theAnticlough

Personally, I think the answer is Dennis to an inside-forward slot. He holds the ball up, gets involved, closes down and coming from deeper might open up different scoring opportunities for him. One thing's for sure, we can't make a promotion challenge without goal output from those two positions. And from all the options, he's the only one who's shown he can put the ball in the onion bag at the rate we need

Interesting point @Chris, JJ has underwhelmed so far inside but there's no clamour to move him back to WB. He's just about done well enough to deserve a few more games inside, especially if he's going to have both Jatta and Dennis ahead of him now. But what are the other options? Luker's out. Grant and Traore can't really be relied on to produce, Hall's unproven. Iorpenda might not give us the stats we need, Jarvis can't seem to get going, Edwards is gone. The loss of Didzy and Crowley in the space of a few months was a massive blow, if you think in terms of replacements. It's going to be interesting what we get from that/those positions today and from whom. I think we're going to see Dennis there sooner than later.

I forgot how to count in my post on another thread, you can't have a midfield diamond, a front 2 and WBs obviously! :) Agree with @Robbie, let's see Hall (standing in for JJ) playing behind Jatta + Dennis for this one But we need that vertical, up and down the pitch movement if we're having 2 up front, so I don't see a place for Norburn is this one, Iorpenda to be Palmer's sidekick please, especially for a home game. If you think about it, you can't have a front 2 plus Norburn and Palmer in a WB formation, that's heading for 4-4-2. The other solution is bringing back Dennis as an inside forward No.10. MP might do that.

Bolton Wanderers 2-0 AFC Wimbledon Joker Doncaster Rovers 1-2 Bradford City Cambridge United 2-0 Oldham Athletic Salford City 1-0 Tranmere Rovers Walsall 3-1 Chesterfield Forest Green Rovers 2-0 Hartlepool United Tamworth 1-0 Eastleigh Yeovil Town 2-1 York City

Yeah, that Jatta could still leave in January is a given. But the year extension is a massive pressure release which will have knock-on effects to MP's team selection, the media focus, and maybe the mood of the squad Jatta turns 27 in January, his next contract could be the most important of his career/life. We should have a highly motivated player for the rest of the season/half-season.

Scrub all of the above, or at least modify; who knew the club had a rabbit up their sleeve? Such contractual clauses aren't so common as in the NBA, for example, where almost every other contract has a 1-year player option or a 1-year team option on top of the guaranteed years. That Notts were holding this 1-year team option was a real game-changer and now we have Jatta signed through to summer 2027. I think we have to give Jatta credit too, him and his agent could still have made life difficult, but who knows what assurances have been given about the next two transfer windows. What does it mean for the team? I think we still have to make sure to showcase him, and he'll want to do that too, but it's not as desperate as if his contract was running down. We'll want to play Jatta and we'll want to play Dennis - but MP doesn't have to force it if he doesn't want to. But 2 up front and a midfield diamond behind it looks the way to go here, if we want to have our strongest players out on the pitch.

We have to do something different because Jodi is off on Malta duty. It's not easy thinking up the best combination. As it's a home game, we should make sure we put out an attacking line-up. I'd rather not see the double pivot of Norburn and Palmer. I'd probably go for Palmer, then Iorpenda and Hall just ahead playing behind both Jatta and Dennis for this game. If the WBs are Tsaroulla and Gordon, that's not too gung ho. What do I expect? Norburn to start, and Grant, Jatta on the bench.

Is it Phil?? That’s mine

We should see Iorpenda back against Tranmere. He's done pretty well so far, but personally I suspect he's a dangerous player for us. That means one who looks the part but won't contribute the goals, assists and wins we need from his position (he's playing in Didzy's role at the moment, to illustrate the point). I hope he proves me wrong, obviously. I also feel a bit sorry for him. Is he a deeper-lying midfielder or an inside forward? I think the best answer to that is neither - with his energy, physique and athleticism he's more of a classic box-to-box midfielder. Today though, it seems you're either a No.6 or a No.10, definitely the way Notts have set up the last few seasons. Where would Bryan Robson, for example, have played if he was in the premiership now?

