menzinho

I know it's not in the spirit of it but they could've just picked the Spanish starting 11, I know they won but they way they did it and the teams they beat was very impressive indeed! I really liked Füllkrug the German No.9, a bit of a old-school forward, Havertz got picked instead of him a lot but every time he came off the bench he did really well. Ardu Guler, the very young Turkish playmaker added some real quality to their side. And it was strange how the big stars of the tournament like De Bruyne, Mbappé, Lewandowski and Ronaldo all had pretty poor showings.

I've seen a few people already rolling their eyes at Lee Carsley on social media, but I wonder if they've actually seen his England U21 team play? I was really impressed with his England team when I watched them in the last European Championships (we won all our games no-extra time needed). Before that when England were managed by Aidy Boothroyd they got knocked out of the European Championships at the group stage, twice... That said, if Klopp wanted to, it would be daft to not pick him though surely! ????

I’m going to have to completely disagree with you there. Crawley got promoted last season and they play just like us and Stockport aren’t too dissimilar either (but yes they were heavily backed). I can remember lots of fans saying, after losing in the play-offs, that possession based passing out from the back football doesn't work in the National League. Even I was guilty of thinking we needed more changes at times but it never came. We needed a big forward to replace Kyle Wootton, we got Langstaff. We needed two ball winning CM’s, we got Palmer & Bostock. And massive CB to play in the middle of the back 3, we got Baldwin. So pretty much the total opposite, but it worked. Any style of football can work, but what’s important is getting in the right players (and good ones) to play that system and ultimately a coach who can coach it! I think the issue last season wasn't the style of play but the step up being too much for some of our defenders. It was the one area of the pitch where we didn't strengthen and it cost us (as did Palmer getting injured but that's a different story). I thought early(ish) after Stuart came in you could see we'd made tweaks to how we play and looked better set up defensively but there's only so much a coach can do, he can't physically head it/clear it out of our box for them!

Yeah, the fact he was made captain straight away tells you the quality of the players already there clearly isn't great. I'm not trying to be disrespectful to KC here, I hope he does well there, but their manager only saw him play a couple of friendlies, not even fully fit and thought, "yep he's levels above these guys and I'll be starting him every game!" I'll be interested to see how he does once the season starts, it's very likely he'll have a few good games and few terrible ones because the the Scottish Premier League is really odd in sense that that gap between the top and bottom is huge. It's like having a league with 2 Premiership teams, 2 Championship teams, 2 League One teams, 2 League Two teams and 2 National League teams...

Neal Ardley, Ian Burchnall, Luke Williams didn't pick any academy players to regularly start, and it's the same with Stuart Maynard now too. So are they all wrong or is it just simply the players aren't up to standard and therefore not ready to play? Like every other player at Notts, they've got to earn their chance surely? If we just suddenly start all these youngsters and results are affected because of it the fans will just immediately call for them to be out of the team and blame the head coach for chucking them in too early. We have to realistic here with the academy how many a 17/18 year old players will actually be able to go straight into the team and improve it? A very low percentage sadly. I think the issue for a lot of the academy players is that they simply need more time to develop but because we don't have a reserve team they don't always get the chance to prove themselves properly at Notts.

I don’t think Stuart was hired to stick the model, it's more his style of coaching fits our current model… And our model is working at the minute though isn’t it? When we dropped into the National League we always finished in the play-off’s thus giving us a chance of promotion every season, then we did get promoted and last season by not getting relegated we’ve progressed once more. Just from a financial and logistical point too it makes so much sense to have a philosophy. Look at Notts before the Bros, we never had a clear way of playing, just a massive turnover of players to suit each manager who had a different style. Not only did it hamper us but it would've cost a lot too. I don’t see why it needs to be changed right now, that’s not to say it won’t need tweaking in the future but the Bros don’t strike me as stubborn, if their data is telling them we’re lacking in one area we’ll look to improve it. I agree with @Robbie that you only need to look at the recruitment this season with the defenders. We’ve prioritised ability to defend over ability to play out from the back. And in terms of Rich Montague pacing up and down, that just tells me he cares. We’re lucky in that sense, look at all the clubs where fans constantly protest about their board members because they don’t care.

