liampie

the second half notts showed their real class, credit to grimsby for making it difficult. i thought they did well in the first half to cause us issues and their second goal was a very nice timed move. thankfully, we showed our better quality to win and i thought jodi jones was class. his crosses were pin point and gave us a means to get back into the game. i dont blame connell rawlinson or aaron nemane for the first goal, these things happen but we do need to make them less common.

its going to be interesting to see if we play with confidence or if we still seem to have those early day jitters. i am hoping we can get macaulay langstaff on the score sheet, as he becomes a constant threat once he has scored and so far hes had chances. hes just been unlucky to connect well enough to put the ball in the back of the net. i think this is the type of game where starting cedwyn scott could benefit our front line. hopefully luke williams will explore this option, along with getting david mcgoldrick playing just behind langstaff but allowing him to drop deeper to pick the ball up from matt palmer or john bostock.

huge relief to get the win, very impressed from the second half and i feel that should be the standard. notts will be fine, but we need to stop making it harder for ourselves. i think the squad were great pulling level and for achieving the win. jodi jones and david mcgoldrick can make things happen.

a sluggish but okay start by notts. the first goal people will complain about connell rawlinson and he should have done better, but it was a silly pass to him. even sillier what he did, as he allowed rose clean through but that was always going to be a goal once you let someone one on one with the keeper. our equaliser got the best out of our players and we started to come back into it, their 2nd goal was a brilliant worked goal. i hold no fault for how that happened because it was a great move, which had excellent timing. 2nd half was a different tempo by notts, best team of the two for the longest period and i think we deserved to win. grimsby played quite well, but kicking our wingers to the ground started to become tiring to see.

if there is a game which notts needs to dig deep and get a good result, its this one. i would take a draw, but a win would be a lot nicer for obvious reasons. it would be annoying to lose to the two teams that prevented us from making our football league return earlier than we did, so quickly into a new season. put the hurt and disappointment aside, we know we have a good squad and provided the players work hard to create chances we can score. defensively we need to be much better though.

2 games and two red cards, yes this is the cup but its silly. hearing luke williams say that aden baldwin should have left the ball to the keeper, but decided to needlessly put in a challenge says we are not coping with the pressure. it is disappointing because this and just a single shot is not what we should expect from this squad. its very poor, but i have the faith that once we get a win things will start to improve. i just worry that it might take awhile. personally, i would look to williams to try to adjust things. either change who starts or tweak the formation.

welcome to the pon site, @JC1966.

its not a knee jerk reaction, but i intended to go to this game even though i have work. yet i have decided against this, as it would mean i would have to rush to get to meadow lane if i finish at half 5 like normally on a tuesday. if i end up needing to say for 6, it would just be to much. so i have decided after seeing the terrible performance against sutton i will save my money. i am not bothered about the cup anyway, but i had intended to go to show my support. the only thing i can say is how seriously will luke williams take it? the players need to use the game to respond positively from their shocking performance.

i feel really let down by the players, i usually can come away with something positive and eventually calm down but i feel disappointed. i feel more disappointed by this performance than any of the ones we had when we went down to the national league. that squad was disjointed and lacking in so many ways, but this squad has the ability to play, they just choked and made it very easy for sutton. some players did okay, but as a team they let us all down. even luke williams said this, but unlike him i think todays result let all our fans down including those who did not go to the game. if we continue to play like this its going to be a long season, luckily for us its the start and we should be okay. luke needs to demand more and better, just the basics would be a start.

i am looking forward to seeing how they compare to other teams, its going to be an interesting season but i think our preparation and focus on training will pay off. its almost on level with what you would expect from the top two divisions in terms of how hard we are preparing. i hope it pays off, but i am excited for our chances of gaining promotion.

i am going to predict a 2-0 win in notts favour, i think sutton will make it hard with both goals coming in each period of the game. the first and second half. a clean sheet on opening day would be worth its weight in gold for morale and moving forward. its gone slow at times, but only the odd week. pre season has flown by, as did the period we signed the new recruits. it was between those when it seemed to stall.

