i was at the game on my own, thought barnet stuck well to their game plan and that was very disruptive to the way notts like to play. it made it difficult to counter and pass, they did very well to control the play.

started with keeping it scrappy and in the air, which suited them but when it was played on the floor, they attacked with a lot of threat. Thankfully, we forced them into shooting more from distance and the 8 minutes seemed a bit annoying when it was announced, to score in the final minutes i take it back. out fans were great thought the 100+ minutes.

I felt the game yesterday was all that's wrong with English lower league football. Barnet suffocated us with there tactics There sole intention was to stop us playing and in the end they got what they deserved. It's not good to watch. But for once we coped with it and got what we deserved.

I wouldn't go that far @McPie. It's awful when teams spoil, time waste, camp in a low block, but when they stop you through a strong man-on-man press in your territory and launch attacks from there I don't think you can have any complaints.

Brennan had a great game plan yesterday. In his post-match he kind of conceded that we got back into the game by changing shape. Good on Pato for doing that twice. For games like that there's a case for changing the shape from the start because coaches like Brennan are ready for you with what you usually do.

And Pato's interview was excellent I thought. The game was poor(ish) because too many of our players were off it in terms of pass and move and retaining the ball. I think it was about half the team - Jones and Tsaroulla, Macari, Hall and Iorpenda, RodMac in the 1st half, Robbo in the 2nd. All of those were hard-working and combative, but none had their best games on the ball. So lots of room for improvement and optimism, starting at the County Ground on Tuesday.

He dropped a couple of high balls in his first match or two. Hardly ever have I seen so much angst and despair over so little :)

But to help those struggling to move on, and judge him on his excellent last half dozen games instead, maybe he changed his gloves

i think there are times when comments are not forgiving and pre established opinions control the narrative but i do understand the criticism. a lot of members on pon have been fair, giving him credit for improving but its different on social media which at times is ott. for me, his mistakes make me nervous, he can do well but he is prone to causing trouble. that said, he dont always get a fair reflection of his performances and notts fans have always been critical of keepers.

I never look at X or places like that @liampie. I thought it was bad enough on here and on podcasts, so I can well imagine how terrible it was elsewhere.

Yes, he made a slow and shaky start to a new job, but he stabilised and turned it around.

I keep on repeating this but I love the mentality when he receives the ball. He's in sync with most fans in looking for ways to start a new attack, even if it's a quick roll-out short. Other keepers we've had in recent years had different, old-fashioned instincts - I have the ball, safely safely, look all around, keep hold of it, let the lads push up. To me Roos is more like Kaspar, you can see he wants to be positive and start something.

Just watched the full match replay and defensively we we're outstanding. For me MoM was a close thing run thing between Roos and McDonald. I think it was Roos's best game to date and for all the criticism he has received would have been well deserving of the award. But Rod McDonald was absolutely outstanding for the whole game. He headed and blocked everything. Without him today we would have lost this game. So my MoM is Rod McDonald.

kelle roos, i thought notts could have been much better and the win felt amazing. roos is the reason we would have left with a point, had hall not scored.

I was hoping we'd get him straight after we were promoted. Now the moment's gone I think. He's already on a level with us.

Is he usually as wasteful with the ball as he was yesterday? If so, that'd be really frustrating. Pass.

yes, he looked very good. a lot of barnet players tried keeping it in the air early on but kanu looked a real threat when they switched to the floor.

Your Friday Weather 4cast.

Your Saturday Weather 4cast.

Your Sunday Weather 4cast.

Connections
Puzzle #859
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Connections
Puzzle #860
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That was a hard one, the green was a good guess, & the purple forget it.

Connections
Puzzle #861
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2 hours ago, Robbie said:

@super_ram That last word I'd never heard of.

If you mean 'traipse' it's a word I've not heard in a long time.My mum used to say it ,perhaps it's more a northern word as she was from Bradford or it may just have fallen out of usage

Strands #594
“Get to work ...”
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Strands #595
“For the picking”
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#waffle1366 4/5

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🔥 streak: 555
👑 #waffleroyalty
wafflegame.net

#waffle1366 3/5

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🔥 streak: 33
🥈 #wafflesilverteam
wafflegame.net

#waffle1367 2/5

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🔥 streak: 34
🥈 #wafflesilverteam
wafflegame.net

Wordle 1,583 3/6

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Wordle 1,583 2/6

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Oh and no mention of the words 'board' and 'technical' in any particular order.

