Notts v Port Vale - Lambing Monthly

[tarquinbeech]

Notts stop the rot, by stealing a draw from the jaws of victory.......no, we didn't deserve to be ahead, but when you've a stolen the lead with 3 minutes left, despite being under the cosh for huge parts of the 2nd half, for gawd's sake hold onto it!....nope, as I said in the pre-match thread, we can always score goals with the forward line-up but we always on average, concede 2 goals.....we won't get very far conceding so many goals.

General thoughts -
Fitz - made a blinding save during a barrage of Vale attacks around 65 minutes.....confidence has returned, possibly over-confident at times?
Toots - Was at fault for the 1st Vale goal, backing off his man until he's got no room left, allowing a simple cross to an unmarked Vale attacker to score easily.....gave balls away too easily when overlapping on the wing.....poor
Turley - Give the guy a medal, cleared one off the line then hurled himself in front of the Vale striker.....looking like a natural leader at the back....as opposed to.....
Ward - Stinker IMO, their Vale attacker was giving Ward the run-around most of the game, but some of it was his own fault..."if in doubt, get it out"....yes, he scored to get us to 2-1 (corner flicked on, unmarked at the back post, gaping goalmouth) but his defending had me cringing.
Evina - OKish at the back, a couple of half-decent crosses but far too wasteful when under no pressure.....Jones to return?
Milsom - I always feel more confident when he's playing but was strangely out-of-sorts in the 1st half, gave too many simple balls away and fell over once after literraly standing on it when coming out of defence....did the captaincy affect him?
Hewey - Quiet game, but often that means that he's doing his job trying to break up their attacks, Not sure.
Enzio - This guy is destined for bigger things than Notts. Terrorised the Vale defence in the 1st half, taking on two defenders that he glided past and practically scored the goal single-handedly, before it took a deflection off Hemmo. Quieter in the 2nd half, but having said all that, Notts spent huge chunks of the 2nd half with their backs to the wall.
Hemmings - Played on the left-wing today which I'm not sure is his natural game. Ran his heart out and got to the by-line plenty of times, but couldn't find the killer cross.
Alles - Love this guy. Not his best game today but bags of effort.....spent most of the 2nd half propping up our creaking defence and trying to run the ball out.
Dennis - Oh dear, it looks like we've bought a dud here. I honestly cannot think of anything he did. Sorry. Some will say it's the service he's getting?....nope....he's a poor centre-forward

Etete - looked lively as a sub for Dennis on 73 mins. Charlie said it nicely "I've mentioned Etete more times in 5 minutes, than I've mentioned Dennis in 70 mins......well said

Overall Notts did OK in a game that could have gone badly wrong.....3-1 or 4-1 looked likely in the 2nd half, but when we sneak a 2-1 lead after soaking up all that pressure, we should've held on....once again the defence collapses......same old story

[jackal2]

Dennis - Oh dear, it looks like we've bought a dud here. I honestly cannot think of anything he did. Sorry. Some will say it's the service he's getting?....nope....he's a poor centre-forward

A player who scores 27 goals in 64 games (plus 14 sub) for (a struggling) Chesterfield is evidently not a poor striker, but it's fair to say we've not got the best out of him yet and his confidence is low. The best way to change that is by giving him game time and letting him grow into the team. To quote the old cliché, it might take a deflection in off his backside to get the goal that brings out the true player, but to some extent you have to trust his record and show belief that he will come good, especially as the other main option (Stead) is unavailable.

[tarquinbeech]

A player who scores 27 goals in 64 games (plus 14 sub) for (a struggling) Chesterfield is evidently not a poor striker, but it's fair to say we've not got the best out of him yet and his confidence is low. The best way to change that is by giving him game time and letting him grow into the team. To quote the old cliché, it might take a deflection in off his backside to get the goal that brings out the true player, but to some extent you have to trust his record and show belief that he will come good, especially as the other main option (Stead) is unavailable.

Have you been on holiday mate?......I left you a message last Monday, and again today?

[JoePass]

Have you been on holiday mate?......I left you a message last Monday, and again today?

Love in xxx

[tarquinbeech]

Love in xxx

Not quite, Jackal's been around since 2003, and I needed his advice on something, or someone.

[jackal2]

Things are getting desperate when my advice is needed!

Sorry Tarkers, I hadn't seen your message until now, but I've just replied.

[navypie]

Notts stop the rot, by stealing a draw from the jaws of victory.......no, we didn't deserve to be ahead, but when you've a stolen the lead with 3 minutes left, despite being under the cosh for huge parts of the 2nd half, for gawd's sake hold onto it!....nope, as I said in the pre-match thread, we can always score goals with the forward line-up but we always on average, concede 2 goals.....we won't get very far conceding so many goals.