when asked in the forum after promotion where i felt notts would finish next season, i said 1st but anywhere within the playoffs would be a good achievement. i would not say i expect this, because i am happy with just seeing the club remain in league two. i acknowledge that it is difficult to come up and sometimes things do not go to plan. however, the squad all work hard and luke williams is just amazing with how on point he is. i feel kyle cameron is excited just as much as me, i agree with him that a top 3 place is up for grabs and i can see us doing it things go well.

i think luke williams will be privately fancying our chances, this is just him playing it down but if we play how we know we can. he surely must feel that we are good enough to get the results. he is right though, 10 games in will say a lot and i like his calmness as always. he speaks well, its from the heart and although i believe hes reserved with his own predictions. he shows a understanding that we cant just jump the gun.

i will happily update this when i go for a walk or bike ride, it will be good to encourage a positive change within the community or just to support others.

this past pre season has been better in my opinion in terms of preparation than playing a bunch of local non league teams where the manager does really get the chance to see where potential problems are. the stoke city game shown how we needed to adjust against teams who are stronger and much better on the ball than us. nottingham forest gave us the chance to see how we could adapt and you could see that they were just starting out but we kept them closely marked. i do agree that each game as given luke williams things to think about, i think against teams in league two we should be more comfortable on the ball.

they still play like a national league team imo, but have adapted well to league two. i think they will be quite physical, i dont mean that in a dirty fouling type of way. i mean they will be strong on the ball and use their physicality to try to out strengthen us. i believe we have a good amount of quality, which should be able to perform well. we just need the chances to be taken and to be strong in defence. also, having macaulay langstaff up top would be nice.

i know he was pretty quick a few years back when i watched him play, i dont know much about him but he did catch my eye playing in a cup game. he would be a good signing to cover and push chicksen.

its a very fair from luke williams, i do think that the players will be fine in the season. i am confident that the team and coaching staff can improve on the defensive mistakes. we have a squad filled with good quality at this level and i think its a case of if someone slips up, two others can make up for it. i thought the game was okay, notts had chances to win too.

its good to know junior morias is fully fit now, it will be nice to see him play. our pre season has shown us a lot of insight and the players seem ready for it. sutton will be an interesting start to the season, hopefully we go there with confidence and just get the result we need to kick of our league two campaign well.

a draw is not a bad thing, the first opening goal for us was good. nice volley into the net. we had some other good chances but did not take them. regarding langstaff, supposedly luke williams wanted to rest him ahead of sutton. i dont think its anything serious, probably a precaution as a means to avoid any set backs.

@AmericanPie this has been mentioned on the radio over here, there is nothing racist about it. the issue is those making the connection are properly racist themselves. hes talking about the current state of american with the riots, and madness. not any colour or creed. stupid cancel culture, by bigots and racists themselves. i have been listening to a lot of 80s music as of late.

it sounds like a very good signing, a young promising defender who will have to work hard to get into the team and this should motivate all of the defenders. he looks good on the ball, quite mobile and aware of when he's needed to drop back, instead of just pushing forward. the loan is idea, as it gives us a bit of padding.

i think it is something that could be re-considered, i was not aware that a lot of premier league teams did it. on my travels i have seen many club coaches go past me, dont see the point in flying when you can go in a coach. i dont think a train is very viable for a professional team personally.

i hope we approach it more as if it was a cup game, without risking anyones fitness or injuries but in a way that would send a message that we are ready for the new season. it could be difficult, but having a go and seeing it pay off would be great going into sutton. if we lose or play poorly, blame it on being a friendly.

hes such a down to earth guy, it shines through when he plays on the pitch. i am excited about the squad, i think they will work hard and we should have a good season. with david mcgoldrick coming back, it really does have this special feeling that we could achieve something special. i also still believe we can win the league, but it will go down to form.