Fozzy

Quite frankly, we have seen some bad officiating over the last few years, but that has to be up there with the very worst I have ever seen and in the past you would definitely think a brown envelope had been passed to them sometime in the week prior. Bad decisions started from the very first minute with their left back clattering into Abbot and only getting a “talking to”, Abbot then decides to take his own retribution a couple of minutes later and challenges said left back whilst in full “Roy Keane” mode, on another day he could have been off. Tsaroulla could have had a hat trick in the first half, first was good work by him but a weak finish, second he ran onto a great cross from Macari but decided to blast it into the stands with his wrong foot when all he had to do was keep in down, or even take a touch as he was in loads of space. Third was an unforgivable miss and I still cannot believe how he didn’t score from the save of JJ, the least said about Abbott’s attempt the better. Gillingham goal looked a yard offside from the replay, but he took it well to be fair to him, and that was probably their last decent chance of the game. Still cannot understand how Austin’s goal was disallowed, especially when it took the linesman around 8 seconds to put his flag up. I’ve still not heard an acceptable reason as Brown didn’t touch the ball and he was definitely onside when the ball was kicked. The most worrying part of the day for me is how long JJ will be out for, we can hope for the best but it doesn’t look good at all, and I’m hoping it’s not ankle ligament damage. Thought we got a few things wrong today. Abbott wasn’t comfortable playing that far forward and probably had his worst game so far, maybe it would have been better to play Crowley there from the start as he was playing too deep to hurt Gillingham. Grant (edited as originally named the wrong player) struggled all game and probably should have been changed at half time, he needs to offer more than he is doing at the moment, appears to hide a bit too much and has little off the ball movement, I feel that Austin offers more than him (except defensive height). Not too disheartened with the result because if Jatta was available we would have won, but I am a little concerned at our mounting injury list and really worried if Jodie is out for three or four months. Hopefully get Robbo, Jatta and Scott back in the next couple of weeks as we will need them against Port Vale.

The lad has totally lost his way as he should not be playing right down there! Had the talent to play league 1/2 but can’t have the work ethic to get there by the look of things.

To me, our season starts here. This will be the yardstick as to how far we have come this season and will match the divisions highest scorers against the stingiest (I think?) defence. Will be interesting, but I wouldn’t change too much. Probably Tsaroulla back with JJ on the right. Palmer & Abbott in midfield with Crowley & Didzy behind the Jattattack. Can see this going 2-1 either way.

Definitely harsh on Scott by saying he isn’t good enough, the guy missed nearly the whole of last season and has now picked up another injury, it could take him till January to regain his match sharpness and confidence to tackle. At least he got into position when he missed the chance and he nearly played Edward’s in with a great first touch., just a fraction too close to the keeper. He just needs a bit of luck and a goal.

Can’t argue with any comments, I thought it was the performance under Maynard at home by a mile. Other than JJ and Crowley, I thought Edward’s had a cracking game playing further up the field. Plays the simple ball, doesn’t try to over complicate things and pressed brilliantly. The only thing I could fault him with was his half hearted challenge for their goal. Another thing that struck me was how we weren’t afraid to take on the ‘press’. Both Williams and Burchnall both struggled to come to terms with sides that pressed us, but last night we played short crisp passes in order to break out effectively, but Bass also wasn’t afraid to go long when needed in order to mix it up. Overall, a great result but consistency will be key, especially against the better sides. Still a couple of players short, but the squad is looking very good, I just hope Robbo’s injury isn’t too serious.

Langstaff was in Milwall’s squad @Robbie, he came on after 83 minutes. Millwall lost 4-3 to a late winner. Looks like Millwall are adopting our score loads, concede loads mantra of last season! Fans wanted him in the starting line up looking at the comments, must be seeing his work ethic, if not goals.

There is @Robbie, but it’s almost like clockwork that at some stage between the 60-70 minute mark, we will make 3 subs. He doesn’t need to use all 5 subs, multiple subs offer no benefit to the team and always seems to weakens it. Oh for the days when you only got 1, 3 should be the maximum allowed nowadays as more always benefits the bigger spending/larger budgeted clubs. It’s not just football that’s affected by it, it always annoys me when I see the egg chasers do it as well.

I hate this making multiple subs at the same time thing that Notts do, it totally unbalances the side and countless times we put ourselves under pressure. Make two subs maximum at once, give them a few minutes to get into the game and then make another sub. It was a total shift in personnel and formation and no wonder we make mistakes. Looks like Sam’s time has come, we know he will be released at the end of the season already but it’s looking highly likely we are either going to have to go and get another keeper or remove Stone from the list and make him number 2. I would prefer the former….

