ARLukomski

Notts County 1-1 Torquay United - Positives to take but things to work on

Probably out of the title race now. Not been on my game this year. Head's been in another place

Barnsley 2-1 Birmingham City Fulham 2-1 Stoke City Charlton Athletic 2-1 Crewe Alexandra Oxford United 1-1 Lincoln City Barrow 2-1 Bristol Rovers Hartlepool United 1-1 Carlisle United (Joker) Boreham Wood 2-0 Aldershot Town Dagenham & Redbridge 1-1 Bromley

Lesson number 1 of managing Elliott Hewitt. Never ever play him at right-back. All he has to do is watch our 4-0 loss to Yeovil in August 2018 and see our woeful he was there. Although he is welcome to continue playing him there if it means, he costs them points

Barnet 0-5 Notts County - Sensational performance and amazing support on opening day

2021/22 National League predictions

Coventry City 2-1 Reading Stoke City 2-1 Nottingham Forest Fleetwood Town 1-2 Cheltenham Town Shrewsbury Town 1-1 Plymouth Argyle Hartlepool United 1-1 Walsall (Joker) Scunthorpe United 1-2 Sutton United Halifax Town 0-1 Maidenhead United King's Lynn Town 2-2 Southend United

Less said the better

Millwall 1-1 Fulham Peterborough United 0-2 Cardiff City AFC Wimbledon 2-1 Gillingham Oxford United 2-0 Crewe Alexandra Wigan Athletic 1-2 Wycombe Wanderers (Joker) Bristol Rovers 1-1 Oldham Athletic Port Vale 1-0 Carlisle United Walsall 1-0 Scunthorpe United

Burchnall said in the week, they had been working on defensive situations which is good to hear. Just need to apply it when it matters. E.g. the willingness and determination to get to the ball first from a cross or a set piece and clear it. At least they are seeing the areas of weakness and are working to try and fix them issues. When the set piece coach is appointed, I'm sure that will help. Still think we need a centre-back with pace as we can be suspect to a ball over the top. The injury to Lewis Knight has also left us with a gaping hole up front, in terms of the absence of a pressing, pacey striker. Palmer's decision making with the ball is something I'm very pleased about. He says a forward pass quickly and that gives him the chance to link the play with either, his fellow centre mid or a player further forward, to get us on front foot. O'Brien's 3rd man runs, forward running and energy helped us get back into it. Rodrigues making space for the other forward players and his ball carrying is was massively key too. Decision making needs to improve at the back. There's a time to control the game with possession and slow it down and a time where you need to up the intensity and get it to the wings or through the centre of midfield and get on the front foot. There's having possession, but you have to use it with purpose and you must play through the thirds quickly, with slick passing and pressing forward with the ball. There are times we have played ourselves out of a sticky situation at the back (e.g. Derby) but when the time comes to get rid, get rid of it.

Barnsley 1-1 Coventry City (Joker) Hull City 1-2 Queens Park Rangers Lincoln City 2-0 Fleetwood Town Morecambe 2-1 Shrewsbury Town Sheffield Wednesday 1-1 Doncaster Rovers Bradford City 1-0 Oldham Athletic Mansfield Town 1-1 Newport County Rochdale 2-1 Scunthorpe United

Great signing for them but we shouldn't be going crazy like everything is bad in our world because of this signing, or the fact we haven't signed a "proven goalscorer." Take his pens away, he has the same league goals as Wootton last season. Also, he has been bought in to start for Chesterfield, whilst we bought Mitchell in to provide competition for Wootton. We have also got more threats than just KW. Mitchell can contribute, then there's Ruben, Roberts, Palmer, Nemane and O'Brien. Mitchell's goalscoring for King's Lynn, when he's played the full 90 (as mentioned in another post) is decent. Wootton has scored 13 and 15 in his last two seasons respectively (in the league) and 18 and 16 respectively (in all competitions). He also contributes assists and hold up play, bringing players into the game, which is good news for Roberts, Ruben, Palmer, Nemane etc. These players can help Wootton as well and every players finishing can be worked on in training. The two promoted teams from last season (Sutton and Hartlepool) didn't have a player who scored 15 or more. I'm also hopeful that we'll be able to keep our key players fit as Cameron and Vincent have mentioned that the fitness and physio side of things is under good control with Marco and Craig. Remember Ruben played Sat-Tue-Sat during the run in last season and was a constant fixture in the team. I also hope this means, Lewis Knight's return to action will be handled well.

