YoopEyes

An energetic and combative first half, followed by a slightly disjointed and far less fluent second. Through it all Ndlovu kept trying and his control was a dramatic improvement on Jatta. Norburn was gritty and determined & Ness was solid & alert plus he scored 2 great headers. In patches, Grant, Kouhyar, Iorpenda & Bennetts were impressive. Palmer faded in the 2nd half and neither Macari or Bedeau were at their best tho’ both had three moments too. Belshaw made 2 great saves and looked comfortable. The cameo from Luker showed how much we’ve missed him. Absolute quality on the ball, confident and he scored a screamer. Others did well but Ness has to be MOTM. 2 terrific headers and did his defensive job, pretty much, without fault.

Absolutely. The main concern is that we might not get many of the 6 injured players back at all - or have to “nurse” a couple in over the last 2 or 3 games. The fact that Bennetts offers a decent threat from wide positions (defensively, he’s not great but better than Jones) helps, a bit. I’d like to see McDonald and Tangen fighting fit asap. Robbo would be a massive bonus but if Norburn can stay on the pitch, he is decent enough in central midfield too. Having 2 or 3 of these blokes back in the fold for next Sat would be a confidence boost - at least, it would for me.

That’s the problem with social media! As I’ve said to others - teams lose matches, not individuals. It’s Salford 2 Notts 1, not Salford 2 T Hall 1. Collectively, we lost and, arguably, we threw a point away but everyone made errors, with the possible exception of Belshaw. I’m critical of Hall, Dennis, Jatta and Kouhyar today. They all made mistakes but they weren’t alone and none were personally responsible for the defeat - that’s a team responsibility.

Still struggling to find the words - but still seething about the clumsy, ineffective contributions from Dennis & Jatta. Lack of urgency, control and application from both and complete lack of interest from Dennis. Hall will wish he’d never come in, missed a sitter from 4 yards and then fell asleep leaving Butcher with the freedom of Salford to slot home the winner. Overall, a fairly gritty and combative contest but we lacked sharpness where it mattered. Superb goal keeping performance, back 3 improved after shaky 15 mins and Ness gave a commanding display at the heart of the defence. Bottom line - we lost, threw away a hard earned point and it is a real blow to auto promotion hopes. Today only served to reinforce that Kouhyar, despite all his energy and effort, isn’t good enough. Hall is nowhere near ready for a L2 battle and we’ve taken the confidence and goal scoring prowess outbid Dennis! Jatta has always been an awkward, clumsy lump who knocks a few goals in, but he remains a technically poor footballer and he was totally out jumped, out muscled and outplayed again today, as usual. if we’d had a decent striker on the pitch, we’d have won that. They had Graydon - and they did.

Bizarre game. We were under the cosh for about 15 mins in the 1st half yet showed a bit of grit and character…… but it all fell apart at the end. Ness stood out defensively, Bennetts, Grant & Iorpenda had their moments and all put a shift in. Palmer had a mare in the 1st half but was impressive in the 2nd. Hugely disappointed with Dennis, lethargic and clumsy and Jatta, bar 1 pass late on, was utterly anonymous. Out jumped, out muscled and early dispossessed again. Their defence must have been gutted when he went off! All that was in addition to just about the best goalkeeping display I’ve seen since Steve Cherry v Citeh! Belshaw made 3, possibly 4 truly world class saves and numerous other, spectacular stops. He did not deserve to be on the losing side. Sadly, Kouhyar, despite his energy and effort, is nowhere near good enough and I can’t find the correctly describe Hall’s lack of effective contribution. He was 100% to blame for the winning goal. Shocking lack of awareness and commitment on the edge of the box. Thus, there were contenders for r/u but only 1 possible MOTM - Belshaw, that was just something very special from him today. Remarkable goal keeping.

We have a great opportunity now Swindon have just blagged a point at Cambridge! Good result for us, we need to take advantage at Salford now, of course. It remains very tight and the lack of consistency amongst the contenders makes it fairly unpredictable tbh. The fixtures give every one a chance too - a few “6 pointers”, incl our games at Salford & Cambridge but Cambs and MKD’s have games v top 6 Clubs too. I’m more hopeful than confident at this stage but the situation may look completely different after Monday’s game v Newport. This us going down to the wire in my view, we’ll probably have to beat Brizzle Rovers to go up automatically……..

Good day all round for Notts. Great stuff. Salford took MK Dongs apart tho’, how Gilbey stayed on the pitch was, as always, a mystery. He’s an absolute animal, a disgrace to professional football in my view. He makes Hunter, Harris, Bremner and Mackay look like snowflakes. Crude, aggressive and plain dirty - just a cheat really. They did get 1 red, rightly so. Salford will be a tough gig on Fri, we need to up from the start. They attack and strong. Dongs made Graydon look like Salah at his best tho’.