General thoughts -
Fitz - made a blinding save during a barrage of Vale attacks around 65 minutes.....confidence has returned, possibly over-confident at times?
Toots - Was at fault for the 1st Vale goal, backing off his man until he's got no room left, allowing a simple cross to an unmarked Vale attacker to score easily.....gave balls away too easily when overlapping on the wing.....poor
Turley - Give the guy a medal, cleared one off the line then hurled himself in front of the Vale striker.....looking like a natural leader at the back....as opposed to.....
Ward - Stinker IMO, their Vale attacker was giving Ward the run-around most of the game, but some of it was his own fault..."if in doubt, get it out"....yes, he scored to get us to 2-1 (corner flicked on, unmarked at the back post, gaping goalmouth) but his defending had me cringing.
Evina - OKish at the back, a couple of half-decent crosses but far too wasteful when under no pressure.....Jones to return?
Milsom - I always feel more confident when he's playing but was strangely out-of-sorts in the 1st half, gave too many simple balls away and fell over once after literraly standing on it when coming out of defence....did the captaincy affect him?
Hewey - Quiet game, but often that means that he's doing his job trying to break up their attacks, Not sure.
Enzio - This guy is destined for bigger things than Notts. Terrorised the Vale defence in the 1st half, taking on two defenders that he glided past and practically scored the goal single-handedly, before it took a deflection off Hemmo. Quieter in the 2nd half, but having said all that, Notts spent huge chunks of the 2nd half with their backs to the wall.
Hemmings - Played on the left-wing today which I'm not sure is his natural game. Ran his heart out and got to the by-line plenty of times, but couldn't find the killer cross.
Alles - Love this guy. Not his best game today but bags of effort.....spent most of the 2nd half propping up our creaking defence and trying to run the ball out.
Dennis - Oh dear, it looks like we've bought a dud here. I honestly cannot think of anything he did. Sorry. Some will say it's the service he's getting?....nope....he's a poor centre-forward

Etete - looked lively as a sub for Dennis on 73 mins. Charlie said it nicely "I've mentioned Etete more times in 5 minutes, than I've mentioned Dennis in 70 mins......well said

Overall Notts did OK in a game that could have gone badly wrong.....3-1 or 4-1 looked likely in the 2nd half, but when we sneak a 2-1 lead after soaking up all that pressure, we should've held on....once again the defence collapses......same old story

Just got back and them scoring so late would normally feel like a defeat but it doesn't . There was a collective relief amongst the Notts fans when the Ref blew, we were lucky to get a draw . First half we were by far the better team but it was real backs to the wall stuff after the break. Crickey ,our midfield went MIA. Thought Hemmings and Turley had good game but Dennis , oh my word this lad is bad. Elite said recently he's old enough to remember Ricky Green who we also signed from Chesterfield , so am I and Dennis makes Green look good! He offered absolutely nothing, we looked a lot better when Etete ( Bambi on ice ) came on. If this kid can put some meat on I think we might have some player. Nice touch at the end I thought when the Vale keeper applauded us.

[tarquinbeech]

Things are getting desperate when my advice is needed!

Sorry Tarkers, I hadn't seen your message until now, but I've just replied.

Replied....nice to see you back Sir

[miles3659]

I certainly don't agree that we were "by far the better team" first half.
We started fine - let our heads go down after we conceded and started making unforced errors - got a great equaliser and started clicking again - and we were worth 1-1 at half time. No better for me - but probably not worse.

Then in the second half we started treating the ball like it was a bomb. 2 consecutive passes were rare, 3 an impossibility. It didn't help that we were hitting balls to Dennis who went missing. But everything played out of defence came straight back. This is probably why we were gambling on the short ball from goal kicks - but we weren't good enough to move the ball any further forward.


The 4231 formation looks good at home - but if the 3 are not good at receiving the ball with back to goal - and there is no Jon Stead to do the work for them - then ultimately it fails. Enzio dazzled briefly - but there was so much distance between him, Alessandra and Hemmings - with Hewitt and Milson lying deep, it was a luxury we couldn't afford in an away game.


Surely Plan B has to be develop some kind of 4321 with a third player in with Hewitt and Milsom - although I'm not sure I know who that is!

Instead our Plan B seemed to be continually bringing on more centre halves? What's that about?
Sadly I realise that HK has not seen Duffy at his truly dreadful worst - and we might have to endure it again.

[nw6pie]

I certainly don't agree that we were "by far the better team" first half.
We started fine - let our heads go down after we conceded and started making unforced errors - got a great equaliser and started clicking again - and we were worth 1-1 at half time. No better for me - but probably not worse.

Then in the second half we started treating the ball like it was a bomb. 2 consecutive passes were rare, 3 an impossibility. It didn't help that we were hitting balls to Dennis who went missing. But everything played out of defence came straight back. This is probably why we were gambling on the short ball from goal kicks - but we weren't good enough to move the ball any further forward.


The 4231 formation looks good at home - but if the 3 are not good at receiving the ball with back to goal - and there is no Jon Stead to do the work for them - then ultimately it fails. Enzio dazzled briefly - but there was so much distance between him, Alessandra and Hemmings - with Hewitt and Milson lying deep, it was a luxury we couldn't afford in an away game.


Surely Plan B has to be develop some kind of 4321 with a third player in with Hewitt and Milsom - although I'm not sure I know who that is!

Instead our Plan B seemed to be continually bringing on more centre halves? What's that about?
Sadly I realise that HK has not seen Duffy at his truly dreadful worst - and we might have to endure it again.

Agree with all of that. What’s interesting is how we’ve been good in the first half of games recently and then struggled in the second half when teams have gone more direct and pressed us higher up the pitch. We then give the ball away all of the time, inviting more and more pressure.

Of course, it never helps if you have a target man who can’t hold the ball up or draw a foul. We’ve definitely witnessed enough to see that Dennis is not able to play up front by himself. What we haven’t seen is how to get anything out of him.