Elisa Sam and even Jimmy Knowles seem to have been written off way too early, both offer something different but I can see Sam becoming a powerhouse for us. He looks match fit now, something which has made a difference with his performances on the pitch.

A few more goals from him and I would like to see him start more often with Kyle Wootton.

Thoughts?

If Kyle Wootton gets injured, that could kill our season. 

The reason for this article is with alot of games coming thick and fast the chance of our main goalscorer scorer getting injured becomes inevitable and looking at the options and facts it's quite worrying.

He has 12 league goals the next highest is 3.

Jimmy Knowles - great player but needs someone to play off - can Effiong/Sam do this in the league? 

Eli Sam - mixed bag - some games pass him by other games he's a handful capable of magic. Reliability the question mark here? 

Inih Effiong - so far not delivering much of anything at the moment. Somewhere in there is a good player unfortunately for Notts that player hasn't turned up in a notts shirt yet. 

Tyreace Palmer - young, untried, lightweight, hungry to make a name for himself but lack of any first team experience. 

So should Wootton get injured who do you choose to go up front and why? Is it a partnership or lone striker?

https://www.nottscountyfc.co.uk/news/2021/february/golden-signs-220221/

Slocombe - 7 - Good saves.

DKE - 4.5 - Not one of his crosses caused any problems and that's not only this game.
Rawlinson - 3 - Looked knackered.
Lacey - 3 - Tired
Barnett - 2.5 - Turned inside out, positioning all over the place. Shambles of a performance. Got an assist.

Enzio - 4.5 - Doesn't offer a lot. Slows things down too much.
Reeves - 5 - Was OK.
Doyle - 5 - Overrun
Rodrigues - 4.5 - Not great. Nothing he tried came off.

Knowles - 7 - Positive and gives us width. Always takes risks when his teammates rarely do.
Wootton - 8 - Great double header. Held the ball up well.

Effiong - 0 - Absolute donkey. Why does Ardley keep bringing him on in these situations? He offers nothing apart from giving away needless fouls. 

Ardley - 1 - It's absolute gash and has been for weeks. Trying to hang on to a lucky 2-1 win against Kings Lynn from about the 60th minute - absolutely embarrassing. Let's make no bones about it, these performances are not good enough and the tactics are negative. He will come out no doubt and say his players are knackered and they've played a lot of football etc.... bore off. All teams are in the same boat and I doubt many have the squad size we have. Lots of quantity, **** all quality. 

 

The proof is in the pudding - and in this case, the pudding is a football. In that vein, the proof would be your predictions for these fixtures. These matches all kick off at 7pm on Tuesday, so that's the deadline, and don't forget your jokers. Good luck!

Huddersfield Town v Birmingham City

Millwall v Preston North End

Burton Albion v Bristol Rovers

Doncaster Rovers v Portsmouth

Tranmere Rovers v Newport County

Bradford City v Mansfield Town

Solihull Moors v Dagenham & Redbridge

Altrincham v Woking

Assuming King's Lynn actually turn up.......that's a cheap shot, but they deserve it.........

KL were a bit unlucky to lose to Notts at home and they have responded well with a win and a draw in their last 2. They hammered Barnet 5-1, but Barnet are a shambles so make of that what you will and drew 2-2 at home to Weymouth. KL have nothing to play for. They may not even finish the season. It's bizarre to say the least. It looks they are making an effort so Notts won't walk all over them I'd imagine. I think it will be a high scoring game as KL are throwing caution to the wind based on their last 2 performances. 4-2 to Notts is my prediction. 

Standing between us and a second Wembley appearance in a year are Hornchurch FC from the Isthmian League. The current club is actually a phoenix club, having reformed as AFC Hornchurch in 2005. Neither incarnation has ever played at Wembley, nor do they appear to have crossed paths with Notts before.

I don't think anyone can deny we're the favourites here, as they're the lowest-ranking club left in the competition. They also have the added disadvantage that their season has been stopped, so they'll be a little ring-rusty by the time the semi-final comes around - although that didn't stop them knocking King's Lynn, Maidstone and Darlo out. But let's not start the talk about Wembley and possible ticket allocations yet - they'll still make it difficult for us and will have nothing to lose.

