piedestrian

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!

The thing is, and it should be the main narrative, is that we're judging every match based on the fact that we should be challenging if not completely levelling teams like Gillingham. This is both from an evolution of what we've come to expect from the brothers ownership and the overall objective of the season. Every delayed pass forward, every 8 second countdown and flap from Roos and every conceded set piece we get further and further away from what we've been told is the complete objective, supported by a big ol' bag of cash (budget). It's a very short rope for MP, one I'm sure he realises is getting smaller and smaller with every passing interview.

I suppose I've given myself ten games, so my analysis is as follows. At the current trajectory, we're looking mid-table. That's not a criticism of what we look like in a footballing sense, merely statistical. At present we’re averaging 1.375 points per game. If we continue in that vein, we’re seeing us finish 11th at best (this is based on the last 4/5 seasons. Let’s look at the scores: 1-1 draw against Newport (who are now 22nd) 2-1 loss against Salford (who are 3rd) 1-0 loss against Wigan - played a strong squad and garnered 65% possession 2-1 loss against Barrow (who are 21st) 4-1 win against Shrewsbury (who are 23rd) 2-2 draw against Bromley (who are 7th) 2-1 win against Tranmere (who are 16th) 3-0 loss against Lincoln (second squad put out) 1-0 win against Fleetwood (who are 11th) 1-0 loss against Gillingham (who sit in 2nd) MP sits on a 30% win rate - we also have scored 8 goals excluding the 4 we scored at Shrewsbury which feels like a bit of an outlier in scores. Now that’s the data side done, what have we been told about what’s expected. First and foremost, he’s been told by the club that they want promotion, “as simple as that” - 1st August, Martin Paterson (bbc). We’ve also been told that this is one of the highest budgets that we’ve had to date with the Reedz brothers, one which MP, up until recently deemed unsatisfactory as he wanted a new GK and a new striker. Lastly, we’ve been told physical elements and directives on changing the club to be more involved in the “dark arts”. 1 - We will not achieve that on the current trajectory. 2 - Whether or not we ever were able to compete or make inroads about getting in more players, it’s not his job, publicly, to say that. 3 - Although more physical players in terms of size have come in, we’re much more susceptible to crosses and set pieces than we ever were under Williams and Maynard. Onto MP himself. Forever the socialist, “it is not I, only we!” MP is driving the “we, the team” in terms of narrative. Whether that’s a collective call for unity or that of concealment of his real thoughts which come out in training or the dressing room, we’ll never know. We get versions of himself via interviews, which haven’t won me over. I think personally, that his career is something he links to hard graft and perseverance, and that he’s trying to change the club’s playing philosophy, not adapting or moulding it. There are occasions whereby I’ve enjoyed bits, because I’ve seen technical flair and exciting play happen, but then I question myself, is that because of him or in spite of him? There are players we’ve seen that have improved/deteriorated from his managerial/coaching style with Matt Palmer being the standout. If MP were to go, I’d worry about how it might affect his game for the remainder of the season. Bedeau and Jones have dropped in terms of a really high bar we’ve had here for a while, so suggests his methods are much more jarring than what we’ve seen before. I think MP is on a short contract here, given that it wasn’t mentioned in the press when he was appointed, so suggests he wasn’t highly regarded or was a backup to a backup - if this is indeed the case. If the owners have the foresight that it only takes one bad transfer window to throw out a DOF, then time is ticking very quickly for Martin. Lastly, Martin had 20 games at Burton before he was sacked, which I can see become a real big possibility if we don’t see improvements all over. (I think I deserve praise for not mentioning Roos or Grant once!) - also I have posted this on Footymad also, but thought it's an engaging conversation peice at least!

Bit unfair on Traore @CliftonMagpie. He played well for his cameo against Fleetwood, just needs a goal and a run of games to show what he can do. Unfortunately or fortunately, we've changed our game plan to accomodate a player like Jatta, which Traore isn't. I feel he's more of a poacher and technically stronger, similar to Langstaff than a Jatta style forward.

so astute he's leaving... BBC SportRichard Montague: Swansea City director of football set t...Richard Montague left a similar role at League Two club Notts County to take up what is a key position at Swansea in February.

No idea what his legacy will be. Probs that of Hans Backe

@gtownjohnno ,sorry but he's really proving an astute hire to Swansea. To the point, I don't think we can really go back to a manager's manager role at Notts. I think the mechanisms are just too different, plus as much as I've come to get used to MP, I wouldn't trust his judgement on new signings alone.

