piedestrian

Guardian reporting we're gonna be getting Belshaw soon which I'm happy with.

Cook from Bradford and a farfetched Mullins from Wrexham are the two I've seen, but both are nowhere near the Radar's type of player.

I think it's a weaker league this season, and now is surely a good time to really go for it. It's fairly obvious what we need to really solidify and build on what's obviously a weaker (more technical and creative debt) team this time around, but with a more motivational manager. I'd argue that MP isn't any better than SM as I'm really looking for consistancy and good, prolific attacking play and not the dross I've witnessed vs Accrington. They have different strengths and MP can talk the talk and change the game a bit with his game management, but I'm yet to be enamoured by his style of play. SM played a more attractive style of play, but became very easy to read and the style of play was monotonous when we weren't winning. I think the one that will be the deciding factor is a consistant approach from RM again. Gagliardi effectively has hampered any effect from MP on getting them to play attractive football, but hopefully, we'll see a new few faces and say bye to a couple of ones who've yet to make the grade.

Apart from the GK, CM and AM question marks we've been having for months, I walked away with a new, more worrying question of my faith of MP yesterday. He's shown that he can make subs, but hasn't shown tactical nouse to change up games by offering variants of play styles. Yesterday's sluggish, lethargic long ball either shows he's really overperforming with the players at his disposal or that this was his version of football all along and just took a while to migrate away from Maynardball. I'm happy to see what happens because with a new three (in those positions) and a new striker (maybe on loan, under 21's perchance) then I'd like to see what happens. I have more faith in RM and the bro's than I do the players and the manager at this rate, so unless we have a terrible transfer window, I'm not rushing to panic just yet.

In all fairness, he had an opportunity and wasn't any better than Ness, Rod, Bedeau, Platt and Macari so I can see why he's gone back. Unfortunately, it's the position we're incredibly flush with. All the best to him.

These are some hot takes: Jones is cooked. I'd accept almost any bid for him - the AM test was a complete failure, he's roughly got one move which is to get down the left and turn 180 and try to pull a foul. It will sound disengenous, but I thank him for his service and we can move on. We largely have a squad of "squad players" - Tsaroulla, Bennets, Gordon, Platt, Norburn are all maginal impact players that do a job - we, as obvious as it will be day in 12 hours, are missing vast amounts of creativity. Ness as a forward screams to me that it's either a calcultated effort to shout to the board to back him, or MP isn't tactically brilliant as his pre/post assessments normally suggest he could be. Jan is a massive crossroads - Given MP is probs on a 1 year and will likely be dismissed if we don't go up, will the board back him with all that on the table? His brand of football isn't beautiful (although my life supporting Notts is now tainted with Williamsball syndrome) and this is the first match apart from early doors that I've walked away thinking is it actually MP that's at fault.

I think it's all about creativity. I've mentioned previously that our main creative outlets as a team lie in our attacking midfielder and wing backs. With our wing backs, I've found myself wanting to change style because we've not seen that consistency like we did with Nemane and Jones previously. Playing WB's also leaves us more vulnerable and exposed to threaded passes around the back. Our WB's, and this might be a tad harsh, have all shown that they are more squad players at this level and nothing short of the occasional 7 out of 10 performance. It’s also slightly odd we’re putting so much pressure on this working as everyone and their dog knows that Dennis, Jatta and Grant aren’t gonna get to the ball first on any cross, inverted wing back or not. I think it’d take less weight and probably criticism of Grant as well if we played a 4-2-3-1, because he can press while (both normal and inverted) wingers can be more creative and attacking. I’d really like us to mix it up, because I could literally write a scouting report for the next 20 teams we face as it’s blindingly obvious.

Two different goalkeeper coaches and still the same issue prevails with Roos, which tells you he won't learn or become any more comfortable with aerial balls. We really missed a trick only signing one goalkeeper, but my theory is the board already saw what mess Gag brought in with Roos - you wouldn't want another "seasoned" goalkeeper with massive flaws on a big wage. Just happy that it's now a priority as alluded to by Montague, which will mean that Griffiths and Perott will likely be shipped out on loan to get some experience.