Basically tweeted mine out - Played some great football - Mitchell looked good, running in behind and linking up the play - Nemane and Taylor were threats going forward - Cal Roberts looks back to his best - Conceded poor goals - A little suspect at set pieces - Need a bit of work on decision making

I think I remember Burchnall saying he would only turn to loans for cover incase of injuries, or if it was the right fit and they thought it was worth doing. This might have to be the case because of Lewis Knight's injury. I'm absolutely gutted about his injury, as he was just getting up to speed and showing good signs in pre-season and after the signing of Mitchell, our depth up front seemed fine, but now his injury is worse than first thought, we might need a short term loan to cover, whilst he recovers. Imagine he will be back October/November time.

GK Sam Slocombe GK Tiernan Brooks RB/CB Richard Brindley RB Dion Kelly-Evans CB Alex Lacey CB Connell Rawlinson CB Kyle Cameron LB Joel Taylor LB/CB Adam Chicksen CM Ed Francis CM Matt Palmer CM/CAM Jim O'Brien CM Frank Vincent CM Michael Doyle W/CAM Cal Roberts W Elisha Sam W/RWB Aaron Nemane CAM/ST Ruben Rodrigues ST Kyle Wootton ST Kairo Mitchell ST Lewis Knight ST Tyreace Palmer Good versatility within the squad with several players able to play different positions. Also a very flexible team and if we have to adapt mid-game and switch formation, I am sure we will do so, just fine. I think Burchnall and the coaching staff will help develop the new signings and the other young players into better players. Francis, Vincent, Knight, Nemane, Tyreace and Mitchell to name some. Really looking forward to this season, probably more than any other season before. The whole positive atmosphere around the club is the best I've known it before the start of a season. The connection between players, staff and fans is excellent.

Bristol City 1-1 Blackpool Luton Town 2-2 Peterborough United Cambridge United 1-2 Oxford United Rotherham United 2-0 Plymouth Argyle (Joker) Sunderland 1-1 Wigan Athletic Exeter City 1-1 Bradford City Hartlepool United 2-1 Crawley Town Tranmere Rovers 0-0 Walsall

If you break his scoring down it's a bit more reassuring. In the 20 games he played for KLT, he played the whole 90 minutes, in 8 of those games. In those 8 games, he scores in 5 of them, scoring 7 goals in total. Wealdstone (H) ️️ Dover (H) Notts (A) ️ Woking (A) Wealdstone (A) ️ Hartlepool (H) ️ Torquay (A) Altrincham (H) ️️ Also, had only three, full 90 minute appearances for morals fc. I don't think a permanent goalscorer coming in, would have been happy to sit on the bench behind Wootton for the majority of the season. At the end of the day, why would you drop Kyle, Rodri or Roberts? He looked like he was developing into a decent player and showing signs of potential, towards the end of his spell with King's Lynn. I don't expect him to be the finished article, especially when he's only 23 and this means we can develop him as a player even more, and that is something IB is excellent at doing. He helped Chicksen, Reeves, Rodrigues and Miller last season. He even got the best out of Jim O'Brien and he's 33. Seems like a player in-between Wootton and Knight. Not a natural target man but can still hold it up well, but has a fair amount of pace on him.

Thought we gave a good account of ourselves. Palmer and Francis look like an excellent central midfield pairing. The best I've felt about our midfield for a while. Francis has a great left foot and a good pass on him, whilst Palmer has such good intelligence when in possession and out of it. He knows when to press and when not to, when to bring the ball forward and make the clinical pass. Superb piece of business. Taylor looks strong. Had a good battle against his opposite number who seemed to be equal with him for pace. Got into some good attacking positions and linked up well with Cameron and Francis. Cameron looked comfortable on the ball and a threat in the air. With Nemane, it's about getting game time into his legs and getting him minutes because, he's a bit behind the other players in terms of preparation. Created good opportunities with plenty of slick passing. Encouraging signs all over. Still need a striker but IB said that one looks like it's virtually wrapped up now, in his post match interview.

I found this an intriguing read. We really are going into every little detail possible to help us improve further.