End of the day, it's whether you win or not. Even in the days of Spain winning everything, people got complacent and bored with the tiki-taka style of play. We found ourselves bored to death win Maynard, we even got rid of Curle not long after his undefeated away record, so as much as aesthetics have an involvement, I much preferred celebrating at the final whistle than looking at the stats of a match last year and seeing 67% posession to lose 2-0. We played some largely, quite attractive stuff with a lot of technical players doing a lot of hard work. I can really see myself falling in love with this team, it's all down to consistency and luck from hereon.

MP's best match so far. Really nailed the game management element. Notts' really rallied in the 2nd half, subs were effective and all deserve a special mention. Dogged from Robbo which assured a tiring midfield, Traore enabled their back line to sit further back as not overwhelm us and made some excellent touches (on that note, I saw him smile after progressing the ball, it's nice to see him get a bit of happiness from all this) and Grant made some excellent final third plays. We're not getting too much from the WB's, for me they seem really inconsistent - one match Tsaroulla can be great but the next a complete liability. Thought we could have taken Gordon off and brought Bennetts who may have helped us kill the game off. All in all, a good game, with a good crowd and good weather.

John Sheridan Chicksen and Adam Campbell for players (albeit on loan for Fleetwood I think)

A very direct statement. Mainly to appease the resentment they unfortunately get from other boards and people on Twitter (I'm guessing) who have labelled them as asset stripping etc. Jatta thing is worthy of the statement alone, means that we'll have some dollar when he goes (because it's not if but when). One curious thing peaked my interest; "Our 11 new signings will all contribute to this in their own way, while also possessing the technical attributes that are crucial to the club’s playing philosophy." - from Alex's interview earlier in the window, he said that we're looking at new physical metrics which obviously has taken primary seat in the window, but that the club doesn't dictate a formation or tactic, which is obviously not true given we've now effectively had three coaches play a 3-4-2-1/3-4-1-2 variant. We've not seen a back 4 (even though some times it does call for that) for a very long time. I was listening to a podcast about Man Utd and Amorim's balance being out of whack. For them it's the imbalance of the attackers above and behind the area of play, and we, albeit don't struggle as much, still perservere with sometimes too many behind the ball that somewhat stunts us going forwards. Sorry, I didn't mean to turn into Jonathan Wilson and rant about tactics, but was just an observation.

So I rated it on reddit as a 4/10 window, which was probs a bit harsh. Obviously we've lost Didzy and Bass which were excellent and the best in the league in their respective positions. Replacing them directly is impossible, but they've as sure as **** botched it up. Roos is liability and I believe we'll lose points mainly down to his errors. I felt marginally more confident in Nelson and Fitzsimons which should indicate where he sits. Didzy being replaced by one of Jarvis, Jones, Grant, Iorpenda, Hall, Dennis, Kouhyar or Luker strikes of being unable to indentify the right player so they just threw as many at it and hope something sticks. On the scale of it, Iorpenda, Hall, Aljofree and Luker all look like excellent pospects, I just hope they can settle and make an impact like Abbott did. Cotter, Kouhyar and Roos all look like terrible business - and the mind boggling thing is that they offer no profit value going forwards. Keeping Jatta scores a mark up itself, but leaving him and Dennis as the only proven forwards is a risky bet, one that's gonna come right on the technical boards head once one gets an injury/suspension. I've been wrangling with it and I think other clubs are probably waiting for us to do something because they've seen the cash we've made from sales and if we play it right, Jan might be the time to buy. It gives us half a season to weigh up an up and comer forward and look at getting a keeper who isn't first choice. With that we gain somewhat a wave of momentum for the second part of the season. This does rely on performing well because, and I don't want to say it, Jatta will definitely garner attention in Jan. If he performs well and we are flying, we'll likely get him until the end of the season or get a contract ext (which I think won't happen as much as i want it to). If we're not, he'll likely ask to move on and we'll really have to do something in tying up that forward role post Jan.

I had a little look to see if he'd injured his shoulder or something that might make his proneness to giving a good ol' fist. But no. I don't really feel a lack of confidence, although it's hard to gauge because you only look at what a keeper's doing for a very very small portion of a game. I think he's a great shot stopper, but overall, I think he's quite bad and had a fortunate career. If you've not overcome a glearing shortcoming by 33, then it's not gonna be taught out of you at League 2 by Steve Collis (no shade on Steve). If it came to a PL GK on loan or a new forward before the window closes, then it's keeper all day. Teams have seen the data and the highlights to know that they can cross the ball deep for 90 mins to probs get something out of us.