Game 5 - Red Imps (A)

Team: Lincoln City

Date: 25/08/18

Where: Sincil Bank

What line-up should Kevin Nolan 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.

Good morning PoN it’s cloudy here, dry at the moment but heavy rain is forecast later.

Hows everyone feeling after yesterday’s match? Depressed? resigned? ambivalent? (whatever that means) 

Today I have some computer work to do so it’s probably a good job it’s going to be a wet day, nice Sunday roast later.

Whats everyone else up to?

I'm not impressed with the defending, yet again Fitzsimons seems to make the wrong decisions when it comes to the goals. Why does he go to ground so easily?

1st goal - the defence are stood watching but why does fitz create so much space between his legs? It's that space where the goal goes, if he had reacted better and positioned himself a little smarter he may have pulled off an amazing save.

2nd goal - he dives instantly leaving a massive gap in the middle for a tap in. Duffy missed the ball completely, awful defending but Fitz should have dived onto the ball.

3rd goal - completely fitz's fault for me. He tied himself to the goal post and left a massive amount of space to his imitate right.

4th goal - his positioning is all wrong, he gets his feet muddled and he scrambles to get back into a better position. His dive is so delayed it's pathetic.

His confidence will be low but I am tired of seeing people defend him solely because he's NOT Adam Collin. The defence and midfield have their own blame but fans who continue to defend Fitzsimons are pretty deluded in my opinion. Notts won't do well with him in goal, he's sunk and lost the battle.

This was his chance to establish himself as something more than a backup keeper, but that is what he should be.

based on mean on 5

Fitzsimons 4 Cannot be blamed for any of the goals. Left exposed by a non existant defence

Hewitt 3 First 2 goals down to his errors. Better passing but defensive positioning and awareness lacking

Duffy 4 usual Duffy dive....

Brisley 3 Lost it completely..composure, confidence....

Jones 3 wandering too far upfield, leaving a gaping hole

Husin 6 Composure on the ball, creative but dont expect him to tackle

Vaughan 3 Not the player needed, too small against a tall energetic Yeovil midfield

Thomas 5.5 was it offside? Some good touches, looks willing to take players on

Boldewijn 6 Looks capable but perhaps should have dlivered more against Dicko's limitations

Dennis 3 £100k+ makes runs but cant say much else positive

Hemmings 4 Aganaesque in hold up play, doesnt look like scoring a la Tony

It’s a lovely sunny morning here but a lot cooler than of late. We are back from Skeggy so it’s back to normal, a good run back yesterday, the grandchildren had a great time and so did we.

I would normally go on a Park Run today but we are so shattered that I’m giving it a miss, I might do a little local run down the canal just to keep it up.

Matchday of course and I will be glued to the radio this afternoon willing Notts to give us a much needed win to shut up all the doom mongers.

Have a great day and let us know what your day holds for you.

Back when the fixtures was released we all felt how easy things would be but it's been appallingly different from what we imagined.

The signings made felt good and the first win seemed to be matter of time not when, but here we are. Now in hindsight we all wished Notts had signed more strength in the defence right? Well I know I do.

Notts could go two months without a win after the weekend's game against Lincoln City.  

So where do you think the first league win will come from in the 2018/19 season?

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/teams/notts-county/scores-fixtures/2018-09

Where have our PON community been on their jollies in the past? 

Most exotic countries? Exciting places you have seen? Anyone done any of the 7 wonders? 

If not ... wheres everybody's favorite place in the UK and why?

Ill start us off. Most exotic place I've been to is Bahamas. I've been to countries such as Cyprus, Croatia, Spain, Italy and the USA. Seen the Acropolis in Athens and a few other wonders in and around Europe. My favorite place in the UK is probably Woolacombe (Butchered the spelling) love the beach there and a little ice cream parlor called Normies  

Today has to be the last day of Nolan's Reign. A very poor performance in the first and second half of the match. The defence is shocking and the midfield can't create any good chances. We have conceded 13 goals in the last 5 games and only scored 5 goals. He is using the excuse of the team gelling and the referees even though it's all his fault. He signed too many forward players, we could see from last season that we needed to strengthen the defence and he hasn't. For me Nolan your time is up.

Matt Tootle has sustained a shoulder injury but according to slater he didn’t look to good before hand. 

I think he was rushed back in the light of the Nolan out and the team coming under heavy fire. 

If this is the case I’m sorry this is not the fault of Kevin .. 

So it’s monday and it’s guess the magpie done by myself and the gaffer @Chris

Good Luck everyone and happy guessing.

I think it will force people to step up and if Notts improves defensively when Duffy's out it will show how much of a weak leader he is on the pitch. I can't see how it would be a bad thing, Notts just needs Fitzsimons replacing.

Lincoln's just scored as I wrote this discussion.

Not necessarily what we need but what I want within the next 2 weeks which I think will allow Kevin Nolan to keep his job for the season and for fans spirits to be lifted again!

- A ball winning CM. Someone with desire, a natural leader of men. Someone when we are 2-0 down will pick the team up by the scruff of the neck and say get yourselves together lads.

- A new GK in on loan. I want Jordan Smith or Stephen Henderson in on loan and nobody else. They're not going to get game time at Forest and it makes life easier for them not having to move house etc. Easy move which will benefit both parties. This is paramount we get a new GK in on loan.

