Kewell our or relegation

[ncfcog]

Enzio was double and sometimes even triple-marked, which asks the question - why weren't our un-marked players finding space? Last night some were just strolling and watching. Compare them to Oldham players who were always looking for, and finding, gaps in the Notts midfield.

TBH finding gaps in our midfield is probably much easier than it sounds!

[Mark_Ross]

I honestly don't know what the ------ hell is going on with Notts this season but surely we must give HK the benefit of the doubt for the time being. This season (forget previously - it don't mean 5hit) Nolan was an absolute disaster & it was largely because of his offloads & (for L2) expensive signings that we were in a hopeless state so early on. Things have improved under HK. Not massively, & we don't understand some of the things he does but overall we are heading in the right direction. Let's give HK some breathing space & see... This season is dead as far as promotion is concerned anyway.

[Elite_Pie]

I honestly don't know what the ------ hell is going on with Notts this season but surely we must give HK the benefit of the doubt for the time being.

Agree, but after the shambolic performance last night I'm beginning to have serious doubts, and things have to improve sharpish.

Nolan was an absolute disaster & it was largely because of his offloads & (for L2) expensive signings that we were in a hopeless state so early on.

Can't agree at all on this one. Calling Nolan an "absolute disaster" is absurd beyond belief. He came in when we were Conference bound and transformed us into promotion candidates. How is that disastrous? With the benefit of hindsight you can call his recruitment in pre-season, but if you look at the prediction threads before a ball was kicked most were hugely enthusiastic.

This season is dead as far as promotion is concerned anyway.

Agree 100% on that one!

[jackal2]

I doubt that Alan Hardy has even started questioning Kewell's job security. He's invested a lot of money to get him and I'm sure he will give him every chance to succeed, even it means settling for nothing better than avoiding relegation this time around.

Kewell had a pretty poor start at Crawley but eventually got the team on a roll, so there's a decent case for being patient and letting him work out the current problems. Anyone who judged Sam Allardyce on his first few months with us wouldn't have expected what he eventually achieved, not just for our club but for many others.

Plenty of points to play for. Calm heads needed at this stage.

[nw6pie]

I’d love to see the stats from last night in terms of how much each team ran, because Oldham seemed to have twice as much zip and energy as us. They really did seem to have three more players on the pitch - which makes sense when you think how little our midfield contributed.

If we start a game poorly, we seem incapable of stepping it up for the rest of the game - which suggests that HK has zero motivating skills in the dressing room at halftime.

[nw6pie]

Weird thing about the stats last night is that possession was exactly 50/50 (ie both teams made the same number of passes). I can only assume that most of ours were either hoofs downfield or passes between defenders in our own half.

[Elite_Pie]

Weird thing about the stats last night is that possession was exactly 50/50 (ie both teams made the same number of passes).

Not sure it means both teams made the same number of passes, more the percentage of time that each team had the ball at their disposal. Oldham used the ball to get forward quickly, we just made sideways and backward passes until the inevitable hoof.

[SwalePie]

the inevitable hoof.

What a great name for a Notts fanzine

[slack_pie]

Despite Tuesday's shambolic performance, AH would be nuts to get rid of HK at this stage. He made his decision to sack Nolan and bring a fresh face in, and unless we're in free fall, he needs to stick with it. This season is already a write-off. All we can do at this stage is to try and salvage some credibility from the wreckage. Sacking another manager won't help the situation now.

Assuming we carry on picking up the odd win here and there, I'd give HK the rest of the season and then reassess. If he manages to get us up to mid-table, give him the summer to build his squad. I'd only sack him if we go on a long losing streak and the fans start to go mental. HK is one big decision away from becoming Trew Mk.II.

I suppose another question in whether Hardy has the stomach/funds to rebuild again next summer, almost certainly with less interest and season ticket sales to back it up.

[McCullochisGod]

Why?

Have you seen Lincoln have built a new training facility from the money they made from their FA Cup run? It's such a shame we have fallen behind them and that's why the FA Cup is so important financially. A board with a plan and forward thinking management, it's not rocket science is it.