Thank heavens he is, sick and tired of my wife admiring his body! In all seriousness I wish him well, he has always come across as a really nice guy and fully deserved the plaudits he has received over the years.

Now, I’m pretty sure I’ve seen Septic Peg before on the Brian Conley’s show many years ago, I always wondered what happened to her . Champions Arsenal (Will get it over the line this season) Runners Up Man City (court case will do for them this season, they should end up relegated but they won’t). Third Place Man Utd (“IF” they sign who they’re chasing and get rid of the bad eggs) Fourth Place Newcastle (have the money and will spend to get there) Fifth Place Spurs (can’t compete with the four above) Sixth Place Liverpool (post Klopp depression)

Probably works out at around 16-18 home games as midweek Tuesday is awkward and will always miss a couple of because I’m away. Hopefully make a couple of away games, long gone are the days of going home and away every season.

Definitely the latter at my age!

Fruit and veg quality is fine from M&S, size can be an issue on occasions (I know how it feels ).

Thanks @Robbie, that implies that Hinchy won’t count as one of the 22 for this season as he was only 20 on January 1st.

Currently have 19 senior outfield players @Wheelbarrow repair man, unless you know something we don’t ? We can sign another 3 and then we’ve hit our limit of 22, but personally only expect one more through the door, and we’ll leave space to see what the squad needs after the season has started. Not sure how league rules dictate the under 21 squad members as Hinchy was still 20 on January 1st so we may have room for four more? Not sure if the rule is general or club grown players have to be under 21?

I’m not (yet) massively concerned over results as it is pre season and the squad is almost totally new. I’m more concerned over the lack of minutes played by some key members of the squad. Palmer and Tsaroulla won’t be fit to play 90 minutes till September looking at things. Robertson is coming back from an injury and is obviously behind fitness wise at the moment, but he should have been given 45 minutes and not 30 as he is a must need player this season. Scott could take quite a while to regain his confidence of putting himself in situations where he may get clattered, he’s probably holding back as not wanting to get injured again. Altogether, the games won’t have the intensity of a league match as no player will want to get injured and I fully expect the defence to be tighter during league matches. I’ve known Notts to have some pretty good pre seasons in the past and then go onto struggle in the league, but the lack of fitness is leading me to think that we won’t get off to a great start, but should get a lot better after a few weeks.

Missed the whole of last season with a glute and hip injury, which apparently is the second time he has had it. Makes you think it is a degenerative condition as he said he’ll have to live with it. I should add that I wish him well and could be an inspired choice if we can keep him fit. Defence is now complete, Midfield and upfront now please Notts.

Weak Derby starting line up by the look of things and half their players looked overweight and slow. Cheaterfield have got some half decent players going forward but their defence looked all over the place. Wait till they come up against the big, physical sides of league 2, it will do for them as it did us, and Dobra will be hospitalised every weekend the way he appears to get injured every game.

As a way of extending how long it runs, could we possibly look at adding a rule in somewhere along the lines that you can only make 1 guess per day? That way more people are likely to see the question and participate.

To be quite honest, I wouldn’t have Williams back at the moment but things might change so never say never. I think that ship has sailed though and I can see the brothers always looking to appoint an up and coming coach rather than an established one.

Came on for the last 20 minutes and never touched the ball appears to be the general consensus amongst their fans, not a good start.

My reservations aren’t so much with Maynard at the moment, but with the personnel available to him. We only currently have 18 senior outfield players, we still haven’t seen Tsaroulla or Pamer, we have only briefly seen Jatta, Robertson, Morias, (Ronald) McDonald and Austin. We are in serious danger of going into this season undercooked if minutes don’t rack up in the next 3 match days. If we get off to a slow start (which I can definitely see), it won’t take long for the unrest to start again. Because of his background he will always be paddling uphill.

I know @Piethagoram, to be honest I was going to put Phil Turner in there and then I was going to use Neil Bishop, but I plumped for Hunt because I quite liked him, but my eyes were still fairly young back then .

This is tough but I’ve basically ended up with players I’ve loved watching over the years (but basically span the 80’s and 90’s) plus two players I would have loved to see. Oh, and I even managed to stick Ruben on the bench, which means our midfield’s aren’t too dissimilar @Robbie. 4-3-3 is the formation and it would score a shed full!!! Raddy Pedro N Worthington D Needham (Craig) Short Masson Draper Hunt Sewell Lawton Johnson Sub: Ruben

I was assuming that because he didn’t feature against Wealdstone, we may have dropped our interest, will wait to see if he plays this weekend. The only trialist I can find that did play the other night was Robbie Cundy, who I know has been training with Notts.