an interesting article...in fact Notts played Osasuna in a pre season friendly some years back

https://www.theguardian.com/football/blog/2019/nov/04/osasuna-la-liga-return

A good quiz question, which former Notts player played for Osasuna as well?

Slocombe 6 - Didn't have much to do. Made some risky decisions which paid off.

Brindley 5 - Got forward ok in the first 15 minutes but I just don't know about him. Got it in him to be a good player but never shows enough of it

Rawlinson 5 - Ok ish on the ball again. Got a 50p head though. Headers go everywhere 

Turner 5 - I worry about it him. Looks like he's about to do something stupid any second. He's alright but just a bit clunky 

McCrory 5 - Not as bad as previous games but still can't pass. Steady

Boldewijn 6 - Great persistence for the goal. That's what he can do. Wasn't the same second half

Rose 6 - Really good first half. Accurate passing and put in some important tackles. 

Doyle 5 - Tries and wants the ball all the time. Ran out of position on occasions when Sutton countered, making easy for them to bypass the midfield 

Shields 6 - Good endeavour getting back and helping McCrory. Put himself about

Thomas 6 - Got the goal but apart from that, didn't really get any service. Wants the ball a lot but never gets it. Makes intelligent runs 

Wootton 6 - Battled like he usually does but poor first touch on occasions. Alright link up play

Game 25 - The U's (H)

Team: Sutton United

Date: 07/12/19

Where: Meadow Lane

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.

FA Cup - The Cobblers (A)

Team: Northampton Town

Date: 01/12/19

Where: Sixfields Stadium

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.

Welcome @Glenn,

Join in our community.

Please help me welcome our new member to the site.

are we missing jim o'brien?

i would have said that we have done well without him so far, i dont think this changes much with the defeat to barrow. i do feel he would have been the perfect player in that game as he would no doubt try to pick those up around him. i think its more the difficult games we do, the ones where we are sluggish and play backwards more than attempting to go forward.

what do you think? i am eagerly awaiting his return tho.

This seasons highest goal scorer? Who will it be???

I have created a poll which will run until the 31st of the January 2020.

leigh curtis has teased and wrote about comments expressed by neal ardley, who believes some people want to see notts fail.

what do you think of the comments?

While the Barrow fans seem to be largely windup merchants on Twitter, I don't think any Notts fan would deny the better team won the game.

It's just; I rarely see poor winners in such a pathetic demonstration of childish celebrations. I would have happily gone home, accepted that Barrow deserved the win, but the way they acted is just unfortunate.

I can get over the way they attempted to incense our fans, does that demonstrate how much winning meant? No, Leigh, it doesn't. It highlights them as poor winners.

Running over to their travelling fans, for me would have highlighted how much it meant to them.

But, besides this - again they deserved the win. They did homework on us, shut Notts down and knew exactly how to contain us. Plus, at times Barrow was quite enjoyable to watch (when they weren't time-wasting, diving, playing dirty). All part of their tactics mind, I get that!

This all put to one side; I feel there are things we can learn from this.

Notts won't win every game, just like Barrow won't remain top of the National League table for long if they continue to be vein.

1] - Once our keeper has the ball, the players need to be quicker to make space and move without clustering themselves into areas which only benefit an organised opposition. Sam Slocombe can be very quick to release the ball, however, despite this we don't counter that well, and against Barrow, this would have been highly effective I feel.

Don't get me wrong; it's improved from the days whereby nobody seemed to want the ball, but even I could make more movement after dislocating both my knees than some of our players.

2] - Retaining focus on the game rather than antics! Several players mentioned to me after the match that Barrow players repeatedly rubbed the result in their faces. While this is again poor showmanship, whatever happened to wanting to prove people wrong? This type of s**t is precisely the type of thing which fuelled me when I used to play. Good players, they use this to their advantage - just like Lee Hughes did back in his playing days at Meadow Lane.

Michael Doyle, at times, almost lost his head, this isn't what you want to see from the clubs captain.

3] - Stop rushing passes! There's no point rushing, it leads to poor play, and often it just makes people panic. Damien McCrory was a visible offender of this, likewise Mitch Rose, who hasn't been the same since Michael Doyle returned from his suspension. Enzio Boldewijn rushed that shocking back pass, although if people wanted to be a bit fairer on that - why did we play so high?

Especially knowing how eager and quick, the barrow players were to break.

It makes no sense at all.