I know it's only pre-season but a result like that is definitely encouraging. Assuming like us they put out a mix of pros and youngsters, the level of the Wycombe team will be a lot better than Alfreton. Love to know who the trialist was that scored, judging by the team-sheet I'd say it was the trialist midfielder (although given our gun-ho attack at times you can't 100% rule out that the trialist defender scored it!) Elliot Thorpe could be the guy given he played against Alfreton... There’s is a picture online that shows Haji Mnoga played in the game, first half as he's playing in defence behind Gordon. He's a player that you would say is in a similar situation to Alex Kirk, in that he needs to join a team and settle down to properly start his career. However, given they both play primarily in the RCB spot you’d think we’d only have a spot for one them... Hard to know who has the better potential. Kirk wouldn’t have stayed at Arsenal for as long as he had if they didn’t think he’d have a chance of making it. Whilst Mnoga is a year old he's played a lot more professional games and even featured internationally for Tanzania. I’m glad I don’t have to be the one who has to decide, if indeed we do eventually sign one of them!

As it's behind closed doors I'm hoping Notts will be recording it and can put some sort of highlights out after the match.

I've been battling against my hay fever today, the pollen count has dropped a bit but for some reason today really got to me. My throat has swollen a tad, my nose is running and my eyes are all puffy. I think taking the dog for a long walk (by accident cos I got a bit lost) just exasperated it! I'm hoping a night and morning tomorrow locked indoors will calm it down ???? I'm not planning on venturing too far this weekend, I'm meeting a few friends Saturday evening and then I'll watch the Euro Final on Sunday at my dad's. He's making a Spanish Casserole pre-match, I think it's chorizo, butter beans and peppers something one of the TV chefs made - I'll help him out as he's notorious for doing things his way and not following the recipe!

I feel like I'm going to spoil the party a bit here by saying I've got no real strong feelings either way about Gordon signing! The article on the official site suggests he's going to be more of a squad player with all the talk of adding "depth" and a few comments about his lack of awareness and general ability defensively are a tad worrying to me. I was kind of hoping Nemane’s competition would be a touch more solid defensively, so I guess we’re going all out attack again next season!

Jatta has only played 10 games and scored 5 goals, when you consider he was settling in for most of it that's very good. It took Ruben a while to get into his stride, the early signs for Jatta are very encouraging. Nothing against Scott, I think him Jatta should work well together, but I can see him playing a deeper role too. Jatta as the main striker for me!

DeadlyDidzy? Though if you do use are current player you’ll be changing again in a few seasons. I think keeping it as Macca is ok too, it’s very soon but he’ll be looked back on as one of the great strikers for Notts. You could go done the more legendry strikers route, anyone on here remember Lawton and Sewell? Them were the days back when it only cost 2 bob to watch the county, there were no stand and when it rained you got soaked through but that didn’t matter cos you could get a proper brew at half-time to warm you up (is that convincing?)

Yeah, just didn't work out for him, a move that suits all really. He won't down in the annuals with the worst ever signings alongside the likes of Sol Campbell and Casper Sloth. He saved himself by actually playing a handful of games but he's probably in the Second Volume though, I think Virgil Gomis is the last entry in that one...

I think sometimes refs give a lot of leeway because by awarding a penalty, they are almost giving the team a goal. There are lots of penalties that are awarded that I think are unfair and harsh and these would be in situations where the chance of scoring is very low – the crime doesn’t fit the punishment so to speak. Harry Kane’s was similar in that he had ballooned his shot over the bar before Dumfries makes contact, the chance had already gone really. Then you add in the challenge from Dumfries wasn’t that forceful (no-where near as painful as Kane was making out by rolling around on the floor). So I absolutely see and agree why people say it was harsh, but I guess by the current laws it is a penalty.

Genuinely thought he'd stick around for the season so it's a blow to lose him. I agree and hope Scott can fill the void his friend has left. Macca's a fantastic player and Millwall are lucky to have him, he'll go down in the history books as one of the great strikers for Notts!

Yes I think promoting Palmer to the role of captain seems the sensible choice. There's probably only a couple of players for vice-captain I can see Didzy taking the role although I think he'll set the standards and be a leader regardless. Maybe giving it to one of the new boys after pre-season would be an option?

I know the club spoke about finding a USP for our academy as we have to compete with the likes of Derby, Leicester and Forest, but producing players for other teams seems a tad counter-productive! Again, I don't think I've ever seen him play so I can't comment but I know the club had high hopes for him. Hopefully not a case of one that got away but I wish him all the best. Curtis Thompson was the last academy player to actually progress and play over 50 games for us and that was over 10 years ago now. I know it's not easy, as we get raided by the big boys whenever we produce anyone of potential stand out quality, but we do need to see some players progress soon otherwise it's a waste of time and money...

I find it weird no other media outlet picked up on the move, "football insider" that did actually get it right posts tons of stuff about potential moves and not all of it is accurate. Anyway, good luck to him, genuinely deserves a chance to play at a higher level and when a club comes calling that can likely triple your wages you'd be daft to turn it down. He only scored 71 goals in 97 games for us, his replacement will get 80 in 97 won't he...

