theAnticlough

Good night for MK. One set of fixtures, Bromley draw, they win, they go top and into the box seat with a much better goal difference. And MK at home to Bromley on 11-April. All this cranks up the pressure on Bromley. It'll be interesting to see what happens on Saturday against the surging Bristol Rovers

Something I haven't done is park in the visitor centre and walk around the water clockwise. Maybe the roadside stretch around Hopton wouldn't be so bad then, getting it out of the way early. I prefer the Kirk Ireton walk because you get a bit of variety - the country lanes linking the village to the water are alright and you still get that long, elevated stretch on the SW side of the water. Visitor Centre restaurant/cafe at one end, a traditional pub (if open) at the other. Parking at Kirk Ireton is easy.

I've done Carsington a couple of times....the problem is the area to the N or NW, you have to do a fair bit roadside right? Kirk Ireton to the Centre and back along the south side might give you an easier 5 to 6 miles. Barley Mow pub is alright, run by some Londoners I think

Spot on with the juggling, @DangerousSausage. I don't think anymore that there's 1 formula in the squad that'll solve the No.10 positions. It's going to have to be by committee. If MP's going to continue with the box midfield I dread it being, as a regular line up,,... Norburn Palmer Iorpenda Grant We're going to need more mobility, unpredictability, energy and production than that. I'd like to see Iorpenda partner one of the older CMs (who share a position) and MP pulling surprises for the No.10s. MP's willingness to change the shape, when needed, will also be important IMO.

Yes, I think MP has to make it clear that those No.10 shirts are up for grabs for whoever comes in and does the business. Bennetts deserve a shot at it.

Robbo's doesn't sound good. Sods law that it happens a day after Hinchy's loan. If it's a few weeks or longer, it makes us vulnerable. I like Norburn + Iorpenda. Norburn + Palmer gives solidity and ball possession but has less mobility - the wide defenders would have to get forward more, knowing the cover is behind. In any case, I think Palmer should come back in a game like Newport at home. The fire and brimstone of the local derby next Saturday might not suit a player who's been out for a couple of months.

Norburn was a hero today, so he gets my MoM It needed something special and boy did he deliver that. There was also that pass to Kouhyar for the winner. He's actually a good, progressive passer of the ball, I'd like to see more of that. Platt was good. The subs made all the difference. All did well, but what an accomplished player RodMac is. Great to see him so into it as well, after not being able to get his place back.

Great, great spirit to win that. Well done to all subs, and to MP for inspiring them. Important win to take advantage of many play-off contenders slipping up today, and to keep pace with the top teams looking at autos. And we're still one of them!

Nobody's playing well, with the possible exception of Platt. The midfield isn't working, nobody seems comfortable. I wouldn't be surprised if MP changed this area at HT Let's have Iorpenda driving things from further back. Tangen on for Hall, maybe. Macari and Bedeau to take more risks going forward. That sequence when Norburn took a free-kick in a promising area and it ended up with Belshaw should never happen - pathetic.

No Robertson, new injury? I hope Iorpenda is deep and Hall further forward, but recently it's been Hall and Tangen there. Big game for Hall today. You'd imagine he'll be really motivated to rediscover some form and show what he can do

Charlton Athletic 1-1 Birmingham City Joker Swansea City 1-1 Stoke City Blackpool 1-0 Wigan Athletic Luton Town 2-1 Reading Gillingham 2-1 Fleetwood Town Tranmere 0-2 Oldham Athletic Hartlepool 2-1 Halifax Town Woking 2-1 Tamworth

Yes, no doubt we have to be consistently good to get around 24 points over 12 games. Also agree @Fan of Big Tone on the injuries and the rub of the green. I think something else will be needed though - improvement in a key area By and large, we have been pretty consistent, bar a few out-of-character flat, slow-paced performances or poor tactical games. Even then, nobody has really dominated or rolled over us. Across the back and middle thirds of the pitch we have been consistently strong. The problem has been in the attacking third. It hasn't been from lack of attacking intent - it's a personnel problem. Too many of our squad fail to execute in the final third, suddenly lose their composure and fail to find that pass, snatch at a shot or fail to shoot at all. There's no risk of singling out players because there have been so many like this (including really, really good players for us). - Macari, Bedeau, Tsaroulla, Iorpenda, Grant, Kouhyar, Bennetts, Gordon, Cotter, Traore....there's 10, right there. We had 1 player who could keep his composure - but he was sent back to Shelborne. For the sake of balance, maybe he should've stayed. Time will tell So yeah consistency, injury luck, general luck, key decisions - but I don't think we can get autos unless with make a leap in final third execution.

