Game 27 - The Mariners (A)

Team:  Grimsby Town

Date: 13/01/2024

Where: Blundell Park

What line-up should we 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.

Key areas will be our goalkeeper and defense.

I believe Notts need to start being more cautious on their travels. I would go for a 3,5,1,1 formation, a back three, with 5 across midfield leaving Macaulay up front supported by Didzy.

 I would drop Stone & Brindley, & bring in Brooks & Macari. I would drop Nemane and replace him with Robertson.

My Plan B. Notts need to be more defensive minded away from home, by conceding possession much more and catching opponents on the break, and also employ more direct tactics too. Notts have demonstrated that going long does work when they use it.

Notts just need to be less predictable, because the opposition have done their homework on us, in many ways they have found us out. Notts need to counter that and come up with an alternative, to surprise the opposition.

I'd like to see a 1:0 victory but I'd settle for a draw.

 

Edited January 4, 20241 yr by Robbie

Right now, lets see who is in charge and who we lose in the transfer window.  I can't imagine that there aren't other discussions going on now LW appears to be going to Swansea.  

Luke has gone.

Now we look to see what changes will be made by interim Head Coach Jim O'Brien.

I'm hoping that Jim is going to be more cautious & more defensive minded at Grimsby.

We really do need a result here.

The same result will do just fine 

Grimsby won't be the same that we played at Meadow Lane, they will be more switched on now, and I can see the game unfolding similar to Tranmere Rovers. I think they will want to be direct and take the game straight to us, I can't see them being passive on the ball. If I were Jim, I would approach the game mindful of our defensive issues.

If we do play Luca Ashby Hammond we do need to be cautious of this because it's very much an unknown and matches are very different to training.

Defensively we need to be tight, on the ball ideally creative and forward-thinking. With us taking our chances on goals which present themselves, a good all round performance will be a good sign. I'm hopeful that the departure of Luke Williams is a smooth transition for us, as it will help whoever comes in if we can maintain a level of good form.

JoBs approach seems to have been to keep the ship steady and don't change things about.  So I would expect to see Robertson in for Gosling, The new goalkeeper for Brooks and maybe Macari for Brindley, but I wouldn't expect many changes and probably quite a flat performance.

All the media and interviews coming from Notts this week has been very positive, I think (hoping) the players will want to prove a point that it doesn’t matter who’s in charge, they are good enough to do well at this level.

Jim’s got a slightly tougher job picking the team, after the short break we should have more players available, surely we can’t have picked up anymore injuries! The real issue for Jim is can he justify picking himself ???? No idea if the new keeper will be straight in, I guess Tom Weal will guide him there. I think the experienced pros are more likely to get the nod, maybe even Rawlinson back in for this game? And I’m hoping to see Robertson at some stage too.

David Artell hasn’t really changed Grimsby’s form too much, only achieving 2 wins from his first 8 games. They did just get drubbed 6-1 by Walsall at home in their last game, but like us they’ve had an extended break too so they’ll have worked on improving things and making sure that doesn't happen again.

I’m slightly more nervous about this game as we are in a slightly unknown/in-lingo period, a win would obviously be great but I’d be more than happy with a solid performance and point! (Cue drab 0-0 now LW has gone).

I`m expecting a similar lineup as previous games. Formation stays the same. I would opt for Macari instead of Brindley though.
I predict a 2-1 win today.

COYP!
 

Walsall's recent 6-1 away win there sets the bench mark! ( on just 33% possession stats)

I agree with @Robbie I would like Brooks and Macari to start.

We await defensive reinforcements but we should continue with the possession based game

MATCH DAY.

CMON U PIES.

Edited January 13, 20241 yr by Robbie

The team for today's game is in.

Scott Robertson makes his debut.

Edited January 13, 20241 yr by Robbie

Terrible start 

Those defensive errors keep coming, we've conceded another penalty & woeful defending at a corner conceding a 2nd. Notts 2:0 down after 15 minutes.

We have to change the way we are playing at away matches. At the moment we are just not good enough..

We're getting marinated. It's like Sutton away all over again. We're incredibly lucky it's only two so far. 

Didzy and Macca scored to get us level at the break.

How did we go in level?

 

20 minutes ago, DangerousSausage said:

We're getting marinated. It's like Sutton away all over again. We're incredibly lucky it's only two so far. 

Could we finish up scoring 100 and conceding a 100 in a season? 

We'd be top of the league if we had a decent defence. It ends 5:5

 

Edited January 13, 20241 yr by Robbie

Oh my words. I`m exhausted.

1 minute ago, Morten Johansen said:

Oh my words. I`m exhausted.

So am I we've scored 60 goals but let in 52 only three teams in the league have conceded more.

What the hell was that I’ve just listened to, our cat nearly hit the ceiling when I celebrated Didsy’s late goal but then we conceded again! We’ve got to get the defence sorted out it’s ridulous to score 5 away from home and not win the game. It must have been a great game to watch for the neutral but my nerves were really on edge.

We can`t seriously expect our attackers to score three, four or even five goals each game to win. Today we needed six!

@Fan of Big Tone .Stal mentioned the balance of the team. it may not be just the defensive problems. Players not tracking back when they should.Too much space for teams to exploit. We've seen that all season.

One positive thing. We didn't give up and we showed character to come back. And a point on the road, stopped the consecutive defeats on the road.

.

True @Fan of Big Tone, but I'm also pathetically grateful we didn't lose after letting in five! The first half hour was absolutely shocking and it looked really bleak for a time. And I've learned not to get too excited when we take a one goal load...

Time for a lie down! 

Kamikaze defending. Sublime attacking. No balance whatsoever. It's been a crazy ride up to now!

1 minute ago, Robbie said:

Stal mentioned the balance of the team. it may not be just the defensive problems. Players not tracking back when they should.Too much space for teams to exploit.

This is very true. The back three have been criticised a lot, but you're supposed to defend as a team. They've been left hanging by their teammates too often this season. Witness Stone frequently playing short passes to Baldwin when he had a Grimsby player right behind him.

We've prioritised players who are comfortable on the ball and good going forwards for years. It was a calculated risk that worked and got us back into the Football League, but we're going to have to re-learn the art of defending if we're going to mount a serious promotion challenge at this level. 

I am like a broken record.. We had the 2nd worst defence in the NL last season, based on the 30% time we didn't have possession... I am sure Luke said in an interview the whole team needed to be kept together... 

It really hurts to concede in injury time...