I agree with @KB1862 I think because we have Jatta and Scott (I'll even throw in Morias cos I like him!) we're in a relatively good place in terms of strikers even if Macca was to move. That's not to say it wouldn't be a massive loss because it would be. I've always said I was quietly confident about him staying and giving him the captaincy just confirmed that to me, I don't know whether to believe the rumours but part of me thinks something is going on with Millwall... It might seem it and it's not always an easy task to find replacements but so far the recruitment team have done a pretty good job whenever we've lost one of our key players. You could say Wootton was replacement was Langstaff, Reeves was replaced by Palmer, Roberts by Jones and Rodrigues by Crowley... So no-one is irreplaceable but I'll still be gutted if he does move.

I don’t think it was about him not being good enough, although some fans might say he wasn’t. He made it known that he wanted to leave after the changes to the captaincy. Maybe the board and coaches could’ve sat down with Kyle and cleared the air so to speak to get him back on board, but then again maybe they saw his reaction as someone who wasn’t committed to the team next season and agreed moving him on was for the best. I was happy enough with him as part of our squad for next season, he was desperately crying out for some competition in his position and he was going to get that next season. It’s a shame but given his statement I feel like Notts did the right thing. If he doesn’t want to be here it’s for the best he’s playing elsewhere. Oh and Derek Adams will want a word with you about Scottish Football being a better standard, this was his post-match interview last season???????? https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/67667758

No idea how they’ve been able to report a fee, I can’t imagine anyone official has actually told this guy. Zero chance it’s come from Notts and even from Millwall, that would just be incredibly unprofessional. Got to be guess work surely!? I hope the whole potential transfer isn’t true and no-one else is reporting anything yet, so that gives me a bit more hope. Pete O’Rouke has posted a few things now, so if he is well wrong people will start to pay less attention to what he posts. I did see in the article it said; “Notts County had been keen to keep Langstaff at the club, but they have been under pressure to sell him for a while as his performances have gained many admirers”. We know we're under no pressure to sell so that’s just a load of rubbish.

It's spot the trialist time again! ???? I'm intrigued to see if we've had a few training with us since the team started back, I'm sure they'll be one or two. Not sure the game itself will be the most enthralling given it's the first game back. No-one will really be playing at 100%, and I think it'll be more geared to trying a few things out too so it could potentially be quite a low-scoring. As long as their are no injuries in these early friendlies, especially concerning Scott and Palmer it'll have been a success!

I didn't think there was much between Spain and Germany either. Spain looked really dangerous going forward with the pace and skill of Williams, Yamal and Olmo. But the sitting back and taking off all their attackers at the end of the game cost them, that German goal felt inevitable towards the end. I thought they'd go on and win it after that, so credit to Spain for battling back and getting that late winner in extra-time. Portugal v France has not been as entertaining that's for sure, feels like I’m just watching patterns of play with a defensive mentality from both teams. This game needs a spark… And I can't see either Mbappe or Ronaldo providing it!

I agree with @ARLukomski I don’t think Cameron was a nailed-on starter next season so I can understand why he wouldn’t be the captain going forward. Macca and Palmer when fit are guaranteed starters. But I’m surprised by his reaction to be honest, I’m not aware of how exactly the change was made, but I’m going to assume it was done as professionally as possible. So there are two paths you can take after; moan and be bitter or see it as a challenge a kind of “I’ll show you’ve made a mistake here gaffer”. You don't need to wear an armband to still be vocal and lead on the pitch anyway – Jim O’Brien and John Bostock being the most recent example of this. He’s picked the easy option in my opinion. We need everyone to be on the same side and if he’s not 100% committed it’s best he’s moved on. We could’ve already seen his last appearance as his contract is up at the end of the season. Shame it’s come to this, but hey-ho that’s football I guess.

It’s very hard balance, I think everyone wants to see more academy players in the first team but I don’t think fans would want it at the expense of a competitive team. This is where you have to trust the coaches who see these players every day, if they feel they are ready then they have to be brave and give them a chance. I don’t think Tiernan was the answer, right now, to our goal keeping issues. He was also injured a bit last season and in his short spell with Rochdale it’s hard to find many comments about his time there. But if their fans had desperately wanted him to go back, we would have known about it. He’s still young though and needs the game time, maybe another season out on loan just didn’t enthuse him - we can’t send him out on loan forever! It’s a shame, I hope he does well at Gateshead, he could well return one day in the future…