Robbie

What isn't in doubt is that Grealish spent the vast majority of his loan time at Notts under Shaun Derry. Grealish had his loan period extended under Derry. It was unfortunate that Derry couldn't extend MacGregor's loan period too.

Four players achieve my shortlist for Man of the Match. Matt Palmer, Rod McDonald, Kelle Roos, & Jodi Jones when he came on as substitute.I will reveal my Man of the Match out of those four later.

There are different types of methods in place to win football matches. One of those methods is to score more goals than the opposition in a match. No matter what the opposition scores, your team just needs to score more. This was a philosophy that was practiced under Luke Williams at Notts which was very entertaining & exciting to watch. It brought in the crowds & the TV Cameras. Of course there were downsides to this approach. The Notts defence was often exposed, but Notts were so good going forward this disadvantage was easily offset. Under Stuart Maynard he was more defensive minded & it did work to a certain extent, however Notts did continue to play with relative freedom up front, maybe not as much as under Williams, but the Notts team still scored their fair share of goals. I know it's still early days but it looks like the days of all out attacking football has disappeared under Martin Paterson. It seems that trying to become a more physical & resilient side has actually changed the way Notts are playing. That brings us back to the question, is winning more important than the way Notts achieve it? I personally wanted the Club to continue with the Maynard approach, but improve the side by adding 4 or 5 quality players in the summer. Maynard achieved 18 clean sheets last season with the seventh best defensive record. That record should have been easily built on this season. Up to this point I don't believe we are going to see that happen unless we see a big turnaround in performance under Paterson's Footballing style. So what's your preferred style PON members?

Good topic for discussion & good analysis of the current situation at Notts so far @piedestrian In my opinion the Club has clearly regressed from last season regarding overall performance & the way that Notts are now playing. I get that Notts need to be a little more physical & less at risk of being bullied by teams, but Notts are still conceding goals by giving the ball away in their own half & being susceptable to crosses & dead ball situations into the box every match. Notts still have problems against an aggressive high press. A big issue for me, Notts are missing a playmaker & have never effectively replaced either Ruben or Dan in the AM role. I can see why Martin is trying to use Jodi in a similar role, however I still think he is more effective on the wings, which seemed to bear that out against Gillingham when he came on in the 2nd half. It's a shame that Notts couldn't get a result on Saturday. They very nearly did. They were just let down by another defensive mistake that gave the ball away & led to the Gillingham goal. We are where we are. Notts have to do the best they can up to the next transfer window & try to stay as close to a playoff place as they can. All said & done, it only takes a good run of form to climb this league. Despite some of the problems I still remain optimistic of our chances of making the playoffs again.

I think the thread has drifted off topic.This is a reminder of the original question. Do PON members think that the Director of Football should be replaced by an experienced League 2 Manager/ Head Coach type or just amalgamate the two roles of Head Coach and Director of Football into one? Is it important that the Club has a Director of Football or not. Can a First Team Manager do both roles successfully at Notts?

I think there is a serious point to it. Best to clean the mess up due to the risk of spreading disease like bird flu or something else.

Notts will be hoping for a positive result today to cement their position in mid table. This is the current League table with Notts lying in sixth place.

Next up for Notts County Women is a game back home at Coronation Park against Sutton Coldfield Town today, Sunday 14th Sept, Kick off 2pm.

Your Weather 4cast for Sunday.

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Either Google AI is confused or something else is at play but just looked up who was the manager when Grealish played for Notts and this was the result.👇 "Shaun Derry wss the manager of Notts County when Jack Grealish played there on loan during the 2013-14 season. Grealish joined Notts County on a youth loan from Aston Villa in September 2013 and made his professional debut for the club under Derry's management". Source Google AI.

@McPie Yes I agree we do look disjointed & you make a good point about sets of players seem to be on different vwavlengths between a passing game & long game. The owners look like they've made the decision to change the style somewhat under Paterson. We have to stick with Paterson now. My own personal view is that I would have stuck with Maynard, I would have appointed a Head of Football who had lots of League 2 experience, & I would have only recruited up to five extra good quality players to supplement what we already had.

@super_ram At least you completed the puzzle. I do think it's a great word game with hints as an option.

@theAnticlough Gillingham did the simple things right & their defence was solid. Dennis & Jatta couldn't get through them, but I do think they lacked the service today. Notts are clearly in transition with the direct approach being more prominent than we've seen over the last several years. It could have paid off today if Notts had not made that defensive mistake.

I can't criticise the way that Martin Paterson set up the side. It was clear from my perspective that he was looking for a draw today, & at half time things were seemingly going to plan. It was an unlike Notts performance that was very scrappy but it made the League leaders look scrappy too. Unfortunately, the Gillingham goal came from another Notts mistake that led to a cross which was headed in. The type of goal that Notts seem to concede too much. Without that lack of concentration Notts could have got a point out of this match so I'm not going to say that Martin got his tactics wrong. I am worried about the injuries to Dennis & Gordon though. I hope that they are not too serious & they will be back very soon. I'm still going to be optimistic that the Notts side can improve as the weeks go by. They just need to cut out their mistakes which are going to prove costly. Up to date League 2 Table after today's matches.

Notts have been beaten narrowly by Gillingham today at Priestfield. It was a scrappy match that was decided by a single goal one minute into the 2nd half. Worry for Notts was leading scorer Dennis going off injured & also Gordon getting injured & being replaced. So who was your PON Man of the Match for Notts? I have included the starting 11 plus 2 substitutions who came on in the 2nd half. Please pick your Man of the Match from the following players. Roos, McDonald, Aljofree, Bedeau, Gordon Palmer, Norburn, Tsaroula, Iorpenda, Dennis, Jatta, Robertson, Jones.

FULL TIME.Defeat for Notts on the road

UpdateTen Minutes Added

Update The Gillingham curse strikes again.Dennis forced off after an injury Update

UpdateKeep pushing NottsUpdate

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