YoopEyes

Not surprised or concerned by his departure. Timing is good, we have an opportunity to either change strategy or simply change the personnel involved. Managers/coaches and players on the pitch are far more significant than this role. I have far more faith in Paterson than some arbitrary “recruitment” guru tbh. Football managed to cope admirably without these “made up” roles for long enough. The manager carries the can, he should call the shots.

I thought McDonald was solid, commanding display despite a couple of lapses. Iorpenda was busy and posed them problems for an hour, showed some neat skill. My vote went to Palmer for an energetic, determined and robust performance. Back to his neat & tidy best on the ball and far more likely to pass forwards under MP than either Williams or Maynard. Terrific performance.

Solid performance and hard fought win. We’d have drawn, or even lost that last season. Whilst never really igniting any spark, we plugged away and produced the sharpness we’d lacked to get the early 2nd half goal. Excellent individual displays from Palmer, McDonald & Iorpenda. Very robust and gritty contributions from Tsaroulla & Norburn in the 2nd half too. Grant & Robertson showed some quality when they cane on as well. Maybe not the most fluent performance but a well deserved and hard fought win & clean sheet. Good stuff from the team and the manager today.

Well, ahead of today’s game with Fleetwood - at least the pitch is fit! Hopefully, some of our returning players will soon get an opportunity to get in some game time. I go along with MP, having the likes of Ness & Robertson back plus Jatta returning from suspension is similar to acquiring “new” signings. COYP

Thought there may have been a few “outs” but wasn’t expecting anyone coming in tbh. Jatta staying put is a bonus, albeit temporary it would seem. The return of players like Robertson, Ness & Hinchy is also a plus for my money. We do seem light in respect of strikers and gk cover. Traore seems to be struggling to adapt to L2 & now it looks like Jarvis is injured. We’ll need to address that in Jan surely? The sooner Luker is back in the picture and Robbo & Ness are “up to speed”, the better. The numbers are there, it’s the overall fitness, quality and balance of the team that are under scrutiny at the moment.

He looked more than useful in the early stages last season. Energetic, combative and tidy on the ball - pity he got injured. Clearly, he was not in MP’s plans do good luck to him, think he is good enough for L2 level football tbh. He could well end up back in Scandinavia but wherever he ends up, someone will get a decent player in my view.

Even better - Gordon scores. Notts in front on 63 mins.

That’s a great start - Dennis levels the score early in 2nd half. Now, come on Notts, let’s have this.

Sounds absolutely dreadful tbh. Still not convinced by Jones in this “new” role. He seems to argue with officials, opponents etc & he’s far too easy to wind up. He got credit for 2 or 3 assists v the Shrews but, to be fair, one was a serious gk error and another a goalmouth scramble so I don’t believe he had as any really significant contribution, no more than anyone else could have made for certain. Stall has just mentioned, we are getting neither of a clean sheet or a 90 min performance! That’s a major part of our problems tbh.

Very sad news - gone too soon. He was a great character and his post match interviews were often very amusing. His wit and personality were highlighted every time he featured in the media. A loss to the NCFC fraternity but a greater one to his family and those who knew him. RIP Thommo.

Good finishes for all the goals - a couple instinctive, one bullet & one sublime touch. Hard earned and important victory. Onwards and upwards.

Tsaroulla was my MOTM - comfortable in possession, quick feet, deft touches, drives forward, lovely goal. I’m not Palmer’s greatest fan but I thought he was excellent tonight. Covered the ground well, got stuck in, rarely gave the ball away & kept things ticking over. Iorpenda was busy, showed some good touches but was, occasionally, clumsy and lost possession. Generally, a decent display from him tho’. The team looked balanced, had shape and played with conviction and determination. There were plenty of problems too but Shrewsbury were poor and offered little threat. Overall, promising display, we need to keep improving but there were some optimistic signs emerging - good stuff.

Glad to see Tsaroulla starting but surprised that Norburn, Palmer & Cotter all start too. Expect Jones to be in the “roving 10” role & Cotter & Nick T on the wings, we’ll see. Nothing but a win is good enough tonight, full stop. COYP - we need this one.

I wish I could share the confidence in Jarvis tbh. He just seems an enigma to me. The occasional mazy run, a random spectacular shot/goal and a turn of speed are the highlights. In between there has been a lot of ineffective “downtime” and a tendency to go missing in action. I don’t doubt his talent, just his ability to produce meaningful performances. A “cameo” from the bench is how I see him - unless he can harness consistency with his rare bouts of genius.

