menzinho

That's a long contract we've given to him, the club and coaching staff obviously see a lot of potential in him. I've been impressed, you're going to be inconsistent when this is your first spell in men's football but he's very comfortable on the ball and has slotted in nicely. I think the one criticism I have with Notts squad is the lack of younger pros, Macari is in a pretty small group of 20-24 year olds. In terms of proper first teamers, there's only Stone and Baj and they are both 24. I think this type of player is someone need to be targeting, someone who can play in the first team when needed but is someone who can also improve (a lot!) with us over the years. I know in hindsight it's easier to say but an understudy for the likes of Palmer/Bostock would've been ideal for this season too.

I think we missed the chance after having 2 bids rejected earlier in the season, that’s not a dig at the club though, I respect the fact we have a strategy and limit which means we don’t overspend. If Conor had really wanted to join us he had a good chance to kind of force a move there. Whether or not he’d have been good we’ll never know, but the club will have kept tracks on plenty of defenders and I still fully expect us to sign one.

I think Gosling needs to have an impact now before Jan otherwise it’s not worth keeping him on. I Feel for Tipton as this loan hasn’t done anything for him but there is no point in him staying. And I know we’ve only just signed him but I’d look to send Randall out on loan. I can’t see where he fits in, he doesn’t get in ahead of either Chicksen or Adebayo-Rowling for me he’s like a 3rd choice wing-back and that’s unnecessary. I don’t expect us to sign a GK, not just in terms of the budget but 4 keepers is too many, we’d have to get rid of one and I can’t see that happening. I agree it’s an area that needs to be reassessed, but I’d expect that to happen during/over the summer. So it would be 3 out and 3 in for me. A centre back, a centre back/def mid, a centre mid.

I was only able to listen but we did sound very lacklustre and then to have LW say he didn’t recognise the team after the game is worrying. Sounded like the ball spent as much time out of play as it did in, our passing game just not there. But to not create a decent chance and have a shot on goal in the second half, especially against a Walsall team who sounded bang average, is shocking. I know people bang on about the defence but yesterday’s bench was limiting in terms of attacking talent, when the game is desperate for someone on to add a bit of creativity, we only had Morias the rest were central midfielders and defenders! I don’t know why we played so badly but I’m starting to wonder is it just a coincidence that our form has dropped since Matty Palmer’s injury or does it tell us how much we rely on him when he is in the team? I can remember last season against Maidstone, our final away game, we were 3-0 up. Then we took Matty Palmer off and almost immediately after they scored 2 and nearly got a 3rd!

It was interesting to hear at the club forum that the level of the academy dropped in terms of quality during our spell in the NL as we lost a lot of talented youngsters. Looks like we've been able to keep a few though! A very well taken goal, hopefully he stays around and makes the step up in the near future.

Yeah, given that the temperature today is getting up to a colossus 1° I'm not going to be venturing too far! Got a bit of tidying up and cleaning to do and then I'm going to treat myself to a parsnip curry. It looked delicious when made on the TV by a professional chef, here's to hoping I can do it justice!

The annoying thing is when opposition teams actually put an attacking move together the defending in general play isn’t that bad, we can cope on the whole. Yes we occasionally leave a man free or miss a tackle but but I’d say those type of errors are the same for most teams in this league. What really is hurting us is the decision making from our defenders and that’s costing us goals from seemingly unthreatening and defendable scenarios. All of yesterday's goals were avoidable. It's not like recently teams have been this unstoppable force who can play through us, we just keep giving the opposition the ball!

