theAnticlough

MP can certainly choose from more players now - the bench will look strong I'm confident because the players will be really up for it and we might surprise them ISS looked a bit hobbled at the end of Tuesday's game so we'll have to see who plays LWB. Smyth's case to start is very strong. It'll probably be Sanders and Finneran in CM. I hope Pato doesn't have to swap and change those spots all season long. With 6 CMs there's going to be competition, but far better if 2 claim the shirts and make it really difficult for the other 4 to get a sniff.

Yes, I think Pato owes Palmer one. By that I mean to apologise to him for setting up with only 1 CM and getting overrun there. You're right it did look like a 5-1-4I think his performance will cost him a starting place, but Pato should promise him another shot later on after inadvertently setting him up to fail. The back 4 question...I suspect Pato is more in favour of it than others. He basically set up that way at home to Chesterfield last season with Platt there and it was horrible. We've probably played about 3 or 4 games with a back four in the past 5 seasons since it changed under Ardley (away at Bromley, arguably away at B Rovers when we went down to 10) so it would be a radical move. You can't just casually switch and interchange formations, which is why we haven't. I don't see how Tsaroulla fits into any formation with a back 4 and he's one of our best players. Apart from that we do have the squad for a decent 4-2-3-1 but I can only see it happening if we really get planted in the bottom 4 this month and are on something like P12 Pts 10. Personally, i don't think it would save us.

Yeah I think a strong clue here is MP's substitutes. He's never shy to bring off poor performers and likes to use all his 5 subs. This time he didn't. Well, he had both Lipsiuc and Longelo on the bench but played Samuels-Smith for the full 90 in a game we were desperately chasing. I think that captures how the coaching team evaluated his performance. I reckon he'll start in the next league game ahead of Lipsiuc and Longelo. As for the Missanga battle @YoopEyes, you should definitely have another look. Ramsay had to hook Missanga after a hour, ISS had him in his pocket. Those ratings look about right to me @Robbie but Bedeau was better than that and Palmer, Kanu, Gibbons get off a bit likely, they were all sub-6s I reckon

Opinions eh, who'd have them? But @Paris Sandwich Man @Piethagoram I'd respectfully ask you to watch back the game to see that player. Far from perfect, but more positive stuff and winning your individual battle than any of the others I thought. Who will play on the left (up to Jan at least)...ISS, Lipsiuc or Longelo (the JJones saga is already aging horribly)? ISS might build on that performance, Lipsiuc keeps dipping after doing well. The answer might turn out to be Longelo if he fixes the defence we saw at Reading and offers more going forward. But after yesterday, I think there's a good chance for ISS

Yes agree@Robbie, knowing your best XI is different issue to the team's identity. But injuries and inconsistencies mean that it will still take some time, and the trial and error period is still with us. Performances will have to sort this out as MP says (that's far better than favouritism) Who's up front in a best XI. I may be wrong, but anyone else get the impression that Smyth is the DoF pick and Kanu the coaches? Well Kanu has done absolutely nothing with all his minutes on the pitch, whereas at least Smyth gets involved in the game. If Kanu is the best bet he might have to prove it from the bench

The honesty is to be applauded. But I'm worried about how confused and undecided he seems to be about basic stuff like the overall style and approach. Losing teams go defensive and then keep on losing. I think I'd rather go down watching us stick to what's left of our attacking, entertaining identity than scrape through by a whisker and become a perennial relegation club. He's stopped saying things like 'we have to be better at being us' in favour of hinting we're not good enough and might have to go backs to the wall. We might need the Technical Board to stop him turning us into Burton Albion.

Autocorrect is a pervert

There were some stinkers today. Kanu for example On the positive side I thought ness and Bedeau did alright. And Finneran of course. I'll get my vote to Samuels-Smith though. He easily won his personal battle with a difficult opponent in Missanga. He did well in 1-to-1 duels in general and contributed quite a bit in attack. He looked like a first ccoice LWB today, in away games at least

Thanks for the write-up @nottsnutter The pub is easy for me to get to, I'll probably try to take the family there one of these days.

Pato picking 5 defenders to start a home game....plus too many non-assertive players ahead of them was a recipe for disaster. Dire to watch, even if Belshaw hadn't given a goal away. Even going back to Dorking, passes to Palmer when there's a hard press has always cost us goals. With 6 CMs, I don't think we'll be seeing Matty for quite some time now. It was much better in the 2nd half after we took off 3 players who weren't cutting it. Finneran started doing what we wanted MP to do straight away, but he had a extra CM next to him Seems like the main thing coming out of the 3 week break was Pato overthinking it. It was a terrible starting XI he sent out there

Oh dear we look lost Palmer is so far off the pace. But it doesn't help when he has nobody with him. How can we have 6 CMs in the squad and only play 1 Roberts and Kanu are too quiet, they need to impose themselves more Gibbons and ISS as WBs for a home game was never going to get us on the front foot. Ishe hasn't done too bad, but it doesn't make sense to have Tsaroulla on the bench and Gibbons playing RWB for a home game we should be attacking

I don't think they'd go Back 4, with just 1 recognised CM I think it's Gibbons and ISS as WBs. Cooper playing deeper

Brunt is on an incredible assists tear - 13 games in, 14 assists for Boreham Wood, runaway NL leaders 24 now, 25 in a month I wonder if an EFL club can prize him away in January. Chesterfield would make sense as he fits their style and was born there. He wasn't good for us 4 years ago, and not a position of need. Also NL to L1 in one jump could leave a player looking off the pace

Blackburn Rovers 2-1 Cardiff City Middlesbrough 1-1 Wolves Huddersfield Town 1-1 Sheffield Wednesday Joker Wycombe Wanderers 1-1 Luton Town Bristol Rovers 2-1 Barnet Cheltenham Town 1-2 Salford City Hornchurch 2-1 Eastleigh Tamworth 1-2 Barrow

