theAnticlough

I was hoping we'd get him straight after we were promoted. Now the moment's gone I think. He's already on a level with us. Is he usually as wasteful with the ball as he was yesterday? If so, that'd be really frustrating. Pass.

He dropped a couple of high balls in his first match or two. Hardly ever have I seen so much angst and despair over so little :) But to help those struggling to move on, and judge him on his excellent last half dozen games instead, maybe he changed his gloves

I think I know who's going to win this one....well done Kelle Roos, what an answer to those slagging him off all the time. Mentions for the usual MoM contenders Palmer and McDonald, Bedeau as well ,and the matchwinner Tyrese Hall. And Kouhyah keeps coming off the bench and impresssing - it'll be interesting to see him get a start one day.

Classic away smash n grab. Credit to Grant and Kouhyar for their roles in the goal. And with that winner Hall's confidence is going to shoot even higher. He'll soon be favourite for top scorer Suberb rearguard action, led by RodMac and the brilliant Roos

He was outstanding today

Good resistance, great save by Roos. We need Tsaroulla and Jones to do better in the match-ups out wide. And for Iorpenda and Hall to get up fast to support Jatta. I think they'll run out of steam a bit and give us a chance to have more of the ball and territory. This game is probably going to come down to who can be clinical and take a chance.

True, so it annoys me that the only time I've been to the Hive, under Nolan, they beat us with a really late goal 1-0 Team as expected, 'never change a winning team'. I suppose it's a good sign that..a minor injury, a unnecessary penalty giveaway, and suddenly our top scorer is a reserve. That's the kind of competition we want.

An even more difficult set than usual this week, here are my 8 stabs in the dark Birmingham 1-1 Hull WBA 1-0 PNE Blackpool 0-1 Wycombe Doncaster 1-0 Northampton Grimsby 2-1 Gillingham Joker Newport 0-2 Cheltenham Altrincham 1-1 Woking Brackley 1-2 Gateshead

Encouraging @Sheffield Pie. Maybe it was a turning point. The overall shakiness of the first few matches has gone. Who is in front of him might also play a part. For whatever strange reason, Platt made an erratic start to the season. In contrast, RodMac has been a model of calm and consistency since then. Him and Roos may have develop a good understanding in a short time.

If that's the case, then yes - the position isn't as well covered as it needs to be. Let's hope Roos does well for the remaining 13 games this year and the club takes it from there.

Didn't he play in the that comp that has youth players in it? I think that's as far as giving game time can go. Yes, he would play league games if Roos is injured or has a collapse of form. Then we'd be looking at emergency loans or even Slocs getting the gloves out of the attic. 13 league games to go til January. During that time, GK needs will be assessed, but ditto for all positions.

Sure, that kind of adds up @Sheffield Pie, I wonder if you could do a split for that stat for the 1st 6 league games and the the last 6 league games as a comparison? The return of Montague as Director of Football tells all the squad that there's a fresh performance evaluator with the clout to act on what he sees. this should help to keep all players on their toes, and you'd have to imagine the players brough in by Gagliardi are at a very slight disadvantage to the ones RM brought in himself (Jarvis for example). If Roos plays well thru to January he might well keep the shirt. Down to him, as it is with every other player.

Hasn't the groupthink on Kelle Roos got out of hand? He really hasn't been that bad. Yes, his first few games were shaky in general. He made 1 awful passing out gaffe which led to the concession of a goal. That can happen to any keeper, as we see in the premiership, week in week out. 1 of those in 12 games isn't a disaster, Slocs for one will know that. 2 in quick succession can cost a keeper his place....3 in a season might be the limit But I don't think it's that - during his shaky first few games he dropped a couple of high balls. No damage was done, but this can really trigger certain fans. A bit like a button on a baby's toy, or revealing your face from behind your hands can trigger a baby :) And once those fans get that idea in their heads, objectivity flies out of the window. In reality though, if you discount the first 4 or 5 games, when he might have been pretty nervous and unfamiliar with everybody, I think he's been fine in these last 6 or 7 games. It's even refreshing how quickly and decisively he releases the ball. I don't mind the punching at all, that might help launch a counter attack as well. Nobody knows how it will work out for him over the season, but surely he deserves fans' support. Can't everyone see the progress over the course of the first dozen games?

