theAnticlough

We could be in for a surprise or two with tomorrow's team selection. Salford away was probably seen as not the place to risk a returning player. If you could pick just one of the injured or returning players to have back, who would you choose? (Not Platt, obviously) I'd go with Jodi Jones....we need to roll the dice with someone capable of goals and assists.

We'll need some players back - Jodi at least. Norburn back in the matchday squad of course. For me that'd mean the bench. Just footballing reasons, we don't need both him and Palmer to beat Newport at home.

That's true. I actually went thru the game-by-game projections with my youngest this morning. I actually have us being promoted! Then I did it again and put us down to lose at Cambridge and draw at Colchester and we miss out to MK Dons on goal difference at 83pts.That sounds like Notts, doesn't it?! Then as 4th place team I have us in a 2-leg play-off v Salford. If it's not them it's Oldham or Chesterfield who both have tasty run-ins. We better get some players back and be ready for 2-legs v either Salford, Chesterfield or Oldham 'cos that's what it's heading for as far as I can see. Oh and the play-off cut-off mark could be an unbelievable 80pts this season I think

Wouldn't that be 82pts @menzinho ? Even then, maybe not enough.... Personally, I'm not interested in projecting totals. I just want us to perform, be brave and give it our all. Yesterday, considering all the injuries, I thought we fought hard and we're unlucky not to get something. The individual lapse let everybody down. Maynard lost game 41 away too and followed up by losing game 42 at home. Monday is a 'must-win'. Newport have to be dispatched. The players have to perform and MP has to make sure that they do

I'll give my vote to Belshaw. Pretty clear cut I'd say. I feel sorry for him. Ness and Iorpenda were good, not sure anyone else was (apart from Browne of course, another to feel sorry for). We needed better from Jatta. Grant was especially poor, but his replacement Hall was even worse! Especially with his absolute uselessness when the ball popped out for their winner.

Tragic game We have some liabilities though and they continue to hurt us

Charlton 1-1 Bristol City QPR 2-1 Watford Huddersfield Town 2-1 Reading Stockport County 1-1 Wycombe Bristol Rovers 2-0 Fleetwood Town Joker Newport County 1-0 Crawley Aldershot 1-2 Sutton United Tamworth 2-1 Solihull Moors

Agree with that for sure. A draw would increase our overall odds slightly I think. A win/loss at this stage of the season would swing the odds a lot in either direction. All I ask is better matchplay than at the corresponding stage of last season. After 40 games (68pts), Stuart Maynard was talking about the 'business end of the season'. We never heard the phrase again. Game 41 Colchester (A) Lost, 42 Salford (H) Lost, 43 Bradford (A) Draw 44 Cheltenham (H) Lost. 1pt from 12 broke our hearts. The team just couldn't respond when it mattered. That Colchester game (the same as today - Game 41) was a total capitulation and a sign of how we'd go out in the play-offs, with an absolute whimper as Stall said this week. Hopefully MP's team can perform, show some real spirit and fight and in that case, que sera sera

The football gods were listening @StarkMallard It wasn't a 1-1 game at all, Cambridge were miles better. But we'll take it! Cambridge played with an intensity that we don't see in Notts games. We've really got to be on our mettle when we go there.

Anyone else watching Cambridge Swindon? Cambridge have been very impressive - play with so much pace and physicality. They should be more than 1 up. Swindon aren't out of it and there's still a chance we could see the draw that we want.

Yes, I'd take a draw too right now@menzinho Jatta's been involved in a couple of the recent losses and I hope he's really motivated to put things right. He had a 1-on-1 a theirs last season but missed, that might've changed the course of the game In the reverse fixture, he was totally out-psyched by Tilt (now Bradford). AJ started well then Tilt elbowed him and he was playing like a man possessed for a while. Then came Tilt's 'heartfelt apology', hugs and make-up. AJ fell for it and he went from lion to lamb - it seemed to drain all aggression and purpose out of him. Very clever, but boy do we owe them one. These games have been a horror show of gamesmanship and cheating from them.

