sorts of stuff, it definitely wasn't your usual warm-down. I hope we reap the rewards!

And a view from the Notts block...

I'm glad he didn't join the franchise, and him going to L1 softens the blow somewhat. Sometimes you can improve the team as a unit even when you lose a quality player, and that's what we've got to do.

Great turnout from Notts! Very surreal but cool to see so much black and white in my adopted home. Make no mistake, Darmstadt absolutely murdered us to death in the first half. They just played through us. They looked like a proper team who were ready for the season, we looked like a pub team. They looked like scoring every time they came forward, which was often, and we couldn't handle Hornby at all. But then of course the team we fielded in the first half was essentially a second eleven with some trialists thrown in, plus we're earlier in our pre-season preparations than Darmstadt so they'll naturally look sharper. We were a lot more competitive in the second half, limited the home side to a couple of chances and had one or two ourselves. Reynolds had some good moments. @True Magpie, I think Matt Hall was the goalkeeper in the first half. I don't think either goalkeeper embarrassed himself, but we need an experienced man between the sticks. Overall, a great evening out and a useful workout for the team, but there's clearly some way still to go before we're really ready. By the way, Darmstadt have one of Germany's most cheesy stadium hymns...

This is going to fuel rumours isn't it? Especially the mardy statement by his agent blaming the club. I wouldn't be too quick to blame the club here, the authorities that deal with foreigners here are hopelessly understaffed and it's very conceivable that they wouldn't have got a tourist visa through in a month. But it's still incredibly frustrating for Jatta and the team. We're playing three games in Germany, so he'll miss a significant part of our pre-season preparations. MP won't get to work with him either.

I think I'll wait for the home kit. Surely we're due a good one.

Wedo have plenty of wide players already to be fair. I think a central attacking midfielder, a goalkeeper and at least one striker should be our priorities now.

Nearly a month on and Notts have teased the new away kit. You don't see much, but it's definitely green and it's not plain either. I've always fancied a green away kit. Still nothing on the home kit, but I've noticed the club's graphics on Facebook have started using a background where the white stripes are slightly broader than the black. Maybe a hint?

Our second pre-season game and the first of our European tour is upon us, so as the local boy I thought I'd open a match thread (feel free to merge if another one is scheduled)! Darmstadt will be tough opposition - they're a solid Bundesliga 2 side and are also further along in their preparations than we are. Their new signings include centre half Patric Pfeiffer - rejoining the club after helping them to promotion to the Bundesliga during his last spell, while another man to watch is big striker Fraser Hornby, who came through the youth ranks at Northampton and Everton and has played for Scotland up to under-21 level. Expect them to play an attacking style with a high defensive line. The home side started their pre-season with a 24-0 win against the mighty force that is SV Traisa, and at the weekend they beat Viktoria Aschaffenburg (fourth division) 4-1. As for Notts, it'll be interesting to see which of the Alfreton trialists make the trip and whether there are any new faces. It'll also be Barry Cotter's first appearance in a Notts shirt. It'll be interesting to see how MP intends to play, but realistically it's about getting minutes in legs at this stage. I've no idea whether there will be a live stream yet, but if they do it'll probably be on the Lilies' official YouTube page.

As I didn't see the Alfreton game I can't comment on Sawyers' performance. He's got pedigree alright, but he also hasn't played a lot of football in the last couple of years. I hope he isn't anothe one with a lengthy injury record. Returning to Grant, he's got potential but he wasn't able to make the ball "stick" in advanced positions like Crowley could. He's one of a number of players who could benefit from a full pre-season and surprise us next season though.