Well I'd hesitate to say that he's not a top league player. He was only playing in England's 5th tier until recently. I see you've just mentioned that he's been released - I hope he finds a good base for himself, but obviously would love him back here.

A very well curated and meticulously thought about. I'd love a few players off here, the more mysterious, the better. One player mentioned is Rio Clegg at Radcliffe which from one clip I've seen looks raw but a decent prospect.

I don't want to poo-poo your idea but he'll be on nothing short of 5-10k a week, which means we'll be no way near.

People have commented on the fact that Montague has been a little too honest with this and, although it's great transparency for fans as we want to see that from the club, it's gonna hyper inflate new goalkeeper costs and show to clubs that might want to bid on Jatta/Dennis, now is the time if they've got the resource. If those bids come in or never transpire, the players, manager and fans will never really know if they're going or staying.

I've not been impressed with Norburn but fairly open to seeing how Hinchy comes across.

I had a brilliant time. Excellent game for the neutrals, but equally, fun times had by all in the grand scheme of things. Shows we have depth and even in that depth, the players are all singing from the same hymn sheet. Everyone is showing doggedness, guile and grit to get where we need to be. Dennis need to be playing more and I'd consider Hall for Grant and continue 2 up top for the forseeable. Grant and Roos are still the weakest link in the team and yet another game where Grant fails to impress and is the first one hooked, which I think it makes his only full 90 against Swindon... Their peno wouldn't have happened had it been for poor command of his box and flapping. That said, a new keeper and a new AM in Jan and I'm confident of us getting something from this season given the fight in the rest of the team.

So I've done the numbers, albeit roughly and over about 10 minutes, so pinch of salt. I'd say that after a keeper (which I don't think count's to the 22) which is imperitive, we're really struggling with Grant. His numbers are quite bad for a player in the attacking category. For the 18 games he's played this season, he's scored 2, which puts him scoring every 9 games, effectively every 2 months. He's assisted once. He's only played a full 90 once this season which was his best performance against Swindon. You can be assured that the board and analysts are looking at this thinking it's not even a fine margin, it's quite a chasmic one. I might be blinkered in that we've had Ruben, Crowley and Didzy aleviate bad performances with creativity and clinical ability, but I do feel he's the first to go when we are pushing games as no one has faith in him performing on a consistant level. What happens to Cotter and Aljofree in the first week of the transfer window will give us a good indication of how many moves to expect. I'm optimistic about the window because I think the bro's have shown courage and guile with getting Montague back, first and foremost. If they get a new GK, 6/10. If they get a new GK and a new AM, 8/10. If they get anything more than that, 10/10.

Even though Rhodes vanished early doors, we've had terrible luck with injuries. Palmer, Jones, Platt and Luker all been out for periods leaving us without key players at various times.

I think if we notched up the tempo and the quickness of our passing and not press so high up the pitch, we might be able to get some balls behind their defense. Otherwise it's quite tedious build up play that gets to the 25 yard area, no one shoots, we play it out wide, we either cross it or call foul and if we do cross it, Jatta's not getting their first. Rinse and repeat.

There's a couple of things here for me. I thought Colchester was everything I'd expect from a Notts side this season. Remember when we were sold the idea of "dark arts" and being physical and more direct? I didn't see that against Colchester. I thought they were probs the best side I've seen at Meadow Lane and that's including us against Shrewsbury. They were disciplined, drove some good passes behind our high press and the front three bullied us all day long. Also helps when you've got a good keeper who catches and doesn't have a 60% rate of giving the ball to the opposite side. I think that a large majority of people within the club and watching now think that Roos is the biggest hinderence since Alan Smith's days of being a statue. They have to act or watch us lose more money by not achieving promotion and Paterson sacked as he can't navigate a boat with a gaping hole in it. Two tactical issues stand out for me which I think is on Paterson. We are easy to counter and break the lines of. We do have good defenders but some times I think we'd be better with three in midfield with someone screning the back line and Palmer and Robbo abit pushed up. Secondly, we fall off a cliff when it gets to the 25 yard area. The amount of players which get to just outside of the area, all of a sudden are hit with a moment of indecision. Grant is the worst for it but Hall is a very close second. Jarvis has shown that he might be capable but I dunno. This Jan is huge, but I do find comfort in the fact Montague is at the club. I hope/reckon that we'll see signficant changes to our team in Feb to now.