Massive game MP will need performances from all his players if we're to get a positive result Anyone else feel that JJ is kind of a barometer for our performances. When he's bad we tend to struggle, when he's on song we don't. He'll need to be on his game, but so will everyone else. At Shrewsbury, he let a difficult direct opponent put him off his game. We can't afford any player to let that happen, they all have to find a way to make an impact. Big game for Palmer as captain. The whole team and the bench have to let the ref (and lets hope its a strong one) know about their rough house tactics. They need to let the ref know that kicking players at this stage of the season can decide a promotion. But not to overdo it, we can't let the game descend into a war (their game). We have to concentrate on our play, but be ready to let the ref know when needed.

Congratulations to @Fan of Big Tone &@Michael D Pie. on those different milestones. Good luck with what comes next

When you ahve time, how did you come to be a Notts County fan @UfkuAcik35 ?

Hi @UfkuAcik35 and welcome to the community, hope you canjoin in and enjoy The request you made looks like a long shot and difficult. I've passed through Turkey but have no plans coming up, but hope you can figure out a way to get the jacket

They're in. We'll have 'em But I just played House of the Rising Sun by hand farts, note perfect. Pity I can't upload an audio file

Yeah, ideally Norburn doesn't get back in. It was encouraging what MP said about Robertson. The Palmer-Robbo pairing is a lot better and isn't just duplication. Robbo gets about the pitch a lot more and can pop up a lot more in the final third. Regarding the Salford game, do we have the grinding option? I can't imagine MP adding Browne to the team. If you meant by grinding just withstanding whatever they throw at us and get a positive result in whatever way we can, then yes sign me up for that please.

Good analysis @Robbie I think I'm in a slightly different place. I'd put 'at least play-offs' at 95%, as even just a win against Newport could secure that. The overall chances, across the 3 outcomes... i'd say Autos (back to) 30%, Play-offs 65%, neither 5% Why only 30%? Well there's the loss of both Platt & McDonald and the difficult away fixtures we have left. But there's also the impression i have that MP is too late a convert (and only through necessity) of a positive, all-out, attacking game. And that he doesn't really believe in it. I think he should have been enpowering our excellent, ball-playing technicians like Macari and Tangan and that overall style instead of a gnarly journeyman like Norburn, who ended up letting us down anyway. The selection for the Chesterfield game showed me that he had a mind to try and grind our way to promotion. So we don't have the reps and the benefits of singing from the right hymn sheet (free flowing attacking football) all season long. This is my own, personal take on things. I don't expect others to agree but it is one of the main reasons I'm still pessimistic about autos.

2 of our next three are the big ones @Chris away to Salford and Cambridge in the space of 8 days... If, say, we take 1pt out of 6 there, but beat Newport, then it's 100% play-offs At Salford, MP won't be able to add an extra CB or defensive CM, he's going to have to commit to another attacking team and outplay them. We're capable, we just need to commit to it and have confidence. Massive game coming up this Easter Friday

What a day! It's in our hands again

I really want to say Palmer or Macari, both were so good with the ball and in their positioning. Macari really should get more recognition. A brace in a 0-2 away win though, plus decent hold-up and defensive play...I"m voting for Jatta in the end.

It's madness, isn't it? As Stall said 'anywhere else on the pitch....' Can't refs have more awareness that they're making decisions not based on the incident, but the area of the pitch, and that there's nothing in the rules that should make them do that. Football should get on top of this and solve it - it's a unnecessary distortion of the rules of the game. On top from the start. We used our attacking line-up correctly to dominate the game and we have to continue to do the same for every game. We've got a lot of good creative players and lovely technicians. It's our strength and we've got to play to it.

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Despite tough conditions, our technical players have been great - Palmer, Iorpenda, Macari, Tangan (pity he had to go off) We've played some lovely stuff. Let's hope we can get some more goals with the wind behind us in the 2nd half.

Interesting team selected just now... Tsaroulla out with an injury...he might've needed the rest anyway. It's a team that should have a lot of attacking potency. Jatta, Dennis, Jones, Tangan, Iorpenda, with lots of good ball-players behind and around them. And a very attacking bench. Really looking forward to it now.