Here are their goals from their quarter-final win over Darlington:

The votes are in, and while the NLN and NLS have voted to void their season, most NL clubs voted to carry on. So carry on we will, at least for the time being.

Dark clouds are looming though. Dover have already taken their ball home with them and declared that they're not going to play any more games. I have the feeling that a clutch of other clubs are waiting to see how the National League deals with them before acting. King's Lynn have only committed to playing until the end of February. The NL have the right to turf Dover out for refusing to play. If they don't, there's no incentive for half the clubs in the league to carry on, what with there being no relegation and no punishment. If several clubs are allowed to mothball their season, it could make the season difficult to finish and would dramatically alter the table.

With no fans and no relegation, some clubs could also field a youth team. It could render some games a farce.

We live in chaotic times...

Happy Birthday @super_ram

I hope you have a great day

Can you wish him a happy birthday.

Former Notts loanee Glenn Roeder has died at the age of just 65. Older fans will remember him as a loanee from QPR at the tail end of our stint in the top flight in the 80s, when he had a dramatic impact and gave us hope of staying up. Jack Dunnett baulked at the transfer fee of 150k, and pledged to pay 75k if the fans donated the other half, giving rise to the infamous Glenn Roeder fund. We didn't sign him, and he ended up joining Newcastle for a successful stint instead while we suffered consecutive relegations. He also had a successful spell as West Ham manager, and was a coach for the England team.

Condolences to everyone close to him.

In a surprising development, we're holding a prediction league round this weekend. Kick-off is 3pm on Saturday, you know what to do. Good luck!

Preston North End v Huddersfield Town

Luton Town v Sheffield Wednesday

Charlton Athletic v Blackpool

Swindon Town v Northampton Town

Walsall v Bradford City

Carlisle United v Oldham Athletic

Bromley v Altrincham

Stockport County v Chesterfield

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Elechi

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Roberts_(footballer,_born_1996)

Slocombe,  6.5 calm assured, could do noting with the deflected goal

Golden 5 Some good, some bad

Rawlinson 6.5 Limited goal scoring threats

Lacey 6 One loose ball but a steady Eddie type performance

Chicksen 4 ( can't credit an assist as the ball was behind Sam), Slater's commentary littered too many times Chicksen has lost the ball... One good defensive challenge though

Wolfe 5.5 Least said about the 1st half, much better in the 2nd

JOB 5.5 One lapse which could have been punished severely but wasnt. Experience head when needed

Miller 6.5 Found some space and did look good on the ball

Knowles 6.5 a better player certainly in the making

Sam  (3) for a woeful 1st half but an overall 7.5 for hitting the target and a wonder goal MotM

Palmer 3  missed a great chance otherwise anonymous

We were missing a topic on this, so I've made one. Our fixture list changes every five minutes, so cut us some slack

So tomorrow we meet Oxford City again. Our last (and only?) meeting with them was an FA Cup 2nd round match in 2017, when we squeaked through 3-2 thanks to a Jorge Grant goal in stoppage time. One man who impressed that day was Oxford defender Christian Oxlade-Chamberlain, who later joined Notts on the strength of his performance (and what a great idea that was). The Hoops were fourth in the National League South and were on a fine run when the season was voided. With 35 goals from 17 games they also know where the net is, so it shouldn't be a walkover.

Many of us have been critical about the decision to carry on with the FA Trophy given The Situation, but this is an opportunity for the team to get its mojo back with no league points at stake. We're now also just two wins away from a possible Wembley final in front of actual fans...

Thoughts?

Game 27 - The Hatters (A)

Team: Stockport County

Date: 23/02/2021

Where: Edgeley Park

What line-up should Neal Ardley opt for? What will be the key areas for the Magpies to get a victory? What do you think the final score will be?

Have your say below, join in with the Pride of Nottingham match discussion.

http://www.wearebrighton.com/newsopinion/shrewd-stockport-appoint-brighton-u23-boss-simon-rusk-as-manager/

Pilling - 6 - Dropped a couple again, took too many risks with ball at his feet again, made a couple of good saves again.