Yeah, can be anything. Let's hope we're up for it like the Leicester game. Maybe we catch them cold too and grab an important 3pts

Even with 0-7 away wins I'll struggle to get back into England while Tuchel's in charge

Great subject @menzinho I've been meaning to reply but have had no time recently I'll change it a bit, and make a hard question even harder....pick a first XI from the whole squad. I'll go Belshaw Macari Ness Bedeau Tsaroulla Robertson Campbell Longelo Cooper Mustapha Kano I think it'll take ages for Macari to get his spot back, it'd probably take a Gibbons injury for it to happen. More likely than that is Macari released next summer. But I hope it doesn't come to that. He's 4 years younger and a much better ball-player IMO. This pick/position crystallises the owners/DofF tendencies v Pato's. Can Gibbons ever gel with Tsaroulla as well as Macari did? Ness - We have McDonald, Platt, Browne, Baker, but Ness at his best can catch the eye the most...After how he played at Huddersfield they'd be just one of many ready to give us 7 figures....got to believe this is on the club's mind CM - we have 6 contenders for 2 places! How do you sort that out? I went Campbell because he looked class in the 2nd half we saw and we did pay a fee after all. Robbo's Notts career has almost been a complete disaster, but when fit and at his best he does seem to be able to reach a level that's a little out of reach of the others. Finneran is too young IMO to sustain form throughout a game let alone a season. I'll be harsh here, we'd be relegated if he ends up starting 25+ games. At this stage of his career, he just doesn't have the matchwinning knowhow for L1. LWB is now our weakest link IMO. But Salford nearly went up and Longelo would've been playing in L1 for them as one of their better players. Lipsiuc isn't quite ready. Tsaroulla hates it out there. Samuels-Smith will have to prove it - we haven't really seen what he can do Until Cal gets stronger, you have to go with Cooper. Don't ask me why but I expect him to fade though. I hope Roberts can then prove to Pato, and us, that he's a true L1 starting no.10. Mustapha offers a level of physicality and ball-carrying that the other 2 don't. A Cooper/Roberts pairing wouldn't last long if they had a bad day...the need for more physical presence would be obvious Smyth might take a year to get fully up to speed with English football. I think Pato sees Kano as his starting No.9 and hopes that we'll see his Walsall form very soon and that'd seal it.

Burton Albion 0-2 Huddersfield Orient 1-2 Plymouth Argyle Crewe Alexandra 0-1 B Rovers Gillingham 2-0 Newport County Joker Rochdale 1-2 Swindon Town Eastleigh 1-2 Woking Hartlepool 1-0 Tamworth Kidderminster 2-0 Sutton

Expulsion seems like the proportionate sanction in this case. And they need to set the example Stripping titles would be posturing and a gesture that nobody would truly appreciate. Sports league need rules, but many manage to see the competition as bit of a free-for-all, compromised in terms of fairness right from the off anyway. Real, Celtic, Bayern etc collection of title wins are a bad joke in any sporting sense. As were Man Us in their heyday IMO. We're much better off in the EFL, but our Munto win reminds us that we're far from immune. It seems easier to me to say you broke the rules on 114 counts, obstructed the investigation - you have to go for that. But to say to those players and fans, your titles were only down to the advantages you got from that rule-breaking doesn't seem like a surefire closed case at all. They may still have won for all we know. So despite how galling it must be for the likes of Liverpool, expelling rather than stripping seems like the way to go here.

Word seems to be that the next stages should be far quicker, but it would probably suit all parties to drag it our over the course of much of this season at least.

But they wouldn't be coming to the EFL as a relegated team, they'd be coming as an expelled club. So when the EFL takes them, they can't put them ahead of any of their other 72 members, so L2 it would have to be I think. Similar to Glasgow Rangers who had to go the 4th tier of Scottish football.

Was Um Bongo really made from fruits from the DR Congo jungle? I used to drink it, so if Libby's were telling pork pies we might have a Trades Description case, so thanks@StarkMallard

Cambridge 1-0 Wimbledon Wycombe 1-2 Reading Fleetwood Town 1-1 Rochdale Joker Rotherham 2-0 Crewe Alexandra Shrewsbury Town 1-1 Colchester Altrincham 2-0 Hornchurch Scunthorpe 2-1 Hartlepool Sutton United 1-2 FGR

Agree with that, but who would come out? Either of the current CMs I'd say. It'd be tempting to go Evans and Palmer, but the brave move would be Palmer and Finneran to really dominate the ball. Finneran's amazing for a 18 year old and a beautiful passer of the ball. But Palmer at his best offers consistency through a game and more game-winning knowhow

Similar was happening to Lipsiuc throughout his time on the pitch. Then, and not to make excuses for him, Longelo was caught cold in the same way. Maybe we have to give some credit to Lisbie, a quality player who can skin people with skill, timing and pace. I caught some of NCT last week and they said L2 didn't have players who could blow you away but L1 will have. Maybe Lisbie and Marriott are what they meant and to be fair Pato was warning about it pre-match. I think it's fair to ask whether we have anyone to give us a decent full season at Left Wing-Back. On the evidence so far, Lipsiuc just isn't ready. Tsaroulla hates it over there. So Longelo better be up to it. I think Pato may look at Gibbons-Ness-McDonald-Bedeau and be able to sell a back four to what's left of the technical board. That's a very strong 4, but IMO a dramatic change like that would really put us in the relegation frame. The solution has to be playing like @nottsnutter mentions, with proper support for the WBs Last season we had too many WBs and not enough CMs. The problem may be reversed this season. The likes of Samuels-Smith, Kouyhar have to play their parts too until we can get to January and swap one of our CMs for quality out wide.