theAnticlough

There are exceptions to that I think @Chris At Altrincham, he wasn't playing at all. He might as well be with us. With this one, might it be possible that all of Palmer, Norburn and Robertson are unavailable at some stage going forward. Not beyond the realm of possibility, given their histories, I'd say. That'd have to be a recall, and I think bench counts as being used.

I wonder if this is just about giving a player the game time he needs. With a recall clause, in case we need him

Probably different cases @DangerousSausage. There's nothing too wrong with our formation or attacking intent, it's just a personnel issue. Our promotion-clinching No.10 was scoring a hat-trick at Orient at the same time. I'd predict MP calling time on Kouhyar now. In a similar way that he turned against Roos after C'Field. He's been a lively sub for us (albeit w/out goals and assists) but that's 3 starts now in which he's looked nothing like that player who can give a nice 10min cameo. We all know now what Grant does and what he doesn't do. If we had a productive alternative, his lack of output would have consigned him to the fringes. Both Luker and Hall were ahead of him previously. That this was our main area of weakness going into the Jan window was obvious to all. We were interested in Ruben of course but that was the longest of long shots. Monty's answer in the end.....Tangan. I hope this season doesn't pass by without him getting the same chance Kouhyar's just had. I've kind of given up on this weakness in the team being solved this season and there are only 12 (or 15 games left). We have to muddle through and hope MP can come up with something on a match-by-match basis. Can we get 2 or 3 more of early-season performances from Hall for example. Can we ever surprise a team by playing JJ or Tsaroulla there. Or throw in a totally different formation...

It's a pity@Chris that we squandered the confidence boost of a 5-0, now we'll have to try to win that back, starting at Walsall. MP rightly criticised the 1st half. This time it wasn't down to the defenders not being able to move the ball fast enough. We just weren't ready to play from the first whistle. In the MoM thread you're right to mention Tsaroulla and Robertson. But I'll throw in a caveat and it's something I've noticed in recent matches - some of our players regularly make slow starts. This is especially Robertson, Tsaroulla and Jones - from 0-20mins they're nowhere near their level of play from 20-90mins. Add this to Grant and Kouhyar putting in typically toothless Notts No. 10 performances and you have the answer as to why we wasted a full half of a home game, hardly troubling the opposition.

Not much to choose from today. Macari or Platt? I'll go Platt - he continues his much better form, he had a good all-round game. Iorpenda did fine. But it all goes blurry for him in the penalty area. Grant was OK. Kouhyah, had to be hooked, but Grant didn't. McDonald was easily the pick of the substitues.

A mess. I don't want to blame the ref - we weren't good enough. Our achilles heel - poor No.10 play - continues to drag us down. Kouhyar was poor for two straight games. Both had to come off and the replacements were no real improvement. And we just can't get goals from that position. What happened (or didn't) in the 1st half contributed even more to the defeat than the 2nd.

He's got all 3 of Barnsley's goals at Orient. We were lucky to have him for 2 years, and if he'd have stayed with this squad I think we'd easily be top.

Just Bennetts in for Hinchy I think... Unchaned as expected. COYP! 15mins to go Cambridge 0 MK 0, hope it stays that way

Happy 30th Birthday Super Ram!! Hoping for two County wins today, and I don't mean Newport.

All true. I'm not sure he's been a 'success' on the whole spectrum from 'abject failure' to 'resounding success'. It's just that the perception of failure might not be correct. For the reasons given, and for 700K, I'd say neutral at this point, with the needle twitching slightly towards the success side. It's weird that his contract length isn't disclosed, but you can imagine it's til summer 2027. Would he see out that contract? Your guess might be right @Robbie but as a counter to that....a) there won't be too many team's banging down their door to offer what they paid, the lack of goal output will deflate his market value b) whichever league they're in his wage might be seen as good value for a squad player in 2026-27 as they round out their squad. So I don't think you can rule out him seeing out his contact - and maybe he'll bang in half a dozen in their promotion run-in. Who knows?

I think it's time to look at Maca's move in a different way. He just played 90mins in a 3-0 home win over Birmingham that put Millwall in 3rd place - pole position for the play-offs up to the Premiership. After almost 2 complete seasons on his contract with Millwall, showing perseverance and the ability to progress and get there in the end. What's the going rate for a contributing Premiership striker? What's the going rate for a promotion-aspiring team striker in the Championship? Whatever that is, 700K or so has to be good value for Millwall. And starting, or regularly coming on, for the 25th placed team in English football has to be a result for a player who was playing L6 for Gateshead not too long ago. Yeah, the goal output may not be there at all, but looking at the greater context means it's been a win-win for both Millwall and Maca, methinks.