4] - Sometimes, changes are required at half time! If you want to try to get a result, sometimes you need to force a change. Enzio Boldewijn should have been subbed early, his free playing role just created space, and it made it more difficult for Richard Brindley to defend. I accept, most of the players performed quite badly, and it wasn't a good team performance at all.

Yet choosing to stick, when it's isn't working. Just reminds most people that Ardley tends to leave things late, he doesn't have a plan B and individual players no matter what their form are always going to perform inconsistently when they don't fear being dropped.

5] - Better homework is required! Barrow did theirs on us; it just sometimes seems like we have no idea how to counter when good teams come to Meadow Lane or even play us. There's no point trying to chase a 2-0 lead, without acknowledging that the opposition is playing a different game. Or, only that our tactics aren't working.

Before Barrow's goal, Notts looked okay, and chances did fall. When it went wrong, well it never seemed likely that we could salvage a point from the game. After last season, I can't be the only Notts fan who wishes to see more fight from our players.

This season is far from terrible, we are doing better than Chesterfield, and I would like to maintain this.

Would I be annoyed that Notts failed to make the playoffs? No, it's more about working together and losing games where we put in an excellent performance ourselves. Kyle Wootton and Wes Thomas are the only two players that can walk away from the Barrow game, feeling like they had put in any shift. I know, Thomas doesn't feel he played well as he told me himself.

I don't want to see the squad suffering the same old problems that we tend to see.

Breakdown of key topics:

• The Danish brothers were attracted to Notts because, the clubs history, Nottingham as a city, the potential and a fantastic opportunity.
• 2019/2020 aim is to hopefully gain promotion - however, they feel it's not expected and Neal Ardley must establish the team.
• Long term goals: Create an excellent scouting infrastructure to enable the club to sign the right players from the English leagues and overseas.
• They want to work with the fans so that the club can attract newer and more fans.
• It's hoped the club can go as far as it can, creating new memories.
• Hardest challenge faced coming in was forming the team, due to the time limits.
• Neal Ardley acknowledges that the new owners came straight in, they helped him to move quickly to make the signings and some of the players didn't have a pre-season.
• Media has been interested in the takeover in Denmark, that we are the oldest professional club and additionally with Kasper having played here - Danish people like supporting one English club, perhaps Notts?
• Things had to happen very quickly, they didn't have much time to look at players nor due proper financial diligence with the takeover. Both were happy with completing, they just wished they had more time.
• Unsure what to expect from owning a football club, they acknowledge that the staff have plenty of experience which makes their life easier.
• Spending money respectfully and carefully, Neal Ardley doesn't want to mismanage this.
• Owners look beyond defeats, they look at the bigger picture.
• Two new scoreboards to be installed, with support from Lifeline and the OSA.
• The club wants to promote the heritage, yet there are no plans currently to open a museum.
• Neal Ardley instructs everyone to go up for corners as it allows for more space, those with height have a threat. i.e Ben Turner, Kyle Wootton etc.
• There are no plans to have our own training facilities, but the club hopes to have something more permanent in the future.
• Neal Ardley starts Enzio Boldewijn because of his current ability, rather than form and despite Sam Osborne being described as a having a bright future - he's not see as being better, despite being a 'hard worker'.

What do you think of the evening and, the items discussed? You can watch the event below.

Last season, we were supposed to see Kristian Dennis and Kane Hemmings as our main strike partnership. For me, they was never given the chance to really settle. I still recall the home game where we dominated in the first half, then ended up being extremely poor in the second. @ARLukomski might recall the game better than me, I know Dennis played some lovely touches to put in Hemmings and Alessandra.

May question; did the loan move for Dennis to Grimsby help him or us?

I know their fans didn't actually want him in the end, however, I believe the deal was close to being a permanent move as a means to reduce the wage bill.

Personally, I wonder just how much that short stint played a role with him this season. He's spoken about wanting to play, prove his worth and not wanting to remain on the bench. There was also a brief time when he seemed out of favour this season, with fans telling rumours of him supposedly joining Stockport County,

7 goals he's got this season, he's working well alongside Kyle Wootton and Wes Thomas.

His form seems to be self-driven, with goals usually coming in back-to-back games which suggests he's quite in form for a striker. I honestly believe if it was true that last season he was bordering an exit from the club, that we might have struggled a bit more during this campaign.

Welcome @Mark159,

I hope to see you join in our community on pon!