Welcome back Nick. Tsaroulla is a more than decent player at this level. He was messed around by Maynard, popping up at left back, right wing back and some sort of hybrid midfield role. Never settled in any position. He has good feet, neat skills, plenty of strength and he can actually cross a ball to a player in the same colours shirt! Plus, he does shoot - with power and accuracy. When fit, he should be a first choice starter, preferably as left wing back - where he first appeared as a sub for the amazingly over rated “pass it backwards” Chicksen. (Who had pace but rarely seemed to use it, always negated it anyway by passing backwards and couldn’t cross a ball to a Notts player to save his life - yet some folks said he put “good crosses in”. When was that I never saw one, well, maybe 1 only). Tsaroulla is likely to be far more use than the ephemeral & incredibly inconsistent Jarvis in my opinion, not only in respect of ball retention but also defending when we lose possession. Jarvis, as a pure left sided striker, is an option - as long as he doesn’t have to defend in our half or tackle anybody because he can’t do either.

Whilst I agree with FofBT - it is early season, things can take time with new personnel & management etc - there was very little on the pitch to be optimistic about yesterday tbh. The lack of shape, structure and the fact that we ended up, effectively, with 7 midfield players and no strikers was a major concern for me. Luker showed a bit of spark and scored the goal, that was a significant improvement on anything the starting XI produced! In a sea of mediocrity and dross, that was the only highlight apart from the more robust approach when we were out of possession, which was far too prevalent for my liking. We need to far better than that, massively so, if we are going to restore faith, optimism and provide something to feel positive about.

Not many impressed - but Cotter put some good tackles in, worked hard and actually beat a man a couple of times. After Dennis went off we had 7 midfielders, 6 of which play almost identically. Could see the value ofhaving Grant, Iorpenda, Luker, Hall & Cotter on at the same time tbh. Iorpenda got sponsor’s MOTM, which was probably a good shout - not much competition other than Cotter and Platt. Thought Jones was a waste of a shirt and Norburn adds a “bit of ballast” but the game by-passed him for the most part. Bennetts got involved after half time but drifted away again then we were swamped with to many similar style players and only Luker with a bit of invention.

Looks like another promising youngster. Tend to agree that we have a plethora of midfielders, but hopefully, we might have another gem on our hands. Just how you fit Luker, Hall, Iorpenda and Norburn alongside the established group is a challenge, to say the least.

Interesting move - a little odd to me that it’s another “season long” loan. Some Clubs in the Prem seem reluctant to enable players to develop more within their own environment & top players etc. I’d suggest that in most other European leagues a player like Abbott might get a few months out on loan then work back at his own club and get opportunities, at least in fringe competitions and the odd “squad” appearances with the first team. Then move him up a to a higher level loan for a spell. Too many seem scared of youth and think a player needs to be 20 before they get a chance. Contrast that with Arsenal & Liverpool’s star 15 & 16 year olds. They are prepared to take the risk, it appears. Abbott has huge potential, he’s talented, his attitude is spot on, he’s a battler - worth “fast tracking”, surely? In any event, I wish him well and will follow his progress accordingly.

Luker sounds like a direct replacement for Abbott. If he’s 75% as effective he’ll be a useful addition. Will he make the starting XI tho’? Time will tell.

If he provides a bit more guile and physicality than Jarvis then he’s a decent signing in my view. Need to see him in action before attempting to judge/assess him tbh.

The difficulty for owners is that fans don’t measure “success” by off field investment. The only factors that matter are results and performances, which are significantly impacted by the quality of player recruitment. As a fan for 60 years I’m not bothered about padel courts or The Nest but I understand that they are helpful as income generators. The Club infrastructure and back room appointments are of little consequence to me either - but if they aid player fitness and development that’s good too. I’m not sure how you equate all the variables and assess which are working effectively & which are not. That is some conundrum. I, like most fans I believe, will judge on performances, results & league position. The rest, to paraphrase Sir Jimmy, is gossip.

Grant is a class act - massively misused by Maynard. He isn’t a wide player nor a defensive midfielder. He’s creative, astute with good, quick feet and an eye for a pass. He can shoot too yet Maynard hardly ever let him get near the box! He’d walk into any other L2 team, so he should be a regular starter in ours. Tsaroulla is another, if fit, he’s highly useful and needs to played in the right position, not wide right one game, left back another then filling in as a sub, if needed. He’d start for me but I’ve yet to see Cotter - I guess you don’t/can’t play them both together unless Jones is missing. Hoping Cotter, Dennis, Iorpenda and Norburn live up to expectations too for that matter. Re: the thread title - I should add that the player who most needs to “step up” is Palmer. Hopefully, Paterson won’t want him passing sideways and backwards 45 times before he actually makes a telling pass and can sharpen up his first touch diver keep the ball moving rather than dwelling on it.

I sincerely hope you are right about that. Recent activity suggests we are “in a good place” at the moment. A couple of decent results certainly helps enormously. The key issues will be, how long do the new guys take to settle in, can we create and take enough chances and where will we be after 8 - 10 games. We’ll have a far better idea about how it’s all shaping up by early October.

The quality of local sports journalism generally has been on a downward trajectory for a very long time. The NEP stopped being impartial and balanced regarding Notts & the other lot years ago. I stopped reading it at least 15 years ago. The old FP was fantastic - the stop press even covered any late goals most of the time too. All local league tables and match reports were included too, remember the MAA, Notts Alliance, Amateur League etc?