When you haven't got two players in your side who scored 36 goals between them last season & another player who was the mainstay in central midfield, you are going to miss them no matter what side you are.

It's harsh to say it's horrendous that we didn't go up; we should have, and I think had we managed to cover the squad's injuries better, we might have stayed on course. Having three players listed is great, but there have been teams that have struggled in the past and still have made the Team of the Season. I am not entirely sure why some of these awards are so late to be announced.

It should have been done at least by the end of pre-season.

Update

Substitutions for Notts.

Full Time.

Defeat for Notts despite a spirited performance against a side one tier above them.

Hard luck, ladies!

Derby County women would be expected to win this game, so I don't think it's done them any injustice or shown our girls up. I am encouraged to see how they do and wish them more success in the league.

PS. Even though the graphics are basic, they are a million times nicer to look at now.

Good job to the person(s) providing the updates.

Forward Takiah Parkes signs up for her third year at Notts.

A new signing for Notts. Experienced defender, Hayleigh Sutton arrives from Sutton Coldfield Town.

Manager Adam Dunleavy added: “We are really pleased to get Hayleigh over the line & welcome her to Notts! Hayleigh is a player we've had our eye on for a while, with bags of FA Women’s National League experience in this division & the one above, including a promotion from tier 4. 

A fresh face before tonight’s game.
We’re delighted to welcome talented midfielder Chloe Greaves to the club

The one and only, Matt Palmer. Easy, and I didn't have to think long about it.

The poll has now closed. Thanks to all of the 50 members who voted in the poll.

We had a close poll this time with Nick Tsaroula & Matt Palmer vying for the top spot, however I'm very pleased to announce that Matt Palmer has been voted the Pride of Nottingham's Man of the Match for his performance against Barrow. Congratulations Matt.

Well done to Matt Palmer, that's two Man of the Matches so far.

I wish Barrow's was under different circumstances, because some might feel it's solely due to how poor the others were, but I do think he's been one of our better players in the three games we've played. I really hope he can continue that impact and help kick the others into upping their own game.

That’ll be a huge relief to the fans. I hope they can now move on and get back to playing football.

This is great news for the fans of Morecambe & for football generally. But I hope that lessons have been learned & Clubs around the land will be protected from this sort of thing happening again, by ensuring good governance has to be a prerequisite for owning a football club.

Jason Whittingham and everyone else who was part of the Bond Group should be black-listed from owning a football club now.

Really pleased for them but it should never have got to this point. I wonder if Morecambe have any players contracted? Not really had a pre-season either so it's going to be a real challenge to avoid back to back relegations.

I see what you did there @Piethagoram 😂

I read that the story about the breakdown isn’t true. It sounds like the coach driver swung the turn too wide and ended up getting stuck.

Has the club said anything about it yet? I haven’t seen any official comment.

@themightymagpies , and if past Communications from the Club to the Fans is anything to go by, You Won't.

I think it's an ardous task from here from MP. He's already looking a bit bereft at the questioning in terms of "why are we not performing in the first half for matches" or "where are we in signing a number 9 when we desperately need one".

I think Shrewsbury will be one of the biggest matches for him and moreso for us this season. If we can't step up to the plate with this team, then we'll really struggle when other teams are more solidly gelled in the upcoming weeks and months.

I thought Sonny Aljofree played fine; admittedly, I struggled to see the 2nd half, but in the first half he did well.

His issue was, in my eyes, down to Kellan Gordon being inconsistent and indecisive. The issue for me was Rod McDonald did well enough, but Jacob Bedeau has had a very poor start to the season. Watching him is quite frustrating because he will do something good, then make a rushed pass. He gets the ball in space, then lunges forward with no purpose, then passes the ball back.

For me, the issue is the major lack of movement and communication seems to be quite nonexistent.

When we get the ball, we try to pass it around in a way that makes it difficult to move forward because so many players have it drilled into their heads that they must stay behind the ball or in line with it.

Despite my comments about Bedeau, it's the midfield that is holding us back.

There's zero desire to get forward, no neat overlays, no support. Everything good that Barrow did as a team, we did just as poorly. Barrow is a sly, physical team, but they attacked the game well. They deserved the goal, and if pulling off a lucky goal near the end is enough to say we were denied a point based on our performance, I am sorry to say I don't think we deserved anything from the game.

For me to find fewer positives than negatives is really a sign of how bad it is. Notts didn't even play well enough for 5 minutes, let alone 30.