Thought Hondermarck, Wright and Taylor played well. Hondermarck has got a good engine on him and helps us in transition, especially on the counter. Wright had his best game yet, linking up the play and pressing well. Taylor was always looking to make them runs in behind to stretch their defence

https://www.nottscountyfc.co.uk/news/2021/july/vacancy-first-team-coach-260721/ Very intriguing this. Looks like we are looking even further into key match details and how we can get better in every part of the pitch. Even the smaller, finer details

I will release a full predictions video on my channel in the coming weeks. At the moment I think us and Stockport are looking good. Wrexham have the strike force (Mullin and Hyde) but I don't think they have the squad. Dan Jarvis and Luke Young are good but they need improvements elsewhere. Brisley and Lennon does not inspire me with confidence in defence. Southend won't be near the promotion places in my opinion. There is still a lot of things wrong with the club behind the scenes. Grimsby will do better I feel, battling in and around the play-offs. Paul Hurst knows this division, however their transfer business has been inconsistent. Ben Fox, Erico Sousa and Adam Crookes are decent but Shaun Pearson and Ryan Taylor are players I've never rated. Chesterfield could be in the mix again but I dont they'll have enough to crack the top 3. Rowe did well getting them up the table last season. Signing Jack Clarke permanently is a good piece of business but think their midfield needs improvement further back from the CAM spot (where Clarke will play). Don't rate their defence much tbf. Torquay have lost key players but they are good at buying under 23 players who didn't get a look in at clubs in the top two divisions and they take them on and improve them. They've also managed to keep Lemonheigh-Evans, Lewis, Little, Andrews with Danny Wright and Asa Hall adding to a strong spine. Boreham Wood look decent and will have a lot of energy from midfield in Rees and Raymond. Mendy may be a smart signing too. They've kept Tshimanga as well for the time being. Bromley improved towards the back end of last season, especially in defence. Andy Woodman made them difficult to beat and they should do well again this time around. Solihull under Neal Ardley could be quite intriguing. They've tried to change their style over the last few seasons now but it hasn't got going. They could be a great match for each other and Harry Boyes and Ryan Barnett are good signings.

Just seen Wrexham had signed Mullin (I'd already started writing this but didn't finish it when he signed). It's a great signing but it's a squad game and in my opinion Notts' squad is better and we just need a striker to back up Wootton. We've got goals to come from Roberts, Rodrigues and Nemane, as well as Wootton. Hey IB even got O'Brien scoring last season. I'd still imagine Torquay might be strong. They're good at taking under 23 players from the top two divisions, that haven't had a look in, and developing them into better players. Connor Lemonheigh-Evans, Jake Andrews, Kyle Cameron and Joe Lewis are all examples. So I'd imagine Keelan O'Connell, Ali Omar and Dan Martin may benefit. Tom Lapslie is also a smart capture. Bromley have had a slow start to the transfer window and I imagine will be waiting for loans from around the clubs as well as any other deals they are waiting to tie up. Boreham Wood have signed decently. Josh Rees can score goals from midfield and Jacob Mendy could develop more, after his stint Wealdstone.

Been thinking about this and to keep the side balanced but extracting the most out of the team attacking wise I'd go with... GK Sam Slocombe RCB Alex Lacey CB Connell Rawlinson LCB Kyle Cameron RWB Richard Brindley CM Matty Palmer CM Ed Francis LWB Joel Taylor CAM/W Cal Roberts ST/W Ruben Rodrigues ST Kyle Wootton Depending on formation, Roberts can play in the 10 and Ruben up top and have free roam (like the back end of last season). Or both can play either side of KW in a kind of 343. We can also introduce Nemane into that formation too. Francis to be the holding midfielder and one of the set piece takers. He's already said about how the club wanted him to be Doyle's replacement. Palmer to play the role like Reeves did towards the end of last season with a bit more spice. With the schedule, there will be constant squad rotation so, there probably won't be no set starting x1. Brindley to balance us at RWB as Taylor can get forward. Allows Cameron to step out of defence a bit and Brindley can cover as a third centre-back. He can also get forward on his day too. Exciting battle for the right-back slot nonetheless. Still believe we need more striker and maybe cover at centre half unless Chicksen is alternating between LWB and CB.