DKE - 5.5 - Not as good as he has been previously. Not enough contribution going forward.
Lacey - 7 - Dominated.
Rawlinson - 8 - Colossal. 
Barnet - 5 - Felt like Walker had the beating of him. Distribution poor at times and caught out positionally also.

Enzio - 5.5 - He was OK, but rarely threatened.
Doyle - 6.5 - Did his job well. Didn't give them too much space and passed well when he could.
Roofe - 5.5 - A bit more athleticism, but also his distribution was poor at times. Ran past the line on occasion.
O'Brien - 5.5 - He was decent, but unspectacular. 

Wootton - 5.5 - Feel sorry for him as his only service really was being hoofed up to him, but didn't win anything.
Rodrigues - 5.5 - Again, feel sorry for him as rarely given quality ball in space. 

Roberts - N/A - don't think he touched the ball, but great to see him back.
Knowles - N/A - don't think he touched the ball.

Ardley tactics - 3 - Some might see that as a point gained. I just don't see us winning the league if we can't beat that Stockport team. They can't score, neither can we and that's the sort of game you get. Too above average sides play out a bore draw.


A note for their commentators. I think they should have had about 27 penalties if their co-commentator was anything to go by, including for fouls done by their own players. Baffling attempt at being objective, despite repeatedly claiming to be. Highlight was when he repeated praise for the freekick, saying Pilling was nowhere near it.... he was right, because it was a good 4 feet the wrong side of the post and it hit the advertising board. 

For their goal, it's impossible to tell if Rooney was offside. I initially thought he looked offside, but despite their repeated claims that another player was onside, then later saying Rooney was onside too, they never showed us anything close to an angle that would've told you. Normally I'd take their word for it, but as they were so biased throughout, I'll reserve judgement. 

Why did they think that was a great game to watch? It wasn't! It was terrible. I can't remember a decent passage of play, all the chances came through swinging balls in with the wind, hardly Barcelona. 

 

As Albert Camus once said, "the struggle itself towards the heights is enough to fill a man's heart". In that vein, here's the PON prediction league. These matches kick off at 7pm on Tuesday, and remember your jokers!

Derby County v Huddersfield Town

Middlesbrough v Bristol City

Bristol Rovers v Wigan Athletic

Oxford United v Portsmouth

Bradford City v Leyton Orient

Carlisle United v Tranmere Rovers

Wrexham v Hartlepool United

Solihull Moors v Torquay United

Game 28 - The Magpies (A)

Team: Maidenhead United

Date: 27/02/2021

Where: York Road

What line-up should Neal Ardley opt for? What will be the key areas for the Magpies to get a victory? What do you think the final score will be?

Have your say below, join in with the Pride of Nottingham match discussion.

Am i right in thinking this is the first bit of business Notts have ever done with Salford City?... We have signed many players over the years, is there any clubs left that we have never done business with? 

It seems that from 17th May fans will be allowed back in football grounds.  It will be limited to 10,000 or 25% of stadium capacity, whichever is smaller.  That means we could get almost 5,000 for our final home game against Weymouth on May 22nd.  Hopefully this is a light at the end of the tunnel.

Just wondering if anybody has seen any official figures about the live streaming.... I personally have watched all the games home and away and on the whole have been satisfied with this service...... Any information would be appreciated... 

Derby day. Notts won away 3-2. Notts were 2-1 down in the 90th minute. 2 goals in injury time turned the game on its head and the Pies returned to Nottingham with all 3 points. Chesterfield are unbeaten in 3 but they haven't played since January 30th so they are bound to be rusty. Notts are flying and have the winning habit. I think it could be a tough game. Chesterfield will be well up for it but Notts have momentum. It could be a cracking game. 4-2 to Notts is my prediction. 

We're getting to the business end of the season (or at least The Proper Leagues are), so get your predictions in and get some points! Kick-off is 3pm on Saturday, and remember your jokers...

Bristol City v Barnsley

Reading v Middlesbrough

Ipswich Town v Oxford United

Doncaster Rovers v Hull City

Newport County v Forest Green Rovers

Salford City v Carlisle United

Altrincham v Boreham Wood

Eastleigh v Stockport County