Can you all join me in welcoming @Notoriousgee to the pride of Nottingham community 

In one corner, you have some fans who don't have faith in Neal Ardley and then you have people who just want to see him get on with things. Most of the comments I have read have highlighted they just want to see Notts do well, few expect promotion. Those that do are hardly being negative, if there are fans out there that wish to see the club fail, they're not supporters.

They would only be a small minority too.

In recent games the clubs form has been woeful, I feel the defending and tactics to a degree are the real reasons why we have experienced a few bad results.

Naturally after relegation, some fans might be inclined to believe Ardley isn't the right man for the job. I personally don't blame him, yet he could have saved Notts and if he didn't set out for what appeared to be draws things may all be different. I say this as a point, I accept it happened and just feel I would like to see the club moving forward.

There seemed to be a sense of positivity floating around the club prior to the defeat, so what has changed?

I just want to see Neal Ardley focus on the games as they come, figuring out how to adapt to games would help. Ignoring his gut feelings, or excuses about why things aren't doing well isn't productive. If you agree, disagree, want him out it's beside the point. He is the manager of Notts County.

Just get on with it.

The season is still there if the hopes to finish inside the playoffs, breeding chaos through smoke screen isn't going to help. If anything, the lack of focus and negativity that it breed will just become the short term excuse as to why things didn't happen.

A win tomorrow would be massive, there has to be some sort of focus now we are almost half way through the season.

Game 23 - The Wood (H)

Team: Boreham Wood

Date: 26/11/19

Where: Meadow Lane

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.

Welcome to the latest round of the prediction league! We're slowly approaching the half-way stage - but that means that half the points are still to play for! So whether you're going for top spot, pride and honour or there's just someone you really want to beat, get involved!

These matches kick off on Saturday at 3pm, so I'll need your predictions by then. As usual, remember your joker!

Bristol City v Nottingham Florist

Stoke City v Wigan Athletic

Sunderland v Coventry City

Shrewsbury Town v Bristol Rovers

Cheltenham Town v Colchester United

Carlisle United v Cambridge United

Hartlepool United v Boreham Wood

Dover Athletic v Solihull Moors

Game 22 - The Shots (A)

Team: Aldershot Town

Date: 23/11/19

Where: Recreation Ground

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.

Slocombe 6 - Not troubled much. Distribution slow at times

Brindley 5 - Guy isn't bothered sometimes

Rawlinson 6 - Cleared one off the line and alert. Our best player

Turner 4 - Accident waiting to happen 

McCrory 4 - Not quick enough on the ball and again poor with his passes. For the first goal, he wasn't alert and didn't track his man

Boldewijn 4 - On occasions, failed to track back in the first half. Lost the ball for the first goal. Quiet 2nd half

Rose 5 - Completed passes this game but lost the ball in the build up to Aldershot's first goal. Still not anywhere near effective 

Doyle 5 - Apart from a wayward shot that ended up being an assist, did not do enough to impact the game

Booty 6 - Good deliveries into the area but no one on the end of it. Why is he playing on the wing

Wootton 5 - Scored but barely did owt second half

Thomas 4 - The old Wes is back. The one who can't finish

Dennis/Shields/Tyson N/A - Nothing of note

Welcome to Pon! @Nick Kennedy

I hope to see you join in our site as we have alot of friendly members.

Hello Bromley1972,

Welcome to the Pride of Nottingham, I hope you enjoy being a part of our Notts County community.

does neal ardley squad now have good enough depth?

i think the squad has the depth we need, i know there are concerns about upfront but wes thomas, kyle wootton and kristian dennis all seem bang in form. they are capable of scoring goals, and nathan tyson does offer us suitable squad rotation.

with the signing of alex lacey seems to give us the final jigsaw which was loss of sam graham.

what do you think? do you have any concerns?

Welcome back! Hope you enjoyed the break and used the time to hone your top secret prediction league-winning formulas. I know I have. As usual, post your predictions below by Saturday at 3pm, you get one joker each.

Bolton Wanderers - Milton Keynes

Gillingham v Lincoln City

Exeter City - Cheltenham Town

Macclesfield Town - Mansfield Town

Leyton Orient v Scunthorpe United

Bromley v Harrogate Town

Dagenham & Red v Aldershot

Woking v Halifax Town

Game 21 - The Bluebirds (H)

Team: Barrow AFC

Date: 16/11/19

Where: Meadow Lane

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.