Can't recall where I saw it, but Peterborough's requirements in a striker means that he's too old as much as Williams wants him there. Might be the same for JJ as well. Peterborough are known for their approach to transfers and have to tick a large upsell metric to their purchase in the first instance. Langstaff needs to drop down and then underperform to ever come back to Notts. Given he's 28, he's in his prime years and really needs to hit it running with another club or be at risk of becoming nomadic.

I'm one of the detractors in the everyone vs Grant case. I think with this formation and its iterations over the last couple of years, I've been spoiled in Ruben and more-so Crowley. Ruben was brave and clinical - almost a second striker. Crowley was very technically gifted with decision making and vision alongside being brave. That said I have just re-watched quite a lot of Crowley and Ruben's goals/assists and see closer similarities in Kouhyar than I see in Grant. With the way we play, we put so much stock in this position and when the AM's fail, we fail given that Jatta is not a big brutish bastard and he plays better when stuff is played in front of him.

I think pre-season Cotter is just a good way to assess Cotter in general. For every Cardiff goal, a Kaiserslauten stinker. Personally, if we're rid of the wage which was probs a bit too large in our squad given his playing time, I think it's better attributed elsewhere.

I think that as a CM pairing, they don't come much better than Robertson and Palmer who really compliment each other. It's the AM duo that's gonna cost us. I personally think Grant is the weak link. Sure he's got intelligence and presses well, but it's only good up until he's 20 yards and closer to the goal that he turns to mush. Hall I think deserves more time to really make the position his own. I'd like to see Jarvis and Traore there as they both look intelligent and can drift out, but for the love of god don't put Jones back there. Fwiw, had Luker been here the whole season, we would be smashing the league and probs go up.

Rumour was floating around before the game that he's been sent back to Barnsley

We are 30% into the season. We have won half of those matches, drawn three and lost four we have the second best goal difference and third best in goals scored. MP is on a 47% win percentage and is currently 1.6 per game. However we're out of the EFL cup and the FA cup. I'm gonna caveat here with the fact I'm just using basic percentage rates from Fotmob here and haven't looked into the real stats like XG etc. Keeper - Kelle Roos has a 98% save percentage but a 49% high claim rate - he's semi-reckless and scares the backline. We have to pack the box when defending because we don't trust him, In terms of defence, McDonald is probably our most consistent defender we have but Platt and Ness both have really high aerial duels won and defensive contributions. Macari being the lowest. For our WB’s - Tsaroulla is probs our most consistent performer with 84% of chances created. Bennetts ranks the worst at around 45% Midfield - Palmer is having a storming season with 86% of chances created but Robertson makes up for Palmer's 14% defensive contributions with 77%. Iorpenda’s stats for defensive contributions and aerial duels make for interesting reading at around 90% mark. Grant and Norburn rank for worst midfielders. Forwards - Jayden Luker had a 88% chance creation and also a large defensive contribution. Interesting reading for Jatta’s and Dennis’s aerial duels, which are at 47 and 30% respectively. Overall - It suggests that we are really easy to understand. We have collectively, quite a large amount of technical players, but not really utilising them correctly. Playing up to Jatta isn’t and shouldn’t be the main style of play, he’s not a target man. Our WB’s don’t consistently perform and we’re far too narrow given we only trust left footed players. Our biggest weakness is our GK which other teams target via high dropping balls. That is the immediate fix in Jan. Personally, I think it’s calling out for a shift to a 4-3-3, with someone like Robertson, Palmer and Iorpenda playing and then a forward line of Dennis, Jatta and Jones. I think this gives us a better chance knowing that one of best players this season isn't coming back any time soon. All stats from Fotmob and percentages are based on a percentile ranking of that in the league. What this says I don't know, but after tonight I hope we don't regress but I have a feeling it might.

Jatta is the obvious choice, but special mention to MP who completely changed the game and also the tanoy for the "stewards, exercise" announcement which seemingly dumbfounded everyone in the stadium allowing us to score!