One striker at home......why

[pjace]

Nolan has played 4-4-2 at home all season why change it now.
He likes to start fast on the front foot but he set us up to play on
the counter fine away from home against the likes of Luton
but at home nooooooo.
What was his reason didnt he trust a midfield 2 of who he had available?
The lack of c/backs is coming home to haunt him pretty sure if Hewitt
was in midfield he would have gone 442.
Please Kev stay with 442 at home

[Steward]

Saving shola for Saturday

[pjace]

Saving shola for Saturday

Could have played Forte or put Allesandra there

[magpie_mania]

What happened to the days when there was a youngster or two coming through, pushing for a place on the bench.

We don't seem to have them anywhere near anymore.

[DelroyFacey22]

4-2-3-1 is more attacking than 4-4-2... 3 attacking midfielders and a striker vs 2 strikers, there's nothing wrong with playing it at home but you need your players to actually perform.

Allessandra, Noble and Grant playing behind Stead or Shola would be much better than having Shola and Stead upfront and Grant and Allessandra on the wings imo

[pjace]

4-2-3-1 is more attacking than 4-4-2... 3 attacking midfielders and a striker vs 2 strikers, there's nothing wrong with playing it at home but you need your players to actually perform.

Allessandra, Noble and Grant playing behind Stead or Shola would be much better than having Shola and Stead upfront and Grant and Allessandra on the wings imo

But we didnt play with 3 attacking mids

[KeepTheMagpieFlyingH]

It's not rocket science. The loss of Yates = having to play one extra in midfield.

[legs77]

Saturday was dreadful it was like going back 5 years to Curle style football my guess is he didn’t fancy the midfielders of playing in a two.

He let the game drift he should have made the changes at HT at 2-0 as that performance was not acceptable.

Letting Hollis go without any replacement was mental granted he isn’t great but I’d bet we’d have looked abit better if Hewitt was in midfield.

Overall Nolan has done a great job let’s just hope we don’t slide down the table now after so much promise.

[jackal2]

4-2-3-1 is more attacking than 4-4-2... 3 attacking midfielders and a striker vs 2 strikers, there's nothing wrong with playing it at home but you need your players to actually perform.

Allessandra, Noble and Grant playing behind Stead or Shola would be much better than having Shola and Stead upfront and Grant and Allessandra on the wings imo

I'm not wedded to 4-4-2 as a concept, but what has been crystal clear over many years now is that Notts County struggle repeatedly at home when we play with only one central striker. It was particularly true under Keith Curle, but other managers have tried it too with consistently poor outcomes.

In direct contrast, the best home results we've had under recent managers were with Martin Allen and his 4-1-3-2 formation, and now Kevin Nolan with his 4-4-2. You could also include Steve Cotterill with his 4-4-2 in 2009-10, because although we had unusually good players that season, they didn't really hit top form until Cotterill implemented that consistent formation.

I wouldn't say it's impossible to play 4-3-3 or 4-2-3-1 at this level, because teams have managed it, but I think to do so you need a reasonably prolific central striker and a group of attacking midfielders with particularly well-developed goal scoring instincts. We have Jorge Grant who fits that bill, and Alessandra chips in a couple, but more often than not you get the phenomenon of the lone striker being left ridiculously isolated, and the three central midfielders all wanting the other to commit to attack. Plus, of course, midfielders are not strikers, by definition, so their positional sense and ability to finish is not generally as good.

In the lower leagues where players are not as multi-talented in all aspects of the game as the likes of De Bruyne or Sane or Salah in the Premier League, I think you're better off sticking with a simple formation where everybody knows their role, and they can just be what they are, meaning a striker, a midfielder or a defender. In recent years, nothing was more likely to make me tear up my season ticket and not come back than the repeated, frustrating use of systems with lone central strikers, because it was obvious they just didn't work.

Keith Curle's 4-2-3-1 formation gave us the best set of away results in a generation, because the team just parked the bus and counter-attacked, but his stubborn refusal to switch that to a more attacking 4-1-3-2 at home (which he could so easily have done) ultimately cost him his job.

So, my message to Kevin Nolan as manager is: "You've built up a wonderful relationship with Notts fans over the past year playing 2 up front. Please don't become like all the others!"

[pjace]

couldnt agree more Jackal