In the dying moments of the game, we sneak a goal, which was well taken, and I wished more than anything Matthew Dennis had more of a reason to celebrate his goal rather than being pushed into it. Our shape is also a major problem with harder-working teams, as they don't have to stretch the play to create chances; they can just overload us, and then the pressure becomes too much, leading to a very well-executed goal, even though at the game there were doubts over offside.

Notts are neither good in goal, defensively, nor from an attacking point of view.

I am inclined to believe that, upon reflection and hindsight, our slow recruitment and German tour were nothing but a hindrance. We have overloaded the midfield with so many players that need to get to the same speed, and this must be improved in training. As for games, I don't think Matty Platt made any difference. He gave the ball away more than Bedeau and looked generally clumsy, which is strange.

Paterson needs to get the players talking; he needs to drill in the desire of wanting the ball and movement.

The players have to work harder, but despite what I feel is fair and constructive criticism, I am not going to abuse them, no matter how far I have traveled and no matter how long I have supported the club. What disappoints me the most is some fans behaviour, their excuses to be abusive. Though these are probably the first to celebrate them when things are going well, if you truly loved Notts vent fairly and don't ruin the game for others with nonsense.

Are you seeking memorable experiences? Accept the bad in hopes of better days; otherwise, I fail to see how those types of supporters are any better than mercenary players who have zero connection to the teams they represent.

The game against Barrow sadly brought back memories of the Jamie Fullarton era. Notts were poor at the back and didn’t look like they could cause any problems for the opposition, let alone score. It was unsettling to watch Notts struggle to build any momentum. They kept losing the ball under pressure and couldn’t seem to keep hold of it.

Barrow were quick to win the ball back, often just as fast as Notts gave it away. It was a really bad showing all round.

Howard Wilkinson's preferred formation was 4-4-2. During Howards time as Manager of Notts in 1982/83, over 42 years ago, Goalkeepers most of the time cleared their lines to the centre field, & possession was for the most part, won there.

Football was a different game in those days & possession was judged specifically on not how long a team had the ball, but what they did with the ball when they had possession of it.

The 3-4-2-1 formation that Notts have adopted didn't gain traction Until the last decade when Chelsea under Conte used it successfully.

Playing out from the back 100% of the time does have an element of risk. We saw it just the other week with the Roos clanger. We saw it under Williams, & under Maynard, now we've seen it under Paterson.

When opposing teams employ an aggressive high press against Notts (most teams do at ML) our goalkeeper distribution to defenders & central midfielders & defenders passing across the back line is risky & it always will be.

Good morning it’s a lovely start to the day, I’m a lazy bones so far, it’s 9.33 and I’m not dressed. I might watch the Fword match on telly this afternoon I hope Brentford win, I’ll be rooting for them.

What’s everyone else up to today?

My own preference is for sweet potatoes nowadays. Although succumbed to a chip cob whilst waiting for trains at Lancaster yesterday

My mum would always cook fish and chips on a Friday. I didn't like fish as a boy because of the bones, but my mum would bake a steak pie, so I would have my chips, pie & mushy peas ( home made mushy peas), every Friday or alternatively fish fingers

@Robbie as a boy did you call your mother mum or mam, mine was always mam, I thought mam was common locally or perhaps it was just me.

It seems to have gone out of favour now.

Preston North End 1-3 Leicester City

Swansea City 1-2 Sheffield United 🃏

Leyton Orient 2-2 Stockport County

Reading 1-0 AFC Wimbledon

Barnet 3-2 Walsall

Tranmere Rovers 1-0 Gillingham

Aldershot 0-0 Boston United

Hartlepool United 2-0 Braintree Town

Thanks for playing everyone, I'll post the points tomorrow.

A heads-up - there will be another round on Tuesday evening, so I'll post the next batch of fixtures tomorrow morning!

The results:

Preston North End 2-1 Leicester City
Swansea City 1-0 Sheffield United
Leyton Orient 2-2 Stockport County
Reading 1-2 AFC Wimbledon
Barnet 1-2 Walsall
Tranmere Rovers 1-1 Gillingham
Aldershot 2-3 Boston United
Hartlepool United 2-0 Braintree Town

@Blake , @Countyman , @Dan , @OoooooTommy and @theAnticlough share the honours this week, congrats to all of you!

Overall, @magpiejue reclaims top spot from @JustLikeJuve whie @Blake joins the top three...