Lincolnshire coast - so many memories ... Ingoldmills, Chapel, Skeg, T'thorpe, M'thorpe even Saltfleet, North Somercotes, let the fishheads have Cleethorpes :) Got a special place in my heart for Old Chequers Inn at Croft. Anybody know that?

I’d be happy with an unchanged team following the Oldham win. Losing Luker is a blow so I think we have to start easing a potent, capable player like Jarvis back into the match day squad

Any ban would have been a setback as he's come in and given the team what it needs from his position Hopefully this outcome will give Lewis a boost to push on and reach an even higher standard

Oh and no mention of the words 'board' and 'technical' in any particular order. I think that's for the best, as it was a mistake which put unnecessary pressure on people and scrutiny of the process. Let that kind of thing happen informally

A bumper interview 21mins + Upbeat and positive. No obvious takeaways or surprises perhaps, but very clear on the data-driven recruitment model. Let's hope RM is the jigsaw piece that completes the puzzle which puts us on the road to another promotion.

It's a real blow. He'd shown how well he could link up with Jatta and especially Hall. It looked like he had goals and assists in him. Knee surgery is more often a big deal than a minor clean up. We might not see him back at all. I hope this opens a window for Jarvis to feature

I'm still hoping we get this interview. It's a new Director of Football appointment after all. Maybe he's been on a trip or hasn't actually started yet. Nobody wants Frost-Nixon, just a few friendly, softball questions would do. No need for anything about Swansea....but he should interview. MP will be doing them twice a week all year, win, lose or draw. The DoF won't, but I think there should at least be an intro/welcome back one sometime before the next game IMO.

Well he's taken us down once, so he can do it again 😉

Well Nottingham was twinned with Minsk until recently so old habits die hard

The way he's played this season @McPie, it shouldn't be a concern for anyone. It'd be a boost for him to score his first for us in L2, but we don't need it to succeed. His massive improvement over last season must be a combination of feeling stronger physically and psychologically after the injury and Pato getting buy-in all round on playing forward faster and more positively. End result? He's playing like the Matty Palmer of old.

I'm excited about Hall. Luker has been very promising and productive in the limited pitch time he's had. Pity he got injured just as he was getting going. This is specifically about Iorpenda for me. How can we possibly pin our hopes on a young prospect who has never scored a senior goal? And only made a handful of appearances, half at Hyde United in the NPL. He's done OK, put in some good performances. I even voted him my MoM as recently as 4 or 5 games ago. So there's definitely something there. But there's been a drop off since then and it's the fact he's occupying a key attacking position but looks miles away from ever being to score. I know it will cost us. I'd like to see Dennis, Jarvis and Luker tried there over the next few games, partnering Hall. I think Montague and the club needs to see all the options there, before knowing what needs to be done in January.

Iorpenda hasn't got any league goals, any other goals this season....or any senior goal...ever....for anybody Yes, he's a prospect - but what makes people think he can be a major contributor to a L2 promotion aspiring club? [The answer is how certain fans are very taken with 'big' players...oooh he's tall, he's physical, 'ooh, isn't he big' (having a bit of fun here) and not what he's capable of doing with the ball]. I think Gagliardi had 2 shots at landing 1 player with Iorpenda and Luker, maybe Montague would've taken neither knowing the demands and the target better - concentrating more on calibre of players like Abbott (a Montague recruit) and Hall. We need to remember that a quarter of the season is gone and we're mid-table for a reason having lost 4 games already. We are on track to finish outside the play-offs and way short of autos. Work still needs to be done to find a winning formula and that means forcing equalisers at places like Gillingham, getting winners against Walsall, Salford, Crewe, MK etc. IMO, the projected output of our current No10s won't get us there if, one of those shirts is Iorpenda's. I guess with loanees, loaning clubs have to understand that professional teams taking the players are not forced to play them if it's impacting on results.