I’ll admit I was so disappointed with the starting line-up. I thought we’d make a few changes but we really disrupted the side and for no good reason. Then we had the appalling start with Baldwin gifting them a goal, a poor pass back from Randall I thought he slipped but I think he actually just falls over trying to bait the attacker. Then second half another early defensive mistake. Randall just switched off and then he crossed it into our own box, utterly dreadful play. Awful header from Rawlinson too and we gift Shrewsbury the lead. Third goal was just really awful from Baldwin why is he doing a step over as the last man? He's got to knock it back to Stone. No awareness at all. I’ve no issue with us wanting to pass out from the back and keep the ball, but sometimes you really do just need to clear it! We have to stop giving away goals like this, honestly giving away a throw-in is a lot less costly than giving away a goal. Shrewsbury had only scored 2 away goals all season before tonight so for them to score 3 and in the manner they did is a joke. They weren’t even particularly good, they were there for the taking. How many passes did they make all game? If someone had said they were a NL team I would’ve believed you. They didn’t do anything other than sit back all game. But we needed to show a bit more belief instead of showing them too much respect. Brindley bailed us out of that first half with a great strike. In the end for all the control and possession the defensive howlers gave us too much to do. It was a great moment for Sanderson, sadly that won't get talked about but hopefully we’ll see more of him in the future. Really annoyed with that performance, we gave Shrewsbury the win. Could’ve been a 2-0 win but their twitter full-time post sums it up; “On the first day of Christmas Notts County gave to me, Ryan Bowman scoring three”. A massive opportunity missed in my opinion, if Shrews get a premier league team in the next round good luck and fair play to them. Hopefully it’ll remind us next time what’s at stake.

Yeah it's not good, anyone one remember the keeper mistakes from a certain set of games against Cambridge United. No? Here's your reminder. A hat-trick of horrors... https://www.skysports.com/football/news/11768/10717004/watch-the-curse-of-notts-countys-goalkeepers-against-cambridge

What does everyone want, more football of course! It's been a full on week for Notts this week and it's time to finish it off in the FA Cup against L1 opposition, Shrewsbury Town. They currently sit in 12th place. It sounds pretty decent but when you dig a bit deeper you wonder how they've managed it. They've only scored 12 goals (in 20 games!) and they haven't won an away game since August! I'm guessing their injury crisis has impacted their season as they’ve currently got 11 first team players out injured. Whilst it’s obviously awful for them, it’s pretty good for us. Here are some comments from SalopCast about their game on Tuesday against Exeter… A lot of effort but a lack of quality. Salop can’t keep the ball and end up sitting deep. Passing accuracy in the 50’s again… Trying to figure out our game plan is puzzling me. We seem to be bypassing our midfield and trying to win free kicks and corners. Our wing backs and midfielders are never on the ball. Our strikers never win the ball or keep it for more than 5 seconds. Salop actually have possession, ball to Udoh who is near the box and Udoh just shoots at a defender in front of him. No thought about passing. No runners. Nothing. We are so bad. So so f****** s***. What the actual f*** is Taylor doing with this team in the week? Salop come home with a point. A real slugfest against a poor Exeter side. Positives: clean sheet and a point on the road Negatives: many. Are they confident? Notts County are going to destroy us on Friday. Not much time off for either team but I think we’ll be in better health. I guess Stone will be back in goal, and I’d expect one of Rawlo or Brinds back in just for the sake of being fresh. Maybe even Gosling will start and I hope Morias starts as well. Anyway, chance to get a dream 3rd round draw if we win so I’m looking forward to it!

Back on track, but nothing less I’d expect from this team right now. Their ability to get back to winning ways after a defeat is fantastic and that’ll keep us up in the promotion spots. Pretty uneventful first half, I thought both teams were quite sloppy on the ball at times, Crawley were slightly better but most their chances were from distance. Just two very good induvial goals being the stand out moments. Second half I thought we improved and deserved the win in the end. We did rotate a few players but I thought our fitness levels looked good, we were able to maintain a press through-out and that ultimately sealed the game for us. Really pleased for Morias, I feel he gets some unwarranted stick considering his playing time is minimal. The guys attitude is to be commended, never complains just works hard, hopefully he might get a start on Friday. He kind of deserves it.

I've included a loan player, can't really leave Grealish out! And I'll go for a 3-4-3 formation as I'll have Luke Williams as the gaffer! Schmeichel Liddle Edwards Thompson Davies Palmer Bishop Sheehan Judge Langstaff Grealish That's not bad for a young(ish) supporter! My proper memories of Notts start from about 2006 when I was a bit older watching us but I can't really include anyone between 2006-2009 as we were awful!

