Fans' Forum tonight

[keldsyke]

If the transcript of Luke Williams' fantastic short corner monologue could be got and posted on here that would be beneficial and very much appreciated.

Hearts well and truly broken.

Laddo is back!

[nw6pie]

Luke Williams hasn't worked with Eli Sam, why would he mention him?

I know. I mention Eli as an example of the gamble Notts take when bringing in overseas players, and I’m sure LW would have been aware of his time at Notts.

One mitigating factor that wasn’t mentioned with Ruben (and Eli) is that he arrived during the pandemic, and that must have made life so much harder for him - no visits from family and friends, no socialising with new teammates, etc. Testament to his character that he was such a success by the end.

I wouldn’t be surprised to see a Scandinavian or two arriving at some point - but let’s hope they last a little longer than that mardy Dane.

[Bushwacka]

Could be a good debate. Silence of course will tell it's own story.

There is a debate to be had in football overall, and that's play to your strengths. If that means you've got a team full of 6ft plus lads, then spend hours in training practicing set pieces. We obviously choose to spend hours in training passing the ball.

We are the second top scorers in the league, scoring goals isn't the problem. Short corners obviously work for us, so there's no debate there.

[nw6pie]

Looking back on last night, aside from Luke’s passionate defence of short corners and why refs have it in for us, these were the things that resonated most for me:

* Our budget is “mid-table” level, so perhaps not even in the top 10 as Sky claimed on Saturday. I assume mid-table to mean 11th-13th, and Notts were surprised by the number of clubs with better budgets. Clearly, despite not saying so out loud, the owners believe that the quicker we can gain promotion, the better.

I assume this ties in with Joe Palmer’s talk about the club becoming sustainable in the next year or two. He even mentioned the “p” word - profitable. That really would be some achievement.

* Luke’s defence of having a small squad was a good one - if you buy “another Matty Palmer”, they will not be happy sitting on the bench playing once every four games, and that can produce discontented cliques within the squad (hello, 2018/19 malcontents). Interesting point from Rich Montague that they assess likelihood of players getting injured, and felt safe assuming that Palmer was Mr. Reliable. All part of the learning curve, but we’re never going to have a bloated squad under LW.

* I was surprised that LW sees us having our training ground as being top of his wish list, given that it’s hard to imagine this happening anytime soon. Maybe the club should suggest taking Broad Marsh off the council’s hands - we could even get a Notts County/local sports museum built there.

[countygump]

Looking back on last night, aside from Luke’s passionate defence of short corners and why refs have it in for us, these were the things that resonated most for me:

* Our budget is “mid-table” level, so perhaps not even in the top 10 as Sky claimed on Saturday. I assume mid-table to mean 11th-13th, and Notts were surprised by the number of clubs with better budgets. Clearly, despite not saying so out loud, the owners believe that the quicker we can gain promotion, the better.

I assume this ties in with Joe Palmer’s talk about the club becoming sustainable in the next year or two. He even mentioned the “p” word - profitable. That really would be some achievement.

* Luke’s defence of having a small squad was a good one - if you buy “another Matty Palmer”, they will not be happy sitting on the bench playing once every four games, and that can produce discontented cliques within the squad (hello, 2018/19 malcontents). Interesting point from Rich Montague that they assess likelihood of players getting injured, and felt safe assuming that Palmer was Mr. Reliable. All part of the learning curve, but we’re never going to have a bloated squad under LW.

* I was surprised that LW sees us having our training ground as being top of his wish list, given that it’s hard to imagine this happening anytime soon. Maybe the club should suggest taking Broad Marsh off the council’s hands - we could even get a Notts County/local sports museum built there.

What surprised me is a lot of the "wish list", were bl00dy expensive items. Training ground, Concourse under the Jimmy, pitch renovations. OK, poss medium term projects, but costly, where's the bunce for that lot gonna come from?

[matt_magpie]

Thought it was also an honest assessment on sides being fitter and relating it back to we haven’t 100% adapted to facing more energetic sides in the second half.
I have also always agreed with having a smaller squad as it is more inclusive and as RM said also allows them to spend a bit more on the likes of Mcgoldrick, Jones, and Crowley.
The thing is on life as well as on here not every gets the reasoning or agrees with it whatever the subject might be.
Now it’s been stated we believe we have a high mid table budget (not sure exactly what that means position wise) but I think if we make the top 7 we have probably over achieved.
Some won’t be happy with that and want the owners to spend more but they also have to consider the club is still loss making so what do they actually want.
Thought RM was very impressive, driven, knowledgeable but at the same time quite humble and honest.

[cjpieman]

Thought it was also an honest assessment on sides being fitter and relating it back to we haven’t 100% adapted to facing more energetic sides in the second half.
I have also always agreed with having a smaller squad as it is more inclusive and as RM said also allows them to spend a bit more on the likes of Mcgoldrick, Jones, and Crowley.
The thing is on life as well as on here not every gets the reasoning or agrees with it whatever the subject might be.
Now it’s been stated we believe we have a high mid table budget (not sure exactly what that means position wise) but I think if we make the top 7 we have probably over achieved.
Some won’t be happy with that and want the owners to spend more but they also have to consider the club is still loss making so what do they actually want.
Thought RM was very impressive, driven, knowledgeable but at the same time quite humble and honest.

The point about sides still being energetic in the last 3rd of a game I think has largely passed people by. By this I took it that actually is US that’s getting tired in the second half whilst our opponent is getting stronger- hence why our performances are dropping and teams are scoring second half goals against us.
I wonder what Luke is doing to combat this ?

[Magpies1959]

I don't know if it was said jokingly, or more of a barbed comment about RR by LW last night, when he said towards the end of his time here, he was running around like he was king of the castle, or words to that effect. It may go someway to explain how below par RR was in the play off semi and final.

[matt_magpie]

The point about sides still being energetic in the last 3rd of a game I think has largely passed people by. By this I took it that actually is US that’s getting tired in the second half whilst our opponent is getting stronger- hence why our performances are dropping and teams are scoring second half goals against us.
I wonder what Luke is doing to combat this ?

I took as maybe more mental, said quite a lot of games we could just go into cruise control last season and I think it’s more keeping that mental tenacity up for the whole game as there’s no reason the side shouldn’t be as fit as other L2 sides.

[matt_magpie]

I don't know if it was said jokingly, or more of a barbed comment about RR by LW last night, when he said towards the end of his time here, he was running around like he was king of the castle, or words to that effect. It may go someway to explain how below par RR was in the play off semi and final.

Think it was more saying he had totally come out himself. I never doubt Rubens commitment, I think that’s what held him back in some big games he was trying to hard at times.