After an unexpectedly poor showing in the first 2 games of this season, the pressure is on already for Friday's match with Yeovil. Anything less than a good win will cast doubts of the Manager & Coaches ability to get us promoted. It is early days however, at the moment we seem to be playing no better than the 2nd half of last season despite the addition of some good players.
We have to trust Nolan to get things right both on the field and off it, whilst his team selection has been limited through injuries, things have to start improving or fans will be calling for his head.
Yeovil have made a similar start to Notts ie; a 2-2 draw at home and lost 1-0 away so both teams have something to prove. Lets hope Nolan is capable of (and does) pick the best 11 to get the first win under our belts and start moving in the right direction regards 'playing football' and moving up the table over the next few weeks.
COYP's
As pre-season favourites for the title, the pressure will mount quicker than normal, personally i'm still pretty relaxed so far.
Will be interesting to see what changes he makes for the mid-week cup game but more so for Friday night.
His biggest challenge at the minute is to get the central midfield partnership sorted because it isn't working at the minute and i'm not sure what the answer is.
18 mins of Nolo pre Mids.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ihfKXEBHkV0
In my opinion his biggest challenge is to replace the goalkeeper and centre halves with players with a modicum of ability and common senseHis biggest challenge at the minute is to get the central midfield partnership sorted because it isn't working at the minute and i'm not sure what the answer is.
I would agree we should continue to demonstrate trust in the manager and coaches.There can’t be any real complaints about the managers recruitment ability, the players signed in the summer, either permanently or on season long loans appear, on paper, to offer a bit more quality than we had last season (with the exception of the two Forest players, Yates & Grant). Injuries may well have played a part in team selections so far and therefore perhaps we should give Mr Nolan some period of grace. However, he does seem overly loyal to some players. He had an opportunity to give Donga He a cameo appearance against Colchester, a move that would have excited the crowd and possibly injected a much needed burst of energy. Instead he brought on Hawkridge who didn’t go past a player all last season and who gave no impression of wanting to now, albeit with limited time. There is only so much a manager can do, once the players cross the white line they are responsible for their actions and decision making. Nolan should however refuse to accept the persistent errors, and from the “highlights” from Cambridge, the apathy of certain individuals. I hope and believe his intention is to provide more cohesive attacking football than was offered last year, his recruitment would back that up, he just now needs to provide those recruits with the opportunity when available.