theAnticlough

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.

We're waiting on Norburn, Robertson and Jatta? Palmer already out... This could be a big handicap away at the league leaders. If we're honest, I think a lot of fans feel a loss coming up in this one. Our recent form has been all about getting wins from close games in which we haven't played all that great at times. That could catch up with us at a place like Bromley. Having said that, they're not to be feared and we could all be delightfully surprised with a win. They'll be used to your typical L2 bruisers - the key to beating them will be precision and quality - the likes of Jones, Tsaroulla (and Tangen I hope) to make chances and for Dennis to be at his most clinical to finish them.

Robertson and Iorpenda have proven that they can be a dynamic CM partnership - with mobility and physicality in spades. I think away to Swindon was one such game, but they had a run of a few. If it comes to that, MP should show them a video of their best game together and say play like that.

It's L1 with a bullet. So much has changed since we seemed naturals for the second tier in the 1970s. In the intervening decades so many other clubs that were considered below us at the time have got their acts together - Brentford, Bournemouth, Swansea, Blackburn, Fulham, etc etc. Other sleeping giants now more regularly punch their weight. In England, football is just about the only thing that has kept on progressing, while everything else has gone to ****. Just look at the NL, all those historic football league clubs battling it out. Clubs like Salford, Bromley muscling into the EFL and staying there. All boats have lifted, including Notts. Who would've thought in those top flight years with only 8K, or those trust years on 4K that we'd bounce back and regularly get close to 10K? And being based in the 'much bigger than people realise' Nottingham metropolitan area, we have the potential for even greater growth. But 10K is a struggle at Tier 2 these days and its made up of a formidable list of big 1-club cities. And don't forget every decade a number of towns turn into cities because of growth - including Colchester, Doncaster, Milton Keynes, and Wrexham in 2022. As things stand our natural position could be around 9th in L1. In fact we'd be good candidates to be that club that stays in the same tier for the longest time, and that tier would be L1. Momentum can take teams up straight from L2 to Championship. But have you seen that league recently? I wouldn't want that if it meant a crushing relegation soon afterwards. The bros model of a consolidating might be the better long-term strategy and over time we might become that big city club that can mix it in the top two levels eventually.

A bit on personnel - it's time to give Tyrese Hall a rest. His performances have been fading badly and this congested game on their dodgy pitch won't be one for rediscovering your form. Tangen is new and fresh enough not to realise that Bromley is a tough place to go and he might play with a lot of freedom and beginner's confidence. I'd also like to see Enoru come on. Their big strong defenders are very much at home battling with traditional centre-forwards. They might not be at home dealing with raw pace coming at them from deep.

I’ll read that thoroughly later. But not the ideas I heard on Magpie Circle please. Bromley would love it if we were so scared we stopped doing what we’ve been doing all season by playing a back 4 or dropping Macari for Ness. Didn’t we do something similar with Cundy and it was horrible.? And the great relationship between Tsaroulla and Macari is an asset not something to jettison because we’re scared. I hope MP and co are working under the assumption that they are just as scared of us and pass on positive vibes to the players. Let’s go there to win

Best goal differences is often a useful clue....that's why I'd agree with MK and Bromley, although I'd love to see both or either of them fade away. The third spot would probably go to that team which can maintain form down the run-in. If that's to be us, I think we'd need to keep clear of injuries. We have depth, but we need the likes of Jatta, Jones and a good CM pairing to play and hit top form to have the best chance.

I didn't think anyone was better than a 7/10 today. Tsaroulla and Iorpenda have claims I think, but I voted for Platt who has quietly returned to his best form. He hardly put a foot wrong today.

The players were nowhere their best today but we did enough to win. Another day with poor finishing. Not just the Dennis miss but the times we have a player running in on goal wide but can only find the keeper or a defender. Tangen looks to be an upgrade on Hall, who looks more and more lost each game. Kouhyar is such a great sub to bring on

Birmingham 2-1 Leicester Wrexham 2-0 Millwall Wimbledon 0-2 Reading Mansfield 2-0 Exeter Gillingham 2-0 Tranmere Joker Walsall 1-0 Barnet Altrincham 1-1 Yeovil York 2-1 Forest Green

sorry to hear that @Fan of Big Tone my grandfather passed away with that aged 81 - checking with the doctor is a good idea. Mine said it isn't genetic at all, I was under the impression it was Anyway, better focus on your sunny memories of Lanzarote and a great prospect of a win and jumping up to 57pt today.

MP's pre-match interview seemed quite gloomy on the injured players. 'Weeks not months' is a positive, but still a real blow at this stage of the season. I like how Pato is so conscious not to give the opposition any information from his interviews, much more than other recent managers. Maybe this was particularly the case yesterday. I'd also like to think there's needle in this one - the way they won deep in stoppage time in August. Maybe they weren't very gracious celebrating that. Whatever, the manner of defeat alone should give the players extra motivation in settling the score. The following 25+ games have showed we're much better than them and we should aim to give them a pasting.

Two of those definitely aren’t in the ‘union’ 😊 Get your point though. Cameron ended up where I suppose the club wants to avoid - at a promotion rival. I felt sorry for Roos, Going down to 10 after 4mins at Ibrox isnt going to end well. 2026 hasn’t started so well for him

Got to say Accy are just about as horrible as Salford - the sort of team that pulls off results to affect the promotion race. Anyway, what this result means is that no team has games in hand to win which could put us out of the top 3. In other words, promotion is definitely in our own hands 😉

Looks that way, maybe the Abbotts have moved into Newstead Abbey I do wonder why he left Wycombe... Have you ever been there? The stadium is OK but what a terrible location....at the back of an industrial estate which is by the side of a retail park, off a slip road on a b-road in the middle of nowhere. Makes Field Mill seem like a prime location

A sad episode. A potentially popular and effective player and it hardly gets started before he's gone. While we're winning and sitting in 2nd though, it probably doesn't matter

My eyes are always on the No.10 positions. It's amazing we sit in 2nd while not really getting all that much from all the different pairings we've tried there. Of the options available, I'd go for Dennis and Iorpenda. I've got a feeling we'll get our first sighting of Tangen in this one.

@Dripsey3 agree that it was a strange one. Probably to do with them - good set of players, good manager but not gelling. Big and physical too. I don't remember MP making those types of subs, so early. Players like Hall and Macari looked like they might get overpowered, so on came Ness and Ndlovu earlier than usual. Not long after likewise with Bennetts on for Dennis. So the last 30mins was a typical bruising L2 game that we might have forgotten about since the days of Nolan

I was having a problem choosing between Norburn and Iorpenda, but James Belshaw made it easy by the end. Another good game for Platt as well.

Difficult game in the end, but we ground out the win. MP signalled the strategy on 62mins, bringing on bigger more physical players. It worked out