- A new CB in on loan. Either as cover or first team choice to allow rotation of CB's and to allow KN to have a choice of CB's come match day. Correct me if I am wrong but we have 2 right footed CB's and 1 left footed (Bird) and our two right footed ones are hoof ballers.

- Backroom Staff - I think we need a new fitness coach as ours looks as unfit as Wayne Shaw the pie eating goalkeeper from Sutton Utd. Also I think some tutoring for Kevin from a well know defensive player. KN should take advice on board and maybe hire a defensive coach part time to help out with drills, training etc. John Terry springs to mind at first but anyone with good league or premier league status who is retired to offer a helping hand at training and fro KN to broaden his knowledge of the game. Maybe Big Sam Allardyce could come help an old friend out and offer advice.

What do you want PON? I think my last point about advice and ideas from someone like Big Sam could really help KN out. Maybe use his contacts at West Ham, Newcastle for example. 

Tuesday night's fixtures:
Rotherham United v Hull City
Swansea City v Leeds United
Charlton Athletic v Peterborogh United
Rochdale v Barnsley
Carlisle United v Port Vale
Morecambe v Northampton Town

So we have had a one of the worst pre season and start to the seasons in a few years. But let’s look at this we have had a new team brought in new players which at the time everyone was getting excited they need time to gel that simple .. in my job I’ve needed time to gel with a team and vise versa. So if big Kevin leaves who would you rather have in his shoes? Cause I tell you now Friday night big Kevin went mad .. which after that inspired the lads off there own backs in for a extra training session yesterday morning and the word was unexceptable performence and Kevin’s words and the fans reaction sparked the lads. The match was awful I got mad I won’t lie but i never said Nolan out .. so Tuesday is the night is the spark we need because Nolan don’t won’t this to go down in flames he loves this town this club and fans so it’s time to get behind the gaffer .. or go see him and talk to him and I guarantee you will change your mind when you see the passion he has .... this is our lane Nolan is our Gaffer the lads are our team ... so let’s get behind them ..!!!! Cause I still feel this is our season ... for redemption 

It's time Nolan and Hardy put their hands up and say "I've messed up"

Nolan has got to pull his finger out when it comes to the team. Stop picking his favourites. There is something clearly disastrously wrong with the defence and Brisley and Duffy cannot play together anymore. He has got to see that Dan Jones cannot defend and that we have no fight in midfield whatsoever. He needs to see that we need an experienced keeper.  He has got to look into the transfer market otherwise he'll be looking on Indeed for another job. If he can't see this team needs signings then I have no idea what he sees. When he stopped being stubborn last season and played Jonny Forte, we won 3 games in a row. What a surprise

Hardy. I am truly grateful for what he has done. The money invested and how he has turned the club around. But at the minute he's like a child who's spat out his dummy. His constant Twitter arguments are doing nothing good for us. He should be on their to update us on stuff happening at the club (transfers, opportunities etc), not arguing with fans.

i have noticed that if someone posts a very valid discussion that the social media pages will either be very positive or negative, usually it depends what the first person says but i don't think many actually read anything more than the title which is a little pointless.

if someone posts something positive, you get comments like "do you go to games?", "where have you been the past three weeks" among more insulting messages.

but if you post something negative the positive/deluded fans come out the woodwork, where are they in general? i dont get it. i accept opinions as most members here do but the people who loosely engage on social media make me laugh.

Ever seen a fish wearing a Notts County kit? It’s the latest kit too with the yellow bit.

So for us not making the trip to Lincoln will any body be watching the match on the County I stream.?

This run of pathetic performances will continue for a while yet............ Until Notts are at least 66/1 for promotion........ Watch them go then....... 

So I know a number of tickets have been sent back from us but who is going to the Lincoln game on Saturday.?

Good morning PoN it’s a bright, breezy and cooler morning here. This is our last day so we’re heading off earlyish to Skeggy for one last fling before we go home, it’s been a great week with the grandkids, bonding and making memories.

Yesterday we went to the Wildlife Park which is about a mile up the road, it used to be just a parrot zoo but now they have all sorts of other critters including Bengal tigers, we spent most of the afternoon there and it was good value for money.

Yesterday @super_ram asked where the site was, it is between Boston and Skegness in a little village called Friskney. We don’t like the large sites with row upon row of vans, this van is privately owned in a large garden/field next to the owners bungalow, they allow just 5 touring vans and have this one static, it’s in lovely countryside. The van is adults only but we’ve got to know the owner having been before with our campervan and he let us stay with our grandchildren as they are well behaved and not far from adults now. We’ve had the place to ourselves apart from one touring caravan in the other corner of the field, there’s a large pond with ducks and there are also peacocks wandering about and lots of wildlife it’s very peaceful.

So I’ve been emailed etc about this I stream I’m thinking about for Saturday the Lincoln game but haven’t got a clue what I can watch it on ps4, fire stick etc through your phone. The paying bit is the easy bit working out how to watch it is the next bit any help would be appreciated 

So I thought it might be nice if we shared some happy times from Notts County what is every one memorable match either attended or watched on tv.?

yes he picks the squad but look at the opening minutes, the football is there. if notts had scored first i think the game would have been completely different.

my only criticism of nolan is his desire to play out of form players.

its bringing the whole squad down, none of the defenders look capable of fighting for a clean sheet and ross fitzsimons has lost it. he looks lost in goal and unable to do his role properly. the players are letting kn down massively but i still dont understand why people are calling for his head after only 3 games.