Some good performances in a very solid collective effort. Credit to Ness, after Tues night, he stood out bar 1 positional error. Bennetts was very effective going forward and is always comfortable on the ball. Jatta scored two, his 1st touch still terrifies me tho’. Palmer was steady, available and a calming, efficient influence. He gets my vote for a pretty commanding display at the heart of things. Tangen was looking lively but he’s a bit too easily brushed off, hope he’s ok tho’, we’ll need him. Great to see Luker back, a sign of “rust” but 2 or 3 quality touches - he’s class, that youth. Grant was good too in the 2nd half - he shoukd have scored but he creates space for others, beats opponents in tight situations and never stops working. Well done Notts, and Matty P is my MOTM.

I mentioned that Ndlovu’s red card was ludicrous. We are a bit beyond the “unlucky” stage tho’. The crazy element to me is that we are usually provoked or, at least, involved in mutually combative exchanges - the thuggery and dark arts that opponents utilise appears to go unpunished, for the most part. That is a result of both “cheating” and inadequate officiating in my view.

Think Iorpenda was the only serious contender tbh. He persevered, gives you 90 mins of effort and there were glimpses of quality. After the opening 25 mins or so few, if any others offered much (Palmer, maybe?) until Bennetts and Tangen appeared. Collectively poor but too many blatant individual errors. Very bad night for Bedeau, Ness, Tsaroulla, Norburn and Jatta!

It looks and sounds horrendous but we seem to be punished for petulance whilst opponents get away, unpunished, with thuggery. There is some mitigation, in my view, particularly in recent games. Norburn was, arguably, an tad unlucky v C’field, his 1st yellow seemed harsh and he was fouled himself a few seconds prior to his challenge. The “boot” business was daft & he should have been more careful, given his card. Tonight, he was just irresponsible and incredibly dim. Ndlovu’s red was ludicrous, simply a dreadful decision. Both players had their foot in the air challenging for the ball, 1 made contact, the other didn’t, end of story. That’s never a red card in a million years, crazy decision. The data does suggest we have a problem & it is costing us, so players need to sort themselves out and the management/coaching staff need to address it with a degree of urgency.

Shocking night all round. When we get it wrong, we really mess up. Manager not at his best but starting XI looked ok. You have to take a serious look at the goals and Norburn. I’d never start Jones, certainly not ahead of Bennetts - who is far more direct and purposeful. You get 10 or 15 mins out of Jones and a couple of decent crosses, if you’re lucky. He’s a cameo sub, all day for me. Tangen looks comfortable on the ball, if a little lightweight, but at least he’s likely to last 90 mins! Jatta’s 1st touch is a complete lottery and he misfired, badly, tonight. We’ve dumped Dennis, when he was top scorer & he’s lost confidence but he’s a damn sight better than Jatta or Ndlovu. The latter looks like a fish out of water tbh.

That’s an absolute disaster tbh!

Ndlovu on. Bennetts should be on asap, Norburn is a risk the longer it goes…….. Tangen could well make ab appearance, or maybe Luker?

Re: Fun fact - that’s exactly what it is. As you know, you can show anything with data - what was the wind direction, did we kick off, were we drawing when he scores his goals? Those stats prove nothing really - they are not cause & effect. Players tend to score goals when they are in and around the opposition’s box, it’s nothing to do with where a player starts a game, it’s where they are at the time. I’d still maintain that Norburn and Palmer (or Robbo and either of them) is always going to produce a platform for the more adventurous and creative players to perform. There will, clearly, be games where we might only need 1 of them, but personally, I’m comfortable seeing them together - even if it’s the first hour or last 30 mins. The bonus is that we have the likes of Grant, Iorpenda, Bennetts, Tangen, Tsaroulla, Hall, Luker and Jones to complement them. Not a bad group to choose from tbh. The version of Palmer that turned up yesterday certainly provided “vertical movement”! Grant is creative, mobile and alert, Iorpenda (and a fit Luker) are similar but will probably score more often. Fortunately, we have quite a few players who are capable of scoring, maybe not prolifically, but we seem to find the back of the net quite a lot without the recognised strikers.

Agreed. We were doing ok but the introduction of Norburn & Bennetts, in particular, made a significant difference. Iorpenda was able to get forward and be more productive - which he, clearly, relished. We looked better balanced & regained the shape we needed. The fact that we scored almost immediately after making changes, as opposed to conceding as we often do, was a big help too.