@Fan of Big Tone, I think we need a weekly dentistry thread, seems to be a reoccurring theme, especially with me 😃

Too right @TheSkipper, any competition where an advantage is given to the top-level teams by developing U21s against us isn't worth respecting anyway. Bin it and onto Fleetwood.

He must've been unhappy and Paterson probably let him know he wasn't going to play. I wonder what his next move will be? Back to the NL? Or Scandinavia? He was a good ball player but L2 is too physical for him. Good luck to him anyway on his next stop

Interesting set of players. Who will play RWB? Will there be a RWB? What about Edwards, is he injured? We have 3 RCBs, will they stay within 5 yards of each other on the right? or will they space out to cover the whole defensive line :) ?

I'm talking about Paterson. We don't know yet if he's the right man or how it'll all work out but it's clear that he's giving it his best. Braver selections, substitutions and interviews than we saw from Maynard - fighting back from 1pt in 9 to go 7pts out of the next 9. Being the one to represent the club in all the interviews, handling some probing and awkward questions, which are really for the technical board. Just generally showing real commitment and passion. That's what I mean by gumption. If more players in the squad had the same spirit we'd have nothing to worry about

With a bloated squad, maybe the club thinks that the first thing to do when you're in a hole is to stop digging - no more hopeful punts, which would push the squad size to over 30 Players like Ness, Traore, Jarvis, Macari, Gordon, the list goes on and on, will have a chance to prove themselves over the next 4 months. They'll have to show the same gumption as MP, who is fighting off pressure already. It's their careers they're wasting, so time to roll up the sleeves, follow MP and give it their all.

The 'outs' I was expecting. Even that didn't happen. What does that say? No takers for Edwards, Robertson etc? Good news on Jatta. But now it gets interesting.....If he won't sign our extension...then we probably have to sell in January (the Bros let Wootton and Ruben see out their contracts, but we were trying to get back to the EFL). That means we have to showcase him. So we have to play him. We currently have L2"s top scorer, so we will have to play 2 up front. Or drop Dennis (unthinkable for me at the moment and it'd kill his morale). It could be be a difficult balancing act, and MP's team selection will be influenced. There will be input from the financial, I mean technical board :)

@sentient, welcome to PON. I'm quite new here myself, hope you enjoy the site as much as I've been doing.

Yeah, he's followed games in which he messed up with a strong performance twice now - and that shows resilience. Same with Iorpenda, after his mistake on Saturday the next thing he did was cross for the equaliser. From the post-match, MP understands very well that young players will make mistakes while they're learning their trade in the men's game. The good thing about our young loanees so far is the bouncebackability. Great sign for them and for us.

Good thread - McDonald and Palmer were the two stand-out performers. It's a far cry from last season when neither were anywhere near the pace for player of the year. Different story this year though, both are doing great. Hopefully others can get up to their level soon - Tsaroulla, Jones, Bedeau Jatta etc. Dennis of course is already there

I think we can safely say that McDonald's last 4 or 5 games were much better than Platt's form at the start of the season. That takes some getting your head around because of last season. Centre is definitely his best position. Last season we saw him most often in his worst of the 3 positions across the line.

I think it's time to give a lot more credit to Rod McDonald. I chose him again. His reading of the game was excellent, he got himself in the right spots to intercept or clear time after time. He was so far behind Platt and Bedeau last season, so who would've thought he'd be in the early running for Player of the Year. Also a word for Kellan Gordon. I hope his winner today gives him the confidence to contribute more. I'd say he's a much better all-round wing-back than Cotter, who's more of a full-back.

Well done MP on getting a response out of the team. When he sent them back out early, I doubted it would happen. Great three points in the end. Some great determined defending to see out the game.

Very poor and very frustrating. We have proven good players way off form - Jones, Bedeau, Tsaroulla We have unproven players way off proving themselves - Cotter, Iorpenda And we can't afford all these games for Norburn to gain sharpness. Not showing for the ball and the occasional first time ball straight back to a defender isn't worth the shirt. There are many things for MP to address at HT he must think 'where do I start?'

He's certainly trying for as much continuity as possible and trusting this group of players to turn it around. COYP

Really good interview with Norburn as well btw https://www.nottscountyfc.co.uk/videos/be8ffcaa-4af3-4f50-80f1-328350520950 Should be cutting him a bit of slack as he's still finding that match sharpness