I think that's for the best, as it was a mistake which put unnecessary pressure on people and scrutiny of the process. Let that kind of thing happen informally

I wonder if the technical board was put in place because the owners didn't have the same confidence in Roberto Gagliardi as they do with Richard Montague? I think his increased responsibility seems to suggest they trust him more to deliver what they want.

RM was on the Tube after the game. He's still living in Swansea. Seems like an affable bloke. His return is most welcome.

That's the Problem when your Owner has a Massive Ego and Fails to Keep it in Check. Big Ange has always said he wins something in his Second Season. Trouble is Will He Get That Long?

I don’t see why Notts fans wouldn’t talk about other clubs nearby. Forest and Mansfield are part of the same area, and the rivalry makes it more fun. It’s alright to share news about them if you want to. Just talk about what you feel okay with.

I don’t think they’ll finish higher than 8th again. It’s good when they do well and get into the Premier League because it helps the area. But every club has fans that get on your nerves, even ours sometimes.

14 hours ago, Dripsey3 said:

I'm surprised Forest have doors big enough to fit Marinakis's ego.

I didn’t like that you stopped at ego, but yeah, double doors do exist.

So their latest Manager has been sacked after eight games. How things have gone pear shaped for them. Why oh why does a club change a successful Head Coach & break up the makings of a successful team? It's definitely looks like a case of self harm.

I'm so pleased that Notts have owners with sensible heads on their shoulders.

Another cloudy ,miserable day here in Aspley but I'm not bothered because I'm all packed and ready to be collected by @Chris & @cheeky~k8 this evening.We're all off to sunny Skegvegas tomorrow morning.I've been informed we'll be catching a taxi at 5am ,which means a very early start to the day.There was a time when I was used to getting up very early but that was before I retired and I'm now used to getting up just when I feel ike it.I hope everyone has a nice day.

The kind of Notts win today that gives hope that Notts can go places this season.

Birmingham 1-0 Hull City

West Brom 2-0 Preston

Blackpool 1-1 Wycombe

Doncaster 2-1 Northampton

Grimsby 3-2 Gillingham🤡

Newport 1-0 Cheltenham

Altrincham 1-1 Woking

Brackley 1-1 Gateshead

To everyone: THIS is the thread for this week's prediction league; several of you have posted in last week's thread, which is now locked. Luckily, you seem to have posted this round's fixtures in the other thread, so I can count them and you don't need to post again. If any more of you have predictions, you can post them here before 3pm as usual. Thanks @Robbie for bringing this to my attention.

Here are mine:

Birmingham City 2-1 Hull City

West Bromwich Albion 1-1 Preston North End

Blackpool 0-1 Wycombe Wanderers

Doncaster Rovers 0-1 Northampton Town (joker)

Grimsby Town 2-1 Gillingham

Newport County 1-0 Cheltenham Town

Altrincham 1-1 Woking

Brackley Town 1-1 Gateshead

Birmingham City 2-1 Hull City

West Bromwich Albion 2-2 Preston North End

Blackpool 1-2 Wycombe Wanderers 🃏

Doncaster Rovers 2-0 Northampton Town

Grimsby Town 1-0 Gillingham

Newport County 1-2 Cheltenham Town

Altrincham 1-1 Woking

Brackley Town 1-3 Gateshead

Looks a harsh sending off

Notts's Emirates FA Cup first-round trip to Brackley will kick off at 5.30pm on Saturday 1 November after being selected for live television coverage

£50k fees into #Notts coffers

There is no rule against this and the richest clubs will want to do it, however this Country now has a football regulator in place thanks to government legislation.

I'm sure that the Government could introduce legislation to prevent League matches from being played abroad.

The wishes of the fans who support their Club either at home or away should be paramount & I'm convinced a majority of fans will be against this..

This development goes against the very spirit of the game where teams had home advantage & it was always more difficult for the away side

Allowing clubs to play league matches abroad also alters the mechanics of the league system where a club has, for example in the Premier League 19 home matches & 19 away matches.

Surely a club could rightfully feel aggrieved if they were beaten to the league championship by just a narrow margin & the other club got that narrow margin by winning a game at a neutral venue when that club was deemed the away side. This development will change the game completely.

