theAnticlough

Another reason to bring Tom Iorpenda back - that kind of player is kryptonite for him, he can be dispossessed and we can launch attacks from there.

Good question, To answer quickly, from gut feeling, yes we'll do better than the last two 14-game endings. But I don't have a lot of faith that we'll do all that much better. The club had a problem to solve at the window, with this season's fortunes at stake - we couldn't support the strikers with goals and assists from the other main attacking positions. Pato said "Tom will score goals'' and he keeps on picking him there (maybe stubbornness has kicked in). Its 2 from 32 (Grant has the same in slightly fewer games) and at the moment it looks like that's the hill this season will die on. Grant has built his Notts career on 'a few nice touches' but the only currency that matters is goals and assists. I like these players and think they have a role to play. But their job as No.10s in games like Shrewsbury is to dribble, create, take risks, rain down shots on goal, generally make the defence's live hell (and hopefully assist and score enough over the full season). I don't know if we have the answers in the squad, but MP has to try to find a formula/pairing that works. This, and injuries, is the main reason why I suspect we're heading for something like W5 D4 L4, 77ish pts and 5th place.

@Robbie well put. Agree that we have that capability....goals like the Bristol Rovers winner and the penalty at Bromley prove it. There'll be plenty of other examples too. Despite the low level, the last 7 seasons have been one of the best periods from the 54 years I've been a fan. Why? The bros came in declaring positive, attacking and entertaining football and for once an owner/manager has been true to their word! Note, they never said possession-based, although that kind of comes with the territory up to a point, and IB and SM back-tracked in negative ways which LW certainly didn't. MP is trying, and succeeding, to be true to that mission too. I think this means we always try to be a front-foot team, not a back-foot one. Sometimes, i.e. when losing your entire first choice midfield unit (which keep on happening) and lacking that quality in other areas, things can look really bad, like last night. I'd hate us to stop being a front-foot positive team and would like the club to work on fixing any shortfalls while keeping that approach. Anyway, I get the point you're making now and it's a fair one.

You're absolutely right @Fan of Big Tone must put it in the correct perspective. It was a frustrating and disappointing loss though, made worse by seeing we were heading for a defeat like that from the middle of the first half, when we just couldn't make an impression. Many of our losses have looked the same way. There's a tactical side, but bottom line it's a quality thing. Platt was great, but he can't really use the acres of space some teams give him. Norburn is our 3rd choice CM and wants to play the simple pass. He can't unlock a defense. Grant and Iorpenda...we know about that. As you say though, they're not robots. It happens, we move on. I see Ruben came on and got a very late assist for Bolton to level at Reading. I'm sure we had a go at bringing him back, but players who provide goals and assists are in high demand. Tangen was the club's answer in the window and at some stage this season, he has to be given a 3 game run at No.10 so at least we can say we gave it a shot. Good luck replacing the washing machine. We were in the same situation less than a year ago. Unless it's under warranty, it's usually better to replace. As for that parking ticket though grrrrrrrrrrrrr.....those companies need sorting out

Why not force teams like Shrewsbury to make the pace & hit them on the break? Well they were certainly making the pace in the period before and up til they scored. I'm glad they didn't make more of the pace @Robbie you seem to want a fundamental change of approach, one we've never seen in the 7 seasons since the Bros arrived. What would forcing teams to make the pace look like? We are a better team than Shrewsbury with better players. The idea should be to show that by dominating as much of the game as we can? Would not playing our game work out for us? Genuine questions I thought MP was clear on where we fell short in his post-match - bravery to get on the ball and make something happen.

There's no way you could describe tonight's performance as pretty football - there was nothing pretty about it. We fell short for quality And bravery - hardly anyone was willing to try something that might unlock them. Another thing that caught up with us was missing our 3 best players this season (IMO, by level of performance) - Jatta, Palmer and Robertson (throw in McDonald too, but Platt was good anyway). They were well-organised and feisty (Kabia was great and probably MoM) but were there for the beating by our best side or this side playing better.

Another pretty easy one for me - Matty Platt. Loads of defending and loads of the ball. He even had 2 of our better attempts on goal. Credit to Belshaw as well for a couple of good saves. I don't think any of the other 14 players to feature had a better than average game. JJ would've gone from best to worst in 3 days if it wasn't for Ndlovu.

I don't think you can begrudge a home team one goal. We lost because we couldn't create anything. I think Stall's analysis mid-way through the 2nd half is spot on....'there isn't enough goals in the team' We're 33 games in - our defenders have chipped in zero. Our 2 most picked no.10s have a combined 4 goals in 60 games. We can be toothless

Can't argue with that. But I wanted to see Iorpenda's energy deep and see how clever and creative Tangen could be further forward. I think we would have had much better balance that way. Is the Technical Board still sitting these days?