A win tomorrow would be an enormous boost

Agree@Robbie I'd say Play-offs 60% Autos 30% 8th or below 10%, something like that, changing after each game.

What I took from the presser today, and MP leaves you guessing, is that when he spoke about "being fair' and 'honest' is that the released list has already started. Maybe MP concluded that he'd go to Hall, Tangen or Bennetts in CM (if the other 4 are injured) before he'd go to Hinchy. Hinchy has to play and put himself in the shop window for his next cotract because his time at Notts is over. That's how I read it, anyway.

Yes @Michael D Pie. McDonald has hit levels as good as anyone this season. He's kind of a wasted asset now. I'm sure he's got a role to play this season. It's tough though, Platt has been superb too over the last 10 games. One day, it might be worth surprising a team with a 4-1-4-1, or 4-2-3-1 as Macari-Platt-McDonald-Bedeau makes one hell of a back 4

Yes @Robbie, the Walsall side of this is interesting. They've gone from top to 11th - much the same happened last season. When that happens in consecutive seasons, I think it says something about the club, its methods and its ethos. Belief will be low as you say but how much fight do they have? Are they demoralised and are their fans on their backs? Last Saturday, they won at Shrewsbury where we just lost. So I think you're right - it's going to be a close one with the odd goal in it.

I wonder if Jatta might be in the squad. If not, it's Dennis up front. I don't have a problem with that, he can score. But what's MP going to try in the disastrous No.10 positions this week?

His contract ends in June

There are exceptions to that I think @Chris At Altrincham, he wasn't playing at all. He might as well be with us. With this one, might it be possible that all of Palmer, Norburn and Robertson are unavailable at some stage going forward. Not beyond the realm of possibility, given their histories, I'd say. That'd have to be a recall, and I think bench counts as being used.

I wonder if this is just about giving a player the game time he needs. With a recall clause, in case we need him

Probably different cases @DangerousSausage. There's nothing too wrong with our formation or attacking intent, it's just a personnel issue. Our promotion-clinching No.10 was scoring a hat-trick at Orient at the same time. I'd predict MP calling time on Kouhyar now. In a similar way that he turned against Roos after C'Field. He's been a lively sub for us (albeit w/out goals and assists) but that's 3 starts now in which he's looked nothing like that player who can give a nice 10min cameo. We all know now what Grant does and what he doesn't do. If we had a productive alternative, his lack of output would have consigned him to the fringes. Both Luker and Hall were ahead of him previously. That this was our main area of weakness going into the Jan window was obvious to all. We were interested in Ruben of course but that was the longest of long shots. Monty's answer in the end.....Tangan. I hope this season doesn't pass by without him getting the same chance Kouhyar's just had. I've kind of given up on this weakness in the team being solved this season and there are only 12 (or 15 games left). We have to muddle through and hope MP can come up with something on a match-by-match basis. Can we get 2 or 3 more of early-season performances from Hall for example. Can we ever surprise a team by playing JJ or Tsaroulla there. Or throw in a totally different formation...

It's a pity@Chris that we squandered the confidence boost of a 5-0, now we'll have to try to win that back, starting at Walsall. MP rightly criticised the 1st half. This time it wasn't down to the defenders not being able to move the ball fast enough. We just weren't ready to play from the first whistle. In the MoM thread you're right to mention Tsaroulla and Robertson. But I'll throw in a caveat and it's something I've noticed in recent matches - some of our players regularly make slow starts. This is especially Robertson, Tsaroulla and Jones - from 0-20mins they're nowhere near their level of play from 20-90mins. Add this to Grant and Kouhyar putting in typically toothless Notts No. 10 performances and you have the answer as to why we wasted a full half of a home game, hardly troubling the opposition.

Not much to choose from today. Macari or Platt? I'll go Platt - he continues his much better form, he had a good all-round game. Iorpenda did fine. But it all goes blurry for him in the penalty area. Grant was OK. Kouhyah, had to be hooked, but Grant didn't. McDonald was easily the pick of the substitues.

A mess. I don't want to blame the ref - we weren't good enough. Our achilles heel - poor No.10 play - continues to drag us down. Kouhyar was poor for two straight games. Both had to come off and the replacements were no real improvement. And we just can't get goals from that position. What happened (or didn't) in the 1st half contributed even more to the defeat than the 2nd.