theAnticlough

Excellent move to cut that one short. He'll be another Francis - fail to get regular pitch time in the NL, and then pop up some time afterwards on a L1 squad. Do we know what Robbo's problem is? There might be more need for cover than has been disclosed.

I see Walsall win to go 4 pts clear at the top. No worries, they come down with the Christmas decoarations anyway. In other news, Crewe lose points to a 90+3 mins equaliser by bottom club, Nweport. What a shame for Crewe ;)

Nice strip Flint is wearing there, I wouldn't mind that coming back as a home or away shirt one season.

Spot on about the ref and also the midfield. Everyone's elated last night and today, and rightly so, but we shouldn't kid ourselves that being outplayed in our own stadium by a promotion rival doesn't matter. Warne was one-sided in his post-match interview, but he was onto to something when he said that MK would win that one if it was replayed 9 times out of ten. That doesn't account for being gifted a pen and spared an obvious red card. If those decisions were given correctly, we'd have run out easy 2 or 3-1 winners of the game. But in terms of general play, territorial dominance and chances (they were very wasteful) he has a point I think. Most times that will translate into wins. We do need to have our first choice midfielders available for other top 6 or 7 battles this season or we might not enjoy too many other victories in them.

I don't think you can underestimate the desperation to get out of the division at that point @DangerousSausage. Scott and Maca were both in the first years of their contracts, so of course Morais was cover for those two, who had both proven themselves. Wasn't Scott injured for a while? And we had nobody else at all in terms of strikers. So no forward on the bench and if Maca was injured nobody at all? We just had to sign someone as insurance against an epic season and a chance of promotion going down the drain. The length of the contract suggests Montague and the club thought he could be a squad player for multiple seasons. If they did they were wrong, you win some you lose some.

Warne saying in his post-match that he took Nemane off because he was on 'a strong orange'. Well there isn't an orange card so you mean red. That says it all. They should've been playing with 10 from that point in the first half

Another takeaway - don't get injured if you want to be a 1st team regular. McDonald, Dennis, Platt, JJ have all experienced this in the last few months. They were automatic selections, got injured and then found someone else playing well in their place and it's a fight to get back in.

Pato goes from strength to strength His maxim 'performance is the responsibility of the player, the result is his responsibility' is really working a treat by this stage. Team selection has made so much sense (especially when Compared to Maynard's chopping and changing) and I think the players understand, respect and respond well to this. If you perform you will keep your place. If you don't, MP will give a chance to someone else. I get the impression the club are tracking perfromance really well and we have a Head Coach who is not afraid to act on the information he gets, and what he sees for himself.

Yeah, it was a sad case. I'm convinced the main reason RM signed him in March was insurance against injury (especially Maca) in a season we were hellbent on getting promoted. In the event, we hardly needed him for that. Just checked though, he's made 15+ moves in 13 years, so he's just one of those journeymen players. Good luck to him at Hornchurch, who are clear at the top of NLS

A point to mention re:Iorpenda I think, is that he got his first goal (and the earlier chance) from defensive midfield. Norburn hardly ventured over the halfway line, which is fine, so Tom had licence to support the attack from deep and join in at set pieces. I think he should stay there. Now the monkey's off his back, he could chip in 4 or 5 from that position. His mobility and athleticism also mean he's an ideal midfield partner for Palmer and Norburn. And we've seen that he combines very well with Robbo. It also gives the opposition a real headache having to account for him joining the attack from deep and sometimes late. It sounds like Palmer will be out til Jan almost, so we need Tom there til then probably. Once this season we had Jatta, Dennis and Iorpenda as the front 3, all on top of their games, and it was awesome. One game is all I can remember for that. This might still be a good formula for the run-in, if Jatta stays and we don't land a new, 1st choice no.10 in the window. For now though TI is doing great in CM and he should stay there IMO.

With the chance to watch the film for their penalty, it's clear that it was very soft indeed. Neither Notts player involved did all that much and you have to assume it was given against Grant. Their player went down theatrically whoever it was that was supposed to have fouled him. So that, added to the non-sending off of Nemane, meant that we were right to give it to the ref at HT and at the end still. He could have cost us 3pts and that means a different looking table at the end of the season.

Terrific game tonight, even though we were second best in terms of play. Dennis' great goal was very important. It would've been a different story if they'd scored the next goal. It'll be interesting to see the penalty - it just looked like a crazy scramble from the far end of the Pavis. I don't think the foul on Tsaroulla was a pen. But Nemane should've been sent off for a second bookable offence. I think how quickly Warne subbing him soon afterwards at HT points to that as well. Fans had a right to be incensed about that. Everyone played their part, but it will be good to get Robbo back and then the skipper.