Well that ending was one to forget, I agree it was really disappointing considering we’d done so well to get back to 2-2. I mean it did sound like we pretty much gave Wimbledon all 4 goals. You can’t give away two pens and expect to win a game of football. Equally two defensive mix-ups in that game, we really did give them easy chances to score. I’ll watch it back when it’s available on ifollow but given our largely dominant second half and how we fought back to 2-2 it’s gutting to then throw it away in the final minutes like that.

Yeah, shooting himself is rather quite stupid but it's actually quite sad he's not had a purposeful career to get into after his football one didn't take off. It's hard for young players, especially when they get rejected, I know from having a friend who was in an academy as a 17/18 year old you dedicate your time and effort into getting a pro-deal and even when you get one that's just the start, it's still incredibly tough to make it. Life after football is not something you want to think about but realistically you do need a fall back plan. Anyway I'm just glad he wasn't able to cause any serious harm to some innocent person with the shotgun.

I'm sure a lot of places purposely put the prices up in Oct just so they can put them down, or they just advertise it's 20% off when it's always been 20% off in that shop! I'm sure some places just straight out lie as well... I'm sure you can get a few good deals but 90% of the time the saving will be minimal, it's all just a big marketing ploy to get you to spend!

Wimbledon have had mixed results of late after a very good start so it’s not a bad time to be playing them. They recently conceded 4 against Accrington and Morecambe but up until then I’d say their defence was pretty solid, probably one of the best in the league stats wise! They did beat Doncaster in their last league game, so maybe just a blip then (hopefully not!). James Tilley, Al Hamadi and Armani Little (he caused us problems when he was at Torquay) are their best attacking players. If Bugiel starts he is good at holding the ball up and bringing others into play. Judging by their passing stats they are a bit of mixed bag in terms of style, although they will probably be more direct against us and I’m expecting them to press us. So with that in mind, for my team it’s very similar to those that have already been suggested. I’d get Brinds in the middle of the back 3 (genuinely think he’s better here) with Macari taking his role as the RCB. Not sure I’d start Gosling yet but I’m hopeful Chicksen might be ready for the first team. So for me I’d only make two changes from the Bradford game, Macari in for Baldwin and Chicks in for Randall. Another tough away game, no idea what the score will be but I’d take a point.

Slocombe 7 – Some moments he was very good, a couple of times he misjudged whether to come out or stay. Actually, had to make some decent saves second half. Brindley 6.5 – A couple of good blocks second half, did better defensively than he did when on the ball. A times he really struggled to find a forward pass. Baldwin 7 – Generally, very solid, shame he did that awful pass which was intercepted and lead to their first. Cameron 6.5 – Generally ok, nearly caught out when he went a tad to far up the field. Nemane 6 – A times in the first half he was a real outlet, but he struggled in the second half, think getting moved over to the left doesn’t help him though. Randall 5 – Didn’t really get involved in the game, we used Nemane most of the first half for our wide play. O’Brien 7.5 – I actually thought he had one of his best games, definitely tired towards the end but he did a lot of running, he always tracked his man and made himself available for a pass. Bostock 7 – Great to have him back, positional play and general passing was good. Could tell he hadn’t played for a while though, looked a little sluggish at times. Crowley 8 – My MoTM, great goal, his passing in the final third was a joy at times and he’s just so good on the ball, I know he’s going to take the ball, fake to go one way and then turn but he always fools the opposition! McGoldrick 8 – A close second, rarely wasted a pass, movement was great in the first half caused Bradford real problems. Langstaff 8 – Seems harsh cos he did score two but I guess we expect him too now! That continuing press from him through out the game was impressive too. Subs Rawlinson 7 – Helped sure us a bit at the back, looked focused and I was impressed with his first touches where he received the ball and skimmed past a Bradford attacker! Gosling 4 – Can tell he’s not played for a while, really needed to be quicker when releasing the ball. Pretty sure he got disposed and then Bradford charged forward and scored. Austin 5.5 - Lively and can't fault the effort but that deeper role does not play to his strengths. Adebayo 5.5 – Some good runs and moments but nothing that really worried Bradford. Morias 6 – I think he gets a rough deal, only had about 15 mins, had a couple of chances but was generally tidy on the ball.