If you can't wait to get your crystal ball out again, you're in luck - there's another round on Tuesday night and the fixtures are online now. See you over there and good luck!

Update

Update

Update

Penalty to Peterborough

Update

Notts fall to defeat against Peterborough after leading at half time.

Another fine goal for Didzy for Barnsley on Saturday.

I really wish Didzy would stop rubbing it in by scoring great goals and showing what a huge mistake it was to let him go.

He’ll keep scoring while he can still run and perform well enough. But once his legs go, and they will, he’ll realise that age catches up with all of us. You can’t rely on willpower alone to keep going.

He’s a good player, and I’m glad he’s doing well at Barnsley. I did wish he was still here, but he’s not, so that’s the end of that discussion.

The only thing I want to say is, if David McGoldrick is taking shots at Notts with comments about the game being simple, or saying things about stats and being too focused on data, it doesn’t look great. Even if I agree with him that football is simple at heart, it’s not a good look to say those things publicly.

He seems to have aged quickly at Barnsley too. Does anyone else think that? His face makes him look a few years older than he actually is.

A couple of things:

I think it's not felt right since Jason Turner passed away. The club has felt more robotic and operational since then, which isn't a bad thing, but makes despondancy seem larger when it's somewhat faceless.

Secondly, even though a large portion of the pre-season comms were about "the final say is gonna be made by the head coach", given that he was obviously third/fourth choice, I doubt they even consulted him when say Bass left nor when Roos came in.

It's slightly overwhelming for MP is my guess that there was/is a sign of structure/ways of working, but it's not working, or if it does, we won't know because it needs time to gel (just like half of our team).

I'm not completely crestfallen, but I felt let down by Maynards appointment and his lull at the beginning and end of his tenure was only qualmed because he has amazing talents in McGoldrick and Jatta. This time around, MP has Jatta to effectively put all his hope into and prays that it works out, because mate, you're 4 into that 10 games that most people are giving you and you ain't painting anything in glitter apart from a day old ****.

MP knew what the system was before he took over but it's clearly not working. He's got 1 hand tied behind his back. Give him the same role as SM and see what he can do. The technical group is a nonsense idea IMO. It immediately limited us in terms of who would be willing to join us. The owners need to bit the bullet and end the nonsense. Let MP manage and then we'll see what he can do.

Some people outside this site are acting like we’re already 15 games into the season. I do understand the disappointment and concern, but it’s still very early days. There are a few who seem to enjoy being negative, and it shows in how they talk about things. It’s good to see some sensible suggestions being shared, though. I don’t mind reading thoughts like the ones in this thread because they’re fair and make sense.

I do worry that with a new head coach, changes in staff, lots of new players, many of them on loan, and not much time for the squad to settle, it’s going to take extra effort to get things right.

There’s no excuse, though. We need a win, and that has to come in the home games. Martin Paterson will be an easy target for criticism, but I think the delay in recruitment and appointing him hasn’t helped at all. The club needs to work harder to fix this and show the fans who like stirring things up that progress can be made through teamwork.

it a shame we did not extend his stay, but i wish him well at newport county. i think if they give him the time he will prove to be a great signing.

Glad he's found another League club, this could be a good signing for them. Hope he gets the regular games he needs and scores some goals against our rivals!

I'm all for the Technical Board, throughout my Notts supporting life, I sometimes cringed when a manager brought in his best mate to assist. A "yes man" that would not threaten the top job

If Notts get promoted, the Technical Board will be a resounding success. If Notts don't get promoted, many will question it's usefulness. Let's see what happens at season's end.

There is an old adage in business, and football is a business when all said and done, 'if two directors agree, then you have one director too many''.

So the Technical Board, or whatever you call it is an essential part of a clubs structure. Robust discussion is essential for success.

Prefer the Great British banger myself..

The best ones are fresh from the butcher's, but even their supermarket sausages have much more meat than our version.

Sorry, but sausages are one area where they're far superior to us. But on the other hand, we've got sausage rolls and pork pies. They've no idea what they're missing out on.

I confess I’ve never visited Germany and never eaten their sausages, we are considering a cruise that visits Germany in 2027 so I’ll try them then.

They were a very imposing sight, visible for miles around. You could also see West Burton (which is still standing) in the distance. I remember watching coal being sent there by train back in the day.