It'd be mean not to give it to Iorpenda. Catharsis for him. After that freakish miss in the first half, you could see how much it meant to him. His all-round game was strong anyway and it was a good shout by the sponsor to make him MoM. I wonder what will change for him now he has that monkey off his back - his first ever senior goal. Loved Dennis' involvement - I think he has to play regularly again. Also Bennetts did very well.

The 'Welcome back Crowley' game earlier this year had a very nice outcome. A classic Notts night under the floodlights, including cracking goals from Didzy and Will Jarvis.

Totally understandable, you've really got to brace yourself for some winter matches in the worst conditions. It's kind of a bit dangerous...very easy to get sick. We were nuts to attend Lorient v Lyon 2 nights ago - the whole Atlantic Ocean seemed to be descending on the stadium. Many of the Lyon fans were shirtless in an uncovered area and stayed that way all game, even after going 1 down and then with 10 men. I expect to be more comfortable tonight, if the game goes ahead.

Just got back from a trip to France Took in a game - Lorient V Lyon. I had no idea about the Ultras culture they have there, it's really something else. Got to ween myself off wine and cheese now. I don't know how well the pint and burger will go down tonight :)

Yeah, I think MP will be a gradualist following the Bristol Rov win -JJ and RodMac to be eased back in from the bench. Iorpenda and Robbo have shown that they can be a very effective pairing. I think the key to our performance is Jatta and Dennis - we need them to be self starters, win their fair share of the battles and really lead from the front. Some games could get called off today. Might this be one of them?

Leyton Orient 1-1 Luton Town Lincoln City 1-0 Barnsley Northampton 1-1 Huddersfield Stevenage 1-2 Cardiff City Joker Barrow 1-2 Tranmere Rovers Cambridge 1-0 Chesterfield Fleetwood Town 2-0 Salford Harrogate 1-1 Accrington

Kelle Roos on his better days is a good L2 keeper for us. His weakness on high balls compensated by really good shot-stopping. He’s also shown that he can bounce back quickly from a poor performance. What does he need to do? No more poor games up to the window. And something like no more than 3 or 4 over the remaining 27 games. In a word - consistency. What’s Dutch for ‘authority’? That’s what Slocs has to scream 100 times a week on either catches or punches in training. If Roos has that, he’ll be ok.

Hall's sending off was due to frustration. I don't think it was just the foul on him just before, he could've been getting quite frustrated in general, and over quite a few games. I have a hunch that we have another story like Kyle Cameron's here. He was a left-sided winger midfielder before he grew so tall and the Newcastle youth system converted him into a left-sided defender. My guess is that Hall was a striker in the Spurs youth teams but has been converted into an attacking midfielder as he didn't have the size, strength and pace for a modern day striker. But he looks most comfortable in the box and if it was a different era he'd be like a Gary Shaw, Paul Walsh, Rod Wallace type player - great touch and finishing ability playing off a bigger striking partner. He might still be working on his game as a midfielder, so looks a bit lost there at times.

Yes, the spirit. And the potential this match has to galvanise the squad and create more belief. The scenes at the end of the game were unbelievable. Players like Robbo and Macari looked like they'd just won the World Cup.it was great to see. And we've just about even up the end of game stuff - Barrow and Crewe is matched by Barnet and Bristol Rovers. Now we're more of a team that wins it at the end rather than losing it.

Yeah, with Hall out I think Dennis has to play. If both him and Jatta start, hopefully they'll realise MP won't do it again if either or both of them are anonymous or use 'service' as an excuse. There's always a way for forwards to get on the ball, cause problems and generally make the defence's life hell.

There's a chance he will do this but less likely in a home game. If we started with Norburn in CM and Iorpenda at AM I would think 'oh we're not winning this' straight away. Let's see next week

A fair call, he's our top scorer after all and seems determined to stay in that race and boost his total. I'll change my preference to be in line w/@menzinho. Reason being we can't have just one scorer on the pitch. Hall out is a reduction in our goal threat and only Dennis has shown he can do that. 2-up top and a different shape behind them - Robbo holding with Grant and Iorpenda either side but more advanced and licence to get forward, a 3-1-4-2. MK wouldn't want us to be so bold, so that's more reason to do it. We'd need Jatta and Dennis to really occupy their back line, both on and off the ball. And we'd be asking so much Grant and Iorpenda, they'd have to be replaced at/before 70mins, which would happen anyway.

Sounds good. Rest up well