Yeah, he's had to be patient but since he's had a run in the team he's done very well. And that goal against Gillingham will definitely given him a massive confidence boost. He'll be 22 by the end of this season and effectively graduate from Stoke's U21 team, I guess they'll have to make a decision on whether or not they see him as part of their first team. So potentially there could be a chance to sign him permanently. I know he's only a 6 month loan at the moment but I'd be happy to extend that to the end of the season.

If it's £20 for a seat, by my logic standing will be half the price surely? Sounds good to me! I'm sure it'll get a lot of interest, and I'd expect most of it to be for it. It's all done properly now like lots in this thread have commented on. And if it adds even more to the atmosphere it's got to be a big plus.

Well, it was entertaining, you can’t argue you don’t get your money’s worth at Meadow Lane this season! I’ll get the second half out the way first because I don’t want to be too negative after a win, I’d have taken a 4-2 before kick off 100%! Bradford had nothing to lose at 4-0 and came out with no pressure and a desire to put right their awful first half performance. But we didn’t react to it. We needed to be quicker on the ball and take fewer touches given Bradford were actually being pro-active and pressing us. We did such a terrific job first half it was a shame we struggled to adapt to the opposition’s changes in the second. Lessons to be learnt there. And one other minor gripe is the silly yellow cards we’re picking up, I think Baldwin will miss the next game now after needlessly kicking the ball away with 2 minutes to go and Adebayo got his custom yellow too. He must have the best yellow to minutes ratio in the league… On the positive side that first half was probably the best I’ve seen this season. Bradford did what any team should do if they want a tough time against us and that’s sit back and just let us have the ball under no pressure. Some really great goals and Crowley was just so on it, his goal with the little drag back was fantastic. And given our mini injury crisis it was great to see Bostock, Randall, Morias, Brindley and Cameron all back. Gosling definitely looks like someone who hasn’t played for a while, but given time hopefully he’ll get up to speed. Back into the autos as well, all in all a pretty good day.

As the obvious two have be taken I can only think of Regan Griffiths (and it was struggle remembering him!)

I agree with @DangerousSausage, I noticed he was in the odds for their next manager but at this lower level they don’t really mean much. We've no idea if the Oxford hierarchy are interested or not, I’m sure lots of clubs have tracked Luke’s time with us, so I wouldn't be that surprised. But right now he’s ours and he signed a new contract at the start of this year so I'm quietly confident he'll be here for some time.

Wow, there’s a player I didn’t expect us to sign. It’s odd he wasn’t already with a club after his release from Watford given he’s played at such a high level all his career. I’m amazed he wasn't signed by another Championship or top League 1 club. No doubting his quality, technically he’ll be absolutely fine. It’s just his fitness really and attitude to commit to the cause, this is where his career has led him and he’s got to not think he’s better than this level. Given he’s earned millions he doesn’t really need the money, so I’m optimistic that he’s here for the right reasons. He'd have been on 5-figure weekly wages at Watford, he won't be on anywhere near that here, but I wonder if the deal is so short is because it’s all we can afford!

Yeah, I'm relatively happy with that. I know it was only a pre-season game but we did well against them at their place. Even though they lost Colchester scored 2 against them, I'd say we are more than capable of doing the same (scoring, not losing!) If the team performs well there's no reason we can't provide a minor upset and get through to the third round.

Was that LW first win in a cup?! We got knocked out of the FA cup last season by Coalville, seem to remember losing very early in the trophy too. This season we’ve lost all prior cup games so it’s great to finally get a win! It was entertaining to listen to, definitely weren’t at our best but our ability to outscore the opposition got us through! And we scored from a short corner! I’d say it was good to give some fringe players a run out but right now that team is pretty much all we’ve got! The injury situation is really frustrating, no idea what’s happened to the likes of Morias and Randall, feels like they’re permanently injured. We couldn’t even fill the bench today and two of the five were academy players. Getting to January feels like it could be a mammoth struggle, we really need to avoid any more injuries, surely we’ve suffered enough now. Looking forward to the draw tomorrow, 2:30pm if anyone wants to watch it live. I’d like a home draw that gives us a chance of getting to the third round or failing that a game against a top L1 team (just for the potential of it being televised for that extra money).