theAnticlough

What do you base that on, out of interest @Robbie? Although tbh I experienced a lot of that in the 1970s too, with heavily religious assemblies and so much content on the military or monarchy, so maybe it's always been with us

I did 6th form in a different place to secondary. I can't say I recall too many stand-out teachers at school. I'd have to choose the young female English teacher who was really motivated and committed, worked so hard. It was no surprise I got my best result from her class. There was also a decent geography teacher. The worst result came from the class of an oldish man, seemed like he had a drink problem, who couldn't care less and just walked out all the time for long periods and let the class go mental (it was quiet when he was there because he was a vicious psycho). Predictably, most did terribly in that subject. Pleased to say, things picked up after that.

Yeah, maybe MP can say something like 'you're 2 leagues better, feel free to go win by 4 or 5, don't let me stop you'. He won't, but I hope the players are in that kind of mood. It's the type of game to kickstart an attacking players confidence and strat building up the stats. i doubt we lost to the likes of Brackley through arrogance, more likely it was not caring or believing in yourself enough.

Yes, has to be right there, and getting better with each game. Finneran and Robertson have definitely been the best CMs we've seen and lucky for us that their combination seems to work really well From what we've seen of the others, Evans, Sanders and Campbell (very small sample) are below that and around the same level. Maybe the edge to Evans, but he seems stuck at a certain limit (for example, he needed to convert that chance at the end of the first half v Leicester). I think Sanders needs to show more in the minutes he gets, to overtake Evans, and keep the pressure on Rory & Scott. Sadly, Matty Palmer is probably in the last group of players who have come up short. That's with Kouhyar, who's been loaned out and Ndlovu I'd say, who needs to show more between now and January (and before Acquah comes back) or will be moved on

Yes agree @Chris, Finneran has been phenomenal. What a career he's going to have. I must be a curmudgeon, I didn't put him up there because of the stinkers he had at Reading and Wycombe .... but that's just 2 games out of 10, and a 18 year-old is going to have those blips, games where nothing comes off. Apart from that, fantastic - unbelievable considering the young age. He looks like a 32 year-old midfield general, although he's only just got out of 6th form!

As a complement to the other thread, I thought I'd ask who you have as the best performers so far at the quarter season mark... Here's my Top 5 to kick things off 1) Lucas Ness The obvious choice I think. Ever-present in the league and has hardly put a foot wrong. The display at Huddersfield has to be the best individual performance in a single game so far. His best position is in the centre, but to accommodate mcDonald he's done really well at RCB. We shouldn't forget he played in the play-offs there and pushed JJ for MoM in the Wembley final from RCB. His 1-on-1 defending is consistently strong and it's a bonus to have his aerial prowess as a wide defender. His passing and ball control is absolutely fine and under-rated I think. It'll be interesting to see what interest there is in the January window. If he stays fit, I can't see his form dropping as he's just a class act - teams in the Championship and top of L1 with defensive weaknesses are bound to be interested. 2) Jacob Bedeau He's playing better in L1 than he did in L2 last season (although his first season was better than that). He looks completely at home at this level and could easily play for a team around the top. I'd say he's gotten better and better over these 12 games as well and is even catching up with Ness. Nobody's gotten the better of him and that includes the Fernandez guy at Huddersfield who's said to be the best player in the league. I bet Bedeau has been the toughest opponent he's faced so far. JB has also gotten off the mark with his first goal for the club. It looks like he'll add a few more in the league because his confidence is growing all the time. 3) Nick Tsaroulla Another who looks perfectly at home at the higher level. I'd say he's been much more consistent this season than last year and puts in a strong performance week and after week. He's been good in all three thirds of the pitch, especially in the middle third where he's shown that he can retain and use the ball well even when tightly marked and harried. 4) Ishe Samuels-Smith Played fewer league games (8 with 4 as sub) but it's not just the stellar showing at Mansfield, he's been good in most of his games. Maybe if he was a Tottenham loanee instead of Chelsea, more fans would have positive from the start. What a combination of talents he has - can surge forward all game long but is a superb one-on-one defender as well. Enjoy him while we can, he's going to go far 5) Ollie Cooper Showed the way in our first 8 games. Great pressing, tidy on the ball and got 4 goals. honorable mentions - Connor Grant, his best season at Notts so far. Mr. Belshaw pretty steady as well Very interested to see who others pick out and in what order....

Yes and another positive development is the health of the goalkeepers. It was a real concern to us fans that the rigours of modern football had become too much for them, so often they were going down with mysterious injuries. And the most worrying injuries of all - non-contact, suggesting something much more serious than a knock. The game had become so strenuous for them and they needed medical attention every single game. A career-threatening state of affairs, obviously. Thankfully, new training methods, preventative treatments, dietary advances...whatever it is that's been employed, the issue has seemingly gone away and we can sleep easier knowing that these brave players might have long careers after all. ;)

Nice topic. I'd say many of the players have taken to L1 like ducks to water - some have been outstanding, most have shown really well, many have improved, none have been embarrassed. The 4 game slide seems to have come from MP overthinking during the international break and going against the club's DNA to set up much more defensively. I'm sure we're cured of that, because you don't only lose, you lose miserably. Our goal difference after 12 games of playing mainly top L1 teams is only -1 and that tells us a lot. Hopefully, the fantastic form of Nees, Bedeau, RodMac, Robbo, Finneran, ISS, Tsaroulla and co can put us firmly mid-table over the next 10 games and we'll take it from there.

Some great candidates today, @Robbie Robertson was immense. Bedeau started and ended the game tremendously, but I'll vote for Samuels-Smith. He's an unbelievable athlete. The rest of the team better get ready, and make the right runs, because it looks like he can get up and down the line all game long.

I'll look for myself behind that goal - great memories. I've seen some rubbish at Field Mill, but this game is always the first I remember Tommy Johnson was a real ex-factor at that level, before he went on to play top-flight football

Yeah Lipsiuc is ahead of him on both sides. And he did what Maz hasn't done in over a season, score a goal

Bolton Wanderers 1-1 Bristol C WHU 2-0 West Bromwich Albion Wigan Athletic 2-0 Bromley Wycombe 2-0 Burton Albion Fleetwood Town 0-2 Bristol Rovers Joker Shrewsbury 1-1 Gillingham Barrow 2-1 Eastleigh Tamworth 2-1 Woking

A point Pato made in his post-match was how the ball stuck with Wootton - something we've been badly lacking. Kanu did well v Wednesday and Smyth should be capable, but I thought he had a low-energy game v Stockport. We need the hold-up play to improve fast to get a better foothold in these kinds of game.

You might be more optimistic than the average Notts fan @nottsnutter Rather than the home games, this one will show us whether we can do better than the awful Reading and Wycombe games. Battling wasn't the problem there, it was the lack of positivity coming out of the game plan and team selection

Branston will take some beating. So many others over the years. A fairly recent one for me would be Connor Lemonheigh-Evans, who maybe never found a Notts shirt with a pass in the few games he played for us.