The reality was that we were sloppy for both of their goals. They both came down our left flank, where Jones doesn’t provide any cover or support for Bedeau. Theax marking and awareness were shocking for the first and beyond credibility for the second. Other than that, we fought and battled well again, tge balance and shape was generally good but a bit wobbly at times. We engineered great opportunities but either moving the ball quickly or having people prepared to take on opponents. It was Jones, Tangen and Grant in the first half and more of Iorpenda, Bennetts & Hall in the second. If you are clinical in front of goal, you win matches. We scored from 5 well worked and cleverly constructed chances today. 2 of those goals were simply spectacular, the fifth was a superbly created and neatly finished. The other 2 were well earned on the back of a solid team effort. The lack of marking aside, this was a very impressive display from a squad that has developed the art of winning whatever the line up. To be missing the likes of Robbo, Platt, Dennis & Ndlovu yet scoring 9 goals in 2 games at this stage of the season is encouraging, to say the least. The introduction of Norburn and Bennetts was the critical factor today. Jones was running out of gas and ideas and we freed up Iorpenda to play further forwards - he created havoc. Best I’ve seen of Bennetts, he’s improved over the season for my money. He was unplayable today. He’s better defensively and far more robust than Jones - so, if he can go round defenders & cross like he did today then he becomes a viable option as a starter as well as a sub.

For his pure commitment and the sensational 2nd half, it probably should go to Iorpenda - but, as I’ve not always been convinced by Palmer, I’m going for him. Without his influence, I’m not sure we’d have won that game as convincingly tbh. When Norburn came on to play alongside him it freed up Iorpenda to push forward - which he did, with spectacular results. (That’s the best team for me, start with Norburn, Palmer, Grant & Iorpenda - I’d play Bennetts too on today’s form.)

Still thinking tbh. Palmer was steady and solid all game, plus he made some good challenges/tackles and pinged some lovely long passes around. He scored a screamer and could have another 2 tbh. Iorpenda had an incredible 25 mins in the 2nd half, all crafty touches, fierce challenges and mazy runs, culminating in a spectacular goal and another good set up for the og. Hard to split them - Palmer, cool, driving force & Iorpenda, industrious, creative and lethal. Both worthy 9/10 today.

Intriguing - he looked sharp and lively early in the season, the best of the loaners. The bad news that he’s been out for a very lengthy spell and others have progressed. If he’s fit he could be a handy addition to the squad but I can’t imagine he’s going to displace Grant, Iorpenda or Bennetts in the pecking order at this stage tbh..

Very bad news, particularly for him! Hope he recovers well and quickly. The injury didn’t occur because he was being played out of position, it happened when he was trying to recover from pushing forward and losing possession. He chased back and tried to challenge for the ball and fell awkwardly. Unfortunate, but a genuine, accidental incident. From the squad perspective it’s a blow but we still have 4 quality defenders at this level - so, hopefully they will stay fit for the rest of the season (and beyond).

Superb team performance which featured some impressive individual contributions. I thought McDonald was his usual composed self and he hit a couple of great long balks and a “winger’s” cross. Bennetts was busy, good on the ball, bagged a goal & worked tirelessly. Iorpenda got better as the game progressed and excelled when we started to tire a wee bit. No passengers at all, some good input from the subs and a couple of tremendous saves from Belshaw into the bargain. The standout performance came from Grant - the subtlety, quality of control, awareness, an assist, a goal and the usual energy, work rate & persistence shone through tonight. He gets my vote, unequivocally.

Fabulous display, terrific performance. Without a recognised striker, we had all tge footballers on the pitch tonight and we played fluently. A lot of crisp, sharp passes and touches. No passengers - some outstanding individual contributions and a superb collective effort. The contributions from all were good but the energy, awareness and effort from Grant, Iorpenda, Bennetts and McDonald were exceptional. To the Grant “dissenters”, that’s what he gives to the team. He has vision, great touch and he never stops working. That was a truly scintillating performance from him.

Grant should start every game if he’s fit. He is, technically, the most gifted & creative footballer we have and whatever he lacks he makes up for with energy, effort and awareness. He should have been in ahead of Palmer and Tangen on Sat for me. He should certainly have come on straightaway in the second half.

Agreed. Our line up didn’t look right. We were unbalanced. I think MP was hoping that Iorpenda & Tangen would chase around and pressurise them, Norburn would give Oslmer time & room to operate and we’d be solid at the back and “repel all boarders” in the air. None of that worked really - Dennis remained isolated, the ref came on their bus & sends Norburn off butvalkies them to get away with thuggery. We responded brilliantly, twice, to going behind but that was it - we didn’t sustain any control of the ball and we struggled to create anything in the second half. We looked “done” after an hour but Bennetts did provide some spark going forward & Iorpenda produced a cross that might have been converted. Overall, Cook out thought us and they got away with provocation and physicality that we didn’t match or counter.