Very poor showing. Hardly created a chance in that 2nd half. Montague bought Tangen to play No.10 cos the likes of Iorpenda have had little attacking impact in 33 games. That was a mistake by MP. This insistence on playing non-scoring No.10s all season long could cost us promotion. I know they were poor, especially JJ, but he could have switched Jones and Tsaroulla to No.10s and taken off Grant and Iorpenda - it was all about creating chances. Subs were very poor too .

We're doing OK. But how to create chances? The narrow pitch is cramping Jones and Tsaroulla. I think we need to take more risks down the middle. Who can surge forward, beat a man and open things up?

Yes @Robbie love it. No enforced changes (with possible exception of Ness, or maybe that's just to accommodate someone else) Iorpenda back to CM with Norburn and Tangen in at No.10. Excellent. Let's see how it goes. COYP!

Yes, ever since I was a nipper I've looked to professional football for skill on the ball, technique, touch, imagination, great passing and team play. If I pay admission, that's what I want to see - or at least an attempt at it. If I wanted to see big bruisers lump it long, I'd go down the park and see a pub side for free.

Barnsley 2-2 Peterborough Bradford City 1-1 Stockport County Joker Exeter City 0-1 Wycombe Barnet 1-2 Swindon Town Oldham 1-1 Bristol Rovers Tranmere 2-0 Accrington Wealdstone 1-1 Hartlepool Yeovil Town 0-2 Aldershot

I thought we might sign him when we were promoted as he'd impressed against us for Halifax. We had a glaring hole at RCB, which we had confirmed for us that season. Don't know if Monty was in for him, but it was Port Vale that got him. I think it's a bad sign that they let him out on loan when they go up. He obviously played a big role in their promotion and is on track to contribute to another this season. But we should be interested in 'upside' as they say over the pond, and Vale sending him back to L2 suggests this might be his ceiling.

I’ll go a bit further - why are managers like Woodman constantly focusing on refs and decisions? Because playing at the edge of the rules, and pressurising the officials not to implement the rules is at the centre of their strategy. If refs really implemented the rules of the game, teams like that wouldn’t get very far

So true. Even if they do lump their way to promotion, they're likely to come straight back down playing that way - that'll be an embarrassing level of unwatchable.

Easy one, Jodi Jones - superb

Second half was night and day - so much better. Pity about Robbo, we were on course to win it.

That half proves you can't be without your 2 best players for a top-of-table clash. Jatta and Palmer are our best I'd say and it's the players coming in for them that have struggled the most in the first half - Norburn and Dennis. The game has really passed both of them by so far and they can hardly do anything right. It's fantastic to see JJ back to his best. As Stall and Hassell said though, it puts to shame the meagre contributions of our other attackers. If MP wants to be brave he can bring Tangan on for Norburn and move Iorpenda back.

Yeah, a real bonus. For once i don't mind there being only 4 goals this season sitting behind Dennis. Grant and Iorpenda work hard and we can bring on Tangan for Grant after 60, who might be on shorter minutes following his injury. COYP!

Add Hall and Iorpenda to that to make 22? Cotter's situation can be explained by just football reasons I think. He really didn't fit our style, by bringing in a high degree of chaos and raggedness to our build up play. A decent player for sure, but the kind we usually play against, not field ourselves. Agree with @MrWillowTiger that keeping our CMs fit and healthy will be key. If ever 2 of Iorpenda, Robertson, Norburn and Palmer are out at the same time, it becomes scary. Hinchy is an OK insurance option, but there's a drop off there. AM is still the big conundrum IMO. We've scraped through so far with a burst from Hall (that seems a long time ago), Grant and Iorpenda with 2 goals each, Dennis dropping back for a few games. Jones starting there. We're in an auto spot despite never completely solving it. My feeling is that we will have to solve it to keep a top 3 place. Hall might have hit the 'rookie wall' I brought up recently - feeling the effects of his first full season in men's football. It's also Iorpenda's first season. I think he could still do a job in CM over the next 16 to 19 games. But is it wise or fair to depend on him to create in the final third? Everyone on here seemed to identify AM (as well as Goalie) as the main area to address in the Jan window. That stiil applies and is why we can't afford Harald to be 'one for the future' he has to be a key player for us this season, as we all wanted when the window opened.

Kind of a compliment really. What's happened to Wrexham since shows what we were truly up against, in terms of resources, and what a miracle it was to push them so close.

Derby County 2-1 Swansea Portsmouth 0-1 Sheffield Utd Barnsley 2-0 Wimbledon Blackpool 1-1 Plymouth Crewe 1-1 Gillingham Oldham 1-1 Fleetwood Tamworth 1-2 Aldershot Woking 2-0 Altrincham Joker

Hopefully both. I wouldn't like to see Palmer back for this one unless we have nobody else - there would be better games for him to ease himself back in. At least there's a clear pecking order in CM. AM remains a crap shoot. Iorpenda will be very handy for this one. I'd like to see Tangan start with him.