Nice words from Brian Clough.

I remember that First Division Match between Nottingham Forest & Notts in October 1983 at the City Ground well.

The Notts team was

McDonagh, Worthington, Kilcline, Goodwin, Benjamin, O'Neil, Hunt, Harkouk, Fashanu, Chidozie, Christie

Sub, Richards

Notts Manager: Larry Lloyd

Notts lost 1:3 after taking the lead from a penalty converted by Trevor Christie.

Attendance was 26,658

I was there in the Bridgford end but can't remember much about it. Was that the one where one of our players, maybe David Hunt, got sent off late on for cleaning out a Forest player who was shielding the ball in the corner?

This was around the time Forest played Celtic home and away in the UEFA cup, incredible numbers of Celtic fans that night, came close to being a tragedy apparently.

It was even worse than that @Sheffield Pie Justin Fashanu got himself sent off as well as David Hunt in the 2nd half of that match.

I guessed all the words (58 out of 58) in today's Squares puzzle.
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Can you guess this puzzle?
https://squares.org/

I played https://squares.org #596:

52/52 words

Rettel #704 24pts

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https://rettelgame.com/rettel

What's happened to the Bass cash?

Valued at around £400,000, or so it’s said, you’d think there might be better bargains out there for that kind of money. I’m fairly sure the fee for Alex Bass is still sitting in the pot.

https://www.transfermarkt.co.uk/martin-turk/profil/spieler/700643

I would still be interested if he was available come January

This is a great outcome for him and Notts. All offences prior to him joining us and he wasn’t involved in the games - fair enough.

Excellent news all round really.

Great news for Lewis and the team. He can now concentrate fully on playing not having that hanging over him. A good all round footballer just been given the chance for glory. Please take it. 🙏

Probably a sensible decision made, as the offences were of a lesser nature than of Jamie Jellis at Walsall

I agree with the hits, I’ve liked what I’ve seen from all three of them so far and I’ve been impressed with both Iorpenda and Hall in what is effectively their first proper run of competitive football.

I perhaps wouldn’t go as far as saying Kouhyar, Bennetts and Norburn are misses. I think I’d stick them in the neither, but I think part of that is that I’ve not seen a lot of them. I think Bennetts is most likely to be a hit by the end of the season and in his last two matches I’ve been impressed by Kouhyar. Norburn has had good and bad games, but I think part of that is him and Palmer seem to clash when they play together.

I’d be tempted to put Cotter in the miss section; he’s like a more athletic and physical version of Gordon but sloppier on the ball. And he scares me when he’s defending.

Out of the players that we signed either on permanent or loan, for me the hits are Dennis, Iorpenda, Hall & I would included Luker, but he's now become injured & returned to his parent club.

Of the others I would describe Roos as a big miss but he could improve, so I'm not ruling him out just yet. But I would pencil in a replacement for him in January if there isn't a big improvement.

Of the others, I think they are probably near misses who are ok as squad players, those players being Aljofree, Bennetts, Cotter, Norburn & Kouhyar

Of course anyone of these players can improve & Martin Paterson has challenged all of them to fight for a place. Personally I want Will Jarvis to be given a chance now that Luker has become unavailable.

I would send Traoré out on loan to a National League Club to get some game time. We also have Ness waiting in the wings, & Platt is recovering & is on his way back to fitness, so competition for places is certainly going to get hot, & Martin will love it.

Agree with @Robbie and @YoopEyes this is a bad new, he was just starting to find his form. The only positive is it paves the way for Tyrese Hall and Tom Iorpenda to cement the places in the team.

It's a real blow. He'd shown how well he could link up with Jatta and especially Hall. It looked like he had goals and assists in him.

Knee surgery is more often a big deal than a minor clean up. We might not see him back at all.

I hope this opens a window for Jarvis to feature

I was just thinking that @theAnticlough as bad as it is for Jayden we aren’t exactly short of players who could replace him. We’ve seen Hall and Iorpenda seemingly as the two favourites now but Jarvis, Grant and Kouhyar should all be desperate to force their way into the space he's left.

I do feel for Jayden though, because he was just starting to look like he’d have a big part to play for us this season. The statement just says knee and I hope it’s something not as bad as an ACL, we’ve not had much luck with those recently and they can be hard to come back from.