It's sad to see industrial heritage being lost, but there's not a lot of point maintaining disused cooling towers in a field somewhere. In the end, the power station was used for 20 years longer than intended and has been earmarked as a site for a nuclear fusion test plant.

Shout-out to the folk who turned up to watch the towers at Ratcliffe not being demolished yesterday!

"keep stress to a minimum"...one more dodgy pass from the keeper may finish me off😉

Fear Not Death,

For The Hour Of Your Doom Is Sealed,

And None, May Escape It.

Viking Saying.

It Doesn't Matter What You Do In This Life, Once Your Time Is Up Your Time Is Up.

53 minutes ago, Wheelbarrow repair man said:

It Doesn't Matter What You Do In This Life, Once Your Time Is Up Your Time Is Up.

I don’t think that is true, my brother used to say that so he drank like a fish and smoked like a chimney but sadly died of a massive stroke aged 55.

I agree with @Robbie we can make life style choices that give us a better chance of living longer.

It's pretty harsh to blame Maynard for not taking Jatta off, as far as I remember he wasn't even on a yellow. And can you imagine the outrage if he'd subbed him?

As for the other point, too much is made of our data-driven approach sometimes. If we only looked at data, we'd never have appointed Paterson or Williams. I would hope someone is scouting our new players too!

At the end of the day what is done is done. Hindsight is a wonderful thing, but it is time to move on. Didzy has his opinions & everyone should respect that. I thought he spoke a lot of sense,

Whether all the data available plus the technical board can get Notts promoted in May, we will find out in May. If we don't get promoted there will no doubt be changes at the club.

If things are going well up to Xmas, the fans will be happy & hopeful of success, if things aren't going well, plenty of fans will be unhappy & will be calling for changes before the end of the season.

I'm Not Blaming Maynard For Not Taking Jatta Off Simply Stating His Lack Of Experience. Being Moaned At And Criticized By The Fans Is Part Of The Job. . But What I'm Trying To Get Across Is The Fact Data Can't Predict, Human Emotions Or Reactions, The Jatta Sending Off Was Just An Example Of This.

sorry, @Robbie. i could not make the game due to work and i did not listen to it either. that is why i have not voted. 😥

I voted for Tom Iorpenda. I think he's going to be a good acquisition for Notts

The Poll has now closed. I'm pleased to announce that Tom Iorpenda has been voted the Pride of Nottingham's Man of the Match against Wigan.

Perhaps one for @Dry Nelson Ray to write

1 hour ago, DangerousSausage said:

Everton move into their new stadium this year, they have a competent manager and are not short of a bob or two. This season will mark a fresh start for them, and Grealish is an exciting signing.

They are still very much strapped for cash due to overspending previous seasons, though that doesn't stop Premier League teams from accumilating debt and spending more money.

Their new chairman should be able to invest, but Everton won't improve all that much.

They need to invest too much to compete with the upper table, and I doubt they'll even make it past mid-table. Which is a shame, because Everton have some talented young players, that could prove themselves.

Personally, for Jack Grealish this will be a loan to other clubs to say "come get me".

His price tag and potential current wages might lose bidders, but if he does well for Everton even though I don't fancy them to do well in the league table standings. It could be his way to attract a german club to come in for him. Dortmund reportedly expressed interest in him; however, his salary became a significant hurdle. I guess Everton might be willing to contribute more to Man City as a means to get a good player.

It's a better move for Everton, than it would appear to me for Jack himself. Though, I wish and hope he does well because he's too good for them.

i would have thought one of the top six teams would have thought about trying to make it a loan to buy move, he could do well with somewhere like spurs or chelsea. though i do agree with @Chris, that a return to aston villa would be magical. maybe when his contract runs out? i dont know how long is left on his city deal.

imagine moving for 100 mil and then resigning to your former team on a free, that would be the ultimate way to stick it to pep.

plus the experience gained whilst away could further help villa with their ambitions.

though its a big signing for everton and i just hope they look after him, because he has the magic to produce goods for any team.

@liampie, I'm Fairly Certain that David Moyes knows he has a Talent on his hands, and being from the Old School of Managers, will know how to look after Jack and get the Best Out of Him. Moyes is a No Nonsense kind of Coach, so he'll make sure Jack concentrates on his Football and Not partying, but I think in that Regard Jack has (hopefully) Grown up and put all that behind him. He'll know this is a Chance for him, to Force his way back into the England reckoning, and erase the Hurt he felt after being left out of the England Euro's Squad.