Match Thread vs Exeter City 8/9/18

[optipez]

Kewell is sounding so niaive and sounds scared of the players and afraid to criticise them.seem s the dressing room in in charge of him already

He has just taken over a team rock bottom. If he slaughters them after his first league match to the press where does he go from there? Being negative is easy, seeing the problem is pretty easy, bawling them out is easy too, but then what ?
Hopefully he won't play two wingers away again, hopefully he'll see that Dennis and Hemmings don't work as a pair, that the spine needs to be stronger and hopefully he can make them compete for ninety minutes rather than until the first goal goes in.
If that means Kewell has to say one thing to the public to get even an extra ounce out of them, then fair play to him.

[magpie_mania]

Didn't see it or hear it, but how do you manage to lose by such a heavy margin when you have more possession, more shots and they get 5 goals from 7 attempts on target?

Unbelievable!

[nw6pie]

He can’t really go on air and give them a public roasting in his first league game as manager.

He’s got to get the players on side and playing to his methods and give them a chance so he’s got to be on their side and defend them, even though we all know it’s indefensible.

Edit - Would an experienced manager have called them out and given them a public roasting to get a reaction?

Exactly, Kewell’s got to get them on his side. To be honest, I felt sorry for him having to defend that shower of trash. Let’s hope that in the dressing room he’s saying something else, though.

The performance of Oxlade-Chamberlain shows the danger of throwing the youngsters in. He had a great first 45 minutes against Grimsby when we were pressing forward, but has looked very weak at the back subsequently.

Crazy thing is we had more shots on goal than Exeter 12 to their 10), but only three were on target. We can blame the defence, but the strikers are all underperforming too. Kewell says he had 7 absentees, but I can’t actually see one who would have made a difference today. We missed some very good chances too - Thomas should have score early on, ditto Alessandro when I think we were 3-1 down.

Despite the appalling start, it’s amazing that we’re not cut adrift due to the weakness of Morecambe and Macclesfield. If we can’t get above them as a bare minimum, we really will deserve to go down.

Worryingly, I’ve already started paying more attention to results in the National Conference.

[MAD_MAGPIE]

I think the players have had all the chances they deserve. I would get as many capable non contract players in as we can. We're gonna need them.

I don’t disagree with you. What I’m trying to say is it’s basic man management that’s required here. A manager in his first league game in charge would be naive and foolish to pubically criticise and lamblast his players. He would not get any respect from them and we would have another Fullerton.

If you or I had a new manager at work and they came in on their first day and said we were all rubbish and could not do our jobs probably it would not go down well. I would not want to run through a brick wall for him.

We all know the players are not showing us they are good enough. So until such time replacements can come in or this situation turns around we’ve got what we’ve got, and Harry Kewell has got to work with what he’s got.

[slack_pie]

Both Morecambe and Macc still 1-0 behind. Really important that we don't get cut off from safety.

Just as you think the worst days are behind us, we manage to outdo the the low of all lows. It really does feel like we've been sentenced to a decade of pain and suffering as pay-back for the Munto cocaine-like high.

I was thinking the same thing. I thought those grim days of the 00s were behind us, at least for a good few years, and that we were a club finally on the up. And then BAM, here we are rooted to the bottom of the league. The bizarre thing is, we clearly have some good players. The following players could easily fit into other teams and look really good: Hemmings, Dennis, Enzio, Thomas, Vaughan. Then the rest of the team are average or even decent lower-league players. It's not like we have Chillingworth and Andy White up front. Remember the team that Thommo managed to get to 13 place in L2? Players like Gary Silk, Jason Lee, Matt Somner. Bizarre.

It does start to feel like Notts is a cursed club. No matter what happens, we seem to end up in meltdown. Whenever we have a good season, it's always followed by crippling lows that more than undo all the good things that came before.

This is honestly a new low for me. Back in the days of the Trust, I expected us to be ****. And we were. But I didn't see this one coming. How we managed to mess this up so spectacularly I'll never know, but the fact we were expecting progress makes it all the harder to take. This season has been relentless, unadulterated misery - and coming from a long-term Notts fan, that's saying something. Gutless *******s.

****ING *******S.

[Mark_Ross]

Well I duuno about all you RoTS (Rose Tinted Spectacles) but this DraQ (Drama Queen) is feeling physically sick at the moment.

Still, looking on the bright side, we've got all the really important things in place - great fans, stadium, history, youf, DoF!...

All we need now is a few football players.

[Pieeyedandlegless]

I've been shopping this afternoon, did I miss much?

[LaxtonLad]

Just think...If Nolan had signed those much needed defenders in January he would still be with us now, we would be running away with League One and not in this shameful and embarrassing situation.

Just my speculation, of course.

[pravda_plc]

Exactly, Kewell’s got to get them on his side. To be honest, I felt sorry for him having to defend that shower of trash. Let’s hope that in the dressing room he’s saying something else, though.

The performance of Oxlade-Chamberlain shows the danger of throwing the youngsters in. He had a great first 45 minutes against Grimsby when we were pressing forward, but has looked very weak at the back subsequently.

Crazy thing is we had more shots on goal than Exeter 12 to their 10), but only three were on target. We can blame the defence, but the strikers are all underperforming too. Kewell says he had 7 absentees, but I can’t actually see one who would have made a difference today. We missed some very good chances too - Thomas should have score early on, ditto Alessandro when I think we were 3-1 down.

Despite the appalling start, it’s amazing that we’re not cut adrift due to the weakness of Morecambe and Macclesfield. If we can’t get above them as a bare minimum, we really will deserve to go down.

Worryingly, I’ve already started paying more attention to results in the National Conference.

Good points nw6 BUT i think Tootle, Hall and Kellett would help us - when they are fit of course!

P.S. I always check the Conference results. The games I have seen live, convince me that it is a surprisingly good league but right now it's a bit too close for comfort...

[nw6pie]

Good points nw6 BUT i think Tootle, Hall and Kellett would help us - when they are fit of course!

P.S. I always check the Conference results. The games I have seen live, convince me that it is a surprisingly good league but right now it's a bit too close for comfort...

Toots has been poor so far this season (fitness? Other concerns?), Hall wasn’t first choice when he got injured (is he that commanding? Remember him being neat but not that big), management don’t seem to know where to play Kellett (whom I like as a left-sided midfielder, but he’s another short-ass in defence).

How ironic that our alleged pursuit of attractive football could be our downfall. Sod “attractive football,” we desperately need some blood’n’guts players who will win a few 50/50s or 40/60s in the centre of the park. These are the things that get a crowd going as much as that much-vaunted tiki-taka.

Some of the most entertaining games I’ve seen at Notts came under Warnock, when we got the ball forward early and played our football in the opposition half. A bit like Exeter today - they went long ball a lot, but could play a bit more football when the game was stretched and they were 3-1 up. Don’t suppose their fans will be complaining about the long ball down the channels when they win 5-1.