Oxford United 1-0 WBA QPR 1-2 Sheffield United Mansfield 1-1 Wimbledon Stevenage 1-0 Stockport Barnet 1-2 Chesterfield Colchester 2-1 Salford City Brackley Town 1-0 Altrincham Joker Truro City 0-1 Braintree

Good posts. Yes, it will be a much tougher test - Grimsby are genuine play-off candidates. That doesn't mean we can't win handsomely. Our players got the taste of something different last week. They were finally reminded how much better it feels to win by a big margin, and bag a lot of goals - a much better feeling than scraping by on the odd goal. They'll be hungry for that taste again. Grimsby are good but they should be worried about that.

Intriguing. A big X factor for us

Good luck to SM but I can't summon up any postive enthusiasm for his post-Notts career. Yes, a nice guy and all that, but he oversaw two awful collapses, of different types, in both seasons at the helm. And he brought coaches in with him whose tenures ended in mystery. Not Monty's greatest hire but I suppose he's being vindicated by what's happening in the NL this season - it just was never a fit for us looking back.

It was a good night for York last night - they took the box street as Rochdale drew a tough one after leading 0-2 up to 87mins (we know what it's like to lose by late goals at Halifax!) They also lost TAR after 41mins and I'd imagine he's been immense for them this season at RWB. I'm cheering on Dale as I like going to the ground and want to see TAR get back in The EFL, but York look unstoppable I have to say.

Yeah, we still haven't solved those positions - but with only 13 (or maybe 16 games left), maybe it will never be solved this season and we'll just muddle through with all options in play, which I agree could still include JJ....and a lot of others!

Me too. He was a fish out of water playing on his wrong foot at RCB last season and certainly didn't shine. But he really showed what he's all about this year with that superb, masterful dozen game spell. I feel sorry for him that he can't get back in. it's only in the last few games that Platt has justified being ahead of him... I wonder if the coaches would consider this the next time we're struggling against a low block and the CB has the ball all the time. Platt off and a back 3 of Ness/Macari Bedeau McDonald with Bedeau in the middle, ready to charge through at pace to shake things up and commit the opposing players.

I agree with every word of that. Yeah, he was even better last season (but still well behind Didzy IMO) and has had indifferent spells this season - but I still find myself putting him ahead in the POTS race! He's one of only two league ever-presents. He hasn't done so much attacking (but still a fair amount), but we have the 3rd best defence of the 24 teams and how many goals have come from his side? How many players have gotten the better of him one-on-one? I think one hand would be far too much to count them on. How have we done since he took the captaincy? What was our league position before and after? It's players as good as him that allow us to play a genuine back 3, and to be able to afford having a player like JJ ahead of him.

Praying that you can get better and find relief from this, Chris. You're a hero for anything you do on the site. Hope each day is better one. Keep up the fight.

Wise words Michael D I'll add to that how intertwined our lives can be.... Yes, nobody was seriously hurt although some young children almost lost their lives as they were trapped in a room...However, the behaviour of the adults suggests they were at fault. Fifty plus people spent the full night outside and are probably still impacted in different ways. The building administration have to face all the tasks of restoring that property. Others seem to have smoke damage. The poor cleaners today looked exhausted at dealing with the aftermath and so on

Good luck with that Big tone and enjoy the ale My week started with a fire in the ground floor of the building I live in. Evacuated in the middle of the night, we spent hours outside while chaos ensued. To cut a long story short, nobody was seriously hurt it seems. From my side, I'll only say how tightly calibrated our lives can be - one setback like this, losing a night's sleep right before a working week, can throw you completely and the knock-on effects are very evident. I hope things can get back to normal soon. Exciting to think about Notts though. A 5-0 win with another home game to come. I'm wishing the week away to get there!

Good luck to Barry at the Candystripes

Agree @McPie that Norburn was having an excellent game as you said in other posts. His improvement over the season was impressive and he's been a key contributor to our 22pts out of 27pt run. If he misses time I hope he's available again for our trip to Walsall in two weeks time, along with Palmer - all midfield options available. For next week v Grimsby though I'm excited to see Robbo + Iorpenda again in CM. I don't think we'd have got 5 with our first half line up. We still get all the great stuff from Tom when he plays deeper. I'd say we get even more, without him being pressured to score and assist. SR and TI both on form makes for a super-dynamic CM which most L2 teams can't hope to match.

I want to mention the game-in, game-out right-side combo of Macari and Tsaroulla - such good players who have developed a real understanding between them. It might be his youthful persona, but Notts fans might be underestimating Macari and taking him a bit for granted. I think his play will have L1 and Championship clubs watching. Another player who has to be mentioned is Iorpenda - fantastic. But I think he was even more fantastic after Norburn went off and he had to cover deep. We still get all the good stuff from him. (Would we have won 5-0 if Norburn had stayed on?) But today belongs to Lee Ndlovu - he ragged dolled them, and his work for the 1st and 4th goals was even more impressive than his brace.