theAnticlough

I'd go for this reading of it @McPie rather than transitioning to a different style. We pass it around at the back almost as much, Palmer shows, so do the WBs. But they're a lot deeper, and it seems a lifetime ago that Ruben or Crowley played in Nemane around the back between 5 to 10 times a game. With deeper WBs and 2 up top, we just don't have the patterns of play that inside forwards like Ruben, Crowley, Didzy gave us to build up thru the lines. That's why we see the speculative long balls to nowhere. It seems Norburn is there to compensate for MP not being all that strong defensively, so there's a duplication and a waste of a man in itself. Gillingham were very strong off the ball and in pressing, but apart from that I wasn't all that impressed. Maybe this year's Wimbledon, especially with a good coach who's done it all before.

Good summary @Robbie. Too many of those mistakes have come from one player and this is the second away game we've seen him have an absolute mare, apart from the mistake. Projected over a full season, that's going to be very costly indeed. Where's Ness? He looked handy the short time we saw him last season. Sorry, but I've lost trust in Aljofree. Nice to see Jodi come on, but I couldn't help notice that Jatta was wanting the ball both times JJ shot it. I'm not saying it was necessarily the wrong option, but I don't think he even saw him to consider slipping him in.

That hit me watching the stream when Hassell spoke about that. Never spoke to her, but saw her on so many away days over the years. Too sad. RIP

When most others fall short, the player maintaining his good form wins by default - Rod McDonald again for me

I keep thinking what is Jane Jackson doing in their technical area - then I realise it's Gareth Ainsworth

Unchanged, as most thought. Bennetts and Traore stand down on the bench for Cotter and Jones. Both are unlucky to be out of the matchday squad, I'm sure MP has had some consoling words.

Stoke City 1-0 Birmingham City Wrexham 2-0 QPR Joker AFC Wimbledon 1-0 Rotherham United Leyton Orient 0-1 Bolton Wanderers Bristol Rovers 2-0 Barrow Fleetwood Town 0-2 Walsall Hartlepool United 2-0 Brackley Town Wealdstone 1-1 Gateshead

That's right up my street @True Magpie, but dropping a defensive mid for JJ for away at the league leaders would be a very bold move. I can't see MP doing that and I've always liked not changing a winning team (and conversely, changing a losing team).

Interesting points @True Magpie, who specifically would you drop to accommodate JJ?

Physically, he's reminiscent of one of Nottingham's great football heroes - Lenton's Andy Cole. Dennis is only 23 so how good can he be, what level can he reach?

Great for him, great for the club. Where would we be without his goals?

I hope this happens Dripsey. When the Bros got Burchnall and then Williams maybe we thought they had a conveyor belt of talent across all roles lined up to fit their philosophy and project. We've since learned, from the appointments of Maynard, Gag, and maybe MP too that this isn't the case and recruitment for them is challenging. Lord Montague of Beaulieu driving back from Swansea in one of his vintage cars would be an easy and reliable solution. Gagliardi was obviously a mistake and we couldn't afford another

Good questions@Robbie. With the Director of Football gone and unlikely to be replaced quickly, there might be a case for freezing this and doing something more informal, but still effective, for a while (let everyone concentrate on their jobs, and defuse potentially divisive questioning as we go thru a run of v.difficult fixtures). Then bring it back as the new DoF / HoR prepares for the transfer window. Just my hunches as usual, on a level of info somewhere between Jack **** and SFA :)

I think go with the same XI, JJ on the bench for this one. A very difficult fixture, but hope lies with how well the front three played last week. We'll have to play excellent team defence, and all 4 or 5 subs that come on for tired players will need to be on it.

If he wants to return, the Bros should do it. I bet he's been tracking an interesting pool of players at Swansea, maybe we can snag a couple next window 😉

It's gone... Ardley & Monatgue / Burchnall & Montague / Williams & Montague / Maynard & Montague / Maynard & Nobody / Maynard & Gagliardi / Nobody & Gagliardi / Paterson & Gagliardi I'd hazard a guess that Williams and Montague was the peak of this coach/head of recruitment combo, and Paterson and Gagliardi the most fractious and unworkable. I think we need to bring in a true stats/analytics based Head of Recruitment, drop the technical board now and come up with some other mechanism, and let both sides really concentrate on their jobs.

I'll direct you to Piethagoram's last post on this thread @YoopEyes, for the top and tail of it Sure, you want to look at 160 years rather than the last 6, 2019-25, when the Football Radar brothers came in with their statistical, analytical based approach and regained league status with it. I think you will have to wait til the Post-Reedtz era to have any chance of seeing an ex-player manager who also acts as the effective Head of HR as well. Even then it would have to be set to a Hovis commercial and we could all dust off our flat caps and maybe even go back to pigs' bladders 😀 MP has made an OK start, and many like him, but I don't see why the he Bros should entrust the whole operation of their multi-million investment to a novice head coach.

Yes, all good points Also, wouldn't going to a traditional manager model with no data background be saying that Football Radar is some kind of snake oil company. Or it's failed in the place it's been given the most opportunity. It hasn't failed though, we just gagged on the last appointment it seems.

yeah, I don't think we should ever go back to the model that got us relegated. We need the Head Coach to concentrate on his core job

I'd look at that as the model that got us relegated @YoopEyes, and the one with a Head of Recruitment as the model that got us back up - found us gems like Ruben, Cal, Maca, Cedwyn etc while the Head Coach was able to concentrate on the very taxing role of managing the team. The window's closed til January now. The statement talks about how he will be replaced. We're more likely looking for someone better than Gagliardi in the role rather than switching models and asking Pato to become Arthur Daley or Delboy. He looks like Uncle Albert anyway, so it's a non-starter.

Shocked. It's not like the Reedtz's Notts to have a key hire blow up so quickly. Were the working relationships strained. Did technical board meetings when the team starts 1 pt from 9 set a toxic tone? Were the Bros' expecting more recruitment umph with no sign of any top talent coming in to replace Didzy, Crowley, Bass etc? Was failing to add quality to the squad in the last window a big disappointment? This is where my mind's going. But I know nowt so take no notice of me :)

There's a good chance he could be on the bench at Gills @Randall. Jatta and Dennis did alright together, including defensively. Maybe MP will want to roll with that again meaning just 1 slot behind and JJ 's got nowhere near Iorpenda's level of performance on Saturday. What a player JJ would be if he had 20% more strength and 20% more speed (he wouldn't be at Notts 😊) but since he doesn't, he gets a weekly battering playing inside. It's a shame but I feel the slot has been slipping away from him from the first game onwards.

I demand a play-off with Port Vale for the title of true, all-time English champions

Welcome @Graham, there's so much on this site to enjoy. You've done yourself a favour!

Agree with most of that @NortonNCFC, apart from the bit right at the end. I'm glad Pato said that. Going forward I thought we got really good performances out of the front three on little service. The build up play just wasn't happening all that much. Gordon and Tsaroulla seemed to get trapped out wide, the defenders were reluctant to move into space ahead and Palmer and Norburn are hardly going to break the lines. Great win, but narrow, we eked out the 3pts for once.